Many people intuitively assume that schools intervene when students are bullied. That seems both logical and desirable. Bullying at school has clear consequences for well-being, school experience and sometimes even educational trajectories (see, for example, here). Moreover, we expect schools to create a safe environment. But what is a typical school response when bullying occurs?… Read More How Do Schools Respond to Bullying?
Some years ago, I wrote a post about a review by Hawthorne and colleagues that led to an interesting hypothesis: well-being might help learning by reducing cognitive load. The idea is intuitively appealing. When students feel bad, are stressed, or have something on their mind, stress will take a part of their mental capacity. This… Read More Does well-being improve learning by reducing cognitive load? It’s more complicated than that
Artificial intelligence is everywhere. That will not surprise anyone. Large language models such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini or Claude have quickly become part of our daily digital landscape. Students use them. Teachers use them. Policymakers use them. And those who don’t sometimes feel a subtle pressure to at least give them a try. I… Read More AI fatigue: I’m Getting a Little Tired of AI
In recent years, the idea of evidence-informed education has been increasingly discussed in discussions about teaching. Policymakers refer to it. Research groups promote it. In conversations about education, it has almost become a default reference point: schools and teachers who should use research. From my own perspective, I am certainly not against this idea. Quite… Read More Evidence-informed education requires more than good intentions: How does research actually reach the classroom?
Scientific fraud is often presented as a problem of individual researchers crossing the line. Think of cases such as Diederik Stapel, more recently Dan Ariely, or even Oliver Sacks. Someone fabricates data. Someone manipulates an image. And then someone writes an article that simply isn’t correct. But a recent PNAS study by Richardson et al. suggests that… Read More Paper Mills and the Industrialisation of Scientific Fraud
Following my previous blog post about executive functions and the possible effects of the COVID period, I received an interesting question from a reader. In their staff room, they wondered whether something else might also play a role. Not only children’s own screen time, but also parents’ technology use. If parents are frequently on their… Read More Do Parents’ Smartphones Affect Children’s Attention and Behaviour?
Check here for more Funny on Sunday.
It is a remark I have heard more than once over the past few years from teachers, or seen appearing in Teacher Tapp results. Not as a grand theory or dramatic analysis, but simply as an observation from the classroom: “Since Covid, it seems as if some pupils have more difficulty paying attention.”“It takes longer… Read More Since the pandemic, some pupils seem to find it harder to sustain their attention
Autonomy is one of those concepts in education that almost automatically sounds positive. Giving students autonomy. Offering choices. Encouraging self-direction. However, autonomy frustration in school can be a real issue for both students and teachers. But in our psychology book and also here on this blog, I have discussed before that the story is somewhat… Read More Autonomy at School: The Difference Between “Having No Choice” and “Being Forced”
The idea that some people are “left-brain types” and others “right-brain types” is one of the most persistent educational myths I have been fighting for more than ten years. The notion was invented by an advertising man in New York in the previous century, yet it remains remarkably popular. New brain studies only make that… Read More Why intelligence is not located in one hemisphere of the brain (new research)