When Algebra Becomes the Gatekeeper: What We Know About Supporting Students Who Struggle With Maths in High School

For many teenagers, the turning point in their school career comes with a single word: algebra. According to a new review by Blair Payne and colleagues in the Journal of Learning Disabilities (2025), failing Algebra I in Grade 9 is not just an academic hiccup. It can shape the rest of a student’s life. It… Read More When Algebra Becomes the Gatekeeper: What We Know About Supporting Students Who Struggle With Maths in High School

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Are Student Evaluations of Teaching Still Biased Against Women?

When we wrote More Urban Myths About Learning and Education, one of the chapters discussed whether male and female teachers are judged differently. We knew then that female teachers often receive less recognition than their male colleagues. This is not because they teach less effectively, but because the lens through which students (or pupils) evaluate… Read More Are Student Evaluations of Teaching Still Biased Against Women?

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A Guide for the Perplexed: What MIT’s New AI Guidebook Can Teach Schools

MIT has just published a guide on AI in schools, A Guide to AI in Schools: Perspectives for the Perplexed. Thanks to Remco Pijpers for pointing me to it. Right in the introduction, Justin Reich writes that a guide to AI in 2025 is akin to a manual for aviation in 1905: just after the… Read More A Guide for the Perplexed: What MIT’s New AI Guidebook Can Teach Schools

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The Simple Listening Technique That Calms Conflict

I came across a video featuring journalist and researcher Amanda Ripley, discussing how to communicate more effectively during conflict. Her work provides insights into better communication in conflict situations. We’ve all found ourselves in conversations that no longer feel like conversations. The tone sharpens, positions harden, and at some point, it’s no longer about the issue, but… Read More The Simple Listening Technique That Calms Conflict

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Funny on Sunday: Is this mushroom edible?

Found this cartoon via Dan Willingham. Check here for more Funny on Sunday.

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When Learning Feels Too Easy: What AI Tools Like ChatGPT Might Be Doing to Our Thinking

If you have ever used ChatGPT to understand a topic quickly, you may have noticed how efficient it feels. Within seconds, you get a clear, neatly packaged answer. It is often better written than what you would find through a random web search. However, according to new research from Wharton and New Mexico State University,… Read More When Learning Feels Too Easy: What AI Tools Like ChatGPT Might Be Doing to Our Thinking

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More Than Money: Why Access to Highbrow Culture Depends on More Than Your Wallet

We often assume that culture, especially highbrow culture, is a luxury reserved for those who can afford it. Opera tickets, gallery openings, theatre premieres: it is easy to imagine them as playgrounds of the wealthy. Yet new research by Joe Gladstone and Silvia Bellezza suggests that money is not the main key to those doors.… Read More More Than Money: Why Access to Highbrow Culture Depends on More Than Your Wallet

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Between Freedom and Responsibility: What Keeps Education Credible

Yesterday I gave the closing keynote at the annual conference of the NRO in Nieuwegein, The Netherlands, which, as of this week, will continue under a new name: the National Knowledge Institute for Education. A new name, but the same ambition: to make high-quality research meaningful in practice. Easier said than done, a bit like… Read More Between Freedom and Responsibility: What Keeps Education Credible

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What Educational Research Can Learn from Psychology’s Replication Crisis

Earlier this week, I wrote about the possibility that educational research might be heading for a crisis. Not necessarily a disaster, but perhaps a necessary shock. I received many reactions across the many channels social media now offers. For which, I thank you. One of those reactions pointed me towards a fascinating study that adds… Read More What Educational Research Can Learn from Psychology’s Replication Crisis

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School makes you smarter, even if you share 100% of your DNA!

The idea that intelligence is mostly in your genes is surprisingly persistent. Some people still seem to think your IQ is fixed at birth, as if it were like an internal serial number you carry for life. But as we explain in The Psychology of Great Teaching, the old nature-versus-nurture debate has long been outdated.… Read More School makes you smarter, even if you share 100% of your DNA!

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