Daniel Willingham

Daniel Willingham (b. 1961)

Key Contribution / Core Idea
Applied cognitive psychology to everyday teaching; author of Why Don’t Students Like School?

Background / Context
Professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, specialising in learning, memory, and reading comprehension.

Main Theories / Methods

• Memory is the residue of thought: we remember what we think about.

• Background knowledge is essential for comprehension.

• Practice, retrieval, and spaced repetition consolidate learning.

• Debunks myths such as “learning styles.”

Relevance to Modern KS3/4 Teaching
Explains why explicit instruction and frequent recall activities outperform unstructured exploration.
Directly informs how to teach factual and procedural knowledge in STEM.

How His Ideas Link to Others
Builds on Sweller and Rosenshine; echoes Ausubel’s focus on prior knowledge.

Strengths and Appeal
Grounded in rigorous science, highly readable, and deeply practical.

Criticisms and Limitations
Some argue his approach underplays creativity and student agency.

Legacy / Lasting Influence
Major voice in evidence-based education; often cited in teacher-training programmes.

Further Reading
Willingham, D. T. (2009) Why Don’t Students Like School?