Does social-emotional learning really work? A new meta-analysis on prosocial behavior adds nuance to the debate.

Social-emotional learning, or SEL as it is often abbreviated, remains one of those topics where discussions veer off in all directions remarkably quickly. For some, it is almost the solution to everything that goes wrong in education: from bullying to learning deficits, and from well-being to citizenship. For others, it has become nothing more than… Read More Does social-emotional learning really work? A new meta-analysis on prosocial behavior adds nuance to the debate.

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Too Funny: Nearly AI

It’s Monday, I know, but this is too funny to wait for Sunday to share with you! View this post on Instagram

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What Is Critical Thinking, Actually?

Sometimes it feels as if everyone suddenly wants to think critically, or at least wants schools to teach children how to do it. It appears in curricula, policy documents, vision statements, and endless discussions about so-called “21st century skills,” as if critical thinking were not needed before the 21st century. Teachers are expected to foster… Read More What Is Critical Thinking, Actually?

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Is Learning Social? AI Schools Are Reopening an Old Debate

Lately, some discussions on Twitter/X got me thinking again about a surprisingly old educational question: is learning fundamentally social or not? Part of the debate was triggered by discussions around AI-driven schools like Alpha School, where students spend far less time in traditional instruction and much more time in highly individualised learning environments supported by… Read More Is Learning Social? AI Schools Are Reopening an Old Debate

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Funny on Sunday: Upside Down (by Jim Henson)

Last week I visited the Museum of the Moving Image in NY. I was especially interested in their huge Jim Henson collection on the second floor. There, I took a picture of this cartoon, drawn by a young Jim! Check here for more Funny on Sunday.

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Why Are ADHD Diagnoses Rising Worldwide? A Different Perspective on a Complex Debate

During a talk in Belgium last week, I was asked a question by a school leader that I seem to hear more and more often: Why are we seeing so many more diagnoses, such as ADHD, than before? Is there really an explosive increase? Have children changed? Or are we looking differently? Not coincidentally, shortly… Read More Why Are ADHD Diagnoses Rising Worldwide? A Different Perspective on a Complex Debate

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Cooperative Learning in Mathematics: Effective, But Only When Done Well

Working together in maths class works. At least, that seems to be the conclusion of a new systematic review published in the British Educational Research Journal. Patricia Hampson and colleagues examined research on cooperative learning in mathematics classes with students aged 11 to 16. Their conclusion is quite positive: in eight of the nine selected… Read More Cooperative Learning in Mathematics: Effective, But Only When Done Well

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Why do differences between children appear so early in life?

Whenever an international report, such as the recent IELS study, is published, reactions quickly follow that basically amount to: “See? My solution was right all along.” I’m probably guilty of that myself from time to time. So today I wanted to try something different by putting two very different sources next to each other to… Read More Why do differences between children appear so early in life?

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One of the better AI-in-education studies? ChatGPT feedback versus teacher feedback

A lot of AI research in education currently suffers from the same problem: small samples, short interventions, weak control groups, and, surprisingly, large conclusions about how “AI is transforming education.” The result is that for researchers, and honestly for me as well, reading the literature often feels like carefully weeding through a huge amount of… Read More One of the better AI-in-education studies? ChatGPT feedback versus teacher feedback

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Children are not born as blank slates, but as overstuffed bookcases

It is quite literally an age-old debate. Are children born as a blank slate, or is everything already determined from the start? These are two positions that have alternated for centuries, usually in slightly more modern packaging, from behaviourism to insights from genetics. One emphasises environment and experience, the other focuses on disposition and biology.… Read More Children are not born as blank slates, but as overstuffed bookcases

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