Blog Posts

Created
Mon, 25/08/2025 - 21:17
August 25, 2025 Education for What? By Alfie Kohn To talk about curriculum (what to teach) or pedagogy (how to teach) is to bump up against the question of why to teach. What is the purpose of education? And why do so few people address this topic directly? Something similar can be observed in the field of psychology. A therapist’s ... Read More
Created
Mon, 24/02/2025 - 23:49
February 24, 2025 The *&%$!#! Baseball Study Why Are Fans of Fact-Focused Teaching Still Citing a Small, Unconvincing Experiment from the ’80s? By Alfie Kohn Traditional education has more often been practiced by default than explicitly defended. For the last few years, however, we have witnessed a defensive, defiant embrace of instructional strategies that turn back the clock, notably a ... Read More
Created
Wed, 18/09/2024 - 08:11
I realize that because I have several chairs, the phrase “my chair” is ambiguous. To reduce confusion, I will refer to the head of my academic department as “my office chair” going forward.
Created
Thu, 23/05/2024 - 21:50
May 23, 2024 The Siren Song of “Evidence-Based” Instruction By Alfie Kohn I’m geeky enough to get a little excited each time a psychology or education journal lands in my mailbox.1 Indeed, I’ve spent a fair portion of my life sorting through, critically analyzing, and writing about social science research. Even my books that are intended for general readers contain, ... Read More
Created
Mon, 04/03/2024 - 23:26
March 4, 2024 Cognitive Load Theory An Unpersuasive Attempt to Justify Direct Instruction By Alfie Kohn [For a half-hour interview and discussion with Kohn about this essay, see this video.] A remarkable body of research over many years has demonstrated that the sort of teaching in which students are provided with answers or shown the correct way to do something ... Read More