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Learning How to Learn — The Ultimate Meta-Skill
Ideas What I believe: Every human should know how to learn. Knowing how to learn is the engine that drives every other part of life....
Nathan Belcher
Apr 205 min read
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That’s How Learning Works?!?! A Comprehensive Model for Understanding the Learning Process
Belcher’s "Model for Learning" [Image by Belcher] Learning happens throughout life. From the moment we are alive to our final days, the...
Nathan Belcher
Oct 25, 202420 min read
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Practice and Performance — The Similarities and Differences That Matter
Practice and performance are often mentioned side by side, plus I’ve had many experiences with practice and performance through my...
Nathan Belcher
Jun 16 min read
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You’ve Never Read the Best Book on Writing
How much is writing worth to your personal and professional life? What if you could increase the clarity of your writing, leading your...
Nathan Belcher
May 3014 min read
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Why Performance Matters for Deep Learning
Ideas Before we get into the specifics of performance, take a minute and review my Model for Learning. Please work yourself through the...
Nathan Belcher
May 194 min read
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Practice with Purpose — Strategies for Deep Learning
In this essay, we’ll dig into what makes practice meaningful — not the rote, mindless repetitions we’re sometimes told to endure, but...
Nathan Belcher
May 66 min read
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Reflection in Action — Practical Ways to Learn from Every Experience
Ideas I chose to name this work The Learning Engine because the name implies motion. One of the main drivers of motion in our learning...
Nathan Belcher
Apr 136 min read
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Learning Loops — The Cycles That Drive Knowledge and Skill Development
Ideas Have you ever noticed how learning seems to happen in cycles? We try something, reflect on the outcome, adjust our approach, and...
Nathan Belcher
Apr 45 min read
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Learning Through Productive Struggle
Have you ever faced a challenge that was difficult but not impossible, where you struggled but ultimately learned and grew from the...
Nathan Belcher
Apr 16 min read
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Learning with AI — Challenges and Opportunities
Whatever our personal feelings are about AI, the technology is here to stay — and advancing at a good clip. This essay will discuss a few...
Nathan Belcher
Apr 16 min read
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The “Teaching Trinity” — How Great Teachers, Coaches, and Leaders Transform Lives
Ideas At some point in life, everyone is a teacher. Being a teacher can happen in many different ways: Choosing a career as a teacher or...
Nathan Belcher
Mar 225 min read
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Effective Feedback — The Catalyst for Learning Excellence
Effective feedback transforms learning. Discover the right kind, way, and time for feedback that drives excellence.
Nathan Belcher
Mar 148 min read
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Plateaus and Progress — Navigating the Natural Rhythms of Learning
Ideas Before getting into the ideas for learning plateaus , take a look at Belcher’s Model for Learning . Please work through the model,...
Nathan Belcher
Mar 57 min read
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The Warm-up — What, Why, and How
Ideas Learning is not learning without application — we must test the sets of knowledge and skills in our conceptual models in many...
Nathan Belcher
Mar 45 min read
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Tracking Student Progress and Intensity of Classes — Connecting These Ideas to Student Learning
As a teacher, how do you know your students are learning? Although this question may seem simple to answer, the way a teacher or coach...
Nathan Belcher
Feb 176 min read
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Instructional Design for Science Teachers: Using the Idea of Models for Concepts to Drive Learning
How does a teacher organize instruction to maximize student learning? This question has been important for the entire time humans have...
Nathan Belcher
Feb 1313 min read
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How to Learn — When You Are in the Advanced Stage
As an expert in your field, you are in the advanced stage of learning. You have a rich understanding of the knowledge and skills in your...
Nathan Belcher
Feb 118 min read
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How to Learn — When You Are in the Intermediate Stage
Congratulations! You are no longer a beginner — you have made it to the “messy middle” stage of learning. You have created foundational...
Nathan Belcher
Feb 108 min read
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How to Learn — When You Are in the Beginning Stage
Learning a new complex set of knowledge and skills is both scary and exciting: Scary because you are adventuring into the unknown;...
Nathan Belcher
Feb 88 min read
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A Brief History of U.S. Science Education — Leading to Modeling Instruction
Prior to the mid-1800s, science and science education in the United States existed in an unstructured manner. However, the public’s...
Nathan Belcher
Feb 812 min read
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