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Oct 15

20m 47s

S2 E1: It’s Not Just Reading

About this episode

In the 1960s, an education outsider named Zig Engelmann begins challenging conventional ideas about what young children can learn. He teaches his 4-year-old twins basic algebra. But he has a hard time getting anyone in education to take him seriously, until a professor gives him a chance to see if his ideas will work in a classroom.

Read: What is Direct Instruction?
Video: The 5 key concepts of DI
Video: Who was Zig Engelmann?

Read: Transcript of this episode

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Up next

S2 E2: The Remedy Is Always Teaching

At an experimental preschool in Illinois, Zig Engelmann and his colleagues begin turning his ideas into a classroom teaching method. Along the way, they make a series of discoveries about effective instruction. Their mantra: “If the student hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taug ... Show More

S2 E3: The Forgotten Experiment

Zig Engelmann gets the chance of a lifetime: Put Direct Instruction to the test in one of the largest education experiments ever conducted. The results could have changed the direction of American education. Instead, they’re contested — and ultimately cast aside.Read: Why America ... Show More

S2 E4: What Can You Do for My Black Children?

In a poor, Black neighborhood in Houston, Principal Thaddeus Lott transforms a struggling elementary school with Direct Instruction. Soon, his students are outperforming students at much wealthier schools. The results are so remarkable, some people think it’s too good to be true. ... Show More

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