S1-01. The Knowledge Gap: Natalie Wexler

What's broken in our education system? Natalie joins Susan for a provocative talk about her latest book, The Knowledge Gap, and how a knowledge-based curriculum can bring equity into the classroom, and students' futures.

Quotes

“Kids actually love to learn stuff. They love to feel like they’re experts. It does wonders for their self-esteem.” - Wexler

“Once teachers try it and can see what can happen...they’re going to say ‘I’m never going back to what I was doing before.” - Wexler

Resources

Natalie Wexler’s books:

The Knowledge Gap: The hidden cause of America's broken education system--and how to fix it

The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grade

Natalie Wexler’s articles:

“Elementary Education Has Gone Terribly Wrong: The Case for Teaching Kids Stuff” (The Atlantic, August 2019)

“Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years” (The Atlantic, April 2018)

Additional resources:

Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham’s education blog

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Episode Content Timestamps*

2:00: Introduction: Why is Natalie Wexler?
4:00: The meaning of "content"
6:00: How did the problem of not teaching content evolve? Why do we need to teach content?
10:00: Observations from a knowledge-based classroom
13:00: Education reform and the current attention on knowledge building
17:00: Classroom teachers: Addressing misconceptions and confusion, and insight
26:00: The knowledge gap issue beyond just the individual teacher
34:00: The connection between content and writing
36:00: Top things for listeners to take away from this episode
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute