Chalk & Talk

Why do students forget what they’ve learned, and why is it so difficult to apply knowledge in new situations? Anna Stokke is joined by researcher and author Héctor Ruiz Martín to discuss what cognitive science tells us about learning and effective teaching. They explore the role of prior knowledge, why transfer is difficult, and how retrieval practice, spacing, assessment, motivation, and feedback...

What if many of the errors students make in math are predictable consequences of the way we teach them? In this episode, Anna is joined by Kristopher Boulton, founder and CEO of Unstoppable Learning to explore how better instructional design can help prevent misconceptions and make difficult math concepts more accessible.  Kris insists that it should be possible to achieve 100% success in math for...

In this episode, Anna is joined by Dr. Montserrat Gomendio, former Deputy Director for Education at the OECD, to discuss the newly released PISA 2025 results. They explore why student achievement is falling in many countries.  They discuss whether COVID, smartphones, and AI explain the declines, why some education systems are holding up better than others, and what policymakers can learn from coun...

In this episode, Anna is joined by two elementary school teachers from California who are appearing anonymously so they can speak candidly about their experiences. Both teach at a school where math achievement has remained consistently low. After watching many of their students struggle with the curriculum they were expected to use (Illustrative Math), they began exploring research, learning about...

In this episode, Anna is joined by returning guest Dr. Brian Poncy to discuss math fact fluency and whether improving students’ fluency with basic number operations leads to better overall math achievement. Brian shares new results from the first year of a large implementation of the free Facts on Fire program in a Texas school district. They discuss what the data shows, how the program has evolve...

In this episode, Anna is joined by returning guests Dr. Nidhi Sachdeva and Dr. Paul Kirschner, authors of the upcoming book Becoming an Expert Teacher: Deliberate Practice for Effective Teaching. They explore what makes an expert teacher and how teaching expertise can be deliberately developed. They discuss the importance of deep subject knowledge, mental models, deliberate practice, and reflectio...

In this solo episode, Anna Stokke explores five common misconceptions in math education that may sound convincing but aren't supported by high-quality evidence. This episode is based on a chapter she wrote for The Practice Project, which is a joint initiative of the American Enterprise Institute and researchED, dedicated to improving classroom practice through research-informed professional knowle...

In this episode, Anna Stokke is joined by Rachel Canter, Director of Education Policy for the Reinventing America's Schools Project and author of the report Inside the Mississippi Marathon. They explore how Mississippi transformed from one of the lowest-performing states in fourth grade reading and math to one of the highest-performing in the U.S., despite Mississippi being one of the poorest stat...

In this episode, Anna Stokke is joined by Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion and one of the most influential voices on effective teaching practice. They discuss educational equity and why strong teaching, clear behaviour routines, high expectations, and academic rigor are essential for helping every student succeed. They also discuss practical classroom strategies, including how to use co...

In this special two-part Chalk & Talk mailbag series, Anna Stokke is joined by Jonathan Regino, Pre-K–12 Supervisor of Math at Interboro School District, to answer questions submitted by listeners. In Part 2, Anna and Jonathan tackle topics such as calculators in IEPs, math fact fluency, teacher content knowledge, the importance of mastering fractions, the role of NCTM in math education, and w...

In this special two-part Chalk & Talk mailbag episode, Anna Stokke is joined by Jonathan Regino, Pre-K–12 Supervisor of Math at Interboro School District, to answer questions submitted by listeners. Together, they answer questions from teachers and parents about math resources, explicit instruction, teaching mixed ability classes, supporting advanced learners, and more. Drawing on their experi...

In this episode, Anna Stokke is joined by Robert Peal, joint head teacher of West London Free School, one of England’s highest-performing non-selective schools.  Robert is also the author of Progressively Worse and co-author, with Nick Gibb, of Reforming Lessons:  Why English Schools Have Improved Since 2010 and How This Was Achieved. Anna visited West London Free School recently and invited Rober...

