Youki Terada

This month’s Jam Session: How to Make Retrieval Routines a Classroom Habit ⚡️

Educators Leah McGinnity, Maureen Magnan, & Rob McEntarffer and Edutopia’s @youkiterada.bsky.social will be in the Jam all week long, sharing practical strategies, breaking down the research, and answering questions!

Question from Youki Terada, Edutopia Senior Editor: We often assume students are disengaged if they don’t raise their hands—but quietly thinking isn’t the same as tuning out. What are some tips you can share to bring reluctant or quiet students into the conversation in ways that are productive?

Edutopia’s @youkiterada.bsky.social wants to know: What are your tips for bringing reluctant or quiet students into classroom conversation? 💬

#EdChat #EduChat #EduSky

The 10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2025 We’re back with our roundup of the most insightful studies of the year, from the power of brain breaks to groundbreaking research on AI, cell phones, and handwriting in the classroom.

Our annual research roundup is here!

Here are 10 takeaways from this year’s must-read education studies—from the power of brain breaks to groundbreaking research on AI, cell phones, and handwriting in the classroom. 🧠✍️

#EdResearch #EduSky

Question from Youki Terada, Edutopia Senior Editor: Big question! Do mandatory grading policies prevent you from teaching in ways that support learning? For example, through revisions, retakes, or flexible deadlines?

Educators, Edutopia’s research editor has a question for you!

@youkiterada.bsky.social says: “I’ve been hearing a lot about this topic—but I’d love to understand how widespread it is, and what its implications are.”

#EduSky #EdChat

Big question! Do mandatory grading policies prevent you from teaching in ways that support learning? For example, through revisions, retakes, or flexible deadlines? I’m Edutopia’s research editor, and I’ve been hearing a lot about this topic—but I’d love to understand how widespread it is, and what its implications are.

Thanks for your thoughts, Marcus and Sierra! The question is trying to get at the tension between school-wide grading consistency vs. teacher autonomy to use approaches that meet the unique needs of their students.

Check out the thread, and jump in if you'd like:
www.edutopia.org/ask-and-answ...

1-Minute Read. The Research Is In. Research Reveals the Power of Small Wins. By Youki Terada & Stephen Merrill. Illustration of a student with a backpack climbing up a ladder into a bright yellow sun, with rays radiating from it and clouds behind them.

We tend to measure academic success by the big wins: Passing a test with flying colors, for example, or earning top grades in a demanding course.

But it’s the small wins that motivate students to keep going amid the inevitable academic struggles, new research shows.

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15 Tips to Align Your Teaching With Brain Science A comprehensive guide to applying the latest insight from neuroscience, psychology, and cognitive science to improve your instruction.

15 classroom strategies that incorporate the science of how students learn, including:
- better openers & closers
- retrieval practice
- brain breaks
- connecting learning to purpose
- executive function skills

Check out my latest article on @edutopia.org:
www.edutopia.org/article/15-t...

yes, absolutely! Check out this article from @edutopia.org: www.edutopia.org/article/fina...

Edutopia Newsletters: The Research Is In A monthly roundup of the most impactful education research, trends, and discoveries translated into actionable classroom strategies.

New @edutopia.org research newsletter comes out this weekend!

Don't miss our latest feature on research-backed tips to align your teaching with how student brains work—plus highlights of the latest must-read studies on student learning.

Go here to subscribe 👉 edut.to/4qmZr3G

Teachers, we need your questions for @edutopia.org's podcast! 🎧

We're working on a new episode where we find answers for your toughest classroom dilemmas.

☎️ Call our hotline & share your questions: 866-333-4930

✉️ Or email us a voice memo at podcasts@edutopia.org

#edusky

The Look It’s that quick glance that says, “I see you. I know exactly what you’re doing. And no, you’re not getting away with it.”

🚨🎧 Edutopia just launched a podcast! It’s called School of Practice, and it’s chock-full of strategies to improve your teaching today.

Join us every two weeks for 15-minute episodes filled with smart, pedagogy-shifting advice—backed by the research, and test-driven by teachers just like you.

