Paul Kirschner

Wonderwijs en de voorspelbare mislukking van het open leerplein Innovatie zonder kennis is geen innovatie. Het is gokken. En in dit geval gok je met kinderen, hun lestijd, en publiek geld.

Innovatie zonder kennis is geen innovatie. Het is gokken. En in dit geval gok je met kinderen, hun lestijd, en publiek geld.

Weer een school (Wonderwijs/Movare) die dacht bij de tijd, innovatief, bla bla te zijn, maar die zonder enige kennis van wat de wetenschap zei over open leerruimtes die voor miljoenen de school moet ombouwen omdat het niet werkt! Even praten met iemand met kennis had dit kunnen voorkomen!
#EduSky

30 seconds to midnight? 15? The Trump administration is literally playing with fire.

rEAD.tHIS.nOW
Code Red for Humanity? open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...

The $65,000 AI School, Revisited: Inside the AI Classroom That Promised Too Much A closer look inside Alpha School’s AI-driven model reveals pressure, surveillance, and learning reduced to metrics.

The $65,000 AI School, Revisited: Inside the AI Classroom That Promised Too Much

Lee Shulman wrote: It is bad enough to reinvent the wheel. What really hurts is when they reinvent the flat tire. And the flat tire appears to be kids as guinea pigs.
#EduSky
theeconomyofmeaning.com/2026/02/24/t...

AI tutoring outperforms in-class active learning: an RCT introducing a novel research-based design in an authentic educational setting - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - AI tutoring outperforms in-class active learning: an RCT introducing a novel research-based design in an authentic educational setting

While this sounds like an interesting study with promising results, there's a major problem: The researchers only measured performance (a quiz after class) and not actual learning (a delayed assessment). In other words, practically worthless for ed
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Seductive Appeal of Discovery Learning - kirschner-ED The idea that children learn better if they discover something themselves is attractive for many different reasons, in spite of the fact that empirical research tells a different story.

The persistent and seductive appeal of discovery learning, despite its limitations and failures, reflects a mix of cognitive biases, ideological commitments, and cultural narratives rather than any strong empirical support. #EduSky
www.kirschnered.nl/2025/03/30/t...

Guest post: Forget pickles and ice cream. I published a fake paper on pregnancy cravings for prime numbers Image generated by Google Gemini I had grown weary of the constant stream and abuse of spam invitations to submit manuscripts to journals and to attend fake conferences on the other side of the wor…

Here's a great publication hoax perpetrated by Pascal Diago, possibly comparable to the Sokal hoax (look it up if you're not familiar with it), about pregnancy cravings for prime numbers!

retractionwatch.com/2026/01/30/g...

Guest post: Forget pickles and ice cream. I published a fake paper on pregnancy cravings for prime numbers Image generated by Google Gemini I had grown weary of the constant stream and abuse of spam invitations to submit manuscripts to journals and to attend fake conferences on the other side of the wor…

@ionica.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy Goedemorgen Ionica - Misschien vind je deze leuk! Pregnancy and craving for prime numbers
retractionwatch.com/2026/01/30/g...

De Oefeningparadox - kirschner-ED Transfer-appropriate processing en contextual interference zijn geen vijanden. TAP vertelt ons welk soort denken het leren moet omvatten. Contextual interference is een krachtige manier om ervoor te z...

Transfer-appropriate processing vertelt ons welk soort denken het leren moet omvatten. Contextual interference zorgt ervoor dat het denken ook daadwerkelijk plaatsvindt. Als leren er op dat moment wat slechter uitziet, is dat misschien wat we willen.
#EduSky
www.kirschnered.nl/2026/02/13/d...

De Oefeningparadox Transfer-appropriate processing en contextual interference zijn geen vijanden. TAP vertelt ons welk soort denken het leren moet omvatten. Contextual interference is een krachtige manier om ervoor te zorgen dat het denken ook daadwerkelijk plaatsvindt. Als leren er op dat moment wat slechter uitziet, is dat misschien wel het duidelijkste teken dat het eindelijk doet wat we ervan willen.

Transfer-appropriate processing vertelt ons welk soort denken het leren moet omvatten. Contextual interference zorgt dat het denken ook daadwerkelijk plaatsvindt. Als leren er op dat moment wat slechter uitziet, is dat misschien wel het duidelijkste teken dat het eindelijk doet wat we ervan willen.

The Paradox of Practice Transfer-appropriate processing tells us what kind of thinking learning must involve. Contextual interference is one powerful way to ensure that kind of thinking actually happens. If learning looks a little worse in the moment, that may be the clearest sign that it’s finally doing what we want it to do.

Transfer-appropriate processing tells us what kind of thinking learning must involve. Contextual interference is one powerful way to ensure that kind of thinking actually happens. If learning looks a little worse in the moment, that may be the clearest sign that we're doing it right.

The Paradox of Practice What Should Align With What?

Transfer-appropriate processing tells us what kind of thinking learning must involve. Contextual interference is one powerful way to ensure that kind of thinking actually happens. #EduSky open.substack.com/pub/paulkirs...

