The ThoughtStretchers Podcast

The ThoughtStretchers Podcast delivers thoughtful heterodox conversations to stretch your thinking about important issues in education.

Bridging The Science of Learning And Inquiry With Socratic Experience 07/30/2025

Bridging The Science of Learning And Inquiry With Socratic Experience talks with Michael Strong, founder of The Socratic Experience, a K–12 high-touch virtual school that equips students through Socratic dialogue, 1:1 mentoring, and creative and entrepreneurial projects. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/37578915

Is The Science of Learning 'Soul Destroying'? 07/24/2025

Is The Science of Learning 'Soul Destroying'? talks with teacher-educator Rachael Jefferson about her Education HQ article from an interview that is critical of the Science of Learning movement. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/37519350

How To Have Nuanced Conversation 07/14/2025

How To Have Nuanced Conversation talks with Shane Leaning as a guest on his Education Leaders podcast about how to have conversations that focus on nuance, complexity, and understanding. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/37402030

AI In Education 05/30/2025

AI In Education talks with Songyee Yoon, author and founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Principal Venture Partners (PVP), where she focuses on investing in AI-native companies transforming industries. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/36791350

Powerful Knowledge And A Capabilities Curriculum 05/21/2025

Powerful Knowledge And A Capabilities Curriculum talks with teacher and author, Richard Bustin, about his book What Are We Teaching? /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/36659150

Science Of Learning, PBL, And Inquiry: A Salon Conversation 05/09/2025

Science Of Learning, PBL, And Inquiry: A Salon Conversation is joined by Andrew Watson, Dr. Cindy Nebel, and Fox Demoisey to discuss the intersections between the Science of Learning, project-based learning, and inquiry. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/36511900

Anti-DEI And Enlightenment Liberal Principles 04/16/2025

Anti-DEI And Enlightenment Liberal Principles talks with Tim Minella, Senior Constitutionalism Fellow at The Goldwater Institute, about their work to eliminate DEI in higher education. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/36187900

DEI: Expansive or Restrictive? A Salon Conversation 04/10/2025

DEI: Expansive or Restrictive? A Salon Conversation is joined by educators and DEI practitioners Carlos Hoyt, Daryl Sinclair, and Nunana Nyomi for a salon-style conversation about the complexities and nuances of DEI. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/36085720

Powerful Questioning, Powerful Pedagogy 04/02/2025

Powerful Questioning, Powerful Pedagogy talks with Bruce Robertson about his new book, Power Up Your Questioning: A Practical Handbook for Teachers. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/35889185

Breaking The Generational Cycle Of Poverty 03/26/2025

Breaking The Generational Cycle Of Poverty talks with Dr. Abraham George about his work to help children transcend India's caste system through education and his Shanti Bhavan School. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/35869920

Differentiated Instruction With Modern Classrooms Project 03/19/2025

Differentiated Instruction With Modern Classrooms Project talks with Robert Barnett, Modern Classrooms Project cofounder, about his new book, Meet Every Learner's Needs: Redesigning Instruction So All Students Can Succeed. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/35779145

The Knowledge Revival, Curriculum For Deep Thinking 03/12/2025

The Knowledge Revival, Curriculum For Deep Thinking hosted this conversation with Paul Kirschner, Claudio Vanhees, and Daniel Muijs, three of the ten co-authors of the open-access book, Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking: The Knowledge Revival. This was a ThoughtStretchers Community event that included registered participant questions. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/35653660

Beyond Phonics, The Challenge Of Teaching Dyslexic Students 03/05/2025

Beyond Phonics, The Challenge Of Teaching Dyslexic Students talks with, parent, Jackie Castillo-Blaber, and parent/teacher Melinda Karshner about the challenges of teaching reading to dyslexic students. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/35547020

Centering Educational Progress 02/26/2025

Centering Educational Progress talks with Jack Despain Zhou about his project to establish a new think tank called Center for Educational Progress. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/35439470

