Season 9, Episode 8

Cognitive science-informed teaching, with Natalie Wexler

In this episode, Susan Lambert rejoins podcast alum Natalie Wexler to discuss Natalie鈥檚 new book Beyond the Science of Reading: Connecting Literacy Instruction to the Science of Learning. Listeners will gain insights into why this topic is important, what this book offers educators, why Natalie was so drawn to writing this book, and what cognitive science-informed teaching looks like in general. Natalie addresses how cognitive load theory works in practice with literacy, misconceptions about focusing only on phonics, and scaling science-informed instruction. Natalie also answers a question from the listener mailbag about encouraging colleagues to adopt an evidence-based approach.

Transcripts and additional resources:

Listen: Cognitive load theory: Four items at a time, with Greg Ashman
Listen to Illinois administrator Serena Klosa on Beyond My Years!

Meet Our Guest(s):

Portrait of a woman with short, curly blond hair wearing a white top, pictured inside a circular frame with an illustrated pencil and lines accent, reflecting her dedication to teaching reading and cognitive science.

Natalie Wexler

Natalie Wexler is the author of聽Beyond the Science of Reading: Connecting Literacy Instruction to the Science of Learning, coming from ASCD on Jan. 21, 2025. She is also the author of聽The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America鈥檚 Broken Education System鈥攁nd How to Fix It聽and the co-author, with Judith C. Hochman, Ed.D., of聽The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades. She has a free Substack newsletter called Minding the Gap, and she was the host of the Reading Comprehension Revisited podcast, Season One. More information is available on her website,聽.

Meet our host, Susan Lambert

Susan Lambert is the Chief Academic Officer of Elementary Humanities at 黄色直播, and the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Throughout her career, she has focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Lambert is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.

As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Lambert explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. As a former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, Lambert is dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.

Retrato de una mujer cauc谩sica sonriente con cabello rubio corto, involucrada en un podcast sobre la ciencia de la lectura, con gafas, l谩piz labial rojo y un collar de perlas.

Quotes

鈥淲e鈥檙e overlooking the ways in which the typical approach to teaching reading comprehension and writing actually conflict with what cognitive science tells us about how people learn to do those things.鈥�

鈥擭atalie Wexler

鈥淲e spend much more time trying to teach them to read, but we kind of expect them to just pick up writing. You know, for most kids, it does not happen.鈥�

鈥擭atalie Wexler

鈥淣o matter how good you are at making inferences, if you don't have the requisite background knowledge, you're not gonna be able to do it.鈥�

鈥擭atalie Wexler

鈥淚t doesn't work to just ask inexperienced writers to just write down stuff. That is not going to provide the cognitive benefits.鈥�

鈥擭atalie Wexler

鈥淟anguage is connected to thinking. If you can talk and write in a more sophisticated way that reflects that you are thinking in a more sophisticated way.鈥�

鈥擭atalie Wexler