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  1. 1H AGO

    Nicole Fenty, Binghamton University - Sequencing Nursery Rhymes through Early Coding in Preschool Settings

    Simple materials can teach STEM principles and help students engage with learning. Nicole Fenty, associate professor and chair of the Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership Department at the College of Community and Public Affairs at Binghamton University, discusses several examples. Faculty Bio: Nicole Fenty joined the Department of Teaching, Learning, & Education Leadership as an assistant professor in 2012. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of South Florida and her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Florida. She has worked as a special education teacher in elementary schools in the state of Florida. Transcript: STEM education has become a priority for students over the last decade, with concepts such as coding and problem solving now viewed as important across many career pathways. A central area of focus for me is how these concepts can be taught in ways that young learners can meaningfully understand. To explore this, I worked with two students from our doctoral and undergraduate education minor programs respectively, Leyli Yeganeh and Vanessa Uhteg, to examine how early coding concepts could be integrated into classroom literacy instruction. We partnered with two preschool teachers to work with four of their students who were struggling to sequence stories. Because sequencing is a foundational skill in both literacy and coding, we designed an instructional activity using the familiar nursery rhyme “Jack and Jill.” The activities we used were simple and involved hands-on materials - a poster board divided into a grid with tape, picture cards representing four parts of the story, and directional arrows. These tools allowed students to place events in order while also learning basic coding vocabulary such as “grid,” “arrow,” and “forward.” Across three weeks of instruction, students practiced organizing story events using these materials while becoming more comfortable with using coding terms, using the grid effectively, and sequencing pictures correctly. After three lessons, all students were using the materials as intended, applying coding vocabulary, and accurately sequencing the full story. These results highlight an important point about early STEM learning. While digital technological tools are often emphasized, it is the underlying concepts that matter most. When those concepts are embedded in familiar literacy activities, such as storytelling, students are better able to engage with and understand them. Simple, low-tech materials that incorporate meaningful narratives can provide young learners with accessible connections to both literacy and early coding. Read More: [Wiley] - Sequencing Nursery Rhymes through Early Coding in Preschool Settings This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit academicminute.substack.com

    3 min

  2. 1D AGO

    Nathan Swenson, Notre Dame University - Can the Light Reflected From a Leaf Reveal the Health of a Tree

    Can the light reflected from a leaf reveal the health of a tree? Nathan Swenson, professor of biological sciences and the Gillen director of the Environmental Research Center at the University of Notre Dame, looks for clues in the canopy. Faculty Bio Nathan Swenson is a professor of biological sciences and the Gillen Director of the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center. The goal of the research conducted by his group is to leverage information regarding intra- and inter-specific variation in tree performance to understand and predict the past, present, and future distribution of forest biodiversity. Transcript: Forests often look healthy — right up until they aren’t. By the time trees show visible signs of drought, disease, or pest damage, it can already be too late to prevent widespread decline. So, one of the biggest challenges in ecology is detecting stress early enough to protect forest health. Field surveys give us detailed information, but they’re too slow and labor-intensive to cover large areas. Genomic tools can reveal the activity of genes involved in drought responses or defense against pathogens, but those approaches are costly and difficult to scale. In our recent research, we asked a different question: can the light reflected from a leaf reveal what’s happening inside it at the genetic level? Leaves reflect light in specific wavelengths depending on their chemistry and condition. We measured leaf reflectance and paired it with gene expression data for genes tied directly to water stress and plant defense. For hundreds of genes we analyzed, specific wavelengths of reflected light were strongly associated with gene activity. That means we may be able to detect early molecular responses to stress—before trees visibly decline. By linking reflected light to gene expression, we move closer to monitoring forest health at landscape scales, using airborne or satellite sensors that measure light reflectance from the canopies of trees to identify forest declines before they reach a tipping point. Read More: [Notre Dame News] - How light reflects on leaves may help researchers identify dying forests University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center Swenson Lab This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit academicminute.substack.com

    3 min

  3. 2D AGO

    Ryan Wilson, University of Iowa - Why Can’t the Government Do Our Taxes For Us?