I asked Claude to generate 20 multiple-choice questions and exactly zero had "A" as an answer, and "C" made up more than half.

Research-Based Tips for Optimal Seating Arrangements The right approach to seating works behind the scenes to keep students focused on learning while minimizing disruptions, research suggests.

Classroom seating decisions are some of the most powerful tools that teachers have to manage a classroom, working quietly behind the scenes to promote prosocial behavior & suppress distractions.

Edutopia’s @youkiterada.bsky.social outlines research-based tips for choosing the best layout.

#EduSky

What are some signs that students are struggling to focus, and how do you respond in the moment? For an upcoming podcast episode, we want to understand what you see in class when students struggle to focus. What routines do you use to help students build focus at the start of a new year? Thanks f...

We need your help for an upcoming podcast episode about attention stamina!

Tell us what you see in your class when students aren't able to focus (& how you respond):

www.edutopia.org/ask-and-answ...

#EduSky

6 Things We’re Getting Wrong About Tech Integration Despite years of investment, many schools are still missing the mark on technology integration. Here’s what the experts told us needs to change—and how to get started this year.

When researching what can go wrong w/ #edtech integration (at the classroom/building/and district level), I found educators citing the exact same problems today that they flagged 10+ years ago.

I went out searching for guidance on carving a path forward.

My latest for @edutopia.org:

You've launched initiatives that blend community building with content marketing—testing fresh approaches to grow engaged audiences, experimenting with emerging platforms, and actively iterating based on what resonates with your community (bonus points if you did this in the education space).You’re a natural communicator and relentlessly curious to get to know people and help them share their ideas to the benefit of others. You have a strong instinct for compelling story and content angles and can execute on that vision; maybe you’ve been a blogger or have cultivated a following on Instagram, create videos in your free time, and love tinkering with the latest digital media formats and tools out there. You are energized by working with new technologies and translating complex ideas into useful and usable materials.You are highly creative, write well, and are good at rallying your colleagues to design and implement new initiatives that don’t have an established roadmap to follow.You are ready to contribute bold, strategically aligned ideas to the broader team’s overall strategy. You have classroom experience (i.e., you were a teacher) or a background in K-12 education and can successfully demonstrate your abilities in digital content creation and/or organizing events or other gatherings for educators.

We're hiring for an exciting new role @edutopia.org that sits at the intersection of community engagement, editorial storytelling, and digital innovation.

Intrigued? Check it out and pass it on!

apply.workable.com/glef/j/CD891...

2-Minute Read. The Research Is In: We Drastically Underestimate the Importance of Brain Breaks. By Youki Terada. Illustration of a brain with arms and legs, reclining and reading a book.

We tend to think of “brain breaks” as downtime, but a 2021 study says they're “just as important as practice in learning a new skill.” 🧠

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Attention, HS teachers! For a new @edutopia.org story, I'm seeking strategies to quickly quiet a noisy high school class—beyond the usual countdowns and ringing bells.

What's your most creative approach for older kids?

Bonus points for sharing a memorable "I can't believe that worked" moment! 😅

7 Research-Backed Tech Tips You Can Use Today From AI tutors that actually work to a simple trick for beating back digital distractions.

“Technological skills are projected to grow in importance more rapidly than any other skills in the next five years,” concludes the World Economic Forum in its 2025 Future of Jobs Report.

My latest @edutopia.org article with the amazing
@tatertutt.bsky.social:
www.edutopia.org/article/7-re...

Background knowledge is the scaffolding students can use when introduced to new topics—to draw connections and make inferences. Here’s how to help them build it. 💡

#literacy #EdutopiaVideos

Research Animations for Educators Our popular collection of animations that examine studies about learning and surface findings that matter for teachers and students, all gathered in one place.

All in one place: Our popular collection of animations breaking down important education studies. 📊📽️

#EdResearch #EduSky

10 Studies Every Teacher Should Know About How to integrate the science of reading, plan for effective review sessions with your students, think about inquiry-based learning, and more.

