Instructional Nudges: The Core of Practice-Driven Professional Development

In September 2021, my collaborators—Sam Otten and Amber Candela—and I started an exciting journey to reshape teacher professional development (PD). Backed by the National Science Foundation, we launched the Practice-Driven Professional Development (PDPD) project, aiming to offer teachers something new: instructional nudges.

These nudges are incremental, high-uptake teaching actions tailored to each teacher’s unique classroom practices. The goal? To make professional development more relevant, accessible, and impactful.

Why Rethink Traditional PD?

Professional development is meant to improve the quality of teaching, but traditional one-size-fits-all models often fall short. They overlook the diverse needs of individual teachers and miss opportunities to build on their unique strengths.

The PDPD project takes a different approach. We focus on creating a personalized, scalable PD model that aligns with teachers’ existing practices, particularly in algebra. By leveraging video and other multimedia resources, we aim to provide teachers with actionable, bite-sized strategies that are easy to adopt and seamlessly fit into their daily routines.

The Power of Instructional Nudges

So, what’s an instructional nudge? Imagine small, manageable teaching actions that spark meaningful change without overwhelming the teacher. These high-uptake practices are designed to:

• Be tailored to teachers’ current methods.
• Be accessible and easy to implement.
• Generate noticeable improvements in both teaching and student learning.

For us, the big question isn’t just whether these strategies make a difference—it’s also about understanding how long that impact lasts.

Sharing Our Nudges: The Journey Begins

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be introducing some of the instructional nudges we’ve developed, starting with one of my personal favorites: Rate and Review. (It might sound familiar because I’ve previously shared a preliminary version of this nudge). This nudge encourages students to share their thinking in new, exciting ways, creating a dynamic and interactive classroom environment.

Here’s a sneak peek: We’ve created a one-page handout with everything you need to try Rate and Review in your own classroom. For some nudges, we also have videos, templates, and additional resources to make implementation a breeze. For example, we have a template and some examples for Rate and Review that you can download.

If you’re curious to learn more, check out our published article on this nudge in Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK–12.

So there you go! There’s the first nudge. It’s one of my favorites because it was one of the first we created and it really gets kids to share their thinking in a bit of a different way. Whether you’re a veteran educator or just starting out, I hope you find these nudges inspiring and practical. And if you decide to try them, let us know how it goes—we’d love to hear your feedback! Stay tuned for more instructional nudges and a bit more about their backstories in the coming months.

Reference

Stewart, M. N., Brown, N. E., de Araujo, Z., Otten, S., & Candela, A. G. (2025). Rate and review. Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK–12, 118(1), 45-57. https://pubs.nctm.org/view/journals/mtlt/118/1/article-p45.xml