How Should We Be Teaching History? 02/19/2025

How Should We Be Teaching History? talks with Jonathon Dallimore about his book, Teaching History: A Practical Guide for Secondary School Teachers. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/35352265

The Essential Howard Gardner 02/13/2025

The Essential Howard Gardner talks with Howard Gardner about his two new books, The Essential Howard Gardner On Education and On Mind, both reflections on his academic career and work. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/35269680

Cognitive Load Theory: A Reflective Conversation 02/05/2025

Cognitive Load Theory: A Reflective Conversation hosts this salon-style conversation with Dylan Wiliam, Oliver Caviglioli, Carl Hendrick, and Christian Bokhove about Cognitive Load Theory. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/35162910

School Choice Debate And Dialogue 01/30/2025

School Choice Debate And Dialogue This episode is the recording of a live discussion about school choice and vouchers, hosted by Drew Perkins, with Josh Cowen and Neal McCluskey as part of our ThoughtStretchers Community. It includes RSVP'd guests and their questions. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/35090425

Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking: The Knowledge Revival 01/23/2025

Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking: The Knowledge Revival This episode is another experimentation in AI-generated podcast 'conversations', this time about the recent open-access publication Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking: The Knowledge Revival. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/34964880

Katharine Birbalsingh On Multiculturalism And Quality Education 01/10/2025

Katharine Birbalsingh On Multiculturalism And Quality Education talks with Katharine Birbalsingh, Headmistress of London's Michaela School about her approach to multiculturalism and the role of knowledge and inquiry in quality education. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/34806045

Knowledge Doesn't Equal Understanding 01/01/2025

Knowledge Doesn't Equal Understanding talks with Christian Moore-Anderson about his Knowledge Doesn't Equal Understanding blog piece. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/34684075

4 Ways School Leaders Can Navigate Polarizing Culture-War Issues 12/13/2024

4 Ways School Leaders Can Navigate Polarizing Culture-War Issues This episode is AI-generated and includes an AI-generated reading of a recent blog piece followed by an AI-generated conversation. It uses our published blog piece, 4 Ways School Leaders Can Navigate Polarizing Culture-War Issues, written by as the source material. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/34433265

Finding Enlightenment 12/06/2024

Finding Enlightenment talks with Susan Kaiser Greenland about her latest book, Real-world Enlightenment: Discovering Ordinary Magic in Everyday Life. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/34317840

How To Make Inquiry Based Learning Knowledge-Rich 12/02/2024

How To Make Inquiry Based Learning Knowledge-Rich This episode is an AI-generated podcast conversation using NotebookLM. It uses our published blog piece written by as the source material. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/34245660

Bridging The Gap Between Ed Research And Practice 11/30/2024

Bridging The Gap Between Ed Research And Practice talks with Nate Hansford about his book The Scientific Principles of Teaching. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/34210500

How To Transform A Struggling School 11/21/2024

How To Transform A Struggling School talks with NASSP 2025 Principal of the Year, Tracie Swilley, about her work to turn around a struggling school. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/34086451

Culturally Responsive Teaching That Is Cognitively Responsive 11/13/2024

Culturally Responsive Teaching That Is Cognitively Responsive talks with Zaretta Hammond about her work and her focus on making culturally responsive teaching more cognitively responsive. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/33914782

How To Attract And Retain High-Quality Teachers 11/07/2024

How To Attract And Retain High-Quality Teachers talks with Heather Peske, President of the National Council on Teacher Quality, about their recently published executive summary, Reimagining the Teaching Role: How Strategic Staffing Can Attract and Retain Effective Teachers. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/33829307

The Case Against School Choice Vouchers 10/30/2024

The Case Against School Choice Vouchers talks with Josh Cowen about his book, The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/33692657

Grappling With Student Mental Health 10/23/2024

Grappling With Student Mental Health talks with Karen Foley, President of JPA Chicago, about their work to address student mental health in the Chicago area. /episode/index/show/teachthought/id/33590772

The ThoughtStretchers Podcast

TOPICS