Catch up on recent education research with this practical list of must-read studies. 📝👏

#EduSky #EdResearch

2-Minute Read. The Research Is In. 3 Reasons Students Procrastinate—and How to Help Them Stop. By Youki Terada. Image of a huge clock, with a student lying on the hour hand, using a tablet.

If you’re a middle or high school teacher, you likely have procrastinators in your class.

Delays have a cost: A 2015 study found that the longer college students waited to turn in an assignment, the worse their grades were, Edutopia senior editor @youkiterada.bsky.social writes.

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#EduSky

#EduInFocus. This chat’s topic: Making Instructional Rounds Matter. A slow chat series brought to you by Edutopia.

Welcome to #EduInFocus! 🔍

This time, we’re bringing instructional rounds into focus, and our host is @jorgedoespbl.bsky.social.

Join us for this slow chat as we explore how they can inspire learning and growth. We want to hear from you!

Edutopia Newsletters: The Research Is In A monthly roundup of the most impactful education research, trends, and discoveries translated into actionable classroom strategies.

🪮 Our editors comb through education research.

📪 You get the most important insights, right in your inbox.

Subscribe to The Research Is In today: edut.to/4jmc0HV

#EdResearch #EduSky #education

What Teachers Should Know About Dysgraphia. Signs to look out for and evidence-based ways to help kids who struggle with writing. By Youki Terada.

Dysgraphia can look like messy handwriting, but it’s a lot more than that and can be a serious obstacle to academic success for some students.

Do you know what to look for and how to help kids who struggle with writing?

#EduSky #education

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7 Research-Backed Tech Tips You Can Use Today From AI tutors that actually work to a simple trick for beating back digital distractions.

Want a sneak peek at what's coming in the June issue of The Wired Classroom, @edutopia.org's tech newsletter? 👀

I had the pleasure of co-writing this piece w/ the brilliant @youkiterada.bsky.social.

Keep an eye on your inbox Sunday, June 8th, where you'll see this and *nine* other tech pieces!

7 Research-Backed Tech Tips You Can Use Today From AI tutors that actually work to a simple trick for beating back digital distractions.

Skip the trial and error! ⏩ These research-backed approaches to tech integration are tried and true (plus, you can start using them right now).

#EdTech #EduSky

3.2. Asking LLMs for faithful science summaries increased algorithmic overgeneralizations Explicitly requesting accurate responses from LLMs seems intuitive to retrieve summaries that capture all relevant details of input texts. However, we found that this backfired. Compared to a simple summarization request, asking for responses faithful to the original text produced a twofold increase in the likelihood of generalized conclusions, in some models, increasing overall algorithmic overgeneralizations by up to 15% (e.g. ChatGPT-4o (UI), table 2). This finding extends previous research that suggests adding information intended to improve LLM accuracy in LLM prompts can be counterproductive [46]. One potential explanation of this backfire effect may be related to the content of the accuracy prompt, which stated ‘do not introduce any inaccuracies when summarizing’ (figure 1). Psychological research on humans found ‘ironic rebound’ effects, which can occur when people attempting to free their mind of a target thought experience higher levels of occurrence and accessibility of the thought compared with people intentionally focusing on the thought (e.g. ‘Don’t think of a pink elephant now’ [47]). While this remains to be tested and caution about LLM anthropomorphism is warranted [34], our prompt may have triggered a similar tendency in LLMs. By calling for attempts to free processing of inaccuracy, it may have made the occurrence of inaccuracy more likely, suggesting an algorithmic version of the ‘ironic rebound’ effect.

New study finds that AI chatbots overgeneralize when summarizing scientific studies:
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

What made me do a spit-take is that asking them to be accurate—"do not introduce any inaccuracies when summarizing"—actually doubled the overgeneralizations.
h/t @tatertutt.bsky.social

1-Minute Read. Research. Warming Up Your Cold Calls. Adapted from: 8 Small But Impactful Classroom Management Shifts, by Youki Terada.

Regular cold calling can improve class participation by 40%. But not all cold calling is created equal!

A 2022 study found some cold calls feel more “encouraging & engaging” to students, while others are more “confrontational & intimidating.” ⚔️

A simple tweak can warm up your calls:

🧵1/5 #EduSky