    Most Americans shouldn’t have to do their own taxes. Ryan Wilson, Henry B. Tippie Chair in Accounting at the University of Iowa, examines why. Faculty Bio: Ryan J. Wilson is the Henry B. Tippie Chair in Accounting and the department executive officer in Accounting at the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa. Previously, he was director of the School of Accounting at the University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business. He earned his doctorate degree at the University of Washington. He’s received recognition for excellence in accounting instruction at both the University of Iowa and University of Oregon. Transcript: Today is April 15. Tax day. The end of a season when Americans sweat over their 1040 forms or pay someone else to sweat over their 1040s for them. But it doesn’t have to be that way. An opt-in system called ReadyReturn, widely used in more than 30 countries, prepares taxes automatically for free, and most U.S. taxpayers can benefit from something like it. For about half of American taxpayers who just have withholding taxes or 1099s, the government already has all the information needed to prepare the returns. This renders the tax preparation process unnecessary for most, as we’re only giving the government information it already has. ReadyReturn is already used in countries like the UK, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain and the concept is simple. The government prepares your tax return for you using data it access through third parties such as banks or brokerages. The government mails you the return (or in some cases, texts it) and, if you agree with what the government says you owe, all you have to do is sign off. And it’s free. More complicated returns would still need to be completed by a professional. And if someone wants to do their own return even if they’re eligible for a ReadyReturn, they can still do that. However, for many Americans who have relatively simple returns, especially older and younger taxpayers, the government already has all the information needed to prepare them. Therefore, there’s little point in taxpayers submitting W2s and other tax paperwork to the IRS. Imagine the relief of so many busy taxpayers knowing this archaic obligation is no more. Adopting a ReadyReturn program would not make the annual tax return process more enjoyable. But it would least make it far less costly to millions of Americans in both time and money. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit academicminute.substack.com

    3 min

  4. 3D AGO

    Yifan Yu, University of Texas at Austin - Not All Feelings Are Created Equal When Sharing on Social Media

    How do emotions in a social media post influence who shares it? Yifan Yu, assistant professor of information, risk, and operations management at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, examines this. Faculty Bio: Yifan Yu’s research centers on (1) the economics of artificial intelligence and machine learning; (2) business analytics leveraging online unstructured data (i.e., text, images, videos, networks, behavioral sequences); and (3) data analytics to facilitate volunteerism, sustainable operation, and social justice. I apply machine/deep learning, network analysis, econometric/game-theoretical modeling, and lab/field experimental methods to tackle questions in these fields. He has published in numerous research journals and spent several years as a research analyst or applied scientist for tech companies such as Amazon and Tencent (WeChat). Before I started a career in academic research, I worked in management consulting firms, venture capital, and private equity companies. He also established an online platform company with two partners in 2015 and worked as an entrepreneur for two years. Transcript: Not all feelings travel the same way online.We analyzed nearly 400,000 articles shared on a large social network, tracking how each post spread among more than six million people. Rather than counting clicks, we mapped each “cascade” — its size, how deep it traveled from person to person, how wide it became at any level, and how “viral” it was through peer-to-peer sharing.Specific emotions predicted what happened. Content expressing anxiety, love, or surprise reached more people and penetrated deeper into networks. Anger, sadness, and even joy were tied to smaller, shallower cascades.Why? Emotions are social signals. Anxiety invites advice and coordination. Love affirms bonds. Surprise provokes curiosity. Anger and sadness often trigger caution or withdrawal. Joy tends to be self-contained — good news for the poster, less reason for others to pass along.These patterns can vary. The same emotion can travel differently by age and gender, and among close friends versus acquaintances. But our findings reveal a deeper truth: emotions shape the architecture of information flow. Some specific feelings pull people in and propel ideas outward. Understanding these dynamics gives us new insight into how influence, attention, and connection emerge in today’s social networks. Read More:[Informs PubsOnLine] - Emotions in Online Content Diffusion This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit academicminute.substack.com

    3 min

  5. 4D AGO

    Andrey Vyshedskiy, Boston University - New Study Identifies Early Decline in Language-Learning Rate Among Autistic Children

