In each episode of the Inside Our MIND podcast, we take a look at issues and challenges facing education that we are working to address through research, technology and strategic initiatives.In our latest episode, Brian welcomes MIND’s Chief Data Science Officer Andrew Coulson back to the show for a discussion around our ST Math Theory of Change. Andrew explains how the time and energy students invest in ST Math leads to mastery-based progression, math content coverage, and math proficiency gains. In the show notes for this episode on the MIND blog, you can download a copy of the ST Math Theory of Change. Topics Covered in the Podcast:0:452:30 The Importance of a Theory of Change4:15 Minutes are a Starting Point5:15 Self-Pacing, Content Coverage, and Summative Test Advantage7:15 Maximizing Time on Activity in ST Math8:30 Going Beyond Minutes10:45 Productive Struggle12:45 All Content for All Students19:30 Unpacking a Program via Theory of ChangeIntroThe Importance of a Theory of ChangeMinutes are a Starting PointSelf-Paced and Mastery-BasedCovering Content and Math StandardsThanks for listening to the podcast! Please leave us a review on iTunes, Google Play, Spreaker or wherever you are listening to the show. I want to give a special thanks to everyone who has guested on the Inside Our MIND podcast, and everyone who helped make the show a 2020 EdTech Leadership Award winner! Thank you for sharing your passion, expertise, and perspectives on improving education for the students we all serve!Inside Our MIND is taking a bit of a late-summer break, but will return with a new season this fall, featuring new guests, and more conversations about making a positive impact for the present and future of all students, so they can solve the world's most challenging problems.

In each episode of the Inside Our MIND podcast, we take a look at issues and challenges facing education that we are working to address through research, technology and strategic initiatives.In our latest episode, Brian welcomes Paul Blair, Director of Product for ST Math Platforms, to the program to provide some insight into the design process for the new ST Math. Paul sat down with Brian prior to the release of the new ST Math to talk about some of the needs and goals that drove the redesign of the new program, and how the community of ST Math users helped inform the process.Topics Covered in the Podcast:0:45 Intro2:45 The end of Flash and ST Math redesign beginnings 6:00 Enhancements to the games 9:45 Improved facilitation tools for teachers11:45 Maximizing learning time in the program18:00 ST Math user feedback21:15 Measuring progress25:00 A living model for the program26:45 A continuous feedback loop You can learn more about what’s new in ST Math for the 20-21 school year at stmath.com/whats-new. You can also play a selection of games from the new ST Math at stmath.com/play.Thanks for listening to the podcast! Please leave us a review on iTunes, Google Play, Spreaker or wherever you are listening to the show. Subscribe to get future episodes as soon as they are released!

In our latest episode, Brian welcomes Dr. Megan Kuhfeld to the program for a discussion about COVID-related school closures and their effects on students.Megan is a research scientist at the not-for-profit organization NWEA. She seeks to understand students’ trajectories of academic and social-emotional learning and the school and neighborhood influences that promote optimal growth. Her work covers a range of topics, including longitudinal growth modeling, achievement gaps, and summer learning loss. Megan recently co-authored a research brief titled “The COVID-19 Slide: What summer learning loss can tell us about the potential impact of school closures on student academic achievement.” She also co-authored a new working paper, called “Projecting the potential impacts of COVID-19 school closures on academic achievement,” which built on the COVID Slide brief and highlighted the increased variability of student needs that schools will likely be seeing in the future.In her discussion with Brian, Megan provides an overview of both studies, and they talk about the immediate and long-term challenges the current situation is creating for students, schools and families.You can learn more about NWEA on their website nwea.org, and follow Megan on Twitter at @MeganKuhfeld. Topics Covered:0:45 Intro2:45 NWEA and Megan’s work5:00 Seasonal learning loss data and its application to the COVID-19 situation8:00 Slowdown or slide--projected learning losses12:30 Additional COVID-19-specific challenges 15:15 Increased variability of needs for next school year18:45 Social and emotional challenges for students and families21:30 Moving forward--thoughts and recommendationsLinks: COVID-19 Slide Research Brief: https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2020/05/Collaborative-Brief_Covid19-Slide-APR20.pdfCOVID-19 Impact Working Paper: https://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai20-226CRPE: https://www.crpe.org/CASEL--COVID-19 Resources: https://casel.org/covid-resources/Thanks for listening to the podcast! Please leave us a review on iTunes, Google Play, Spreaker or wherever you are listening to the show. Subscribe to get future episodes as soon as they are released!

