Lars og Pål Lars og Pål

On this episode I talk to Chris Balme, the author of the book Finding the Magic in Middle School (2022) and the founder of the Millennium School, an alternative middle school in San Francisco. 
We talk about what makes people enter the strange and confusing world of alternative education, and what sort of lessons Chris has learned from working with adolescents in an alternative education setting. How come we at the same time have both too low and too high expectations of adolescents, and how do we talk to parents and kids about these expectations? We cover a wide range of topics, from overworked teachers in alternative and progressive education; good books about parenting and learning (Tom Hodgkinson, Alison Gopnik, Judith Rich Harris, Blake Boles); the three stages of adolescence that Chris describe in his book: belonging, achievement and authenticity; friendship; age-mixing; learning about emotions, Lisa Feldman Barrett’s book How Emotions Are Made; how social media and smartphones are not all bad for teenagers, and Peter Gray’s writings on this topic; how we can create more space in kids’ lives for play and independence; the role of school today and how children and adolescents need a lot of time to socialize, and how they spend less time socializing in-person outside of school; the positive aspects of being the parent of an adolescent, and several other topics. 
Read more of Chris Balme’s writings on his Substack Growing Wiser: https://chrisbalme.substack.com/ and https://www.chrisbalme.com/
 
Books mentioned: 
Blake Boles, Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School
Alison Gopnik, The Carpenter and the Gardener
Tom Hodgkinson, The Idle Parent
Lenore Skenazy, Free-Range Kids
Lisa Feldman Barrett, How Emotions Are Made
Larry Steinberg, Age of Opportunity
Jonathan Mooney, Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive, Outside the Lines
Peter Gray on social media: https://petergray.substack.com/p/benefits-and-challenges-of-social
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Our logo is by Sveinung Sudbø, see his works on originalkopi.com
The music is by Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, see the facebook page Nygrenda Vev og Dur for more info. 
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Thank you for listening. Please send feedback and questions to larsogpaal@gmail.com
There is no better way for the podcast to gain new interested listener than by you sharing it with friends, so if you find what we do interesting and useful, please consider doing just that. The podcast is still most in Norwegian, but we have a lot of episodes coming out in English. 
Our blogs:
https://paljabekk.com/
https://larssandaker.blogspot.com/
 
Alt godt, hilsen Lars og Pål

I denne episoden oppsummerer Lars og Pål en rekke spørsmål om læring og skole fra de siste episodene på podkasten. Vi er ikke alltid helt enige, og blir det ikke alltid heller, men det kan faktisk være at vi har blitt littegrann klokere. 
Vi fokuserer særlig på motsetninger og forbisnakk mellom David Geary og Peter Gray (jf ep.127 og 138), om hva det betyr at barn sier at de trives på skolen, om progressiv pedagogikk og eksplisitt instruksjon (ep.139), klassebakgrunn og kjedsomhet i skolen (ep.103), hvor mye av skolesystemet som tas for gitt i mange skolediskusjoner, indre og ytre motivasjon, hatet mot behaviorisme i pedagogiske kretser (ep.106), Alexander Meyers skolemodell (ep.84 og 140), hvordan det ikke er noen motsetning mellom undervisning og kreativitet, Direct Instruction, skole og demokrati, mobilforbud og skjerm (ep.133), innsikter fra læring i kroppsøvingsfaget (ep.124), og mye mye annet.  
Referert til i episoden: 
Christopher H. Achen and Larry M. Bartels (2016), Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government, Princeton University Press. Deslauriers et al (2019), Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom, PNAS, Vol. 116, No. 39, https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1821936116 Sweller, J. (2016). Cognitive load theory, evolutionary educational psychology, and instructional design. In D. C. Geary & D. B. Berch (Eds.), Evolutionary perspectives on child development and education (pp. 291–306). Springer International Publishing/Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29986-0_12 Sweller, Zhang, Ashman og Cobern (2023), Response to De Jong et al.’s (2023) paper “Let's talk evidence – The case for combining inquiry-based and direct instruction”, Educational Research Review 42(2), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X23000775 Greg Ashmans blogg, Filling the Pail, https://fillingthepail.substack.com/  
 
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Logoen vår er laget av Sveinung Sudbø, se hans arbeider på originalkopi.com
Musikken er av Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, se facebooksiden Nygrenda Vev og Dur for mer info.
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Takk for at du hører på. Ta kontakt med oss på larsogpaal@gmail.com
Det finnes ingen bedre måte å få spredt podkasten vår til flere enn via dere lyttere, så takk om du deler eller forteller andre om oss. 
Både Lars og Pål skriver nå på hver sin blogg, med litt varierende regelmessighet. Du finner dem på disse nettsidene:
https://paljabekk.com/
https://larssandaker.blogspot.com/
 
