Dan Willingham
@dtwuva.bsky.social
Professor @UVa who's puttin' the funk back in functional brain imaging and the psycho in psychometrics. One study is just one study, folks.
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....
October 22, 2025 at 11:06 AM
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....
uva rejects the compact
October 17, 2025 at 8:42 PM
uva rejects the compact
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...
September 30, 2025 at 2:48 PM
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...
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/...
September 14, 2025 at 8:58 PM
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/...
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...
September 8, 2025 at 1:36 PM
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...
Drop in LLM Chatbot usage when school lets out for the summer. (Data from OpenRouter, reported by @morningbrew.bsky.social)
August 31, 2025 at 10:33 AM
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...
August 29, 2025 at 3:28 PM
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-...
August 29, 2025 at 12:26 AM
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-...
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.
August 21, 2025 at 11:33 AM
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.
New Substack: review of Tim Shanahan's new book, Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives. dtwuva.substack.com/p/a-simple-p...
August 19, 2025 at 9:03 PM
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...
August 19, 2025 at 8:57 PM
New Substack: review of Tim Shanahan's new book, Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives. dtwuva.substack.com/p/a-simple-p...
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...
August 12, 2025 at 1:21 PM
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
August 12, 2025 at 12:54 PM
"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
Is AI eroding our critical thinking? I'm on The Inquiry via @bbcworldservice www.bbc.com/audio/play/w...
July 17, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Is AI eroding our critical thinking? I'm on The Inquiry via @bbcworldservice www.bbc.com/audio/play/w...
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...
July 7, 2025 at 9:52 AM
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...
Video lectures: is engagement/learning affected by whether instructor visibility? No, but engagement is improved is the student's *preference* for visibility is honored. Also, they replicated the finding that speeding the lecture improved learning efficiency onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
July 3, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Video lectures: is engagement/learning affected by whether instructor visibility? No, but engagement is improved is the student's *preference* for visibility is honored. Also, they replicated the finding that speeding the lecture improved learning efficiency onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Always loved the phrase "the windy side of care" but never knew just what Shakespeare meant by it. So I asked ChatGPT, which put the words in the mouth of the wrong character ("It's classic Benedick"), in a quotation that doesn't appear in the play. So I guess I still don't know.
July 3, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Always loved the phrase "the windy side of care" but never knew just what Shakespeare meant by it. So I asked ChatGPT, which put the words in the mouth of the wrong character ("It's classic Benedick"), in a quotation that doesn't appear in the play. So I guess I still don't know.
Cool people are the same everywhere. psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
July 1, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Cool people are the same everywhere. psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
An introductory course makes people think they know more about a subject than they do. pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1...
June 16, 2025 at 10:56 AM
An introductory course makes people think they know more about a subject than they do. pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Does screen use lead to socioemotional problems in children, or do socioemotional problems prompt children to engage in more screen time? Both, concludes a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies, and both effects are small (open) psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
June 10, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Does screen use lead to socioemotional problems in children, or do socioemotional problems prompt children to engage in more screen time? Both, concludes a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies, and both effects are small (open) psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
Whoever you think I think this cartoon refers to, you're probably right.
May 29, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Whoever you think I think this cartoon refers to, you're probably right.