In each episode of the Inside Our MIND podcast, we take a look at issues and challenges facing education that we are working to address through research, technology and strategic initiatives.In our latest episode, Brian welcomes Dr. Molly B. Zielezinski to the show for a discussion on demystifying edtech research. Molly is the founder and CEO of MBZ Labs, where she and her team work to bridge the gaps between edtech, academia, and educational practice. Molly was the co-author of the excellent thought leadership piece “Debunking the Gold Standard Myths in Edtech Efficacy,” and MBZ Labs just published a great resource with NewSchools Venture Fund, “Optimizing Edtech for an Expanded Definition for Student Success.”Molly shares her origin story, and provides insights into the process of making research more usable for both edtech companies, as well as educators and administrators. Topics Covered in the Podcast:0:45 Intro3:00 Molly’s Teaching and learning journey6:00 The disconnect between research and practitioners7:00 Moving beyond the classroom and founding MBZ Labs11:00 MBZ Labs mission to get better tools in the hands of students13:00 Efficacy portfolios 16:00 Use of technology by underserved students21:00 Translating research content for different audiences25:00 Building a solid research foundation27:30 Edtech and the Expanded Definition of Student Success (EDSS)30:00 The process of translating and demystifying researchLinks:https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-05-21-debunking-the-gold-standard-myths-in-edtech-efficacyhttps://mbzlabs.com/optimizing-edtech-for-student-success_mbzlabs2020/https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/scope-report-promising-practices-v1.pdfThanks for listening to the podcast! Please leave us a review on iTunes, Google Play, Spreaker or wherever you are listening to the show. Subscribe to get future episodes as soon as they are released!

In each episode of the Inside Our MIND podcast, we take a look at issues and challenges facing education that we are working to address through research, technology and strategic initiatives.In our latest episode, Brian welcomes Senior User Experience (UX) Researcher Alesha Arp back to the show for a discussion on what it truly means to be data-driven. They talk about the overuse of the term “data-driven,” and what it means for data to be actionable. Alesha shares insights from her research and the conversations she’s had with ST Math users that helped inform the redesign of ST Math. You can listen to the episode in the player below:Topics Covered in the Podcast:0:45 Intro4:00 What does data-driven mean?6:00 Focusing on how you get there8:00 The danger of focusing on a single metric12:00 Implementation challenges that informed new ST Math design16:30 Providing the right metrics and making data actionable28:00 Empowering students to set their own goalsThanks for listening to the podcast! Please leave us a review on iTunes, Google Play, Spreaker or wherever you are listening to the show. Subscribe to get future episodes as soon as they are released!

In our latest episode, Brian welcomes Senior Director of Product Management Edie Perkins to the show to talk about the recently announced new version of our flagship program, ST Math. Edie provided an overview of the enhancements and new features that will help students, teachers and administrators get even more out of the program. Over the next several months, we’ll be taking a deeper dive into those new features and enhancements, both here on the podcast and on our blog. You can also find even more information on stmath.com, which now has a “What’s New” page, as well as even more of our new ST Math games and resources for you to experience. Topics:0:45 Intro2:30 The word is out4:15 What's not changing5:00 The goal of making more learning happen6:00 The new student experience10:45 The new teacher experience15:45 The new administrator experienceThanks for listening to the podcast! Please leave us a review on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker or wherever you are listening to the show. Subscribe to get future episodes as soon as they are released!