    We are still learning how best help children with autism early in life. Andrey Vyshedskiy, lecturer at Boston University, examines the importance of early learning interventions. Faculty Bio: Dr. Andrey Vyshedskiy is a neuroscientist at Boston University. He has authored more than 100 original research article published in leading scientific journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine and Nature. His research focuses on child development, the neurological basis of imagination, and the evolution of human language. Dr. Vyshedskiy has founded multiple successful companies and led the development of several FDA-approved medical devices. Building on his research, ImagiRation has developed a novel therapy for children that has been shown to significantly improve language abilities. His most recent book, The Evolution of Language: How the Brain Evolved Syntactic Language from Early Mammals to Homo sapiens, was published in 2025. Transcript: In our new study of over 15,000 autistic children, we discovered that syntactic language learning rate drops much earlier in autism. This finding could have important implications for when and how we design early interventions.We analyzed years of parent-reported developmental data, focusing on Prefrontal Synthesis—a cognitive function that allows children to mentally combine images and understand complex language, such as syntactic sentences, spatial instructions, and narratives. For example, Prefrontal Synthesis lets a child picture “a cat under the sofa” and understand the difference between sentences “the dog chased the boy” and “the boy chased the dog.” Many autistic children struggle with these skills, and our study helps explain why.Using data from children aged 2 to 22, we found that autistic and neurotypical children showed similar Prefrontal Synthesis learning rates at age 2. However, autistic children’s progress began to decline sharply by around 2.3 years, while neurotypical children continued to learn robustly until about age 7, when the test reached its ceiling. Children with more severe autism showed this decline even earlier, suggesting that the critical period for acquiring PFS is significantly shortened in autism.Our findings are consistent with evidence of accelerated early prefrontal cortex development in autism, which may prematurely close the brain’s window for mastering syntactic language. These results underscore the importance of beginning interventions before age 3—well before the typical start of therapy around age 4, which is often delayed by diagnostic and waitlist barriers. Read More: [Springer Nature] - Age-Dependent Process Governs Executive Function Disability in Autistic Children [Amazon] - The Evolution of Language: How the Brain Evolved Syntactic Language from Early Mammals to Homo sapiens This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit academicminute.substack.com

    3 min

  6. APR 10

    Brian Alexander, Washington and Lee University - Thomas Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice

    Procrastination is everywhere, even in government. Brian Alexander, associate professor of politics at Washington and Lee University, explains a mistake that was corrected hundreds of years later. Brian Alexander, Ph.D., is associate professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University and director of the W&L Washington Term, an experiential learning program for undergraduates in Washington, DC. He is author of “Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice,” (Arcadia Books 2025), “A Social Theory of Congress” (Rowman & Littlefield 2021), and “The Folkways of Congress” (Brookings Institution Press, 2026). He served as American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow and a research fellow at Monticello’s International Center for Jefferson Studies. Like all academics, I am uniquely skilled at the art of procrastination. For me, a visit to my university’s library, when I should have been grading papers, led to a discovery about Thomas Jefferson and new ideas about his efforts to shape the rules – and the power – of the U.S. Congress.As vice president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson presided over the Senate. To improve its procedures, he wrote the book, A Manual of Parliamentary Practice, first published in 1801, and the basis for the rules of Congress ever since. Little known to history, Jefferson made handwritten notes in personal copies of the 1801 Manual, as in the rare example I found at my library.In 1812, based on those handwritten notes, Jefferson published a second edition of the Manual, marking his final word on the book. But Congress continued to use the 1801 edition -- effectively the wrong version. Now, in 2025, based on discoveries that started in a university library, the House of Representatives updated its “House Rules and Manual” to account for this centuries-old oversight.Will Jefferson’s additions fix what ails the modern Congress? Alas, probably not. But by adhering to Jefferson’s final word, we pay tribute to the importance he placed on rules for orderly debate. We also recognize Jefferson’s lifelong belief in the value of a strong legislature in representative democracy -- a concern that drives our politics to this day. Read More: [Arcadia Publishing] - Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice [The Hill] - Thomas Jefferson would expect much more of Congress today This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit academicminute.substack.com

    3 min

  7. APR 9

    Clare Huntington, Columbia Law School - It’s Time to Regulate AI Companions—and Family Law Can Help

