Correlation is not causality. It is perhaps one of the most frequently used phrases when I write about research here, and I have noticed that it can sometimes even irritate people. But a new NBER working paper by Andrew Johnston beautifully illustrates that the story usually only begins there. Johnston’s question is simple: can working… Read More Can working from home lead to more children? Correlation and causality
As I wrote yesterday, last week I spent time with several other researchers (and policymakers too, by the way) thinking about the worldwide decline in performance on PISA, PIRLS, TIMSS… Strikingly little attention was paid to teaching and instruction, by the way. I deliberately did not write “learning outcomes”. This is because that touches on… Read More Are PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS still fit for our times?
Last Friday, I was in Warsaw with a large group of researchers to bring together different findings on the global decline in learning outcomes. Many different explanations were discussed. I added a new one myself, which I hope to tell you more about soon. In the meantime, I would like to share the already published… Read More 10-year-olds are more often tired at school (and that is bad news)
When discussing teacher shortages, we often focus on the reasons people leave the education profession. So let’s approach the issue from a different angle in this post by asking: why do teachers stay? This is the focus of a qualitative study by Wanyue Chen and colleagues. Qualitative research does not allow for causal claims and… Read More A teacher who stays does not always remain the same teacher
I’m not really a fan of YouTube Shorts, but this keeps me laughing every single episode! Check here for more Funny on Sunday.
No, this won’t be yet another blog post in which I criticise open learning spaces (I rarely do that anyway). Instead, it is about a fascinating new Finnish study. It is in line with a previous study also in Finland. What makes this study interesting is not so much the question of whether open or… Read More When pedagogical dreams meet school reality
Sometimes you read research that aligns beautifully with your vision. And sometimes it clashes with what you already knew, or thought you knew. For example, because it seems to contradict previous research you have read. Or worse, because it is not necessarily in line with… your own research. But that is precisely why I felt obliged… Read More Do we overestimate the effect of a good teacher-student relationship on learning performance?
Let’s be honest, young people are using AI chatbots en masse. Via Axios, I found this new assessment by the US organisation Common Sense Media. They discovered that 67 per cent of children aged 9 to 17 years old in the USA have used AI chatbots. 40 percent name ChatGPT as one of such tools.… Read More US watchdog warns about ChatGPT for teens
hIt is a complaint I sometimes make on this blog or on stage: quite a lot has already been written and researched about homework. Often, the discussion revolves around a fairly simple question: does homework work? Or, sometimes, a slightly more concrete one: how much homework should we assign, from what age does it make… Read More Another kind of study on homework
Investing in early childhood education through various programs happens in many places, but thanks to James Heckman, we know that sustaining — maintaining — such investments is important, because otherwise their effects can fade. That already explains part of the title of this post, which almost sounds like the beginning of a riddle. It is… Read More A parent program seemed to stop working after a few years. Until the schools closed.