Alt godt, hilsen Lars og Pål

Alexander Meyer er tilbake på podkasten, og vi diskuterer litt av responsen han har fått på boken Det store skolespranget (Universitetsforlaget 2020), John Hattie, tvangens usynlighet, lærerens autoritet og mangel på sådan, motsetningen mellom progressiv og tradisjonell pedagogikk, problemer med elevsentrerte pedagogiske ideer, kunnskap vs ideologi, hvordan barn bruker mer tid i skolen uten at vi dermed har fått bedre resultater, om skolen skal oppdra barn, Direct Instruction, hva vi bør forvente fra god utdanningsforskning, hvilke spørsmål og hypoteser vi ikke utforsker i skoleforskningen, tidligere intervjuer her på podkasten med Natalie Wexler og Peter Gray, og hva som skjedde da Alexander gjennomførte «verdens kjedeligste uke» i en barneskoleklasse. 
Om en slik episode virkelig har en funksjon så er det i de tilbakemeldingene og motargumentene som den måtte lede til, så vi hører veldig gjerne fra dere: hva tenkte du når du hørte denne episoden? Hvilke spørsmål er nyttige, hvilke er uklare, og hvor tenker du det er mest å hente for en bedre samtale om skole og læring i fremtiden? 
Forrige prat med Alexander på podkasten, ep.84:
https://larsogpaal.libsyn.com/episode-84-lring-og-demokrati-i-fremtidens-skole-med-alexander-meyer
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Logoen vår er laget av Sveinung Sudbø, se hans arbeider på originalkopi.com
Musikken er av Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, se facebooksiden Nygrenda Vev og Dur for mer info.
---------------------------- 
Takk for at du hører på. Ta kontakt med oss på larsogpaal@gmail.com
Det finnes ingen bedre måte å få spredt podkasten vår til flere enn via dere lyttere, så takk om du deler eller forteller andre om oss. 
Både Lars og Pål skriver nå på hver sin blogg, med litt varierende regelmessighet. Du finner dem på disse nettsidene:
https://paljabekk.com/
https://larssandaker.blogspot.com/
 
Alt godt, hilsen Lars og Pål

On this episode I talk to Stanislaw Pstrokonski, the host of the wonderful podcast Education Bookcast. The podcast has been running since 2016, and on it Staś has been covering education books and research in more detail that what is commonly done in the education podcast world. We talk about what he has learned from doing the podcast, some of his favorite episodes and topics, how he has changed his mind and what prompted these changes, and what a good conversation about the school of the future should look like. 
We discuss the different basic outlooks of people in discussing education and education reform, how willingly we believe certain arguments and are disinclined to listen to other arguments, Thomas Sowell's book A Conflict of Visions, discussions about math education, problem solving and cognitive load, issues with progressive pedagogy, critical thinking, cultural expectations about learning and schooling, Direct Instruction, Montessori education, how school wastes kids’ time and how much we should teach every day, aftercare, physical activity and play, misbehavior and discipline, Peter Gray’s criticisms of schooling, anthropology and learning in traditional societies, learning math at Sudbury Valley school, idealizing apprenticeships, what children spend time on outside of school, the US car culture, fear of abductions and other irrational fears, and much more. 
Books mentioned: 
Thomas Sowell, A Conflict of Visions
Paul Lockhart, A Mathematician’s Lament
David Epstein, Range
Siegfried Engelmann og Douglas Carnine, Theory of Instruction: Principles and Applications
Daniel Willingham,  Why Don’t Students Like School?, The Reading Mind
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Our logo is by Sveinung Sudbø, see his works on originalkopi.com
The music is by Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, see the facebook page Nygrenda Vev og Dur for more info. 
----------------------------
Thank you for listening. Please send feedback and questions to larsogpaal@gmail.com
There is no better way for the podcast to gain new interested listener than by you sharing it with friends, so if you find what we do interesting and useful, please consider doing just that. The podcast is still most in Norwegian, but we have a lot of episodes coming out in English. 
Our blogs:
https://paljabekk.com/
https://larssandaker.blogspot.com/
Alt godt, hilsen Lars og Pål