    How should we regulate AI companions? Clare Huntington, Barbara Aronstein Black Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, has a template. Faculty Bio: Clare Huntington ’96 is a nationally recognized expert in family law and poverty law. Her wide-ranging scholarship explores the institutions and empirical foundations of the legal system’s approach to relationships. Her research focuses on early childhood development, aging, the impact of AI on our affective lives, and the challenges facing nonmarital families because of the law’s myopic focus on marriage. Huntington has received five teaching awards, including, in 2025, the Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching.Huntington’s research has appeared in the Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, Michigan Law Review, New York University Law Review, Stanford Law Review, and Yale Law Journal, among other academic journals. She is the author of Failure to Flourish: How Law Undermines Family Relationships and a co-editor of Social Parenthood in Comparative Perspective. She served as associate reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law. Before entering academia, Huntington was an attorney adviser in the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and clerked for Justices Harry A. Blackmun and Stephen G. Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Judge Denise L. Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.Huntington is a co-founder and co-chair of the University Seminar on Families and Inequality and an affiliated faculty member with the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University and the Columbia Population Research Center.Huntington joined Columbia Law School as a professor of law on July 1, 2023. She was previously a visiting scholar in 2008 and Nathaniel Fensterstock Visiting Professor of Law in 2022. Prior to her appointment at Columbia Law, she was the Joseph M. McLaughlin Professor of Law at Fordham Law School. During her tenure there, she was associate dean for strategic initiatives and associate dean for research and was named Teacher of the Year in 2021. She was previously associate professor at the University of Colorado Law School. Transcript: Stories about AI companions are everywhere. Sometimes the stories are heart-breaking. Sometimes the stories are encouraging. And often we don’t know what to think of this new phenomenon. What we do know is that millions of people of all ages regularly use AI companions for friendship, sexual intimacy, mental health support, and much more.Just like a relationship with a human, a relationship with an AI companion brings both benefits and risks. Children are especially vulnerable to the risks, including addiction, abuse, and invasion of privacy. But unlike human relationships, there is very little regulation of AI companionship.I study family law, and my research shows that this area of the law offers lessons for sensible regulation.First, family law shows why the legal system should regulate AI companionship. Close relationships help children and adults flourish, but these relationships also bring vulnerability. Our legal system recognizes this, with a particular emphasis on protecting children.Second, family law shows how to regulate AI companionship. To give one example, family law steps in when a power imbalance in a relationship leads to abuse. This lesson should be applied to the power imbalance between technology companies and users of AI companions. To give another example: family law requires mental health experts to be trained and licensed. AI companions marketed for therapeutic purposes should face the same gatekeeping.Finally, family law offers a track record of overcoming political polarization. Family law can bring together lawmakers of all political stripes, especially if the shared goal is protecting children. Read More: [Minnesota Law Review] - AI Companions and the Lessons of Family Law This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit academicminute.substack.com

    3 min

  8. APR 8

    Rosie Dutt, University of North Carolina - Rethinking AI in Education: From Shortcut to Scaffold

    How do we turn AI from an educational shortcut to a scaffold that helps students learn? Rosie Dutt, Teaching Assistant Professor & Director of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Career Development at the University of North Carolina, explores this. Dr. Dutt teaches interdisciplinary computational neuroscience courses, integrating engineering and data science concepts. Her background in communications, consulting, and entrepreneurship helps foster student success and alumni engagement through career development initiatives, connecting students with professional opportunities and strengthening alumni networks. In higher education, AI is often framed as a shortcut or even a threat to learning. Yet, it can be more productively understood not as an authority replacing student thinking, but as a metacognitive scaffold—a designed tool that supports students in reflecting on their own reasoning. This approach asks students to actively articulate, justify, and evaluate how they use AI’s contributions, shifting AI’s role from doing the thinking for them to helping them think more deeply. The AI tool provides computational support while preserving student judgment, reducing technical friction and prompting reflection.I implemented this approach in an undergraduate computational neuroscience course with mixed majors, many of whom were new to coding. Students were explicitly asked to document their AI use and respond to structured reflection prompts. This transparency repositioned AI from a prohibited shortcut to a cognitive partner that strengthens learning.The data showed that 100% of students reported growth in computational skills, though only 30% used generative AI, mostly for debugging. More importantly, students gained insight into when AI was helpful and when it wasn’t, developing judgment and epistemic responsibility rather than just technical proficiency.This shift toward transparency (where students have permission but must document and reflect on AI use) creates ethical accountability and makes learning outcomes measurable, moving beyond the default impulse to ban AI outright.The key takeaway is that transparency and structured design around AI use beats prohibition. AI doesn’t replace thinking, it shows students what they are actually doing, helping them articulate and strengthen their reasoning. Ultimately, this framework offers a transferable way to integrate AI in education responsibly, supporting students as active thinkers rather than passive users. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit academicminute.substack.com

    3 min
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