In many classrooms these days, student discussion can grow so heated that passion threatens to overwhelm productive conversation. And in today’s highly polarized atmosphere, when a comment taken out of context can go viral on social media, the consequences of an out-of-control conversation can be severe. But there’s another option. This week on the podcast, we’re learning about “dialogue,” a type of mediated discussion that may help students and educators tackle touchy topics more productively.

Today we’re diving into this issue of screen time, with a guest who for years has tracked research about the impact of screen media on children and young people. She’s Lisa Guernsey, director of the Teaching, Learning, and Tech program at New America. She says she has a better way to think about regulating tech, including a model of how educators and librarians can become better mentors for students and parents.

There’s a budding field called the science of teaching and learning, where scholars are figuring out what works when it comes to educating students. But there’s a challenge -- of getting those findings to folks at the front of the classroom, you know, to make sure no one is reading their PowerPoints aloud, or using techniques that don’t connect with students. A new book focuses on how to move these “science of teaching” findings into actual teaching.

Not so long ago, students did most of their learning at school, and maybe while doing homework or during trips to the museum. Now, learning—like the internet—is everywhere thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones and chromebooks. Julie Evans, the CEO of education nonprofit Project Tomorrow, spends a lot of time measuring how young people learn and interact with others. As it turns out, what students say they want from their school experience, or about learning in general, can be rather illuminating for those charged with teaching them.

In an usual study on student debt, NYU anthropologist Caitlin Zaloom sat down with more than 160 people—students and parents—and got them to open up their financial books and talk about the toll of paying for college. We talked with Zaloom about what surprised her most from her research, what she thinks should be done, and how she has changed her thinking about saving for college for her own young children.

A new book argues that hope is something that can be taught, and that it is the key to countering today's heightened polarization and cynicism. We sat down with the author, Sarah Stitzlein, a professor of education at the University of Cincinnati, to hear how her own attempts to teach hope have made an impact, and her advice on how to approach the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

A two-minute video made by students at the University of Wisconsin at Madison was meant to promote school spirit and campus unity during homecoming festivities a couple months ago. But some students had a very different reaction as they watched scene after scene of students working and playing around campus, where almost every one of the students shown was white. It's a telling example of issues going on around the country when it comes diversity on campuses—and the struggle to create a climate where diverse populations feel at home on campuses.

Parents are giving up custody of their kids to get need-based college financial aid. That was a headline in August in ProPublica Illinois, and it got people talking once again about the madness around college admissions. In comments on the ProPublica article and in other online forums, though, plenty of people chimed in expressing sympathy for these Chicago-area parents, calling their move a clever solution to an overwhelming challenge facing their children. To these commenters, the real problem is the high cost of college and what they see as unfair rules around how much parents are expected to contribute.

When people think of education, they often picture content knowledge in subjects like reading, writing or arithmetic. But there’s a growing interest in bigger questions—like whether schools, colleges or job-training programs teach the social and emotional skills people need to make it in today’s complex world. For our final podcast of the year, we get philosophical, looking at ideas of what a good life looks like.

If you were fortunate enough to have music education in school, what were those classes like? Musicians and music educators alike say that learning music is so much more than just playing an instrument, or learning about your favorite artists. It’s a window into other disciplines and life skills, and teaches you how to learn and get along.