Kohn's Zone

March 15, 2026 Friendly Excursions into Disequilibrium Enforced harmony is counterproductive. Pushing students (or employees) to come to agreement prematurely tends to undermine learning (or produce bad decisions). Sometimes that’s motivated by a desire to avoid conflict. But conflict handled carefully is not only tolerable; it’s valuable. What’s problematic is debate – disagreement where the point is not to learn or seek the truth but to win. The ideal arrangement in a classroom (or workplace) is cooperative conflict, where spirited disagreement is non-adversarial and nested in a caring environment. RESOURCES: David W. Johnson & Roger T. Johnson, “Energizing Learning: The Instructional Power of Conflict,” Educational Researcher (2009) — https://tinyurl.com/yc7t265j Karl Smith et al., “Can Conflict Be Constructive?” Journal of Educational Psychology (1981) — https://tinyurl.com/474ja9bu Alfie Kohn, No Contest: The Case Against Competition, rev. ed. (Houghton Mifflin, 1992) — https://www.alfiekohn.org/contest/   A note from Alfie Kohn: I made two decisions when I decided to start this podcast. The first was not to accept ads. The second was to avoid putting certain episodes behind a paywall (or offering special content only to those who pay). But this means that I depend on the generosity of everyone who listens to help cover the production costs. So: Can you afford a modest contribution — ideally on a regular basis, since a podcast, after all, is not a one-shot event? If so, I’d be grateful if you’d support the project with whatever amount seems fair to you. (Your generosity will also confirm the thesis of my book The Brighter Side of Human Nature.) Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please tell other people about it. And if you have feedback about an episode, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

March 1, 2026 Who’s Cheating Whom? We’re often warned about an “epidemic” of academic cheating and urged to do more to deter and punish the devious culprits. But we’ve had a century of research showing that the frequency of cheating is predicted not by the compromised morality of individual students but by the policies, priorities, and practices of schools. Specifically, cheating is far more common in competitive, achievement-oriented environments and much rarer when students experience the learning as meaningful and engaging and believe that their teachers care about them. In this episode we consider how systemic features not only increase the likelihood of cheating but are responsible for determining which actions (such as collaborating or consulting reference sources) constitute cheating in the first place. RESOURCES: Eric M. Anderman and Tamera B. Murdock, Psychology of Academic Cheating (Elsevier, 2007) Character Education Inquiry, Studies in the Nature of Character. Volume 1: Studies in Deceit (New York: Macmillan, 1928) — https://tinyurl.com/72jrrnrz Y. Kanat-Maymon et al., “The Role of Basic Need-Fulfillment in Academic Dishonesty,” Contemporary Educational Psychology 43 (2015) — https://tinyurl.com/yjvxswsy   A note from Alfie Kohn: If you’ve been enjoying, or at least listening to, the podcast but have put off supporting it with a modest quantity of cash, I am pleased to inform you that it is not too late to do so. It will also not be too late to do so tomorrow, but doing so today would be even better. Microphones, as my late father might have said, do not grow on trees. Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please tell other people about it. And if you have feedback about an episode you’ve listened to, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

A defense of unstructured play and why it is being squeezed out by early academic pressure. A critique of calling structured activities "play" when they are not. An argument that play matters for teenagers and adults as well as young children. A warning against justifying play only by the skills it supposedly produces. A reminder that play’s value lies in itself.

Gary Stager, educator and maker-learning advocate who co-authored Invent to Learn, critiques how schools misapply technology. He contrasts constructionist, project-based computing with management-focused uses. Short takes cover AI fantasies, one-to-one device pitfalls, Google’s lock-in, flipped classrooms, smartboard theatrics, and how vision and classroom structure shape meaningful tech use.

Dive into a thought experiment on extinguishing kids' love for reading. Discover how classroom policies, like mandatory reading logs and assigned books, turn literature into a chore. Explore the debate around social media's role in declining reading rates and why phonics-first instruction can kill motivation. Learn how test prep prioritizes assessments over enjoyment and why fostering community rather than isolation is key. Lastly, get practical tips to rekindle a child's enthusiasm for books.

Dive into the dynamic world of student autonomy in classrooms! Discover why teachers should invite students to help shape classroom norms instead of relying on rigid rules. Explore powerful insights from student feedback, focusing on what makes school enjoyable or challenging. Learn about fostering a supportive, rather than punitive, environment and the importance of shared decision-making. Uncover the barriers teachers face in relinquishing control and hear a compelling reflection on why letting go can enhance learning. Embrace a classroom where student choice thrives!

