The cognitive power tools of the well-taught beginner create increasingly useful knowledge as the learner's skill level increases through practice that challenges plateaus. This episode makes the case that learning should always be embedded in a way of thinking; thinking like a biologist, a historian, an economist, a mathematician, etc. Learners should engage with authentic problems in a scaled-down junior version of every subject. Pedagogy in the early years of learning that privileges the creation of concepts over the collection of information will pay substantial dividends as the student grows.

"Drill and kill," the mindless and seemingly endless repetition of facts, kills motivation to learn. "Repetition aids learning" is only true with carefully crafted variety in the repetition.

How can you help your child move from being absorbed with taking in information in the classroom to a fixation on understanding ideas? This is key to durable learning that is extensible; learning that you can build on and apply to solving real world problems. This episode operationalizes the creation of robust networks of powerful ideas.

Many parents and children view their inability to memorize as their greatest educational weakness. Learning is more than remembering, but it is not less. Today's episode centers on the reality that durable memory is the byproduct of thinking about ideas. Using mnemonics and other gimmicks to bypass the need for thinking is doomed to fail and is boring to boot.

Most schools design curriculum around a fact forward approach. Facts are always in the foreground while ideas lurk in the background and generally make only cameo appearances. This is exactly wrong.

Children are all born learners—at least until they go to school. Many children and their parents are frustrated and mystified by the setbacks that are experienced at school and it doesn't need to be this way!

Worldview is the key grid through which we filter and formulate ideas, yet it is not systematically developed in most educational programs. This is particularly likely on the university level. Make no mistake—a worldview is being developed anyway, but likely full of flaws and non sequiturs.

No one wants to kill the joy of learning in a young child, but that's likely with the majority of preschool and elementary pedagogies. This podcast helps you sort through the educational philosophy underlying some major options.

Attempting to read the Bible through each year is a source of frustration and guilt to many as they repeatedly fall behind their reading schedule. Is this yearly ritual a spiritual discipline that advances discipleship or does it substitute a false sense of breadth for real depth?

The church is not immune to polarity that all too often leads to contention and division—the opposite of biblical unity. This study in Ephesians aims to transform your understanding of the nature of biblical unity and its priority in the life of each Christian.

Transformational discipleship is redundant. Discipleship is intrinsically transformation into increasing Christlikeness. This is a case study of Ephesians 1-2 using sequenced questions that speak with biblical authority to the current polarization within the church.

Discipleship is more than a targeted learning process, but it is not less. Deep and durable learning of scripture results in personal transformation, but most churches follow a flawed process. Join me as I consider the discipleship gap and how to close it.

What does wisdom say about beverage alcohol consumption? I cut through the cultural cachet of alcohol and look objectively at its documented effects on the human body.

A sleuth gathers and sifts evidence and employs his or her critical faculties in search of the truth. The sleuth isn’t overly attached to their conclusions and is open to reasoned debate. A cynic delights in endless deconstruction and disputation ending with contempt. Learn how science works and when its conclusions deserve deference.

The elusive teachable moment is not endangered. In this episode we talk about how to orchestrate and leverage teachable moments to catalyze deep and durable learning.

Young learners are motivated by curiosity and wonder. This generates "why" questions that are answered by looking for patterns in the particulars they encounter. Would this were true for adult learning!

Many people feel stuck in their careers. At the root this is because they lack clarity about who they are and what they were made to do. Clarity emerges on the heels of questioning your erroneous assumptions about vocation.

Vocation should not be chosen pragmatically based merely on opportunity. Vocation is literally a calling to use your unique giftedness for the glory of God. Dr. Scott Whitmore, a researcher in retinal diseases, shares his wrestling to discern God's call.

Ideals are commendable but how we implement ideals can corrupt our true identity. Susanna Hindman shares her story of life in a disadvantaged community in West Baltimore, Maryland.

Healthcare is better at treating disease than at creating and maintaining health. It presumptuously treats even foreseeable physical dysfunction or limitation within a human lifespan as a problem it is working to solve.