Math anxiety: meta analysis of longitudinal studies suggests a bi-directional relationship. Being bad at math makes you anxious when doing it AND being anxious about it impairs performance. psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...

Retractions in medical journals disproportionately less likely to include women authors. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Using PISA data from 73 countries, researchers estimated the extent to which growth mindset mediates the association of SES on achievement, and find results consistent w/ the picture of the last 10 years. It's a real effect. It's small. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Exercise improves academic performance in Norwegian college students (open) www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1...

Every psychologist knows this feeling: you’re not mad that these two sections are adjacent. You’re grateful that they’re separate sections.

Data from Peru: telling women they've met the exam cut-off to pursue a STEM major increases the probability they'll take it. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Although it's commonly believed that left-handedness is associated with creativity...it's not. link.springer.com/article/10.3...

Really inspiring review of five decades of cardiac medicine that almost certainly kept Dick Cheney alive, his first heart attack was at age 37...and the importance of the US scientific infrastructure--currently under existential threat--to those miracles. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

The circle of hell Dante forgot - Who Raised You - is teeming w people who put their bags on Amtrak seats. Their curse is to eternally battle NJ Transiters watching videos at full blast & those who trample tiny kids to deplane 30 sec sooner. Feels like a promising reality tv concept.

BREAKING: Survey by @nature.com reveals that "supervisors who make a conscious effort to support and mentor their PhD candidates have more-satisfied students." Science marches on! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

RCT of Montessori preschool: at end of K, significantly higher reading, short-term memory, theory of mind, and executive function scores. Intention-to-treat effect sizes > .20. www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

Not so fast…UVa rejects compact but is reportedly near a deal w the feds www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...

uva rejects the compact

I review Google's new AI tool. Not ready, not really close to ready, but shows promise. dtwuva.substack.com/p/will-googl...

Why do people share fake news? "While perceived message truth was the main driver of persuasion, message transmission was primarily driven by positive emotion and social engagement, indicating that social connection is prioritized during information sharing." psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

I've just learned of Art Reber's death. Art was a leader in an area of research that was my main focus early in my career. He was a great psychologist and unfailingly kind. www.molesfarewelltributes.com/obituaries/a...

Are the Purported Causes of NAEP Score Decline Actually Symptoms? open.substack.com/pub/dtwuva/p...

ICYMI: The effect of digital tech on children's attention...less likely affecting whether they *can* pay attention and more likely affecting whether they *choose* to. www.educationnext.org/pay-attentio...

State takeovers of districts *not* associated with improved student performance in reading or math. Especially striking as you'd at least expect regression to the mean effects. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Why aren't practices based on research implemented in schools? @tomdee.bsky.social has insights, and ideas for change. www.edweek.org/leadership/o...

Have student's attention spans been decimated by digital technologies? In @educationnext.bsky.social I look at the data and conclude that's not the problem. www.educationnext.org/pay-attentio...

Preschool shows smaller advantage than observed in 1960s and 70s--why? Todays programs have too much -whole-class instruction in math & reading & kids who *don't* go have, on average better experiences. files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED6...

A deep dive from @gtoppo.bsky.social on why kids aren't reading for pleasure www.the74million.org/article/why-...

Drop in LLM Chatbot usage when school lets out for the summer. (Data from OpenRouter, reported by @morningbrew.bsky.social)

Across subjects and grades (6th-college) prequestions improve learning--new evidence from real classrooms (open) psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

New review of meta-analyses on the effect of S-T relationships shows large sig relations with 8 clusters of S outcomes: acad ach, acad emotions, student behavior, beh problems, exec funct, motiv, school belonging and engagement, & well-being. psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-...

New substack: LLM Chatbots Are the Inscrutable Unknown Variable in Lesson Plans dtwuva.substack.com/p/llm-chatbo...

New evidence that people are starting to talk like ChatGPT www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Roundtable on study strategies with Roddy Roediger, Nidhi Sachdeva, Jared Cooney Horvath, and me, hosted by Kennet Fröjd open.spotify.com/episode/0u3R...

US Reading decline is dramatic over the last 20 years, but no decline among teens...because they never read much in the first place, a point I've been harping on for years, as people often focus on social media & teens re: ⬇️ in reading.

British education minister Nick Gibb explains that England rose in international math and reading rankings by embracing the ideas of American leaders @dtwuva.bsky.social and ED Hirsch… Both of whom are broadly ignored here in America. fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

New Substack: review of Tim Shanahan's new book, Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives. dtwuva.substack.com/p/a-simple-p...

New Substack: review of Tim Shanahan's new book, Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives. dtwuva.substack.com/p/a-simple-p...

US ignores home-grown education ideas that are accelerating progress overseas. fordhaminstitute.org/national/com...

"Perhaps one of the biggest threats that A.I. poses to education isn’t that it’s going to make educators useless, but that it is going to make educators so much more necessary than we are willing to invest in." @tressiemcphd.bsky.social on AI in ed, w/ Jessica Grose www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...

Do pedagogical agents in digital learning influence motivation? New meta-analysis concludes they affect self-efficacy expectations and interest but not other motivational beliefs (open). link.springer.com/article/10.1...

"Controlling for rich measures of cognitive and personality skills and social background, we find substantial benefits [of scholastic athletics] at all levels. Participation in athletics promotes social mobility for disadvantaged and minority students." www.nber.org/papers/w34046

This may be relevant to some of you: I'm not reviewing manuscripts for any journal that asks for the use of my personal data. It's enough that I'm providing free labor by reviewing. For many journals, I cannot access the ms for review unless I agree to use of my data. Oh, well.

This podcast w Tim Shanahan is by the far the easiest way to get up to speed on the research on levelled readers. HIGHLY recommend! (If you want to skip intro, dig in at about 7:30). amplify.com/episode/scie...

"students spend a total of just two hours a day on subjects like reading and math, using A.I.-driven software." Son of a biscuit, people, how many times do you have to see this movie before you know how it ends? www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u...

New substack: What is the science of reading? And why the definition matters.... dtwuva.substack.com/p/what-is-th...

Is AI eroding our critical thinking? I'm on The Inquiry via @bbcworldservice www.bbc.com/audio/play/w...

WHOLE BOOKS! I pop into this wonderful podcast episode from @douglemov.bsky.social via @knowledgematrs.bsky.social on the value of reading whole books knowledgematterscampaign.org/post/ep-4-li...

Nu beschikbaar!

The problems posed by LLMs for education are immediate and obvious, and the promised benefits remain untested and uncertain. But I see one way that LLMs may inadvertently improve student thinking. substack.com/inbox/post/1...

New data suggests that Race to the Top policies had small positive effects on student achievement, as measured by NAEP reading & math scores. I called that one wrong, I was sure they would have no impact. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3...