In this episode, Anna Stokke continues the conversation from the previous episode on what happens when requests for evidence are dismissed with the phrase “research shows.” She is joined by Thomas Briggs and David Shuck from the Center for Educational Progress to explore why ineffective or unsupported practices persist in education. Thomas and David introduce an important distinction between misun...

In this episode, Anna Stokke explores what to do when a math program or education initiative doesn’t seem to work, but you’re told "research shows" that it does. Drawing on her personal experience as both a parent and educator navigating “research shows” claims, Anna explains how parents, teachers, and advocates can ask for evidence, evaluate what counts as credible research, and respond when weak...

In this episode, Anna is joined by Professor Joanna Barbousas, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Education, Impact and Innovation, and Dean of the School of Education at La Trobe University in Australia. Early in her career, Joanna noticed that many capable students struggled to access the curriculum due to gaps in foundational reading and language skills—an insight that has shaped her work ever since. Now,...

In this episode, Anna is joined by Dr. Montserrat (Montse) Gomendio, a former Secretary of State for Education in Spain.  Montse is also a former Deputy Director of Education for the OECD, the international organization that administers the PISA test. Drawing on global data, including from PISA, Montse explains why some education systems consistently perform well while others struggle to improve....

In this episode, Anna is joined by Dr. John Sweller, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales and the researcher best known for developing Cognitive Load Theory. Together, they explore how cognitive load theory should guide classroom practice, particularly in mathematics. John explains the limits of working memory, how experts and novices approach problem solving differently, and ho...

In this episode, Anna is joined by two world-renowned experts in human memory and learning, Dr. Elizabeth Bjork and Dr. Robert Bjork, to explore what makes a difficulty desirable in learning. They explain why some learning strategies that feel effortful often leads to stronger, longer-lasting retention while strategies that feel easy, like rereading or rewatching lectures without self-testing, or...

In this episode, Anna is joined once again by Dr. Sarah Powell, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin whose research focusses on supporting students with math difficulties. They respond to a recent NCSM statement criticizing the Science of Math movement. Anna and Sarah unpack what the Science of Math is and why high-quality evidence matters.  They address misconceptions about explicit i...

In this episode, Anna is joined by Tom Sherrington, education consultant, author of Rosenshine’s Principles in Action, co-author of the Teaching Walkthrough series, and a former teacher and school leader with over 30 years of experience. Tom shares how Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction became a foundational framework for his own practice and why they remain one of the most useful entry points...

In this episode, Anna is joined by Craig Barton, former secondary maths teacher, host of the Mr. Barton Maths Podcast, author of How I Wish I’d Taught Maths, and a new Tips for Teachers book series. Craig reflects on how his teaching evolved after engaging deeply with learning science and educational research. Together, they explore what effective explicit instruction looks like in math from atomi...

In this episode, Anna is joined by Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, a cognitive neuroscientist, educator, and bestselling author of The Digital Delusion. They examine what decades of research and international data reveal about classroom technology, screens, multitasking, attention, and memory, and why more technology often leads to less learning. Jared explains how offloading knowledge to devices can un...

In this episode, Anna is joined by two familiar guests, mathematician and founder of JUMP Math, Dr. John Mighton, and learning expert and bestselling author Dr. Barbara Oakley. They discuss their new Coursera course, Making Math Click: Understanding Math Without Fear, what learning science reveals about how students learn math, and why practice and worked examples play such a critical role in buil...

In this episode, Anna talks with Dr. Jonas Linderoth, a professor of education at the University of Gothenburg, about how influential educational ideas have shaped the teaching profession and why evidence from cognitive science and educational psychology still faces resistance in teacher education. They discuss how education reforms of the 1990s affected teacher status and student outcomes, and Jo...

In this episode, Anna talks with Dr. George Georgiou, an educational psychologist and professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta, whose work focuses on preventing and remediating reading difficulties. The episode explores recent Human Rights Commission investigations in Canadian provinces that examined why students haven’t been taught to read using effective, evidence-based...