BJJ Mental Models

Ep. 93: Teaching Kids, feat. Cal McDonald

Steve & Matt Kwan Episode 93

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:

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