Ep. 93: Teaching Kids, feat. Cal McDonald

This week, Steve and Matt are joined by Cal McDonald to discuss best practices for educating kids.  In addition to being a black belt under Rob Biernacki, Cal is a specialist in creating educational frameworks for children.  Cal shares his knowledge on the topic in a wonderful conversation with implications well beyond teaching children.  This is one of our favorite conversations ever on the podcast.

Learning strategies discussed:

• Effortful Retrieval: Make them work to pull concepts back out of their memories.
  
  
• Chunking: Manage their cognitive load.
  
  
• Interleaving: Shake it up to force them to recall techniques.
  
  
• Varied Practice: The partner provides variable levels of resistance.
  
  
• Elaboration: Connect things to what they already know.
  
  
• Modeling: Demonstrate flawless technique because they will mirror you.
  
  

Mental models discussed in this episode:

• Spaced Repetition
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/spaced-repetition/
  
  
• Cognitive Load
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/cognitive-load/
  
  
• Incremental Learning
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/incremental-learning/
  
  
• Critical Control Points
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/critical-control-points/
  
  
• Transfer of Learning
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/transfer-of-learning/
  
  
• Interleaving
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/interleaving/
  
  
• Growth From Discomfort
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/growth-from-discomfort/
  
  
• Position Over Submission
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/position-over-submission/
  
  
• Alignment Over Position
  https://bjjmentalmodels.com/alignment-over-position/
  
  
  

IMPORTANT: BJJ Mental Models needs your help.

In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the future for Steve and Matt is uncertain.  Our gyms are closed, our income is impacted, and we need your help in order to continue providing free content.  We've started a Patreon where you can support BJJ Mental Models.  Please help us keep the lights on so we can keep your game sharp during this once-in-a-century crisis.  Link here:
https://patreon.com/bjjmentalmodels/

Need more BJJ Mental Models?

Get tips, tricks, and breakthrough insights from our mailing list:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/join/

Get nitty-gritty details on our mental models from the full database:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/database/

Let them know you're an educated grappler with our merch:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/store/

Get the latest BJJ Mental Models updates from Facebook:
https://facebook.com/bjjmentalmodels/

⚠️ NEW course from BJJ Mental Models!

MINDSET FOR BETAS, our new Jiu-Jitsu audio course with Rob Biernacki, is now available on BJJ Mental Models Premium! For a limited time, get your first month FREE at:
https://bjjmentalmodels.com/beta