The Learning Curve Podcast

Wednesdays at 12 pm

The Learning Curve is where you’ll find straight talk about the nation’s hottest education stories—news and opinion from the schoolyard to the campaign trail. Cohosts Gerard Robinson and Cara Candal serve up provocative commentary and interview school leaders, innovators, bestselling authors, policymakers and more.

Listeners can find The Learning Curve on iTunes (Apple Podcasts), Stitcher, Spotify, and the Choice Media mobile app. Also find it online at Ricochet and Pioneer Institute. Follow The Learning Curve on:

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Play the latest episode:

UVA Prof. Dan Willingham on Learning Science & K-12 Schooling

This week on The Learning Curve, University of Virginia Professor Dan Willingham discusses the psychology of learning, his advocacy of using scientific knowledge in classroom teaching and education policy, and his critique of the “learning styles theory” of education.
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About Our Cohosts

 Cara Stillings Candal, Ed.D. is Managing Director for Policy at ExcelinEd. Cara has spent the last 10 years working in education policy as a Senior Fellow with both Pioneer Institute and the Center for Education Reform. She was also a founding team member of the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education (NAATE) and a research assistant professor at Boston University in the Department of Educational Leadership and Development. Cara has authored/edited more than 25 papers and three books on education policy. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Indiana University, a Masters of Arts in Social Science from the University of Chicago, and a Doctorate of Education from Boston University. Cara is the author most recently of Pioneer Institute’s book, The Fight for the Best Charter Public Schools in the Nation.

Gerard Robinson is a Fellow of Practice at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Charlottesville, Virginia. ASCF uses basic and applied research to educate the public and key societal leadership groups about the nature and challenges of late-modern society and conducts inquiry into humane and democratic responses to these challenges. Previously, he was Executive Director of the Center for Advancing Opportunity, in Washington, D.C. Robinson is a fellow with AEI, and was Secretary of Education in Virginia and Commissioner of Education in Florida. Gerard tweets at @gerard_924.

Browse all episodes below:

UVA Prof. Dan Willingham on Learning Science & K-12 Schooling

This week on The Learning Curve, University of Virginia Professor Dan Willingham discusses the psychology of learning, his advocacy of using scientific knowledge in classroom teaching and education policy, and his critique of the “learning styles theory” of education.
Read more

Lessons from Shakespeare: ‘Julius Caesar’ for the Ages

This week on The Learning Curve, U.K. Oxford and ASU Shakespeare scholar Prof. Sir Jonathan Bate, discusses Shakespeare's timeless play Julius Caesar on the Ides of March. Sir Jonathan explains the Roman lessons for American constitutionalism, including warnings against the dangers of dictatorship and civil war.
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Lauren Redniss on Marie Curie, STEM, & Women’s History

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This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and Gerard mark Women's History Month with Lauren Redniss, author of Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout, the first work of visual nonfiction to be named a finalist for the National Book Award.
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“The Last Candid Man”: B.U.’s Dr. John Silber

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This week on The Learning Curve, Cara and Gerard talk with Rachel Silber Devlin about her memoir, Snapshots of My Father, John Silber, which captures the wide-ranging and remarkable life of the late philosopher, teacher, and president of Boston University.
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OECD’s Andreas Schleicher on PISA & K-12 Global Education

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This week on The Learning Curve, Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), discusses global K-12 education, skills, and competition.
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India Unbound: Gurcharan Das on the Rise of the World’s Largest Free-Market Democracy

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This week on The Learning Curve, Gurcharan Das, author, public intellectual, and former CEO of Procter & Gamble India, discusses the rise of India since independence to become a thriving, incredibly diverse nation of 1.4 billion people—the world's largest free-market democracy.
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