It’s common to talk about learning as an investment. Economists talk about human capital, assuming that skills and knowledge, like machines or factories, are primarily things we can use to earn money. Of all the reasons to learn, solely making money is hardly the best. I spend most of my learning time on things I […]

I’ve argued before that we mostly learn by doing. Yet, if this is true, it creates a puzzle: why has school largely replaced apprenticeships as a mode for learning? The common answer is that apprenticeship works great for smithing and weaving, but modern work is mental. We need years of dedicated training inside the classroom […]

Today’s my birthday. Every year I share a birthday post with some personal reflections. Since this is now the fifteenth year I’ve been doing this, I won’t break tradition. The idea I’ve kept returning to this year is one of consolidation. Some of this is simply the changes imposed by parenthood. As I wrote previously, […]

Why read a book on the science of instruction? We are all teachers, even if most of us aren’t professional educators. Even if you don’t manage a classroom every day, teaching is an essential part of life. At work, you need to give presentations, coach new hires or explain the merits of a proposal to […]