In this podcast episode returning guest Peter Gray, retired professor of psychology at Boston College, makes an argument for why we should consider other ways of understanding and structuring learning in and outside of school. We talk about college and access to working life, possible alternative ways of learning an occupation, David Geary’s evolutionary theory of biologically primary and secondary abilities, what we need to learn and when we need to learn it, what we can observe in kids who aren’t taught in the conventional ways, kids who learn to read on their own or who learn the whole math curriculum in a couple of months in their late teens, how our expectations influence learning, consequences for not reading when society expects you to, how and when children learn to walk and what we do when they don’t, whining in different cultures, the summer slide, and what to say when people complain that they wish that someone had forced them to learn something earlier in life, how children’s independence and autonomy relates to their mental health, how we try to fix problems by taking away children’s liberty and responsibility, why we should teach them about dangers instead of trying to get rid of them, and many other topics. 
Even if you don’t find yourself agreeing with all of Peter’s arguments, we would love to hear more about what points he’s making that you think are valid and worth considering. How can we let alternative views on education actually widen our current understanding of learning and schooling, instead of just assuming the worst about each other? Send un an email to larsogpaal@gmail.com, we’ll be thankful to every kind of criticism, feedback and suggestions of further explorations and interviews that we should do on these topics. 
See more of Peter’s writings on his Substack https://petergray.substack.com/
Here’s his 2017 article about the summer slide, mentioned in the episode: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201707/facts-and-fiction-about-the-so-called-summer-slide
 
Mentions and recommendations from the episode: 
Jim Rietmulder, 2019. When Kids Rule the School: The Power and Promise of Democratic Education. New Society Publishers.  Kerry McDonald, 2019. Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom. Chicago Review Press.  David Graeber og David Wengrow. 2021. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. Allen Lane. Harriet Pattison. 2016. Rethinking Learning to Read. Educational Heretics Press.  Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. 2007. The Old Ways: A Story of the First People. Picador.  danah boyd. 2014. It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. Yale University Press.  Peter Gray. 2013. Free to Learn: : Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. Basic Books Peter Gray, David Lancy, David F. Bjorklund. 2023. «Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Wellbeing: Summary of the Evidence» February 2023, The Journal of Pediatrics 260(2)  
Peter was previously a guest on the podcast in episode 53: 
https://larsogpaal.libsyn.com/episode-53-peter-gray-on-self-directed-education-and-schooling
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Our logo is by Sveinung Sudbø, see his works on originalkopi.com
The music is by Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, see the facebook page Nygrenda Vev og Dur for more info. 
----------------------------
Thank you for listening. Please send feedback and questions to larsogpaal@gmail.com
There is no better way for the podcast to gain new interested listener than by you sharing it with friends, so if you find what we do interesting and useful, please consider doing just that. The podcast is still most in Norwegian, but we have a lot of episodes coming out in English. 
Our blogs:
https://paljabekk.com/
https://larssandaker.blogspot.com/
Alt godt, hilsen Lars og Pål

Christian Lomsdalen, den produktive mannen bak Lektor Lomsdalens innfall (startet i 2016, 559 episoder per dags dato), er en av veteranene i den norske skolepodkastverdenen. Christian har i mange år vært lektor i videregående skole, men er nå stipendiat ved Universitetet i Bergen, hvor han forsker på fritaksretten i skolen. Siden 2021 har han vært styreleder i Human-Etisk Forbund. Han lager også podkastene Tanketrigger, PedSexPod og Frokostkaffen, og er en aktiv samfunnsdebattant. 
Nylig ga han ut boken Burde vi det? Profesjonsfaglig etisk kompetanse i skolen på Fagbokforlaget, og det er i den forbindelse at vi slår av en prat med ham på podkasten. Vi snakker om etisk refleksjon i læreryrket, etiske og juridiske rammeverk for den jobben vi gjør som lærere, behovet for individuell tilpasning og en pragmatisk holdning, friskoler, foresatte, fritaksretten, betente tema og innflytelsen fra den amerikanske offentlige debatten, søksmål i skolesaker, sosial mobilitet, veier til arbeidslivet, barns selvstendighet, revolusjon eller reform i dagens skolesystem, forsøk i skolen, og hvorfor han kanskje bør bli rektor en gang i fremtiden. 
Du finner mer info om Christians arbeid på følgende nettsider:
https://burdevidet.no/
https://lektorlomsdalen.no/
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tanketrigger
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pedsexpod
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/frokostkaffen
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Logoen vår er laget av Sveinung Sudbø, se hans arbeider på originalkopi.com
Musikken er av Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, se facebooksiden Nygrenda Vev og Dur for mer info.
---------------------------- 
Takk for at du hører på. Ta kontakt med oss på larsogpaal@gmail.com
Det finnes ingen bedre måte å få spredt podkasten vår til flere enn via dere lyttere, så takk om du deler eller forteller andre om oss. 
Både Lars og Pål skriver nå på hver sin blogg, med litt varierende regelmessighet. Du finner dem på disse nettsidene:
https://paljabekk.com/
https://larssandaker.blogspot.com/
Alt godt, hilsen Lars og Pål