In our latest episode, Brian welcomes Executive Director & VP of Social Impact Karin Wu back to the show. We start off discussing how Karin was recently featured in STEMConnector’s Million Women Mentors: Leaders to Learn From series. Karin has also been conducting visits and participating in events across the country with our donors and strategic partners, like John Deere, Phillips 66, Rockwell Automation, the One8 Foundation and more.Karin shared some experiences and takeaways from these visits, including what our partners have in common that makes them such a great match for MIND.   Topics:0:45 Intro3:30 MWM Leaders to Learn From6:30 Facing Challenges with Optimism8:45 Social Impact Road Trip10:00 Seeing Impact with One8 in MA 13:00 Matthew Peterson's MA Presentation17:00 Getting Inspired with John Deere in IL19:30 Rockwell Automation Fair in ChicagoThanks for listening to the podcast! Please leave us a review on iTunes, Google Play, Spreaker, or wherever you are listening to the show. Subscribe to get future episodes as soon as they are released!Additional Resources:https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/5-reasons-we-are-thankful-for-our-partnershttps://www.stemconnector.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Leader-Profie-Karin-Wu-1.pdfhttps://www.mindresearch.org/2019

In our latest episode, Brian welcomes MIND’s Lead Mathematician Brandon Smith back to the show, for a discussion on family engagement. Building on our previous discussions of student engagement and getting dynamically active in learning, we explore the challenges that schools face when trying to put together family night events that truly engage parents and students. Brandon explains four common missteps that can be avoided when designing family nights, and provides guidance on how to put families in the driver's seat to provide an experience that both parents and students will take back home with them. Brandon also outlines some of the resources we are developing for schools that will help make designing, organizing and implementing family nights easier and more impactful.Topics Covered in the Podcast:0:45 Intro3:00 Reaching students' families and social networks11:30 Changing the focus15:00 Intrinsic vs.Extrinsic motivators20:30 Who is driving the experience25:30 Shortcoming of station rotation or "fair" model30:45 The cell phone metric33:30 Resources for engaging family nightsFor more resources on student and family engagement, visit mindresearch.org and mathmindsgames.com.Thanks for listening to the podcast! Please leave us a review on iTunes, Google Play, Spreaker, or wherever you are listening to the show. Subscribe to get future episodes as soon as they are released!

In our latest episode, Brian welcomes MIND’s Lead Mathematician Brandon Smith back to the show, for a discussion on project-based and problem-based learning. Brandon talks about the similarities and differences between the two, as well as some common misconceptions about them. He also provides some guidance on how to get the most out of project and problem-based learning by increasing student choice, creatively reframing problems, and adding more fun to the process.Topics Covered in the Podcast:0:45 Intro3:15 Problem-based and project-based defined5:00 Creativity as an action7:30 Challenges in current PBL approaches10:00 Tackling solvable problems15:00 Testing and Iterating17:45 Encouraging risk-taking20:00 Reframing existing PBL opportunitiesThanks for listening to the podcast! Please leave us a review on iTunes, Google Play, Spreaker or wherever you are listening to the show. Subscribe to get future episodes as soon as they are released!

In our latest episode, Brian welcomes Chief Data Science Officer Andrew Coulson back to the show to discuss the topic of Statistical Significance. Andrew provides an overview of the concept, and explains how taking a binary perspective toward statistical significance can lead to misinterpretation and misinformation. They discuss the American Statistical Association's recommendation to get rid of the term entirely, which is gaining support in the scientific community. They also use point to a recent evidence review which provided a textbook example of ignoring promising study results because of a binary perspective. As always, Andrew provides some takeaways for educators about looking beyond one metric or one study when gathering information on a tool or resource for districts, schools and classrooms.Topics Covered in the Podcast:0:45 Intro3:15 - What is Statistical Significance?4:30 - The Problem with a Binary Mindset6:15 - Misinterpretations and Missing Results9:00 - ASA Moves Away from Statistical Significance12:00 - Factors that Affect Statistical Significance13:20 - Don't Rest on One Result17:30 - TakeawaysThanks for listening to the podcast! Please leave us a review on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker or wherever you are listening to the show. Subscribe to get future episodes as soon as they are released!