I Told the Senate Gen-Z is Less Cognately Capable – Here’s What the IQ Data Actually Shows Something unusual is happening to student cognition. IQ scores are declining, and the skills most affected are the very ones schools were designed to build. Why?

Something has shifted within schools themselves. The values, habits, and cognitive skills that education once reliably supported are no longer being cultivated in the same way.

open.substack.com/pub/thedigit...

Almost finished writing a new book with the most amazing woman (@nsachdeva.bsky.social) on becoming an expert teacher.

Bedankt @pikloen.bsky.social

De Vergeten Wenselijke Moeilijkheid: Contextuele Interferentie Als het doel van lesgeven en onderwijs is dat leerlingen hun geleerde buiten het klaslokaal gebruiken, dan is dat ongemak de prijs die we moeten betalen

Als het doel van lesgeven en onderwijs is dat leerlingen hun geleerde buiten het klaslokaal gebruiken, dan is dat ongemak de prijs die we moeten betalen

"this isn't an academic school" Why that claim doesn’t justify lower-quality instruction.

"this isn't an academic school" - A variation on the soft bigotry of low expectations by Caiti Wade open.substack.com/pub/thedisru...

Another Forgotten Desirable Difficulty: Contextual Interference - kirschner-ED If the goal of teaching and education is for students to use what they learn beyond the classroom, that discomfort is the price we must pay. Contextual interference forces learners to determine what r...

If the goal of education is for students to use what they learn beyond the classroom, discomfort is the price we must pay. Contextual interference forces learners to determine what remains when everything else changes. #EduSky
www.kirschnered.nl/2026/02/09/a...

Another Forgotten Desirable Difficulty: Contextual Interference If the goal of teaching and education is for students to use what they learn beyond the classroom, that discomfort is the price we must pay. Contextual interference forces learners to determine what remains when everything else changes. And that may be one of the most important things education can do.

If the goal is for students to use what they learn beyond the classroom, that discomfort is the price we must pay. Contextual interference forces learners to determine what remains when everything else changes. And that may be one of the most important things education can do.

3-Read Friday #100 Failure, feedback and QLAs

See Craig Barton's 3-Read Friday #100 open.substack.com/pub/eedi/p/3...

Why Must Schools Be Ugly? We used to build grand cathedrals of learning. Today’s schools look like warehouses or worse.

Why Are Schools So Ugly?
Interesting way of looking at schools that I never considered. Thanks @rpondiscio.bsky.social for opening my eyes to this view.
open.substack.com/pub/thenext3...

Thanks

Tech-Free January I cut technology out of my classroom for a month. Here's how it went.

Tech-Free January
@dylankane.bsky.social does a digital detox. Here's how it went.
open.substack.com/pub/fivetwel...

De vergeten wenselijke moeilijkheid: Minder feedback Minder feedback — en vooral feedback die bewust verschuift van specifiek naar algemeen — is een stille maar krachtige manier om het denken terug te leggen waar het hoort: bij de leerling. En dat is precies waar onderwijs over zou moeten gaan.

Minder feedback — en vooral feedback die bewust verschuift van specifiek naar algemeen — is een stille maar krachtige manier om het denken terug te leggen waar het hoort: bij de leerling. En dat is precies waar onderwijs over zou moeten gaan.

The Forgotten Desirable Difficulty – Reduced Feedback Reduced feedback, and especially feedback that’s deliberately faded from specific to general, is a quiet but powerful way to shift responsibility from the teacher’s correction to the learner’s cognition. And that’s exactly what education is supposed to do.

Reduced feedback, and especially feedback that’s deliberately faded from specific to general, is a quiet but powerful way to shift responsibility from the teacher’s correction to the learner’s cognition. And that’s exactly what education is supposed to do.

Hoogleraar gaf geen cijfers meer vanwege AI: 'Ik hoef helemaal geen goed essay'

Ik lees de zinnige woorden van @felienne.bsky.social over AI, onderwijs en toetsing maar verder lees ik dat ook een ex-schaatser en de CEO van een winkelbedrijf ook meent iets te moeten zeggen. Als je niets weet over iets, houd dan je mond!

wnl.tv/2026/01/26/h...

Why do I need to know this? Why foundational knowledge matters

Why do I need to know this?
Great blog by @nsachdeva.bsky.social and @jim-hewitt.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/scienceo...

Same here. I wanted to get off for years but had cold feet. I'm X-free for a few days now and my world hasn't ended.

Onderwijsillusies (Paul Kirschner, Jim Heal, Carl Hendrick) Veel van wat er gebeurt tijdens leren en lesgeven blijft voor het oog verborgen. Net als bij een overtuigende goocheltruc wijkt wat we denken te zien in de klas vaak sterk af van wat er werkelijk gebe...

Het is zo ver! Onderwijsillusies, het nieuwe boek van @carlhendrick.substack.com, Jim Heal en mij is gedrukt en kan besteld worden! #EduSky
telos.vrijeboeken.com/book/9789083...

My Twitter/X account has been hacked, and I can no longer access it. In other words, I'm no longer on Twitter/X and any new messages aren't from me. You can still follow me on BlueSky. Please spread the word here and also on Twitter/X.