The Default Library
Paths / Path 50

Education

How people learn, how teaching works, how learning is measured and how school systems around the world are built.

For: teachers and future teachers, parents, anyone who trains or tutors others, and anyone thinking of studying education.

Shaped by the US InTASC model teaching standards, the UK Department for Education's Core Content Framework (2019), the Education Endowment Foundation's evidence reviews and OECD and UNESCO comparative work; evidence is graded (strong, mixed, weak), and contested questions are argued by each side.

14readings
3.1 hoursof reading
4stages
11 reads · 3 deep dives
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Stage 1

Year 1 · How people learn

4 readings · 53 min
  1. 01ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Learning Sciences: How People Learn

    Memory, practice and the science of learning.
  2. 02ReadInteractiveQuiz14 min

    Cognitive Psychology: A Narrow Beam and a Rebuilding Crew

    Attention, memory and thinking.
  3. 03ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Learning & Behavior: Surprise Is the Teacher

    How behaviour and habits are learned.
  4. 04ReadInteractiveQuiz14 min

    Philosophy & History of Education: Big Ideas from Confucius to Freire

    Big ideas about education, from Confucius to Freire.
Stage 2

Year 2 · Development

3 readings · 43 min
  1. 05ReadInteractiveQuiz14 min

    Developmental Psychology: How Minds Are Built, and What Later Research Revised

    How minds grow from infancy to adulthood.
  2. 06Deep diveInteractiveQuiz16 min

    Language Acquisition: How Children Build a Language

    How children learn language.
  3. 07ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Inclusive & Special Education: Teaching Every Child

    Teaching every child, including those with disabilities.
Stage 3

Year 3 · Teaching

4 readings · 51 min
  1. 08ReadInteractiveQuiz11 min

    Curriculum & Instructional Design: Planning What to Teach, and in What Order

    Planning what to teach and in what order.
  2. 09Deep diveInteractiveQuiz15 min

    Teaching Reading & Mathematics: The Two Subjects Every School Must Get Right

    The two subjects every school must get right.
  3. 10ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Classroom Practice & Educational Technology: Attention First, Screens Second

    Running a classroom, and what technology helps or doesn't.
  4. 11ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Assessment & Measurement: How to Tell What Someone Has Learned

    How to tell what someone has learned.
Stage 4

Year 4 · Systems and evidence

3 readings · 38 min
  1. 12ReadInteractiveQuiz11 min

    Research Methods in Psychology: How to Not Fool Yourself

    How to read the research.
  2. 13ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Education Systems & Policy Worldwide: The League Table and the Arguments Behind It

    How countries organise schooling, and what comparisons show.
  3. 14Deep diveInteractiveQuiz15 min

    Stratification & Inequality: Measuring Who Gets What

    Who gets ahead, and the part schools play.
When you finish

the textbooks named at the end of each subject. See also The Default Course's Memory & Spaced Repetition course.

Study it in depth, for free

These pieces give you the intuition. To learn the major properly, these are the courses and texts universities use, free to read or audit, and the standard textbooks if you want to own one. Links checked November 2026.

The whole major, free: There is no single free education degree; the best route is MIT's introductory education courses 11.124 and 11.125, then the cognitive-science and development courses below, ending with the economics of education and comparison across systems.

Free courses and texts

  1. Introduction to Education: Looking Forward and Looking Back on Education · MIT OCW, 11.124 · history and purposes of education; Year 1
  2. Introduction to Education: Understanding and Evaluating Education · MIT OCW, 11.125 · how to read evidence on schools; Year 1
  3. Human Memory and Learning · MIT OCW, 9.081 · memory and practice; Year 1
  4. Introduction to Psychology · Yale (Open Yale Courses), PSYC 110 · attention, learning, development; Year 1
  5. Infant and Early Childhood Cognition · MIT OCW, 9.85 · how young minds grow; Year 2
  6. Language Acquisition · MIT OCW, 9.57J · how children learn language; Year 2
  7. Teaching and Learning: Cross-Cultural Perspectives · MIT OCW, 21A.150 · teaching across societies; Year 2
  8. Educational Theory and Practice I · MIT OCW, 11.129 · planning and teaching; Year 3
  9. Educational Theory and Practice III · MIT OCW, 11.131 · classroom practice; Year 3
  10. Technologies for Creative Learning · MIT OCW, MAS.714J · technology and learning; Year 3
  11. Teaching College-Level Science and Engineering · MIT OCW, 5.95J · teaching methods and assessment; Year 3
  12. Economics of Education · MIT OCW, 11.126J · who gets ahead and the role of schools; Year 4
  13. UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report · UNESCO · reports and databases comparing national education systems; Year 4
  14. Teaching and Learning Toolkit · Education Endowment Foundation (England) · each classroom approach graded by cost, strength of evidence and likely effect; all years

The standard textbooks

  • Educational Psychology (Woolfolk; or Slavin) · the standard teacher-training text
  • Visible Learning (Hattie) · synthesis of evidence on what works, read critically
  • Make It Stick (Brown, Roediger and McDaniel) · learning science for self-learners
  • Why Don't Students Like School? (Willingham) · cognitive science for teachers
  • Embedded Formative Assessment (Wiliam) · assessment
  • Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Freire) · foundational educational philosophy
  • Teach Like a Champion (Lemov) · classroom practice
  • Cognitive Development (Flavell, Miller and Miller; or Siegler) · development
Next path →

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