Discover the power of student choice in learning environments. A teacher’s innovative approach to classroom decoration sparked an engaging lesson on fractions. Research highlights that autonomy boosts creativity and motivation at all ages. Alfie Kohn emphasizes the divide between autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching styles. By minimizing coercion and encouraging collaborative decisions, students gain agency, fostering true democratic practices. The discussion champions meaningful engagement over simple voting, setting the stage for part two's practical strategies.

December 1, 2025 The Curious Case of the Incurious Children A Conversation with Susan Engel Everyone agrees that it’s good to be curious, but that doesn’t mean schools are committed to fostering children’s curiosity. This extended episode of Kohn’s Zone features a provocative conversation with early-childhood expert Susan Engel of Williams College, who draws on a deep background of theory and research (some of it her own) to probe the nature of curiosity — that remarkable desire we have to resolve discrepancies between what we encounter and what we expected. Curiosity can feed on itself, generating new and subtler questions, yet classrooms often fail to support this process — and indeed may actively discourage it. The more densely packed the curriculum, and the more structured (and goal-oriented) the school day is, Engel argues, the less chance kids have to wonder and explore. She offers suggestions for how teachers can encourage students’ curiosity and help them figure out how best to act on it. We also discuss her newest book, which describes her visists to kindergartens across the country: What distinguishes classrooms for young children that are exceptional from those that make a thoughtful observer wince? (Hint: It’s not mostly a function of race, class, or how nice the teacher is.) RESOURCES: Susan Engel, The Hungry Mind (Harvard Univ. Press, 2018) [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674984110] Susan Engel, The Intellectual Lives of Children (Harvard Univ. Press, 2022) [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674278646] Susan Engel, The End of the Rainbow (New Press, 2015) [https://thenewpress.org/books/the-end-of-the-rainbow/] Susan Engel, American Kindergarten (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2026) [https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo258923309.html] Alfie Kohn, “Less and Less Curious,” Education Week, October 2, 2024 [https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/curiosity/]   A note from Alfie Kohn: I made two decisions when I decided to start this podcast. The first was not to accept ads. The second was to avoid putting certain episodes behind a paywall (or offering special content only to those who pay). But this means that I depend on the generosity of everyone who listens to help cover the production costs. So: Can you afford a modest contribution — ideally on a regular basis, since a podcast, after all, is not a one-shot event? If so, I’d be grateful if you’d support the project with whatever amount seems fair to you. (Your generosity will also confirm the thesis of my book The Brighter Side of Human Nature.) Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please tell other people about it. And if you have feedback about an episode you’ve just listened to, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

The discussion dives into the fundamental attribution error and how it skews our understanding of student behavior. Experiments like the Robber's Cave illustrate how competition fosters hostility, while Milgram's findings show how environment influences obedience. The critique extends to education, revealing how an individualistic lens overlooks systemic issues influencing student performance. Works on character education, grit, and cheating highlight the necessity of a contextual approach. Ultimately, behavior often reflects environmental contexts rather than fixed traits.

November 1, 2025 Making Kids Work a Second Shift Too often the debate over homework is restricted to its quantity — or, at best, its quality. But such discussions take for granted the need for some homework, as if it were impossible to question that premise. It may come as a surprise, therefore, to learn that research generally fails to support the value of, let alone the need for, requiring children to complete more academic tasks when they get home from school. (For elementary and middle school students, no controlled studies have found a meaningful benefit to assigning any type or amount of homework.) So why is the practice still so pervasive and widely accepted? Perhaps the answer lies in mistaken beliefs about learning and cynical beliefs about children. RESOURCES: Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish, The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It (Crown, 2006) John Buell, Closing the Book on Homework: Enhancing Public Education and Freeing Family Time (Temple University Press, 2004) Alfie Kohn, The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing (Da Capo Press, 2006) (https://www.alfiekohn.org/homework-myth/).  Read chapter 2 (“Does Homework Improve Learning?”) here: https://www.alfiekohn.org/homework-improve-learning/ Alfie Kohn, “Homework: An Unnecessary Evil? Surprising Findings from New Research,” 2012 (https://www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/homework-unnecessary-evil-surprising-findings-new-research/) Etta Kralovec and John Buell, The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning (Beacon Press, 2000)   A note from Alfie Kohn: My sincere thanks to the listeners who have taken a minute to click on the DONATE link (or to visit coff.ee/kohnszone) and helped to cover our production costs, thereby keeping the podcast ad- and paywall-free. If you are not yet one of those listeners, it’s not too late. It will also not be too late tomorrow, but doing so right now would be even better. Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please tell other people about it. And if you have feedback about the episode you’ve just listened to, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn