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Who's who

People

Researchers, builders, writers and advocates in learning, AI and children: who they are and what they are known for.

  • 409 listed

Learning science and memory

  • Barbara OakleyProfessor of Engineering, Oakland UniversityEngineering professor who co-created Learning How to Learn with neuroscientist Terrence Sejnowski. It is one of the most-enrolled online courses in the world. Her books, including A Mind for Numbers and Learning How to Learn for kids and teens, explain focused versus diffuse thinking, chunking and practice in plain language.Known for: Learning How to Learn (Coursera MOOC), A Mind for Numbers (2014), Learning How to Learn (2018, for young readers)
  • Carl WiemanProfessor of Physics and of the Graduate School of Education, Stanford UniversityNobel Prize-winning physicist who turned to science education research. His work, including a large study of active learning in university physics, made the case that interactive teaching beats lecture. His book Improving How Universities Teach Science describes how to change teaching departments one course at a time.Known for: Nobel Prize in Physics (2001), PhET Interactive Simulations, Improving How Universities Teach Science (2017)
  • Daniel L. SchwartzDean, Stanford Graduate School of EducationLearning scientist and dean of Stanford's education school. He is known for "preparation for future learning," the finding that letting students explore a problem before a lesson can deepen what they get from the explanation. He co-wrote The ABCs of How We Learn, a guide to 26 research-based learning methods.Known for: The ABCs of How We Learn (2016), Preparation for future learning, Teachable agents
  • Daniel T. WillinghamProfessor of Psychology, University of VirginiaCognitive psychologist who writes for teachers and parents about what memory and attention research means for school. His book Why Don't Students Like School? argues that background knowledge and practice drive thinking skills. He has written widely against the "learning styles" idea and about reading comprehension, including in The Reading Mind.Known for: Why Don't Students Like School? (2009), The Reading Mind (2017), Critiques of learning styles
  • Doug RohrerProfessor of Psychology, University of South FloridaPsychologist whose classroom studies show that interleaved math practice, which mixes different kinds of problems in one assignment, beats the usual blocked practice on delayed tests. His work is a key source for mixed review in math homework and adaptive practice design. He co-wrote the 2008 learning-styles review.Known for: Interleaved mathematics practice, Spacing effects in math, Learning styles review (2008, co-author)
  • Elizabeth Ligon BjorkProfessor of Psychology, University of California, Los AngelesCognitive psychologist who studies how remembering and forgetting work and how to apply that to classrooms. Her research covers retrieval-induced forgetting, the benefits of interleaving and spacing, and how well-built multiple-choice quizzes can strengthen learning rather than just measure it. She co-directs the Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab at UCLA with Robert Bjork.Known for: Retrieval-induced forgetting, Multiple-choice tests as learning events, Desirable difficulties
  • Hal PashlerDistinguished Professor of Psychology, University of California, San DiegoExperimental psychologist known for research on attention limits and on the spacing of practice. He was lead author of the 2008 review that found little evidence that matching teaching to "learning styles" helps, and he has helped push psychology toward stricter replication.Known for: Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence (2008), Optimal spacing of study, Attention and dual-task limits
  • Henry L. Roediger IIIProfessor of Psychology, Washington University in St. LouisMemory researcher whose lab helped turn the "testing effect" into practical classroom advice: pulling information out of memory through quizzes strengthens it more than rereading. He is also known for the Deese-Roediger-McDermott method for studying false memories, and co-wrote the popular book Make It Stick with Mark McDaniel and Peter C. Brown.Known for: Testing effect, Make It Stick (2014, co-author), Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory paradigm
  • Howard GardnerHobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of EducationDevelopmental psychologist known for the theory of multiple intelligences, introduced in Frames of Mind (1983). The theory is popular with teachers. Cognitive scientists have criticized it for weak evidence, and they warn against confusing it with "learning styles," a link Gardner himself rejects. He long co-directed Harvard's Project Zero and co-founded The Good Project.Known for: Theory of multiple intelligences, Frames of Mind (1983), The Good Project
  • Jeffrey D. KarpickeProfessor of Psychological Sciences, Purdue UniversityCognitive psychologist known for experiments showing that practicing retrieval produces more long-term learning than rereading or concept mapping, including a widely cited 2011 study in Science. His Cognition and Learning Lab studies retrieval-based learning and how students choose study strategies.Known for: Retrieval-based learning, Roediger and Karpicke (2006) testing-effect study, Karpicke and Blunt (2011) in Science
  • John DunloskyProfessor Emeritus of Psychological Sciences, Kent State UniversityMetacognition researcher best known as lead author of a 2013 review that rated ten common study techniques. Practice testing and spaced practice came out on top, while highlighting and rereading rated low. The review is one of the most cited guides to how students should study, and his work also covers how learners judge their own learning.Known for: Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques (2013), Metacognition research, Successive relearning (with Katherine Rawson)
  • John SwellerProfessor Emeritus of Education, University of New South WalesEducational psychologist who formulated cognitive load theory. The theory holds that working memory is very limited, so novices learn best from clear, guided instruction such as worked examples rather than open-ended problem solving. The theory shapes instructional design and the case for explicit teaching, and is debated by advocates of discovery and inquiry learning.Known for: Cognitive load theory, Worked-example effect, Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work (2006, co-author)
  • Katherine RawsonProfessor Emeritus of Psychological Sciences, Kent State UniversityCognitive psychologist who studies how to make study time count. With John Dunlosky she developed and tested "successive relearning," which means retrieving material until it is correct and then coming back to it across several sessions. She co-wrote the 2013 review of learning techniques, and her work also covers reading comprehension and metacognition.Known for: Successive relearning, Learning techniques review (2013, co-author)
  • Lisa FazioAssociate Professor of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt UniversityCognitive psychologist who studies how people learn both true and false information, including how repetition makes claims feel true. Her work on misinformation and on helping children and adults correct mistaken beliefs is relevant to teaching media literacy in an age of AI-generated content.Known for: Illusory truth effect research, Misinformation and learning, Correcting misconceptions
  • Mark A. McDanielProfessor Emeritus of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. LouisMemory researcher who has tested retrieval practice in real middle school and college classes, and who studies prospective memory, which is remembering to do things later. He co-wrote Make It Stick with Henry Roediger and Peter C. Brown, and co-wrote the 2008 review that questioned teaching to learning styles.Known for: Make It Stick (2014, co-author), Classroom retrieval-practice studies, Prospective memory
  • Mary Helen Immordino-YangProfessor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Southern CaliforniaAffective neuroscientist who studies how emotion, social feeling and meaning-making shape learning, especially in adolescents. She directs USC's Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE) and wrote Emotions, Learning, and the Brain. Her research is often cited in arguments that feelings and purpose are part of thinking, not a distraction from it.Known for: Emotions, Learning, and the Brain (2016), USC CANDLE, Adolescent development and learning
  • Megan SumerackiCognitive psychologist; co-founder of The Learning ScientistsCognitive psychologist who co-founded The Learning Scientists, a project that turns research on six study strategies into free posters, blog posts and podcasts. The six are spaced practice, retrieval practice, elaboration, interleaving, concrete examples and dual coding. She co-wrote Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide.Known for: The Learning Scientists, Six strategies for effective learning, Understanding How We Learn (2019, co-author)
  • Michelene ChiRegents Professor, Arizona State UniversityCognitive and learning scientist known for research on expertise, the self-explanation effect and the ICAP framework. ICAP ranks learning activities from passive to active, constructive and interactive. It is widely used to judge whether a lesson or app gets students to think, not just watch.Known for: ICAP framework, Self-explanation effect, Expert-novice differences
  • Paul A. KirschnerEmeritus Professor of Educational Psychology, Open Universiteit (Netherlands)Educational psychologist who co-wrote, with John Sweller and Richard Clark, the 2006 paper arguing that minimally guided instruction is less effective for novices. He has written against "digital native" and learning-styles claims, and co-wrote books for teachers such as How Learning Happens.Known for: Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work (2006), How Learning Happens (with Carl Hendrick), Critiques of the digital native idea
  • Pooja K. AgarwalCognitive scientist and author; founder of RetrievalPractice.orgCognitive scientist who works to bring retrieval practice and other learning-science findings to teachers. She ran classroom studies of quizzing in middle and high schools, co-wrote Powerful Teaching with teacher Patrice Bain, and maintains RetrievalPractice.org, a free library of guides for educators.Known for: Powerful Teaching (2019, with Patrice Bain), RetrievalPractice.org, Classroom studies of retrieval practice
  • Richard E. MayerDistinguished Professor of Psychology, University of California, Santa BarbaraEducational psychologist behind the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. He has run decades of experiments on how words and pictures together help or hurt understanding, which led to design principles such as cutting extra material and pairing narration with visuals. He has also studied what educational games really teach, in Computer Games for Learning.Known for: Multimedia Learning, Cognitive theory of multimedia learning, Computer Games for Learning (2014)
  • Robert BjorkDistinguished Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los AngelesCognitive psychologist who coined the term "desirable difficulties": the finding that practice which feels harder, such as spacing, mixing topics and testing yourself, often produces better long-term learning than smooth, easy review. With Elizabeth Bjork he runs UCLA's Learning and Forgetting Lab, and he co-wrote a widely cited 2008 review that found little evidence for teaching to "learning styles."Known for: Desirable difficulties, New theory of disuse (with Elizabeth Bjork), Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence (2008, co-author)
  • Shana CarpenterProfessor of Psychological Science, Oregon State UniversityCognitive psychologist who studies spacing, retrieval practice and metacognition in classrooms. Her work looks at why students often misjudge which study methods work, and at how instructors can build spaced review and low-stakes quizzing into courses. Her findings support building cumulative review into lessons and homework rather than one-time units.Known for: Spacing effect research, Retrieval practice in classrooms, Student metacognition

AI tutoring researchers

  • Amy OganProfessor of Learning Sciences, Carnegie Mellon UniversityAmy Ogan is an educational technologist who studies how to make learning technology more engaging and effective across cultures, including intelligent tutors and social, rapport-building agents. She has done classroom research in Latin America and Africa and directs Carnegie Mellon's Learning Sciences for Innovators program.Known for: Cross-cultural educational technology, Rapport-building tutoring agents
  • Ashok GoelProfessor of Computer Science, Georgia Tech; Executive Director, AI-ALOEAshok Goel created Jill Watson, a virtual teaching assistant first deployed in his online Georgia Tech course in 2016 that answered student questions on discussion forums. He is executive director of the NSF National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (AI-ALOE), which studies AI assistants for adult learners.Known for: Jill Watson, AI-ALOE
  • Carolyn RoséKavcic-Moura Professor of Language Technologies and HCI, Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarolyn Rosé studies conversation and builds dialogue agents that support collaborative learning, such as agents that prompt students to explain reasoning to each other in group work and online courses. She is a past president of the International Society of the Learning Sciences and a leader in using language technology to study and support discussion.Known for: Conversational agents for collaborative learning, Discussion analytics
  • Chris DedeSenior Research Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of EducationChris Dede has studied emerging learning technologies for decades, from immersive virtual worlds for science learning to artificial intelligence. He leads Harvard's part of the NSF AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education and has written about "intelligence augmentation," in which AI handles routine work so people can focus on judgment.Known for: AI-ALOE, Immersive learning, Intelligence augmentation
  • Chris PiechAssociate Professor of Computer Science (Teaching), Stanford UniversityChris Piech teaches and researches computer science education at Stanford, using AI to give feedback on student code and to model how students learn to program. He co-founded Code in Place, a free volunteer-taught online intro programming course that has reached many thousands of learners worldwide, and co-authored early work on deep knowledge tracing.Known for: Code in Place, Deep knowledge tracing, AI feedback on code
  • Dora DemszkyAssistant Professor of Education Data Science, Stanford Graduate School of EducationDora Demszky leads Stanford's EduNLP Lab, which uses natural language processing to study and improve classroom talk. Her M-Powering Teachers tool gives instructors automated feedback on their discourse, such as how often they build on student ideas, and randomized trials found it changed teaching practice. She also studies how large language models can support tutors and teachers.Known for: EduNLP Lab, M-Powering Teachers, Automated feedback on teacher talk
  • Emma BrunskillAssociate Professor of Computer Science, Stanford UniversityEmma Brunskill combines reinforcement learning and human-computer interaction to study AI systems that make decisions about people, including educational software that adapts what to teach next. Her work focuses on learning good teaching policies safely from limited data, where mistakes carry real costs for students. She holds a courtesy appointment in Stanford's education school.Known for: Reinforcement learning for education, Offline policy evaluation
  • Greg KestinPhysics lecturer, Harvard UniversityGreg Kestin is lead author of a 2025 randomized trial in Scientific Reports, "AI tutoring outperforms in-class active learning," in which Harvard physics students learned more, in less time, from an AI tutor designed around research-based teaching practices than from an active-learning class session. The study is often cited alongside others with more mixed findings.Known for: AI tutoring RCT in physics
  • James LesterProfessor of Computer Science, North Carolina State University; Director, NSF AI Institute for Engaged LearningJames Lester directs the NSF AI Institute for Engaged Learning and NC State's Center for Educational Informatics. His group builds narrative-centered learning environments, such as the Crystal Island science mystery game, along with collaborative dialogue systems and AI-driven assessment, with the aim of making learning more engaging.Known for: NSF AI Institute for Engaged Learning, Crystal Island, Narrative-centered learning
  • John StamperAssociate Professor and MSLE Program Director, Carnegie Mellon UniversityJohn Stamper directs Carnegie Mellon's Master of Educational Technology and Applied Learning Science program and studies educational data mining and human-centered AI for learning. He was long the technical director of DataShop, a public repository of student interaction data from tutoring systems that many learning scientists use.Known for: DataShop, Educational data mining
  • Joseph Jay WilliamsDirector, Intelligent Adaptive Interventions Lab (University of Toronto and Rutgers appointments)Joseph Jay Williams runs experiments inside real courses and apps that adapt as data comes in, using machine learning to decide which version of an explanation or message helps learners most. His lab combines human-computer interaction, psychology and statistics, and builds tools that let instructors run these adaptive experiments themselves.Known for: Adaptive experimentation, Intelligent Adaptive Interventions Lab
  • Ken HolsteinAssistant Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon UniversityKen Holstein studies how AI systems and people can work together, with roots in classrooms that use intelligent tutors. His Lumilo project gave teachers mixed-reality glasses showing real-time signals about which students needed help, and his research looks at how teachers and AI can complement each other rather than one replacing the other.Known for: Lumilo, Human-AI complementarity
  • Kenneth KoedingerHillman University Professor of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon UniversityKen Koedinger is a cognitive scientist whose Cognitive Tutor research became the basis for Carnegie Learning's math software, one of the most studied intelligent tutoring systems. He helped build the learning-science data infrastructure DataShop and LearnSphere and co-developed the Knowledge-Learning-Instruction framework, and he advocates for learning engineering that uses data to improve courses.Known for: Cognitive Tutor, LearnSphere and DataShop, Knowledge-Learning-Instruction framework
  • Martín E. De SimoneResearcher on the World Bank's education team (as of 2025)Martín De Simone led a World Bank team evaluating an after-school program in Edo State, Nigeria, where secondary students used a generative AI chatbot, with teacher guidance, to practice English. The team's 2025 write-up, "From chalkboards to chatbots," reported sizable learning gains over six weeks, an early piece of evidence from a low-income setting.Known for: Nigeria AI tutoring pilot, From chalkboards to chatbots
  • Rose E. WangLeads the Model Experience team in post-training, OpenAIRose Wang leads a post-training team at OpenAI. During her Stanford PhD she built Tutor CoPilot, an AI tool that suggested moves to human tutors in real time and was tested in a large randomized trial, and Bridge, a method for helping AI respond to students' math mistakes. Both were cited in the 2025 Economic Report of the President.Known for: Tutor CoPilot, Bridge (remediating math mistakes)
  • Susanna LoebKissick Family Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Education; founder, National Student Support AcceleratorSusanna Loeb is an education economist who founded the National Student Support Accelerator to expand access to high-impact tutoring, and leads Stanford's SCALE Initiative. Her group runs studies of tutoring programs, including tests of AI tools that support human tutors, and she previously directed the Annenberg Institute at Brown University.Known for: National Student Support Accelerator, High-impact tutoring research, SCALE Initiative
  • Tamara SumnerDirector, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado BoulderTamara Sumner is a professor of computer and cognitive science who leads a lab studying how tools that combine cognitive science, machine intelligence and interactive media can improve STEM teaching and student engagement. She has partnered with school districts on curriculum and teacher-support tools.Known for: Teacher-facing AI tools, STEM curriculum technology
  • Vincent AlevenProfessor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon UniversityVincent Aleven co-founded Carnegie Learning in 1998 and the free Mathtutor site for middle school math. His research covers how intelligent tutoring systems can support self-explanation and help-seeking, and he led development of the Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools (CTAT), which let researchers and teachers build tutors without heavy programming.Known for: Carnegie Learning, CTAT, Mathtutor

Intelligent tutoring and adaptive learning

  • Albert T. CorbettAssociate Research Professor Emeritus of Human-Computer Interaction, Carnegie Mellon UniversityResearcher who, with John Anderson, introduced Bayesian knowledge tracing in 1995. It is a simple statistical model of whether a student has mastered each skill, and many adaptive learning systems still use it or its variants to decide when a student is ready to move on.Known for: Bayesian knowledge tracing (1995, with John Anderson), Cognitive Tutor research
  • Arthur C. GraesserProfessor of Psychology and Intelligent Systems, University of MemphisPsychologist who led AutoTutor, a tutor that holds natural-language conversations with students to build deeper explanations. His work on question asking, discourse and conversational agents in learning is a direct ancestor of today's chat-based AI tutors. He has also led work on assessing collaborative problem solving, including for the OECD's PISA tests.Known for: AutoTutor, Coh-Metrix (co-developer), Research on question asking and deep learning
  • Benjamin BloomEducational psychologist, University of Chicago (1913-1999)Educational psychologist behind Bloom's taxonomy of learning goals and the mastery learning movement. His 1984 "2 Sigma Problem" paper reported that one-to-one tutoring with mastery learning raised students about two standard deviations, and it set the goal many AI tutoring projects still cite. Later research suggests typical tutoring effects are smaller.Known for: Bloom's taxonomy, Mastery learning, The 2 Sigma Problem (1984)
  • Beverly Park WoolfProfessor Emerita, Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Massachusetts AmherstComputer scientist in AI for education who wrote Building Intelligent Interactive Tutors, a standard textbook in the field. Her lab's MathSpring tutor adapted to students' emotions and effort as well as their answers. Her research also looked at how tutors can respond to frustration and boredom, an issue for any adaptive app children use on their own.Known for: Building Intelligent Interactive Tutors (2009), MathSpring (Wayang Outpost), Affect-aware tutoring
  • Bruce M. McLarenProfessor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon UniversityLearning scientist who studies educational games and tutoring. His team built Decimal Point, a math game that in controlled studies taught decimals better than a matched non-game version, and he studies erroneous examples, which ask students to find and fix mistakes.Known for: Decimal Point game, Erroneous examples, Collaborative learning tools
  • Danielle S. McNamaraProfessor of Psychology, Arizona State UniversityLearning scientist who studies reading comprehension and writing and builds game-based tutors for them. She developed iSTART, which coaches readers to explain texts to themselves, and co-developed Coh-Metrix and other tools for automatically measuring text and writing. Her work belongs to a long line of research on using AI to coach reading and writing strategies, now revived by large language models.Known for: iSTART reading strategy tutor, Writing Pal, Coh-Metrix (co-developer)
  • Ido RollProfessor of Education in Science and Technology, Technion - Israel Institute of TechnologyLearning scientist who studies how students become better learners through inquiry, help-seeking and productive failure. He built tutors that coached help-seeking and studied interactive simulations. His current work covers AI in education and learning at scale. His work stresses that good learning tools should help students become better independent learners, not only get answers right.Known for: Help Tutor, Invention activities and productive failure, Learning@Scale research
  • Jack MostowEmeritus Research Professor, Carnegie Mellon UniversityComputer scientist who led Project LISTEN, a reading tutor that used speech recognition to listen to children read aloud and help when they got stuck. He later led CMU's RoboTutor team in the Global Learning XPRIZE, which built tablet software for children in Tanzania to learn reading and math on their own.Known for: Project LISTEN Reading Tutor, RoboTutor (Global Learning XPRIZE)
  • James C. LesterGoodnight Distinguished University Professor in AI and Machine Learning, North Carolina State UniversityComputer scientist who builds narrative-centered learning environments, such as the Crystal Island science mystery game. He directs the NSF National AI Institute for Engaged Learning, which studies AI-driven story-based learning. His team's games test how stories, characters and AI-driven guidance can keep students working through science problems, and Crystal Island has been used in many middle school studies.Known for: Crystal Island, NSF AI Institute for Engaged Learning, Narrative-centered learning
  • John R. AndersonProfessor of Psychology and Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon UniversityCognitive psychologist who created the ACT-R theory of how the mind learns skills. He used it to build early cognitive tutors for algebra, geometry and programming, and the approach later became the basis of Carnegie Learning's tutors. His model-tracing approach, which follows each step a student takes and gives targeted feedback, remains a core idea in intelligent tutoring.Known for: ACT-R cognitive architecture, Early cognitive tutors, Model tracing
  • Kurt VanLehnComputer science professor, Arizona State UniversityCognitive scientist whose 2011 review compared human tutoring, intelligent tutoring systems and no tutoring. It found that step-based computer tutors came close to human tutors and that the famous "two sigma" effect was larger than most studies support. He also helped build the Andes physics tutor.Known for: The Relative Effectiveness of Human Tutoring, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, and Other Tutoring Systems (2011), Andes physics tutor, Step-based tutoring
  • Neil HeffernanWilliam B. Smith Professor of Computer Science, Worcester Polytechnic InstituteComputer scientist who co-created ASSISTments, a free platform where students do math homework with instant feedback and teachers see results. A large randomized trial in Maine found gains in seventh-grade math. ASSISTments also runs as an open testbed where researchers can run experiments inside real homework.Known for: ASSISTments, Maine homework randomized trial, E-TRIALS research testbed
  • Sidney D'MelloProfessor, Institute of Cognitive Science and Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado BoulderResearcher who studies how emotion, attention and mind-wandering affect learning, and builds systems that detect them. He leads the NSF National AI Institute for Student-AI Teaming, which develops AI partners for classroom collaboration. His research matters for any learning app that tries to notice when a child is confused, bored or tuned out.Known for: NSF National AI Institute for Student-AI Teaming, Affect detection in learning, Mind-wandering research

AI in education and learning at scale

  • Candace ThilleAssociate Professor (Teaching), Stanford Graduate School of EducationLearning scientist who founded and led Carnegie Mellon's Open Learning Initiative, which built online college courses grounded in cognitive science and used student data to improve them. Studies of OLI's statistics course found students could learn the material in less time.Known for: Open Learning Initiative (OLI), Data-driven course improvement
  • Dorottya DemszkyAssistant Professor of Education Data Science, Stanford Graduate School of EducationResearcher who applies natural language processing to classroom and tutoring talk. Her tools give teachers and tutors automated feedback on practices such as building on student ideas, and randomized trials found that such feedback changed instruction. Her work points to AI uses that support human teachers and tutors rather than replace them.Known for: Automated feedback for teachers (M-Powering Teachers), NLP for classroom discourse, Tutoring transcript research
  • Hamsa BastaniAssociate Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions, The Wharton SchoolResearcher who co-led a widely discussed field experiment in Turkish high schools. It found that students using an unrestricted GPT-4 tutor did better during practice but worse on later exams, while a version with learning safeguards largely avoided that harm. The study is often cited in debates on AI tutors.Known for: Generative AI Can Harm Learning (field experiment), Machine learning for operations
  • Jeremy RoschelleCo-Executive Director, Learning Sciences Research, Digital PromiseLearning scientist who led SimCalc, a math software project whose large trials in Texas middle schools showed gains on topics such as rate and proportion. He has led national work on AI in education, including the Center for Integrative Research in Computing and Learning Sciences, and co-wrote guidance on emerging AI for schools.Known for: SimCalc, CIRCLS, AI in education policy reports
  • Justin ReichAssociate Professor of Digital Media and Director of the Teaching Systems Lab, MITResearcher whose book Failure to Disrupt argues that education technology tends to reinforce existing patterns rather than transform schools. He hosts the TeachLab podcast, and his lab studies how schools are adapting to generative AI, including guides for teachers. He is a frequent skeptic of claims that new technology alone will remake school.Known for: Failure to Disrupt (2020), MIT Teaching Systems Lab, Research on schools and generative AI
  • Kenneth HolsteinFaculty member, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon UniversityHuman-computer interaction researcher who studies how AI tools can support teachers rather than sideline them. He co-designed Lumilo, smart glasses that showed teachers which students in an AI-tutored class needed help, and studies how AI fits into human work. His research argues that classroom AI works best when designed with teachers rather than around them.Known for: Lumilo teacher glasses, Human-AI complementarity, Teacher-AI co-design
  • Mark WarschauerProfessor of Education and Informatics, University of California, IrvineResearcher in digital learning and literacy who directs UC Irvine's Digital Learning Lab. He has studied laptop programs, online writing, conversational agents for young children's reading and science, and how generative AI affects writing instruction. His studies of AI conversational partners in children's media bear directly on AI tools for young kids.Known for: Digital Learning Lab, Conversational agents for children, Technology and literacy
  • Rene F. KizilcecAssociate Professor of Information Science, Cornell UniversityResearcher who studies online learning and AI in education at scale, including light-touch interventions to help students finish courses and fairness in learning algorithms. He directs Cornell's Future of Learning Lab and is principal investigator of the National Tutoring Observatory.Known for: National Tutoring Observatory, Future of Learning Lab, Algorithmic fairness in education
  • Rose LuckinProfessor Emerita, UCL Knowledge Lab; founder and CEO, Educate Ventures ResearchResearcher in AI and education who wrote Machine Learning and Human Intelligence. She argues AI should help people build human intelligence, not replace it. She founded Educate Ventures Research to help schools and edtech companies use AI with evidence, and co-founded the Institute for Ethical AI in Education.Known for: Machine Learning and Human Intelligence (2018), Educate Ventures Research, Institute for Ethical AI in Education (co-founder)
  • Victor R. LeeKhosla Family Professor, Stanford Graduate School of EducationLearning scientist who studies data literacy, AI literacy and how young people learn with technology. He is faculty lead for AI and education work at Stanford's Accelerator for Learning, including CRAFT, which offers free classroom materials about AI. His research also covers how young people use wearable devices and personal data for learning.Known for: CRAFT AI literacy resources, Data literacy research, Stanford Accelerator for Learning
  • Ying XuAssistant Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of EducationResearcher who studies how children learn from and with AI, including conversational agents that ask questions during storybook reading or science videos. Her studies compare AI partners with human partners and ask what children understand about talking to machines. Her findings suggest well-designed AI questioning can support comprehension, though children still respond differently to people than to machines.Known for: Conversational AI for children's learning, AI-assisted storybook reading, Children's understanding of AI
  • Zachary PardosProfessor of Education, University of California, BerkeleyResearcher in adaptive learning and AI who has worked on knowledge tracing, course recommendation systems and open adaptive tutors. His lab built OATutor, an open-source adaptive tutoring system, and has compared AI-generated hints with human-written ones. Open tools like OATutor let researchers and teachers study adaptive tutoring without depending on a commercial vendor.Known for: OATutor (open adaptive tutor), Knowledge tracing, Course recommendation systems

Learning analytics and AI-in-education research

  • Dragan GaševićProfessor of Learning Analytics, Monash UniversityDragan Gašević is one of the most cited researchers in learning analytics. He co-developed tools such as OnTask, which helps instructors send personalized feedback at scale, and has studied self-regulated learning and the effects of generative AI on how students learn. He is a past president of the Society for Learning Analytics Research.Known for: OnTask, Learning analytics research, Society for Learning Analytics Research
  • Inge MolenaarProfessor of Education and Artificial Intelligence, Radboud University; Director, NOLAIInge Molenaar directs the Netherlands' National Education Lab AI (NOLAI), where schools, researchers and companies co-design AI tools for primary and secondary classrooms. Her research uses learning analytics and AI to understand how learning unfolds over time and how to balance control between teachers, students and machines, which she calls hybrid intelligence.Known for: NOLAI, Hybrid human-AI regulation
  • Mike SharplesEmeritus Professor of Educational Technology, The Open UniversityMike Sharples has worked on educational technology for decades, from early research on mobile learning to the Open University's yearly Innovating Pedagogy reports. His book Story Machines (2022) explains how computers came to write creatively, and he wrote some of the earliest commentary on what large language models mean for student essays.Known for: Story Machines, Innovating Pedagogy reports, Mobile learning
  • Mutlu CukurovaProfessor of Learning and Artificial Intelligence, UCL Knowledge LabMutlu Cukurova researches human-AI collaboration in education and multimodal learning analytics, which combine data such as speech, gaze and movement to understand learning. He argues that AI should augment rather than replace teachers' judgment, and studies how to evaluate the real classroom impact of AI systems.Known for: Multimodal learning analytics, Human-AI complementarity in teaching
  • René F. KizilcecAssociate Professor of Information Science, Cornell UniversityRené Kizilcec directs Cornell's Future of Learning Lab and is principal investigator of the National Tutoring Observatory, which builds shared data and tools to study what happens in tutoring sessions. His research on online learning, behavioral nudges and fairness in educational algorithms is widely cited.Known for: National Tutoring Observatory, Future of Learning Lab, Algorithmic fairness in education
  • Shayan DoroudiAssistant Professor, School of Education, UC IrvineShayan Doroudi studies the foundations of learning about learning, from how researchers study learning to how algorithms model students, and how that shapes the design of educational technology. He has written on the history of AI in education and on the limits of student models used by adaptive systems.Known for: History of AI in education, Student modeling
  • Wayne HolmesProfessor of Critical Studies of AI and Education, UCL Knowledge LabWayne Holmes studies artificial intelligence in education from a critical, human-rights perspective and has advised UNESCO and the Council of Europe on AI and education policy. He co-wrote Artificial Intelligence in Education: Promises and Implications for Teaching and Learning (2019) and argues that AI tools need evidence and oversight before wide use in schools.Known for: Artificial Intelligence in Education: Promises and Implications, Council of Europe AI and education work
  • Zachary A. PardosProfessor of Education, UC BerkeleyZach Pardos studies adaptive learning and AI in education. His lab built OATutor, an open-source adaptive tutoring system whose content and data are free for researchers, and tested how ChatGPT-written hints compare with human-written ones. He also works on AI tools that help community college students transfer credits and plan degrees.Known for: OATutor, ATAIN credit transfer, AskOski

Kids, AI and learning research

  • Cynthia BreazealProfessor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT; Director, MIT RAISECynthia Breazeal leads MIT's Personal Robots Group and is the founding director of MIT RAISE (Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education). She launched the Day of AI program, which provides free AI literacy lessons for K-12 classrooms, and studies social robots as learning companions for young children. She co-founded the home robot company Jibo.Known for: MIT RAISE, Day of AI, Social robots for learning
  • Dakuo WangAssociate Professor, Northeastern UniversityDakuo Wang leads Northeastern's Human-Centered AI Lab, jointly appointed in computer science and arts, media and design. With collaborators including Ying Xu, he has built AI tools for children and families, such as storytelling and question-asking companions for shared reading, and studies how people and AI work together.Known for: StoryBuddy, Human-centered AI
  • Mitchel ResnickLEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research, MIT Media LabMitchel Resnick leads the Lifelong Kindergarten group, which created Scratch, the free coding language and community used by more than 150 million young people, and the OctoStudio mobile coding app. He argues that children learn best through creative projects, peers and play, a lens he applies to how AI should and should not be used with kids.Known for: Scratch, OctoStudio, Lifelong Kindergarten
  • Stefania DrugaAI education researcherStefania Druga studies how children and families learn with and about artificial intelligence. She created Cognimates, a platform that lets kids build games and train their own AI models, and her research on how young children perceive smart assistants and robots helped shape the field of child-centered AI literacy.Known for: Cognimates, Children's perceptions of AI

AI in education commentators

  • Anna MillsCommunity college writing teacher and authorAnna Mills teaches writing at a community college and wrote the open textbook AI and College Writing: An Orientation, along with How Arguments Work. She advocates for teaching students to use AI critically and transparently, and is involved with MyEssayFeedback.ai, a tool for combining peer and AI review with reflection.Known for: AI and College Writing: An Orientation, How Arguments Work, MyEssayFeedback.ai
  • Audrey WattersWriter and education technology criticAudrey Watters has written about education technology for many years and is known for skeptical, historically grounded criticism of its promises. Her book Teaching Machines (MIT Press, 2020) traces the pre-history of personalized learning back to B.F. Skinner's machines, and her newsletter Second Breakfast continues her commentary, including on AI.Known for: Teaching Machines, Hack Education, Second Breakfast
  • Ben WilliamsonSenior Lecturer in Digital Education, University of EdinburghBen Williamson studies the politics of data, algorithms and AI in education, including how tech companies and investors shape school policy. He wrote Big Data in Education (2017) and the long-running Code Acts in Education blog, and has written critical analyses of the push to put generative AI into schools.Known for: Big Data in Education, Code Acts in Education blog
  • Benjamin RileyFounder, Cognitive ResonanceBen Riley founded Cognitive Resonance to help people understand generative AI through cognitive science, and is a prominent skeptic of AI tutors and chatbots in schools. He previously founded Deans for Impact, which works on bringing learning science into teacher preparation, and writes and speaks often about how human thinking differs from large language models.Known for: Cognitive Resonance, Deans for Impact
  • Daisy ChristodoulouDirector of Education, No More MarkingDaisy Christodoulou wrote Seven Myths About Education and leads education at No More Marking, which uses comparative judgement so teachers can assess writing reliably. She has run and written about trials using large language models to help mark student writing, comparing AI judgements with teachers', and about what AI means for assessment.Known for: Seven Myths About Education, Comparative judgement, AI and assessment
  • Dan FitzpatrickAuthor and speaker on AI in schoolsDan Fitzpatrick is a former teacher and school leader in the UK who co-wrote The AI Classroom and wrote Infinite Education, about leading change in schools as AI arrives. He advises schools and education leaders on AI strategy and writes and speaks widely as "The AI Educator."Known for: The AI Classroom, Infinite Education
  • Dan MeyerMath educator; writes the Mathworlds newsletter; works at AmplifyDan Meyer is a former high school math teacher, known for his TED talk on math class, who helped build Desmos's classroom activities and now works at Amplify after it acquired Desmos's curriculum. In his Mathworlds newsletter he is a prominent skeptic of AI chatbot tutors, arguing that most students do not want to learn from them and that teachers and peers matter more.Known for: Mathworlds, Desmos classroom activities, Math class needs a makeover (TED)
  • Ethan MollickAssociate Professor of Management and Co-Director, Generative AI Labs, WhartonEthan Mollick studies how AI changes work and education and writes One Useful Thing, one of the most read newsletters on practical AI use. His book Co-Intelligence (2024) was a New York Times bestseller, and with Lilach Mollick he has published prompts and papers on using AI as a tutor, coach and simulation partner in teaching. TIME named him to its 2024 AI list.Known for: Co-Intelligence, One Useful Thing, AI in the classroom prompts
  • John WarnerWriter and writing teacherJohn Warner is a writer and former college writing instructor who wrote More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI (2025) and Why They Can't Write. He argues that writing is a way of thinking that large language models cannot do for students, and writes the Biblioracle newsletter.Known for: More Than Words, Why They Can't Write, The Biblioracle
  • José Antonio BowenAuthor; former president, Goucher CollegeJosé Antonio Bowen co-wrote Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning (2024) with C. Edward Watson, a widely used guide for college faculty on assignments, policies and AI literacy. He earlier wrote Teaching Naked, about using technology to free class time for active learning, and gives workshops on teaching with AI.Known for: Teaching with AI, Teaching Naked
  • Lance EatonWriter on AI and higher educationLance Eaton writes the newsletter AI + Education = Simplified, exploring AI in teaching and learning through reflection and interviews. He gathered and shared a widely used public collection of college syllabus policies on generative AI and works in faculty development.Known for: AI + Education = Simplified, Syllabus AI policy collection
  • Leon FurzeAuthor and consultant on AI in educationLeon Furze is an Australian educator and consultant who helps schools and universities understand the practical and ethical sides of generative AI. He co-developed the AI Assessment Scale, a widely adopted framework for deciding how much AI use to allow in a task, and wrote Practical AI Strategies and other books for teachers.Known for: AI Assessment Scale, Practical AI Strategies
  • Lilach MollickCo-Director, Generative AI Labs at Wharton (as of 2025)Lilach Mollick works on how generative AI can support teaching and learning at the Wharton School, after leading pedagogy for Wharton Interactive's simulation games. With Ethan Mollick she co-wrote widely shared papers such as "Assigning AI: Seven Approaches for Students" and research on AI agents that run practice simulations for students.Known for: Assigning AI: Seven Approaches for Students, AI tutor and simulation prompts
  • Maha BaliProfessor of Practice, Center for Learning and Teaching, American University in CairoMaha Bali is a faculty developer and open educator who writes the Reflecting Allowed blog. She is known for her work on critical AI literacy, encouraging teachers and students to question how AI tools are built and whose knowledge they reflect, and for a global, equity-minded view of AI in education.Known for: Critical AI literacy, Reflecting Allowed blog, Equity Unbound
  • Marc WatkinsWriter on AI and teaching; University of MississippiMarc Watkins writes the Rhetorica newsletter about how generative AI is changing writing instruction and higher education. At the University of Mississippi he has led faculty training on AI, and he often argues for thoughtful policy over AI detection, and for teaching students to use AI with care rather than banning or embracing it uncritically.Known for: Rhetorica newsletter, Faculty AI institutes
  • Natalie WexlerEducation writerNatalie Wexler writes about literacy and the role of background knowledge in reading. She wrote The Knowledge Gap and co-wrote The Writing Revolution, and her recent book Beyond the Science of Reading argues that schools need to build knowledge alongside phonics. She has also written about what AI means for reading and writing instruction.Known for: The Knowledge Gap, The Writing Revolution, Beyond the Science of Reading
  • Punya MishraProfessor, Mary Lou Fulton College of Teaching and Learning Innovation, Arizona State UniversityPunya Mishra co-developed the TPACK framework, which describes the knowledge teachers need to combine technology, pedagogy and content, and is a widely read voice on generative AI and education through his blog and talks. He focuses on creativity, design and what AI means for teacher education.Known for: TPACK framework, Writing on generative AI and teaching
  • Torrey TrustProfessor of Learning Technology, University of Massachusetts AmherstTorrey Trust studies how technology can support teacher and student learning and examines it critically. Her freely shared slides, guides and syllabus statements on ChatGPT and generative AI became widely used by teachers and professors in 2023 and after, and she writes about AI's ethical and accessibility implications.Known for: Generative AI teaching guides, Critical edtech research

Kids and AI research

  • Allison DruinProfessor Emerita, University of Maryland, College ParkComputer scientist who pioneered designing technology with children as full partners, through an approach called cooperative inquiry and the University of Maryland's KidsTeam. She also co-founded the International Children's Digital Library. Her methods are now standard in research on children's technology, including AI tools.Known for: cooperative inquiry, KidsTeam, International Children's Digital Library
  • Celeste KiddProfessor of Psychology, University of California, BerkeleyCognitive scientist who studies curiosity, belief and how children decide what to learn. In a 2023 Science article with Abeba Birhane, she argued that generative AI systems that sound confident can distort human beliefs, with children especially vulnerable. She was among the 'Silence Breakers' named Time Person of the Year in 2017.Known for: curiosity research, How AI can distort human beliefs (Science, 2023)
  • David S. TouretzkyResearch Professor of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon UniversityComputer scientist who founded and chairs the AI4K12 initiative, sponsored by AAAI and the Computer Science Teachers Association, which is developing national guidelines for teaching AI in K-12 schools. AI4K12's 'Five Big Ideas in AI' (perception, representation and reasoning, learning, natural interaction, and societal impact) are widely used in AI education.Known for: AI4K12, Five Big Ideas in AI
  • Jun ZhaoSenior Researcher, Department of Computer Science, University of OxfordComputer scientist who studies how algorithms and data practices affect families and young children. She leads Oxford Child-Centred AI research and projects such as KOALA, which examined how children's apps collect data and how to design AI and apps that respect children's rights and autonomy.Known for: Oxford Child-Centred AI, KOALA project, children's data privacy
  • Maja MatarićChan Soon-Shiong Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, University of Southern CaliforniaComputer scientist who helped found the field of socially assistive robotics: robots that help people through social interaction rather than physical help. Her lab has built robots that coach children with autism, support learning and encourage healthy behavior. Her research is a key reference for how robots and AI agents can support children's learning and development while keeping a human in the loop.Known for: socially assistive robotics, robots for children with autism
  • Mhairi AitkenSenior Ethics Fellow, The Alan Turing Institute (as of 2025)Researcher on the ethics of AI who leads work at the UK's national AI institute on children's rights and AI. Her projects, including work with children in Scotland, ask children directly how they think AI should be designed and governed, and argue that children should have a voice in AI policy.Known for: children's rights and AI research, public engagement on AI
  • Natalia KucirkovaProfessor of Early Childhood and Development, University of Stavanger; Professor of Reading and Children's Development, The Open UniversityResearcher on children's reading, personalized digital books and the quality of educational technology. She founded WiKIT, a university spin-out that evaluates children's edtech against research evidence, and writes about how personalization and AI should, and should not, be used in children's learning.Known for: personalized digital books, WiKIT, edtech evidence standards
  • Nomisha KurianEducation researcher (University of Cambridge as of 2024)Researcher whose 2024 study described an 'empathy gap' in AI chatbots: children may treat chatbots as lifelike, trusted confidants even though the systems cannot truly understand them. She proposed a framework of questions to help developers, educators and policymakers design child-safe AI.Known for: empathy gap in AI chatbots, child-safe AI framework
  • Steven VoslooDigital policy specialist, UNICEFPolicy specialist who led UNICEF's work on AI and children, including its policy guidance on AI for children, which sets out requirements for child-centered AI such as supporting development, ensuring fairness, protecting data and privacy, and preparing children for an AI world. The guidance has since been updated and is widely cited by governments and companies.Known for: UNICEF Policy Guidance on AI for Children, AI for children project

Reading and literacy research

  • Anne CastlesProfessor, School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie UniversityCognitive scientist of reading and dyslexia who was lead author of "Ending the Reading Wars" (2018), a widely cited review that explains the evidence on learning to read for a general audience. She studies subtypes of dyslexia and how children learn to read and spell words.Known for: Ending the Reading Wars (2018), Subtypes of developmental dyslexia
  • Catherine E. SnowHobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of EducationLanguage and literacy researcher who chaired the National Research Council committee behind Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (1998). She studies children's vocabulary, academic language and family talk, and co-developed the Word Generation program for middle school vocabulary. Her work is widely cited on how early oral language at home and school builds later reading comprehension.Known for: Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (1998, chair), Word Generation, Home-School Study of Language and Literacy
  • Charles PerfettiUniversity Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of PittsburghCognitive scientist of reading who proposed the lexical quality hypothesis. It holds that comprehension depends on how well a reader knows the spelling, sound and meaning of each word. He has directed Pitt's Learning Research and Development Center and studied reading across writing systems, including Chinese.Known for: Lexical quality hypothesis, Reading across writing systems, Learning Research and Development Center
  • Claude GoldenbergNomellini-Olivier Professor of Education, Emeritus, Stanford UniversityEducation researcher who studies literacy development for English learners and children from Spanish-speaking homes. He served on the National Literacy Panel for Language-Minority Children and Youth and writes about how the science of reading applies to multilingual students. His work bears on how phonics and language instruction can be adapted for children who are learning English.Known for: English learners and literacy, National Literacy Panel for Language-Minority Children and Youth
  • David A. KilpatrickPsychologist and author of Equipped for Reading SuccessSchool psychologist who has taught psychology at SUNY Cortland and wrote Equipped for Reading Success and Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties. His books explain orthographic mapping and phonemic proficiency for teachers and promote advanced phonemic awareness training. Some researchers question how much that training adds beyond phonics.Known for: Equipped for Reading Success (2016), Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties (2015)
  • Hollis ScarboroughSenior Scientist, Haskins LaboratoriesPsychologist who created Scarborough's Reading Rope, the widely used diagram showing skilled reading as word recognition strands (phonological awareness, decoding, sight recognition) woven together with language comprehension strands. Her longitudinal studies showed that early language problems can predict later reading difficulty.Known for: Scarborough's Reading Rope (2001), Early predictors of dyslexia
  • Jack M. FletcherHugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology, University of HoustonNeuropsychologist who directs the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities. He co-wrote Learning Disabilities: From Identification to Intervention and has pushed for identifying reading disabilities through response to instruction rather than IQ gaps. His work matters to families seeking dyslexia evaluations, since it shapes how schools decide who qualifies for help.Known for: Texas Center for Learning Disabilities, Learning Disabilities: From Identification to Intervention, Response to intervention
  • Joseph TorgesenEmeritus Professor of Psychology and Education, Florida State UniversityReading researcher who studied phonological processing and early intervention for struggling readers. He co-developed widely used assessments such as the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP) and the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE), and directed the Florida Center for Reading Research.Known for: CTOPP and TOWRE assessments, Florida Center for Reading Research, Early reading intervention
  • Kathleen RastleProfessor of Cognitive Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of LondonCognitive psychologist who studies how people learn to read and recognize words, including the role of morphology (word parts) and phonics. She co-wrote "Ending the Reading Wars" and has written on how phonics policy in England links to the evidence.Known for: Ending the Reading Wars (2018, co-author), Morphology in reading, Computational models of reading
  • Keith StanovichEmeritus Professor of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of TorontoPsychologist whose 1986 paper on "Matthew effects" in reading described how early readers read more and pull further ahead while struggling readers fall behind. He has also written widely on rational thinking and on the limits of IQ tests. The Matthew effects idea is one reason researchers push for early reading help rather than waiting to see if children catch up.Known for: Matthew Effects in Reading (1986), Phonological-core variable-difference model, What Intelligence Tests Miss (2009)
  • Linnea EhriDistinguished Professor Emerita of Educational Psychology, CUNY Graduate CenterReading researcher who described the phases of learning to read words and the process of orthographic mapping. That is how children link letters to sounds so that words become instantly recognized "sight words." Her work underpins much of today's phonics teaching.Known for: Orthographic mapping, Phases of word reading development, National Reading Panel (member)
  • Louisa MoatsLiteracy researcher, author and consultantLiteracy expert who wrote Speech to Print and was lead author of LETRS, a widely used professional development course on the science of reading for teachers. Her paper "Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science" argued that teachers need deep training in language structure.Known for: LETRS (lead author), Speech to Print, Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science (1999, updated 2020)
  • Mark SeidenbergProfessor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-MadisonPsycholinguist who built influential computer models of how people learn to read words. His book Language at the Speed of Sight argues that reading instruction in American schools has ignored the science of reading. He writes for educators about phonics, comprehension and the role of spoken language.Known for: Language at the Speed of Sight (2017), Connectionist models of reading, Science of reading
  • Maryanne WolfDirector, UCLA Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social JusticeCognitive neuroscientist of reading whose book Proust and the Squid explains how the brain builds a reading circuit. Her later book Reader, Come Home asks how screens and digital reading affect deep reading. She also co-developed the RAVE-O fluency program for children with dyslexia.Known for: Proust and the Squid (2007), Reader, Come Home (2018), RAVE-O intervention
  • Nadine GaabPascucci Professor in Learning Differences, Harvard Graduate School of EducationDevelopmental cognitive neuroscientist who studies the brain basis of dyslexia from infancy onward. She argues for screening children for reading risk before kindergarten rather than waiting for them to fail, and helped develop early screening tools. She writes for parents and policymakers on why early screening and early help matter.Known for: Early dyslexia screening, Infant and preschool brain imaging, Learning differences
  • Nell K. DukeProfessor of Literacy, Language, and Culture, University of MichiganLiteracy researcher known for work on informational text and reading comprehension in early grades, especially for children in low-income communities. She co-wrote the Active View of Reading model with Kelly Cartwright, which expands the Simple View of Reading. She writes widely for teachers and parents, including on project-based literacy and on reading informational text, not only stories, with young children.Known for: Active View of Reading (with Kelly Cartwright), Informational text in early grades, Project-based literacy
  • Sally ShaywitzAudrey G. Ratner Professor in Learning Development, Yale UniversityPhysician-scientist who co-founded and co-directs the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity with Bennett Shaywitz. Her brain imaging and long-term studies showed dyslexia is common and lifelong. Her book Overcoming Dyslexia is a standard guide for families. Her center also highlights strengths often seen in people with dyslexia and advocates for accommodations in school.Known for: Overcoming Dyslexia (2003, 2nd ed. 2020), Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, Connecticut Longitudinal Study
  • Sharon VaughnExecutive Director, The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, University of Texas at AustinSpecial education researcher who has run many large trials of reading interventions for students with learning disabilities and English learners. Her work helped shape response to intervention and tiered support in schools. She has written practical guides for teachers on reading instruction for students who struggle, including older students in middle and high school.Known for: Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, Response to intervention, Reading interventions for older students
  • Stanislas DehaeneProfessor of Experimental Cognitive Psychology, College de FranceCognitive neuroscientist known for research on how the brain handles reading and numbers. His books Reading in the Brain, The Number Sense and How We Learn explain this for general readers. He chaired France's Scientific Council for Education, which drew on this research for national guidance.Known for: Reading in the Brain (2009), The Number Sense (1997), How We Learn (2020)
  • Timothy ShanahanDistinguished Professor Emeritus of Urban Education, University of Illinois ChicagoLiteracy researcher who served on the National Reading Panel and chaired the National Early Literacy Panel. His blog Shanahan on Literacy answers teachers' questions about phonics, fluency, text complexity and comprehension, often pushing back on popular but weakly supported practices.Known for: National Reading Panel (member), National Early Literacy Panel (chair), Shanahan on Literacy blog

Math education research

  • Alan H. SchoenfeldProfessor Emeritus of Education and Mathematics, University of California, BerkeleyMathematics education researcher known for studies of problem solving and for the Teaching for Robust Understanding (TRU) framework. His book Mathematical Problem Solving shaped how schools teach heuristics, and he has written about the history of the math wars. His work emphasizes teaching students to monitor and steer their own problem solving, not only to master procedures.Known for: Mathematical Problem Solving (1985), Teaching for Robust Understanding framework, The Math Wars (2004)
  • Anna StokkeProfessor of Mathematics, University of Winnipeg; host of Chalk & TalkMathematician who advocates for explicit instruction and practice in school math. She hosts Chalk & Talk, a podcast interviewing researchers on how students learn math, and co-founded the WISE Math advocacy group in Manitoba. Her podcast has become a hub for the science-of-math movement among teachers and parents.Known for: Chalk & Talk podcast, WISE Math
  • Brian ButterworthEmeritus Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology, University College LondonCognitive neuroscientist known for research on dyscalculia, a specific difficulty with numbers. His books The Mathematical Brain and Dyscalculia: From Science to Education argue that number sense is inborn and that dyscalculia needs early, targeted help. He developed the Dyscalculia Screener, a computer-based test for schools.Known for: The Mathematical Brain (1999), Dyscalculia: From Science to Education (2018)
  • Daniel AnsariCanada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Western University (Canada)Cognitive neuroscientist who studies how children's brains learn numbers and arithmetic. His Numerical Cognition Laboratory has shown that basic symbolic number skills predict later math, and he has worked to connect neuroscience and education carefully, warning against "neuromyths." He has also written for educators about "neuromyths" and the limits of brain-based learning products.Known for: Numerical Cognition Laboratory, Symbolic number processing, Educational neuroscience
  • David C. GearyCurators' Distinguished Professor of Psychological Sciences, University of MissouriCognitive developmental psychologist who studies children's math learning and difficulties through long-term studies. He served on the National Mathematics Advisory Panel and proposed a distinction between "biologically primary" knowledge children pick up naturally and "secondary" school knowledge that needs teaching.Known for: National Mathematics Advisory Panel (member), Biologically primary and secondary knowledge, Missouri Longitudinal Study of math
  • Deborah Loewenberg BallWilliam H. Payne Collegiate Professor of Education, University of MichiganMathematics education researcher known for defining "mathematical knowledge for teaching," the specialized math knowledge teachers need. She founded TeachingWorks to improve teacher preparation, was dean of Michigan's School of Education, and was president of the American Educational Research Association. Her research has shaped how teacher preparation programs teach future teachers to lead math discussions and understand student thinking.Known for: Mathematical knowledge for teaching, TeachingWorks, AERA president (2017-2018)
  • Douglas H. ClementsProfessor, Morgridge College of Education, University of DenverEarly mathematics researcher who, with Julie Sarama, developed Building Blocks, a preschool math curriculum tested in large trials, and the "learning trajectories" approach. That approach maps the steps children go through in learning each math topic. Building Blocks combines software, hands-on activities and teacher training, and has shown gains in large preschool trials.Known for: Building Blocks curriculum, Learning trajectories, Learning and Teaching Early Math (with Julie Sarama)
  • Hung-Hsi WuProfessor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of California, BerkeleyMathematician who has written extensively on the mathematics K-12 teachers need. He favors a coherent, precise curriculum, especially for fractions and algebra. His textbooks for teachers and his role in debates on math standards made him a central voice in the "math wars."Known for: Understanding Numbers in Elementary School Mathematics, Teaching School Mathematics series, Common Core math standards input
  • Jo BoalerNomellini-Olivier Professor of Education, Stanford UniversityMathematics education professor who co-founded youcubed and wrote Mathematical Mindsets. She promotes open-ended tasks, visual math and growth mindset and argues against timed tests and early tracking. She was on the writing team for the 2023 California Mathematics Framework. Her work has drawn critics who question her use of research and her views on acceleration and algebra timing.Known for: Mathematical Mindsets (2016), youcubed, California Mathematics Framework (writing team)
  • Jon R. StarPforzheimer Professor of Teaching and Learning, Harvard Graduate School of EducationEducational psychologist who studies how students learn algebra flexibly. With Bethany Rittle-Johnson he showed that comparing and contrasting worked solutions builds flexibility, and he helped write a federal practice guide on teaching algebra. His studies suggest students learn more when shown two ways to solve the same problem and asked to compare them.Known for: Comparison of worked examples, Algebra flexibility, IES Teaching Strategies for Improving Algebra Knowledge (co-author)
  • Keith DevlinProfessor Emeritus, Stanford UniversityMathematician and author known as "the Math Guy" on NPR. He has written many popular books on math and co-founded BrainQuake, which builds puzzle games to teach math. He argues video games can teach real math thinking rather than drill.Known for: NPR's "The Math Guy", Mathematics Education for a New Era: Video Games as a Medium for Learning (2011), BrainQuake (co-founder)
  • Lynn FuchsDunn Family Chair in Psychoeducational Assessment, Vanderbilt University (1950-2025)Special education researcher who, often with Douglas Fuchs, developed peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) and curriculum-based measurement for tracking student progress. Her trials of math interventions for children with math difficulties shaped tiered support in schools. She died in 2025. Her measures are still used by teachers to check progress every few weeks and adjust instruction.Known for: Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), Curriculum-based measurement, Math intervention research
  • Nancy C. JordanDean Family Endowed Professor of Teacher Education, University of DelawareResearcher who studies number sense in young children and how it predicts later math. She developed Number Sense Interventions, a structured program for kindergartners at risk, and early screening measures for math difficulties. Her research shows that weak number sense in kindergarten predicts later math difficulty, which supports early screening and help.Known for: Number Sense Interventions, Early math screening
  • Nicole McNeilProfessor of Psychology, University of Notre DameDevelopmental psychologist who studies how children understand the equal sign and early algebra. Her research shows that children who mostly see problems written like "3 + 4 = __" often misread the equal sign as "give the answer," and that varied formats help.Known for: Equal sign misconceptions, Early algebra, Math intervention design
  • Robert S. SieglerSchiff Foundations Professor of Psychology and Education, Teachers College, Columbia UniversityDevelopmental psychologist who studies how children's thinking about numbers changes, including the "overlapping waves" theory of strategy change. His studies showed that playing a simple linear number board game improves preschoolers' number sense, and he has done influential work on fractions.Known for: Overlapping waves theory, Number board game studies, Fractions research
  • Sian BeilockPresident, Dartmouth CollegeCognitive scientist known for research on why people choke under pressure and on math anxiety. Her studies found that anxious adults, including teachers and parents, can pass math anxiety to children, and that brief writing exercises can help students before tests. She wrote Choke.Known for: Choke (2010), Math anxiety research, Expressive writing before tests

Education economics and tutoring evidence

  • Abhijit BanerjeeLemann Foundation Professor in Economics, University of Zurich; co-founder, J-PALDevelopment economist who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize for experimental approaches to reducing poverty, long based at MIT. With Esther Duflo and Pratham he studied Teaching at the Right Level, which groups children by actual skill rather than grade. The approach is now used in many countries.Known for: Nobel Prize in Economics (2019), J-PAL (co-founder), Teaching at the Right Level research
  • Eric HanushekPaul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford UniversityEconomist known for research on school spending, teacher quality and the economic value of skills. His work argues that teacher effectiveness matters far more than class size or spending levels, and that test-score gains predict national economic growth. His estimates of the value of a highly effective teacher are often cited in teacher policy debates.Known for: Teacher quality research, The Knowledge Capital of Nations (2015, with Ludger Woessmann), School finance debates
  • Esther DufloLemann Foundation Professor in Economics, University of ZurichDevelopment economist who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize and co-founded J-PAL while at MIT. Her education trials with Abhijit Banerjee and Pratham, including remedial tutoring and computer-assisted learning in India, helped build the evidence for Teaching at the Right Level.Known for: Nobel Prize in Economics (2019), J-PAL (co-founder), Remedying Education (2007, with Banerjee, Cole and Linden)
  • Jens LudwigEdwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor, University of ChicagoEconomist who directs the University of Chicago Crime Lab and co-founded the Education Lab. With Jonathan Guryan and others he led the randomized trials of Saga Education's high-dosage math tutoring and studies how to scale programs that help young people.Known for: University of Chicago Education Lab (co-founder), Saga Education tutoring trials, University of Chicago Crime Lab
  • Jonathan GuryanProfessor of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern UniversityEconomist who, with Jens Ludwig and colleagues at the University of Chicago Education Lab, ran large randomized trials of Saga Education's daily in-school math tutoring in Chicago. The trials found large gains and helped spark the national push for high-dosage tutoring.Known for: Saga Education tutoring trials, High-dosage tutoring research, University of Chicago Education Lab
  • Karthik MuralidharanTata Chancellor's Professor of Economics, University of California, San DiegoDevelopment economist whose randomized trial of Mindspark, an adaptive computer-based learning program in Delhi, found large gains in math and Hindi in a few months. His work is often cited for teaching at the child's actual level, not grade level, and he wrote Accelerating India's Development.Known for: Mindspark adaptive learning trial (2019), Teacher and school research in India, Accelerating India's Development (2024)
  • Matthew A. KraftProfessor of Education and Economics, Brown UniversityEducation economist who studies teachers, teacher coaching and tutoring. He co-led research on how to scale high-dosage tutoring and its costs, and a widely cited meta-analysis of teacher coaching. He also co-wrote work on the decline in the prestige of teaching.Known for: Teacher coaching meta-analysis, Scaling high-dosage tutoring, Research on the teaching profession
  • Noam AngristAcademic Director, What Works Hub for Global Education, University of Oxford; co-founder, Youth ImpactEconomist who co-founded Youth Impact in Botswana. During school closures it ran low-tech math tutoring by phone call and text, and trials found gains in numeracy at low cost. He studies how to scale education programs that work in low- and middle-income countries.Known for: Youth Impact (co-founder), Phone-based tutoring trials, What Works Hub for Global Education
  • Paul T. von HippelProfessor and Associate Dean for Research, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at AustinSociologist and statistician who studies summer learning loss, school effects and research methods. His work questioned how large and widespread summer slide really is, and he writes on the evidence behind tutoring, phonics and other popular programs. His critiques have pushed researchers to measure learning more carefully before drawing conclusions about programs.Known for: Summer learning research, Is summer learning loss real? (critiques), Research methods for education
  • Philip OreopoulosProfessor of Economics and Public Policy, University of TorontoEconomist who studies how to help students succeed in school and college using field experiments. He co-wrote a 2020 review of tutoring RCTs that found large average gains from structured tutoring, and has tested low-cost coaching, nudges and online tutoring.Known for: Tutoring meta-analysis (2020, with Andre Nickow and Vincent Quan), Field experiments in education
  • Raj ChettyWilliam A. Ackman Professor of Public Economics, Harvard UniversityEconomist who directs Opportunity Insights. His research with colleagues linked teacher value-added to students' adult earnings and showed how kindergarten classroom quality affects later life. His team also tracked how online math learning fell during the pandemic using Zearn data.Known for: Opportunity Insights, Teacher value-added and adult outcomes, Economic Tracker (including online learning data)
  • Robert SlavinEducational psychologist, Johns Hopkins University (1950-2021)Educational researcher who co-founded Success for All, a whole-school reading program tested in many trials, and promoted cooperative learning. He led the Center for Research and Reform in Education and created Evidence for ESSA, a free site rating programs by evidence. He died in 2021.Known for: Success for All, Evidence for ESSA, Cooperative learning
  • Roland G. Fryer Jr.Professor of Economics, Harvard UniversityEconomist who founded Harvard's Education Innovation Laboratory (EdLabs). He ran large school experiments, including paying students for grades and reading, and bringing charter school practices such as high-dosage tutoring and more instructional time into Houston public schools. His studies of student incentives and school practices are often cited in debates on what works in high-poverty schools.Known for: Education Innovation Laboratory (EdLabs), Student incentive experiments, Injecting charter school best practices into public schools
  • Sean F. ReardonProfessor of Poverty and Inequality in Education, Stanford Graduate School of EducationSociologist who built the Stanford Education Data Archive and the Educational Opportunity Project, which compare test scores across nearly every US school district. His research documents how income and racial achievement gaps grew and differ by place. The data let anyone compare achievement and growth across districts and see how much opportunity varies by place.Known for: Educational Opportunity Project (SEDA), Income achievement gap research, Education Recovery Scorecard
  • Thomas J. KaneWalter H. Gale Professor of Education and Economics, Harvard Graduate School of EducationEconomist who directs Harvard's Center for Education Policy Research. He led the Measures of Effective Teaching project and, with Sean Reardon, the Education Recovery Scorecard tracking pandemic learning loss and recovery by district. The scorecard shows how far students in different districts still lag pre-pandemic levels and which districts recovered faster.Known for: Education Recovery Scorecard (with Sean Reardon), Measures of Effective Teaching project, Center for Education Policy Research

Learning analytics and educational data mining

  • George SiemensLearning analytics researcher; co-founder, Society for Learning Analytics ResearchResearcher who proposed connectivism as a theory of learning in networks and co-taught one of the first MOOCs in 2008 with Stephen Downes. He helped found the Society for Learning Analytics Research and the field of learning analytics. He has also written about the effects of AI on higher education and learning.Known for: Connectivism, Early MOOCs (CCK08), Society for Learning Analytics Research (co-founder)
  • Ryan S. BakerProfessor of Artificial Intelligence and Education, Adelaide UniversityResearcher who helped establish educational data mining as a field and co-founded the International Educational Data Mining Society. He is known for detecting student boredom, confusion and "gaming the system" from log data, and for work on algorithmic bias in education. He was previously at the University of Pennsylvania.Known for: Educational data mining (field co-founder), Gaming-the-system detectors, Algorithmic bias in education
  • Simon Buckingham ShumProfessor of Learning Informatics, University of Technology SydneyResearcher who studies human-centered learning analytics and AI. He led UTS's Connected Intelligence Centre, which built tools such as AcaWriter for automated feedback on academic writing, and writes on how analytics should support reflection and judgment rather than just measurement.Known for: Human-centered learning analytics, AcaWriter writing feedback, Connected Intelligence Centre
  • Tiffany BarnesDistinguished Professor of Computer Science, North Carolina State UniversityComputer scientist who uses data mining to generate automatic hints in tutors, such as hints built from past students' solution paths in logic and programming. She also studies games for computing education and how to broaden participation in computing. Her work shows how data from past students can give new students timely hints without hand-writing every one.Known for: Data-driven hint generation, Educational data mining, Games for computing education

Edtech history and critique

  • Larry CubanProfessor Emeritus of Education, Stanford UniversityHistorian of education and former teacher and superintendent whose books, including Teachers and Machines and Oversold and Underused, document how classroom technologies from film to computers repeatedly failed to change teaching as promised. He blogs on school reform and classroom practice.Known for: Teachers and Machines (1986), Oversold and Underused (2001), Tinkering Toward Utopia (1995, with David Tyack)
  • Neil SelwynDistinguished Professor, Monash UniversitySociologist of education technology who examines the gap between edtech promises and classroom realities. His books, including Should Robots Replace Teachers? and Is Technology Good for Education?, ask who benefits from digital education and what is lost. His work is a counterweight to optimistic claims about AI tutors and data-driven schooling.Known for: Should Robots Replace Teachers? (2019), Is Technology Good for Education? (2016), Critical edtech studies
  • Seymour PapertMathematician and educator, MIT (1928-2016)Mathematician and computer scientist who co-created the Logo programming language for children and developed constructionism, the idea that children learn best by building things they care about. His book Mindstorms shaped educational computing, Scratch and the maker movement. He died in 2016.Known for: Logo, Mindstorms (1980), Constructionism

Games, making and learning

  • Constance SteinkuehlerProfessor of Informatics, University of California, IrvineGames researcher who studied learning and scientific reasoning in online games such as World of Warcraft. She served as a senior policy analyst on games in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and has led research on esports and youth.Known for: Learning in massively multiplayer games, White House OSTP games policy work, Scholastic esports research
  • Douglas B. ClarkProfessor, Werklund School of Education, University of CalgaryLearning scientist who led a widely cited 2016 meta-analysis of digital games for learning. It found games can beat non-game instruction on average, especially when well designed. He studies how game design supports science understanding. The meta-analysis is often cited when people ask whether learning games actually work.Known for: Digital Games, Design, and Learning meta-analysis (2016), Games for science learning
  • Eric KlopferProfessor and Director, Scheller Teacher Education Program and The Education Arcade, MITResearcher who studies and builds games and simulations for science and math learning, such as StarLogo Nova, and augmented-reality games. He co-wrote Resonant Games and leads teacher education and AI education projects at MIT. His lab's free games and simulations let students experiment with complex systems such as ecosystems and epidemics.Known for: StarLogo Nova, The Education Arcade, Resonant Games (2018, co-author)
  • James Paul GeeRetired; most recently Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies, Arizona State UniversityLinguist and literacy scholar whose book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy argued that good games embody strong learning principles, such as just-in-time information and well-ordered problems. He helped launch games-and-learning research and writes about literacy as social practice.Known for: What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2003), Affinity spaces, Discourse analysis
  • Katie Salen TekinbaşProfessor of Informatics, University of California, IrvineGame designer and educator who co-wrote Rules of Play, a standard game design text. She led the design of Quest to Learn, a public school in New York built around game-like learning, and co-founded Connected Camps, which runs online Minecraft camps for kids.Known for: Rules of Play (2003, with Eric Zimmerman), Quest to Learn school, Connected Camps
  • Kurt SquireProfessor of Informatics, University of California, IrvineGames-and-learning researcher who studied how players learn history and geography through Civilization and co-founded the Games, Learning and Society group at Wisconsin. He wrote Video Games and Learning and has built games for science and public health. His work helped show that commercial games can be used as serious learning tools in classrooms.Known for: Video Games and Learning (2011), Civilization in classrooms research, Games, Learning and Society (co-founder)
  • Paulo BliksteinDirector, Transformative Learning Technologies Lab, Teachers College, Columbia UniversityLearning scientist who directs the Transformative Learning Technologies Lab. He founded FabLearn, which brings digital fabrication and maker spaces into schools, and studies constructionist learning with computers and hands-on building. He co-wrote a 2026 MIT Press book with Deborah Fields on constructionist learning in Thailand, and argues that making and coding projects give children ownership of what they learn.Known for: FabLearn, Transformative Learning Technologies Lab, Constructionism and maker education
  • Sandra L. CalvertProfessor of Psychology, Georgetown University; Director, Children's Digital Media CenterDevelopmental psychologist who studies how children learn from media, including from on-screen characters they form "parasocial" bonds with, and now from AI agents and smart speakers. She chaired the American Psychological Association's task force on violent media. Her current work on how children learn from and relate to AI characters and voice assistants bears directly on AI products for kids.Known for: Children's Digital Media Center, Parasocial relationships with media characters, Children learning from AI agents
  • Valerie J. ShuteProfessor Emerita, Florida State UniversityResearcher who developed stealth assessment, measuring skills like persistence and problem solving from how students play a game rather than with a separate test. Her work with the physics game Physics Playground tested this approach. Stealth assessment matters for any learning game that wants to measure progress without interrupting play.Known for: Stealth assessment, Physics Playground, Formative feedback review (2008)
  • Yasmin KafaiProfessor of Learning Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of EducationLearning scientist who studies children's game design, coding and making, including electronic textiles. She was part of the team that developed Scratch and co-wrote Connected Code, on programming as a social and creative practice. Her research shows children learn computing deeply when they design games and projects for others.Known for: Scratch (development team), Connected Code (2014, with Quinn Burke), Electronic textiles in computing education

Children, media and screens

  • Alexis HinikerAssociate Professor, University of Washington Information SchoolHuman-computer interaction researcher who directs the User Empowerment Lab. She studies how apps, video platforms and AI shape children's and families' experiences, including design that pulls people into compulsive use, and builds tools that help users regain control. Her research covers child and teen well-being and human-AI interaction.Known for: User Empowerment Lab, design for digital well-being, children and media design
  • Amy OrbenGroup Leader, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of CambridgeExperimental psychologist who studies how digital technology relates to adolescent mental health. Her 2019 study with Andrew Przybylski used specification curve analysis on large datasets and found only a very small average link between technology use and teen well-being. Later work explores whether some ages are more sensitive to social media. She won the inaugural Medical Research Council Impact Prize in 2023.Known for: specification curve analysis of screen time, developmental windows for social media
  • Andrew PrzybylskiProfessor of Human Behaviour and Technology, Oxford Internet Institute, University of OxfordResearch psychologist who studies motivation, health and well-being in the digital age, including video games and screen time. Using large datasets and open-science methods, his studies often find small or inconsistent links between screen use and young people's well-being, and he has questioned treating gaming or social media as addictions without stronger evidence.Known for: Goldilocks hypothesis of screen use, video game and well-being research, open science
  • Angela SantomeroChildren's television creator and producerProducer who co-created Blue's Clues and created Super Why! and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Her shows are known for using child development research to shape their format, such as Blue's Clues' pauses that invite viewers to answer and Daniel Tiger's songs for managing feelings.Known for: Blue's Clues, Super Why!, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood
  • Candice OdgersProfessor of Psychological Science, University of California, IrvineDevelopmental psychologist who studies adolescent mental health and digital technology. She is a prominent critic of claims that smartphones and social media are the main cause of rising teen mental health problems; her 2024 review of The Anxious Generation in Nature argued the evidence for causation is weak, part of a lively public debate with Jonathan Haidt and others.Known for: adolescent mental health research, 2024 Nature review of The Anxious Generation
  • Carrie JamesCo-Director, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Co-founder, Center for Digital ThrivingSociologist who studies young people's experiences growing up with technology, including ethics, privacy and digital citizenship. She co-wrote Behind Their Screens with Emily Weinstein and wrote Disconnected on youth, new media and the ethics gap, and co-directs Harvard's Project Zero.Known for: Behind Their Screens, Disconnected, Center for Digital Thriving
  • danah boydProfessor of Communication, Cornell University (as of 2026); Partner Researcher, Microsoft ResearchTechnology scholar and founder of the Data & Society Research Institute. Her book It's Complicated, based on years of interviews with teenagers, argued that teens use social media to find public space and social connection, and that adult panic often misreads their lives online. She also writes about data, algorithms and the census.Known for: It's Complicated, Data & Society, youth and social media
  • Daniel R. AndersonProfessor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Massachusetts AmherstPsychologist whose research showed that young children watch television actively, paying attention to what they can understand. He advised on Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer, Bear in the Big Blue House and other shows, and his long-term studies linked preschool educational television viewing with later school outcomes.Known for: children's attention to television, Blue's Clues research, educational TV long-term studies
  • David BuckinghamMedia and education scholar (retired)English scholar of children, media and media education. His books, including After the Death of Childhood, argue against both panic and hype about children's media, and he has long advocated teaching critical media literacy in schools. He was a longtime professor in the UK and has written widely on children as media users, consumers and creators.Known for: After the Death of Childhood, media education
  • Delaney RustonPhysician and filmmaker, ScreenagersPhysician and documentary filmmaker who created Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age, a film about how screen use affects family life, learning and mental health that has been shown widely in schools and communities. Follow-up films and her blog and podcast offer practical strategies for families.Known for: Screenagers, Screenagers Next Chapter
  • Devorah HeitnerAuthor and speaker on kids and technologyWriter and speaker whose books Screenwise and Growing Up in Public urge parents to mentor children through digital life rather than rely mainly on monitoring and surveillance. She focuses on helping kids build judgment about privacy, reputation and relationships online.Known for: Screenwise, Growing Up in Public, mentoring over monitoring
  • Diane LevinProfessor of education and author on children and mediaEducator and longtime professor at Wheelock College in Boston who writes about the effects of media and commercial culture on young children's play and development. With Jean Kilbourne she wrote So Sexy So Soon, about the sexualization of childhood, and she has long advocated for play-based early education.Known for: So Sexy So Soon, media and children's play
  • Dimitri ChristakisGeorge Adkins Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington; Editor-in-Chief, JAMA PediatricsPediatrician and researcher who directs the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Research Institute. His early studies linking heavy television viewing in toddlers to later attention problems, and his work on fast-paced media, helped shape pediatric screen-time advice. He became editor-in-chief of JAMA Pediatrics in 2018.Known for: early TV and attention research, JAMA Pediatrics, Media and Young Minds (AAP)
  • Ellen WartellaProfessor of Communication and Director, Center on Media and Human Development, Northwestern UniversityLeading scholar of media's role in children's development. Her center at Northwestern has studied how parents of young children use and think about media, and her research has informed children's media policy for decades. She has written and edited many books and reports on children and media, and is a frequent adviser to policymakers and researchers on how media shapes young lives.Known for: Center on Media and Human Development, parenting in the digital age research
  • Emily WeinsteinCo-founder and Co-Director, Center for Digital Thriving, Harvard Project ZeroDevelopmental psychologist whose research centers young people's own accounts of growing up with technology. With Carrie James she wrote Behind Their Screens, based on surveys of thousands of teens, and the Center for Digital Thriving turns findings into resources that help adults support teens' digital agency and well-being.Known for: Behind Their Screens, Center for Digital Thriving
  • Henry JenkinsProvost Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts, University of Southern CaliforniaMedia scholar best known for the idea of 'participatory culture.' His MacArthur-funded white paper on the challenges of participatory culture laid out the media literacy skills young people need, and his books on fan culture and convergence shaped how researchers think about young people as media makers, not just consumers.Known for: participatory culture, Convergence Culture, new media literacies
  • Jacqueline NesiAssociate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown UniversityClinical psychologist who studies how social media relates to adolescents' mental health, including depression and suicide risk. She is known to parents for her Techno Sapiens newsletter, which translates research on kids and technology into practical guidance. Her studies follow teens' actual social media experiences over time to understand who is helped or harmed and why.Known for: Techno Sapiens newsletter, social media and teen mental health research
  • Jason YipAssociate Professor, University of Washington Information SchoolResearcher who designs technology with children rather than just for them. He leads intergenerational co-design work in which kids act as design partners, and studies how families search, learn and use technology together, including AI tools. He is also a senior research fellow at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center.Known for: KidsTeam UW, co-design with children, families and technology
  • Jean TwengeProfessor of Psychology, San Diego State UniversityPsychologist who studies generational differences. Her 2017 Atlantic article and book iGen argued that smartphones were a likely cause of sharp increases in teen depression and loneliness after about 2012. She has since written Generations and a 2025 book of rules for raising kids in a high-tech world. Her claims are widely cited and also contested by researchers who see the evidence as correlational.Known for: iGen, Generations, 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World
  • Jenny RadeskyDevelopmental-behavioral pediatrician, University of Michigan; Co-Medical Director, AAP Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental HealthPediatrician and researcher whose studies look at how parents' phone use affects family interaction and how children's apps are designed, including ads and manipulative features aimed at young users. She co-led the American Academy of Pediatrics' 2016 'Media and Young Minds' policy and helps lead the AAP's center on social media and youth mental health, which shifts advice from screen-time limits toward overall well-being.Known for: Media and Young Minds (AAP), parent phone use research, design of children's apps, AAP Center of Excellence
  • Joan Ganz CooneyCo-founder, Sesame WorkshopTelevision producer who co-founded the Children's Television Workshop, now Sesame Workshop, and co-created Sesame Street, which debuted in 1969. The show became a model for research-based educational media for young children around the world. Sesame Workshop's Joan Ganz Cooney Center on children and digital media is named for her.Known for: Sesame Street, Children's Television Workshop
  • Jonathan HaidtThomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership, NYU Stern School of BusinessSocial psychologist whose 2024 bestseller The Anxious Generation argues that the shift to phone-based childhood drove a rise in youth anxiety and depression. He proposes four norms: no smartphones before high school, no social media before 16, phone-free schools and more childhood independence. The book fueled a global movement and phone-free school policies, and its causal claims are actively debated by other researchers.Known for: The Anxious Generation, four norms, The Coddling of the American Mind, Let Grow co-founder
  • Julie KientzProfessor of Human Centered Design & Engineering, University of WashingtonComputer scientist who studies how technology can support health, parenting and child development. Her research includes tools that help parents track developmental milestones and studies of how families set rules for technology at home, with a focus on designing for real family needs.Known for: technology for tracking child development, family technology rules research
  • Katie DavisProfessor, University of Washington Information School; Co-Director, UW Center for Digital YouthResearcher who studies how digital technologies affect young people's learning, development and well-being, now including teens' emotional interactions with AI chatbots. Her book Technology's Child offers a developmental guide to which technologies help children at different ages, and she co-wrote The App Generation with Howard Gardner.Known for: Technology's Child, The App Generation, UW Center for Digital Youth
  • Kris PerryExecutive Director, Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child DevelopmentLeader of Children and Screens, a nonprofit founded in 2013 that funds and convenes research on how digital media affects child development and shares it with parents, clinicians and policymakers through free webinars and briefs. She speaks frequently on social media, AI and children's policy.Known for: Children and Screens, Ask the Experts webinars
  • Lisa GuernseyDirector, Learning Technologies Project, New AmericaEarly education researcher and former journalist whose book Screen Time (first titled Into the Minds of Babes) introduced the 'three Cs' framework: consider the content, the context and the individual child. With Michael Levine she wrote Tap, Click, Read on raising readers in a world of screens. At New America she writes about early learning policy and educational technology.Known for: Screen Time, the three Cs, Tap, Click, Read
  • Megan MorenoProfessor of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin-MadisonAdolescent medicine physician and researcher who leads the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team. She studies how teens' social media use relates to health and how to promote positive use, and she co-directs the American Academy of Pediatrics' Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health.Known for: Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team, AAP Center of Excellence
  • Michael H. LevineFounding Executive Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame WorkshopChildren's media and policy leader who founded the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Sesame Workshop's research and innovation lab on children and digital media. He later led learning and social impact work at Nickelodeon's Noggin early learning service, and co-wrote Tap, Click, Read with Lisa Guernsey.Known for: Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Tap, Click, Read, Noggin
  • Michael RichFounder and Director, Digital Wellness Lab, Boston Children's HospitalPediatrician known as the 'Mediatrician' who founded the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children's Hospital in 2003, which grew into the Digital Wellness Lab in 2021. He studies how media affects children's health and treats young people with problematic interactive media use.Known for: Digital Wellness Lab, Center on Media and Child Health, the Mediatrician
  • Michael RobbHead of Research, Common Sense Media (as of 2025)Developmental psychologist who leads research at Common Sense Media, including reports on how children and teens use media and technology. His team's recent work covers teens' use of generative AI and AI companions as well as long-running surveys of kids' screen habits, which are often cited by journalists, schools and policymakers.Known for: Common Sense Media research reports, teens and AI surveys
  • Mitch PrinsteinChief of Psychology Strategy and Integration, American Psychological AssociationClinical psychologist and former director of clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies adolescent peer relationships and popularity. As APA's former chief science officer he became a leading voice on social media and teen brain development, testifying before the U.S. Senate. His book Popular explores how status shapes our lives.Known for: Popular, APA health advisory on social media use in adolescence, adolescent peer research
  • Mizuko ItoProfessor in Residence and MacArthur Chair in Digital Media and Learning, University of California, IrvineCultural anthropologist and learning scientist who directs UC Irvine's Connected Learning Lab. Her team's study Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out described how young people learn through digital media and shared interests, and she helped develop the 'connected learning' model that links young people's interests, peers and opportunities.Known for: Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out, connected learning, Connected Learning Lab
  • Pete EtchellsProfessor of Psychology and Science Communication, Bath Spa UniversityPsychologist who studies the behavioral effects of video games and other digital technology, and how such research is covered in the news. His books Lost in a Good Game and Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time argue that public fears about screens often run ahead of the evidence.Known for: Lost in a Good Game, Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time
  • Rosemarie TruglioLongtime Senior Vice President for Curriculum and Content, Sesame WorkshopDevelopmental psychologist who for decades led the educational curriculum and research behind Sesame Street. She co-edited G is for Growing, a collection of research on the show's effects, and wrote Ready for School! for parents. Her work is a leading example of building children's television from research.Known for: Sesame Street curriculum, G is for Growing, Ready for School!
  • Sarah CoyneProfessor and Associate Director, School of Family Life, Brigham Young UniversityResearcher who studies the effects of media on children and families, including video games, social media and gender stereotypes in media. She works on the Flourishing Families Project, a long-running study of family life, and her widely covered 2016 study looked at how Disney princess media relates to young children's gender-stereotyped behavior.Known for: Flourishing Families Project, Disney princess study, media and family research
  • Sherry TurkleAbby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology, MITSociologist and psychologist who has studied people's relationships with computers since the 1980s. Alone Together and Reclaiming Conversation argue that constant connection can erode empathy and face-to-face talk. She now writes about 'artificial intimacy,' warning that chatbots and AI companions offer the feeling of being understood without real relationship, a concern she applies especially to children.Known for: The Second Self, Alone Together, Reclaiming Conversation, artificial intimacy
  • Sonia LivingstoneProfessor of Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLeading scholar of children's rights and digital media. She has directed large comparative studies of children's online risks and opportunities, led the Digital Futures Commission with the 5Rights Foundation, and advised the UK government, the European Commission and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Her work stresses balancing protection with children's rights to participate online.Known for: EU Kids Online, Digital Futures Commission, Parenting for a Digital Future, The Class
  • Tiffany MunzerDevelopmental-behavioral pediatrician and researcher, University of Michigan Medical SchoolPediatrician who studies how digital media shapes interaction between parents and young children. Her studies comparing reading print books with electronic and enhanced e-books found that parents and toddlers talked less with each other during e-book reading, a finding widely used in guidance about early reading and screens.Known for: print vs. electronic book reading studies, parent-child interaction and media
  • Vicky RideoutPresident, VJR ConsultingResearcher who has led many of the best-known national surveys of how children and teens use media. While at the Kaiser Family Foundation she directed the Generation M studies, and she later authored Common Sense Media census reports on kids' and teens' media use and studies of young people, digital media and mental health.Known for: Generation M studies, Common Sense Census, youth media use surveys
  • Yalda T. UhlsFounder, Center for Scholars & Storytellers, UCLADevelopmental psychologist and former film studio executive who studies media's effects on adolescents. Her center connects researchers with Hollywood storytellers to create media that supports young people's well-being, and her book Media Moms & Digital Dads offers research-based advice to parents.Known for: Center for Scholars & Storytellers, Media Moms & Digital Dads
  • Zach RauschChief Researcher, Tech and Society Lab, New York UniversityResearcher who works with Jonathan Haidt and served as lead researcher on The Anxious Generation. At NYU's Tech and Society Lab and through the Anxious Generation movement, he compiles and analyzes international data on youth mental health and technology and writes about the evidence for general readers.Known for: The Anxious Generation (lead researcher), Tech and Society Lab

Child development and play

  • Adele DiamondProfessor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, University of British ColumbiaNeuroscientist and Canada Research Chair known for research on executive functions: the skills of self-control, working memory and flexible thinking. Her studies of programs that build these skills in young children, including a well-known 2007 study of the Tools of the Mind curriculum, are widely cited in early education.Known for: executive functions, Tools of the Mind research
  • Alison GopnikProfessor of Psychology and Affiliate Professor of Philosophy, University of California, BerkeleyDevelopmental psychologist who studies how babies and young children learn about the world, especially causal learning and theory of mind. Her popular books argue that children are natural explorers and that parents do best as gardeners rather than carpenters. She also writes about AI, arguing that large language models are better seen as cultural technologies than as minds, and compares how children and AI systems learn.Known for: The Scientist in the Crib, The Philosophical Baby, The Gardener and the Carpenter, AI as cultural technology
  • Andrew N. MeltzoffProfessor of Psychology and Co-Director, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of WashingtonDevelopmental psychologist known for showing that newborns can imitate facial and hand gestures, a finding that changed how scientists think about early social learning. His research covers imitation, social cognition and how children learn from others. He co-wrote The Scientist in the Crib with Alison Gopnik and Patricia Kuhl.Known for: infant imitation, social learning, The Scientist in the Crib
  • Angeline LillardProfessor of Psychology, University of VirginiaDevelopmental psychologist who directs UVA's Early Development Laboratory and is the best-known researcher on Montessori education. She also studies pretend play. A widely cited 2011 study she co-led found that 4-year-olds did worse on attention and self-control tasks right after watching a fast-paced cartoon than after an educational show or drawing.Known for: Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius, pretend play research, fast-paced cartoon study
  • Dana SuskindProfessor of Surgery and Pediatrics, University of Chicago; Founder and Co-Director, TMW Center for Early Learning + Public HealthPediatric cochlear implant surgeon who became a leading advocate for early language. Her book Thirty Million Words popularized research on the importance of parent talk in the first years, and her TMW Center develops programs that help parents build children's brains through everyday conversation. Her later book Parent Nation argues for stronger public support for families.Known for: Thirty Million Words, Parent Nation, TMW Center
  • Ellen GalinskyCo-founder and President, Families and Work InstituteAuthor and researcher on family life, child care and child development. Her book Mind in the Making identified seven essential life skills for children, and The Breakthrough Years (2024) draws on interviews with young people about adolescence. Her work bridges research and practical advice for parents and educators.Known for: Mind in the Making, The Breakthrough Years, Families and Work Institute
  • Erika ChristakisEarly childhood educator and authorEarly childhood educator and writer whose book The Importance of Being Little argues that preschool has become too focused on academics and testing at the expense of play, conversation and relationships. She writes for general audiences on early learning and what young children need from adults.Known for: The Importance of Being Little
  • Judith DanovitchDevelopmental psychologist, University of LouisvilleResearcher who studies how children think about knowledge and expertise, including how they evaluate information from the internet, search engines and voice assistants. Her studies of whether children trust and learn from devices such as smart speakers are part of a growing field on children's reasoning about technology as a source of information.Known for: children's trust in the internet, children and voice assistants, reasoning about expertise
  • Kathleen CorriveauProfessor and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human DevelopmentDevelopmental psychologist who directs the Social Learning Laboratory at BU Wheelock. Her research focuses on how trust develops in early childhood: how young children decide whom to learn from and believe, and how culture and context shape those choices. The work bears directly on how children learn from new sources such as devices and AI.Known for: Social Learning Laboratory, selective trust in early childhood
  • Kathy Hirsh-PasekStanley and Debra Lefkowitz Professor of Psychology, Temple University; Senior Fellow, Brookings InstitutionDevelopmental psychologist who directs Temple's Infant Language Laboratory and is a leading voice for playful learning. With Roberta Golinkoff she wrote books arguing that young children learn best through guided play rather than drills, and proposed the 'six Cs' of skills for success. She also studies how apps and digital media can support or undercut early learning, and is a senior fellow at Brookings' Center for Universal Education.Known for: Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, Becoming Brilliant, playful learning, the six Cs
  • Laura SchulzProfessor of Cognitive Science, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCognitive scientist who leads MIT's Early Childhood Cognition Lab. Her experiments show how young children explore, test ideas and learn cause and effect through play, behaving in some ways like small scientists. Her work on curiosity and exploratory play is often cited in discussions of how children learn and how machines might learn more like them.Known for: Early Childhood Cognition Lab, exploratory play, causal learning
  • Lenore SkenazyCo-founder, Let GrowWriter and advocate for childhood independence. Her 2008 column about letting a 9-year-old ride the New York subway alone drew national attention and led to her book and movement Free-Range Kids. Through Let Grow she promotes school programs and state 'reasonable childhood independence' laws that give kids more unsupervised time and responsibility.Known for: Free-Range Kids, Let Grow, Let Grow Experience
  • Marina Umaschi BersAugustus Long Professor of Education, Boston CollegeLearning scientist who directs the DevTech Research Group, which she started at Tufts University in 2001. She co-created ScratchJr, a free coding app for children ages 5 to 7, and developed the KIBO robot kit for early childhood. Her books argue that coding can be a playground for young children and a new kind of literacy.Known for: ScratchJr, KIBO robot, Coding as a Playground, DevTech Research Group
  • Patricia K. KuhlProfessor of Speech and Hearing Sciences and Co-Director, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of WashingtonResearcher on how infants learn language and how the brain supports it. Her widely cited studies found that babies learned the sounds of a new language from a live speaker but not from the same material on video or audio, which led to her idea that early language learning is 'socially gated.' The work is often cited in debates about screens for babies.Known for: infant language learning, social gating, live vs. video learning studies, The Scientist in the Crib
  • Paul L. HarrisVictor S. Thomas Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of EducationDevelopmental psychologist who studies cognition, emotion and imagination in early childhood. His book Trusting What You're Told examines how children decide whom to believe when they learn from other people, a question that now extends to how children treat information from search engines, voice assistants and chatbots.Known for: Trusting What You're Told, The Work of the Imagination, children's trust in testimony
  • Peter GrayResearch Professor of Psychology, Boston CollegePsychologist known for research and writing on the role of free play and self-directed learning in children's development. He argues that declining childhood independence has harmed children's well-being, and in a 2026 Atlantic essay he questioned whether phones and social media are the main causes of rising youth anxiety. He co-founded the nonprofit Let Grow in 2017.Known for: Free to Learn, self-directed education, Let Grow co-founder
  • Rachel BarrProfessor of Psychology, Georgetown UniversityDevelopmental psychologist who directs Georgetown's Early Learning Project. She studies how infants and toddlers learn and remember, including the 'transfer deficit': young children often learn less from a screen demonstration than from a live one. Her research on co-viewing and parent talk around media informs advice on how families can make screen time more useful for very young children.Known for: Early Learning Project, transfer deficit, infant memory and imitation
  • Richard LouvAuthor and journalist; co-founder, Children & Nature NetworkWriter best known for Last Child in the Woods, which coined the phrase 'nature-deficit disorder' to describe the costs of children spending less time outdoors. The book helped spark a movement to reconnect children with nature through schools, parks and family life, and is often cited alongside screen-time debates.Known for: Last Child in the Woods, nature-deficit disorder, Children & Nature Network
  • Roberta Michnick GolinkoffUnidel H. Rodney Sharp Chair, School of Education, University of DelawareDevelopmental scientist who founded and directs the Child's Play, Learning, and Development Laboratory at the University of Delaware. She studies early language, literacy and spatial learning, and with longtime collaborator Kathy Hirsh-Pasek has written widely read books for parents on why play and conversation matter more than flash cards in the early years.Known for: Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, Becoming Brilliant, Child's Play, Learning, and Development Lab
  • Sarah-Jayne BlakemoreProfessor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of CambridgeNeuroscientist who studies how the brain develops during adolescence, especially the social brain. Her book Inventing Ourselves explains adolescence to general readers. She co-authored a 2022 study with Amy Orben and colleagues suggesting there may be ages in adolescence when heavy social media use is more strongly linked to lower life satisfaction.Known for: Inventing Ourselves, adolescent social brain, developmental windows for social media
  • Stuart BrownFounder, National Institute for PlayPsychiatrist and play researcher who founded the National Institute for Play to promote play as a public health need across the lifespan. His book Play, written with Christopher Vaughan, argues that play shapes the brain and helps people of all ages flourish, and his frameworks on play styles are used by educators and parents.Known for: National Institute for Play, Play (book), play personalities

Teacher practice and assessment

  • Barak RosenshineEducational psychologist, University of Illinois (1930-2017)Educational researcher who summarized research on effective teaching in "Principles of Instruction" (2012). It lists practices such as daily review, small steps, checking for understanding and guided practice, and is widely shared with teachers. He died in 2017. The principles first appeared in the International Academy of Education's practice series and are now staples of teacher training.Known for: Principles of Instruction (2012), Direct instruction research
  • Daniel KoretzHenry Lee Shattuck Research Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of EducationTesting expert whose books Measuring Up and The Testing Charade explain what test scores can and cannot show, and argue that high-stakes accountability led to score inflation and teaching to the test. His work explains why rising scores on high-stakes tests do not always mean students learned more.Known for: The Testing Charade (2017), Measuring Up (2008), Score inflation research
  • Dylan WiliamEmeritus Professor of Educational Assessment, UCL Institute of EducationAssessment researcher who, with Paul Black, wrote Inside the Black Box (1998), the review that made "formative assessment" a core idea in schools: using classroom evidence of learning to adjust teaching. His book Embedded Formative Assessment is widely used in teacher training.Known for: Inside the Black Box (1998, with Paul Black), Embedded Formative Assessment (2011), Assessment for learning
  • Eric MazurProfessor of Physics and Applied Physics, Harvard UniversityPhysicist who developed Peer Instruction, in which students answer concept questions, discuss with neighbors and answer again. It became one of the most widely used active-learning methods. He co-founded Perusall, a social annotation platform for course readings. Peer Instruction is often cited in research showing that active learning beats traditional lecture.Known for: Peer Instruction (1997), Perusall (co-founder), Active learning in physics
  • Heather C. HillHazen-Nicoli Professor in Teacher Learning and Practice, Harvard Graduate School of EducationResearcher who studies teacher quality and professional learning in math. She developed the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) observation tool and co-led meta-analyses of which kinds of teacher professional development and curriculum supports improve student learning. Her research is a key source on which kinds of teacher training actually improve student learning.Known for: Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI), Teacher professional development research, Mathematical knowledge for teaching measures
  • John HattieProfessor of Education, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of MelbourneEducation researcher known for Visible Learning (2008), which ranked hundreds of influences on achievement by combining meta-analyses into effect sizes. It is hugely popular with schools, and statisticians have criticized its method of averaging very different studies. He chaired the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership.Known for: Visible Learning (2008), Effect size rankings, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (former chair)
  • Lee ShulmanEducational psychologist, Stanford University (1938-2024)Educational psychologist who introduced "pedagogical content knowledge," the idea that good teaching depends on knowing how to teach a particular subject, not just the subject or general methods. He led the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He died in 2024.Known for: Pedagogical content knowledge, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (president), Signature pedagogies
  • Linda Darling-HammondCharles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus, Stanford University; founding president, Learning Policy InstituteEducation policy researcher who has written widely on teacher preparation, school equity and deeper learning. She founded the Learning Policy Institute, led the Obama transition team on education, and served as president of the California State Board of Education. Her policy work has shaped teacher licensing and preparation standards in many states.Known for: Learning Policy Institute (founding president), The Flat World and Education (2010), California State Board of Education (president)
  • Pam GrossmanProfessor of Education, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of EducationTeacher-education researcher who studies how teachers learn their craft. Her work on "core practices" and on approximations of practice, where novices rehearse teaching in simpler settings, shaped teacher preparation. She was dean of Penn GSE from 2014 to 2023. She has also studied teacher preparation programs and English language arts teaching.Known for: Teaching Core Practices in Teacher Education (2018), PLATO observation protocol, Dean of Penn GSE (2014-2023)
  • Robert J. MislevyPsychometrician, Educational Testing Service and University of Maryland (1950-2025)Psychometrician who developed evidence-centered design, a framework for building assessments by linking what you want to know about a learner to the evidence a task can give. It underlies modern game-based and digital assessments, including stealth assessment. He died in 2025.Known for: Evidence-centered design, Sociocognitive Foundations of Educational Measurement (2018), NAEP plausible values methods

Motivation and mindsets

  • Angela DuckworthRosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor of Psychology, University of PennsylvaniaPsychologist who popularized grit, meaning passion and perseverance for long-term goals, in her book Grit. She co-founded Character Lab, which shares research-based tips with teachers and parents. Researchers have debated whether grit is distinct from conscientiousness and how much it predicts success.Known for: Grit (2016), Character Lab (co-founder), Behavior Change for Good Initiative
  • Carol DweckLewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology, Stanford UniversityPsychologist known for research on mindsets, the beliefs people hold about whether abilities can grow. Her book Mindset made "growth mindset" a household term in schools. Later large studies found small average effects from brief mindset programs, and researchers continue to debate how big and reliable the effects are.Known for: Mindset (2006), Growth mindset, Praise for effort versus ability studies
  • David S. YeagerRaymond Dickson Centennial Professor of Psychology, University of Texas at AustinDevelopmental psychologist who led the National Study of Learning Mindsets, a large randomized trial in US high schools that found a short online growth-mindset lesson modestly improved grades for lower-achieving students. His book 10 to 25 is about motivating adolescents through respect and high standards.Known for: National Study of Learning Mindsets (2019, Nature), 10 to 25 (2024), Wise interventions
  • Edward L. DeciProfessor of Psychology, University of Rochester (1942-2026)Psychologist who co-founded self-determination theory with Richard Ryan. His early experiments showed that paying people for an activity they enjoy can reduce their later interest in doing it. That finding is central to debates about rewards in learning apps. He died in 2026.Known for: Self-determination theory, Undermining effect of extrinsic rewards, Why We Do What We Do (1995)
  • Geoffrey L. CohenJames G. March Professor of Organizational Studies in Education and Business, Stanford UniversitySocial psychologist known for brief "values affirmation" writing exercises that in some school studies narrowed achievement gaps for students facing negative stereotypes. He wrote Belonging, on how small changes in situations can strengthen people's sense of fitting in. Replications of values affirmation have had mixed results, and researchers continue to study when and for whom it works.Known for: Values affirmation interventions, Belonging (2022), Wise feedback research
  • Gregory M. WaltonProfessor of Psychology, Stanford UniversitySocial psychologist who studies belonging. His brief interventions teach students that worries about fitting in are common and fade, and trials found they improved outcomes for disadvantaged students in college. He helped found the College Transition Collaborative. His work is part of a set of "wise interventions" that target how students interpret their experiences in school.Known for: Social-belonging intervention, Wise interventions (with Timothy Wilson), College Transition Collaborative
  • Jacquelynne EcclesDistinguished Professor of Education, University of California, IrvineEducational psychologist who developed expectancy-value theory with colleagues. It explains students' choices by how well they expect to do and how much they value a task, and it is widely used to study why girls and boys choose different subjects such as math and science.Known for: Expectancy-value theory, Gender and STEM choices, Stage-environment fit in adolescence
  • Richard M. RyanProfessor, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic UniversityPsychologist who co-founded self-determination theory with Edward Deci. The theory holds that people are most motivated when their needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are met. It is widely used to judge whether rewards, points and badges help or undermine motivation in school and games.Known for: Self-determination theory (with Edward Deci), Glued to Games (2011, with Scott Rigby)

Early childhood and child development

  • Dana L. SuskindProfessor of Surgery and Pediatrics, University of ChicagoPediatric surgeon who founded the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health. Her book Thirty Million Words urges parents to talk with babies, and her later book Parent Nation argues for policies that support families in the early years.Known for: Thirty Million Words (2015), Parent Nation (2022), TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health
  • Elizabeth SpelkeProfessor of Psychology, Harvard UniversityCognitive psychologist known for research on "core knowledge," the basic systems infants use for objects, number, space and people. Her group has tested early math games in India and elsewhere that build on these intuitions to prepare children for school math.Known for: Core knowledge theory, Infant cognition research, Early math games trials
  • Jack P. ShonkoffJulius B. Richmond FAMRI Professor of Child Health and Development, Harvard UniversityPediatrician who directs Harvard's Center on the Developing Child. He co-chaired the committee behind From Neurons to Neighborhoods and popularized ideas such as "serve and return" interaction and "toxic stress" in early childhood policy. The center's videos and briefs are widely used by parents and policymakers to explain early brain development.Known for: Center on the Developing Child, From Neurons to Neighborhoods (2000, co-chair), Serve and return
  • Susan C. LevineRebecca Anne Boylan Distinguished Service Professor of Education and Society, University of ChicagoDevelopmental psychologist who studies how early math and spatial skills grow, including how much parents talk about numbers and shapes. Her studies found that "number talk" at home predicts children's later number knowledge and that math-anxious parents can affect children's math when helping with homework.Known for: Parent number talk research, Spatial skills development, Parent math anxiety and homework help

AI labs: education teams

  • Ben GomesChief Technologist, Learning & Sustainability, GoogleBen Gomes leads Google's Learning & Sustainability organization, which oversees teams using technology to scale learning and education. A long-time leader of Google Search, he has been the public face of LearnLM, Google's family of models tuned for learning, and announced in 2025 that LearnLM was being built directly into Gemini 2.5.Known for: LearnLM, Gemini for learning, Google Search
  • Drew BentLeads education work at AnthropicDrew Bent leads education efforts at Anthropic, including Claude for Teachers, and co-wrote Anthropic's education reports on how university students (2025) and educators (2025) use Claude. Before that he co-founded the free peer-tutoring nonprofit Schoolhouse.world with Sal Khan and ran it from 2020 to 2024. He also wrote code at Khan Academy and taught high school math.Known for: Anthropic Education Reports, Claude for Teachers, Schoolhouse.world
  • Irina JurenkaResearch scientist, Google DeepMind; lead author of the LearnLM researchIrina Jurenka is a Google DeepMind researcher and the lead author of the 2024 LearnLM paper, "Towards Responsible Development of Generative AI for Education: An Evaluation-Driven Approach." The work set out how to turn learning-science principles into measurable tests of an AI tutor and reported evaluations with students and teachers, shaping how Google tunes Gemini for learning.Known for: LearnLM-Tutor, Evaluating AI tutors with pedagogy benchmarks
  • Jennie MagieraGlobal Head of Education Impact, GoogleJennie Magiera leads education impact at Google, including its AI literacy programs and free AI training series for teachers. A former Chicago classroom teacher and district technology leader, she is the author of Courageous Edventures and has written Google's posts on AI literacy, teacher training and World Teachers' Day.Known for: Google AI educator trainings, Courageous Edventures
  • Leah BelskyVice President and General Manager of Education, OpenAI (as of 2025)Leah Belsky leads education at OpenAI, where her team launched ChatGPT Edu for universities in 2024 and study mode, a step-by-step learning mode in ChatGPT, in 2025. Before joining OpenAI she spent about a decade at Coursera in senior revenue and enterprise roles.Known for: ChatGPT Edu, ChatGPT study mode
  • Maggie JohnsonGlobal Head and Vice President, Google.orgMaggie Johnson leads Google.org, Google's philanthropy, which funds nonprofits working on AI education and computer science learning. She previously led Google's education and university programs, where she oversaw computer science education efforts, and she is listed among the advisors of CodeAI (formerly Code.org).Known for: Google.org, Google computer science education programs
  • Maureen HeymansVice President, Learning, GoogleMaureen Heymans is a Google vice president for learning. In August 2025 she introduced Guided Learning in Gemini, a mode meant to help people work through a topic step by step and build understanding rather than just get answers. It is one of the clearest examples of a large AI lab building a tutor-style mode into a general chatbot.Known for: Guided Learning in Gemini, LearnLM
  • Shantanu SinhaVice President, Google for EducationShantanu Sinha runs Google for Education, the group behind Google Classroom, Chromebooks for schools and Gemini tools for teachers and students, and writes Google's yearly education product updates. Before Google he was the founding president and chief operating officer of Khan Academy, working alongside Sal Khan in its early years.Known for: Google Classroom, Gemini for Education, Khan Academy (founding president)

AI tutor builders

  • Andrej KarpathyFounder, Eureka Labs; AI researcherAndrej Karpathy, an OpenAI co-founder and former director of AI at Tesla, founded Eureka Labs in 2024 to build an "AI native" school in which teachers design courses and an AI teaching assistant helps students through them. His free YouTube lectures, such as Neural Networks: Zero to Hero, are widely used to learn how language models work. Wikipedia reports that he joined Anthropic in 2026.Known for: Eureka Labs, Neural Networks: Zero to Hero, LLM101n
  • Burr SettlesMachine learning researcher; former head of research, DuolingoBurr Settles led Duolingo's research group, where he co-developed half-life regression, a machine-learned model of forgetting used to schedule spaced review, and worked on the Duolingo English Test. He is the author of Active Learning, a textbook on machine learning algorithms that choose their own training examples.Known for: Half-life regression, Duolingo English Test, Active Learning (book)
  • Catalin VossCo-founder and CTO, ElloCatalin Voss co-founded Ello and serves as its chief technology officer, leading the speech recognition and AI that let the app follow a child reading aloud and respond with coaching. He studied computer science at Stanford, where he worked on applying machine learning to health and learning, before starting Ello with Tom Sayer and Elizabeth Adams.Known for: Ello
  • Chrisman FrankCo-founder, SynthesisChrisman Frank co-founded Synthesis with Josh Dahn in 2020, bringing the SpaceX campus school's collaborative problem-solving classes online for families around the world. Synthesis now centers on Synthesis Tutor, an AI-guided math program for elementary-age children that teaches through interactive, game-like lessons.Known for: Synthesis, Synthesis Tutor
  • Craig BartonMath teacher, author and podcaster; education lead at EediCraig Barton is a former math teacher whose Mr Barton Maths site, podcast and books, such as How I Wish I'd Taught Maths, are widely used by teachers. He works with Eedi, the diagnostic-questions platform that uses multiple-choice items built around common misconceptions and data on wrong answers to adapt math practice.Known for: Mr Barton Maths, Eedi diagnostic questions, How I Wish I'd Taught Maths
  • Damir SabolFounder, PhotomathDamir Sabol founded Photomath, the app that lets students point a phone camera at a math problem and see a step-by-step solution, built on text recognition from his company Microblink. Photomath became one of the most used homework apps and was acquired by Google. It sits at the center of debates over answer-giving homework help.Known for: Photomath, Microblink
  • Derek Haoyang LiCo-founder, Squirrel AI LearningDerek Haoyang Li co-founded Squirrel AI Learning in Shanghai in 2014. Its Intelligent Adaptive Learning System breaks subjects into very fine knowledge points and routes each student through them, and it became one of the best-known AI tutoring companies in China, operating through learning centers and partner schools.Known for: Squirrel AI, Intelligent Adaptive Learning System
  • Elizabeth AdamsCo-founder and Chief Experience Officer, ElloElizabeth Adams co-founded Ello, an AI reading coach for young children, and serves as its chief experience officer. Ello listens as children read real books aloud and offers help when they get stuck, using decodable texts designed around phonics. She works with the company's advisors, who include well-known reading researchers, on how the app teaches.Known for: Ello
  • Joe LiemandtFounder, Trilogy Software and ESW Capital; principal backer of Alpha SchoolJoe Liemandt is a software billionaire who founded Trilogy Software and the investment firm ESW Capital. Wikipedia lists him as Alpha School's principal, and he has backed the 2 Hour Learning software behind it, which uses adaptive apps so students finish core academics in about two hours a day.Known for: Alpha School, 2 Hour Learning, Trilogy Software
  • Joel RoseCo-founder and CEO, New ClassroomsJoel Rose co-founded New Classrooms, the nonprofit behind Teach to One, a personalized middle school math model that uses an algorithm to build each student's daily schedule of lessons and skills. A former teacher, he has argued that standard grade-level pacing leaves many students with unfinished learning that adaptive models can address.Known for: New Classrooms, Teach to One
  • Josh DahnCo-founder, SynthesisJosh Dahn is an educator who, at Elon Musk's request in 2014, started an experimental school on the SpaceX campus, later known as Ad Astra. In 2020 he and Chrisman Frank turned one of its classes into Synthesis, an online program for kids that now includes an AI math tutor built around games and open-ended problem solving.Known for: Synthesis, Synthesis Tutor, Ad Astra school
  • Justin SkycakBuilds the learning engine at Math AcademyJustin Skycak built the adaptive engine behind Math Academy, an online math program known for fast, mastery-based progress. He created its Fractional Implicit Repetition (FIRe) approach to spaced review and wrote The Math Academy Way, an open book on the learning science behind the system.Known for: Math Academy, Fractional Implicit Repetition, The Math Academy Way
  • Klinton BicknellHead of AI, DuolingoKlinton Bicknell leads artificial intelligence work at Duolingo. Trained as a computational cognitive scientist who studied how people process language, he has published on modeling learners and on using machine learning to personalize practice in language apps, work that sits behind Duolingo's adaptive lessons.Known for: Duolingo AI, Learner modeling
  • Kristen DiCerboChief Learning Officer, Khan AcademyKristen DiCerbo sets Khan Academy's teaching and learning strategy and leads its content, assessment, product, design and community teams, including the launch of the Khanmigo AI tutor. A learning scientist by training, she earlier led learning research at Pearson and has written widely on game-based assessment and on what makes AI tutoring pedagogically sound.Known for: Khanmigo, Learning science at Khan Academy, Schools of Thought
  • Luis von AhnCo-founder and CEO, DuolingoLuis von Ahn co-founded Duolingo, the most downloaded language-learning app, and earlier created CAPTCHA research and reCAPTCHA, which he sold to Google. A former Carnegie Mellon computer science professor, he has steered Duolingo toward heavy use of AI, from personalized practice to GPT-powered conversation features, a shift that has drawn both praise and public criticism.Known for: Duolingo, reCAPTCHA, Human computation
  • MacKenzie PriceCo-founder, Alpha School and 2 Hour LearningMacKenzie Price co-founded Alpha School in Austin in 2014. Its 2 Hour Learning model has students do core academics with adaptive software for about two hours a day, with adult "guides" instead of traditional teachers, and the rest of the day on projects and life skills. Alpha reports fast academic gains, but those claims rest on its own analyses and have not been independently verified.Known for: Alpha School, 2 Hour Learning
  • Mark AngelFounder and CEO, Amira LearningMark Angel founded Amira Learning, an AI reading assistant used in schools that listens to students read aloud, assesses fluency and gives tutoring in the moment. Amira grew out of research on automated reading tutors and is used by districts for both screening and practice.Known for: Amira Learning
  • Priya LakhaniFounder and CEO, CENTURY TechPriya Lakhani, a barrister turned entrepreneur, founded CENTURY Tech in 2013 after being struck by underachievement in schools. CENTURY is an AI learning platform used by UK and international schools to personalize practice and show teachers where students struggle. She co-founded the Institute for Ethical AI in Education and was made an OBE.Known for: CENTURY Tech, Institute for Ethical AI in Education
  • Sal KhanFounder and CEO, Khan AcademySal Khan founded Khan Academy, the free nonprofit learning site that grew out of math videos he made for a cousin, and has recorded thousands of its lessons. In 2023 Khan Academy launched Khanmigo, an AI tutor and teaching assistant, and Khan argued for AI tutoring in his 2024 book Brave New Words. He also founded Khan Lab School and co-founded Schoolhouse.world.Known for: Khan Academy, Khanmigo, Brave New Words
  • Severin HackerCo-founder and CTO, DuolingoSeverin Hacker co-founded Duolingo in 2011 with Luis von Ahn and serves as its chief technology officer. He earned his PhD at Carnegie Mellon, where his research on large-scale human computation earned an MIT Technology Review TR35 honor. He oversees the engineering behind Duolingo's personalized lessons.Known for: Duolingo, Human computation research
  • Tom SayerCo-founder and CEO, ElloTom Sayer co-founded Ello, a children's reading app that listens to kids read aloud from books and uses speech recognition and AI to coach them, aiming to work like a patient reading tutor. Ello pairs decodable books with on-screen support and has an advisory group of reading researchers.Known for: Ello

Edtech founders and leaders

  • Adeel KhanFounder and CEO, MagicSchoolAdeel Khan, a former educator and school leader, founded MagicSchool in 2023. It offers teachers dozens of AI tools for planning lessons, writing feedback, differentiating materials and drafting communications, plus a student-facing version with teacher controls, and it has spread quickly through U.S. schools and districts.Known for: MagicSchool
  • Anant AgarwalFounder of edX; MIT professorAnant Agarwal is an MIT electrical engineering and computer science professor and former director of MIT's Computer Science and AI Lab. He founded and led edX, the online learning platform started by Harvard and MIT, and taught its first course on circuits. After 2U bought edX for $800 million he served as 2U's chief platform officer and later as a senior advisor.Known for: edX, MIT CSAIL
  • Andrew NgFounder, DeepLearning.AI; co-founder, CourseraAndrew Ng co-founded Coursera and founded DeepLearning.AI, whose short courses have taught millions of people machine learning and generative AI. A Stanford adjunct professor, he co-founded and led Google Brain and was chief scientist at Baidu. His original Stanford machine learning course was one of the first massive online courses.Known for: Coursera, DeepLearning.AI, Machine Learning course
  • Arman JafferFounder and CEO, Brisk TeachingArman Jaffer founded Brisk Teaching, a browser extension that puts AI tools inside the apps teachers already use, such as Google Docs, to give feedback on student writing, adjust reading levels and build quizzes. He started Brisk after watching teachers spend nights and weekends on work he believed technology should handle.Known for: Brisk Teaching
  • Caleb HicksFounder, SchoolAICaleb Hicks founded SchoolAI, a platform that lets teachers create guided AI chat "spaces" for students while seeing what students ask and how they are doing. He began his career teaching in a middle school keyboarding lab, where he replaced drills with challenges matched to students' interests, an idea that shapes the product.Known for: SchoolAI
  • Chris CarenCEO, TurnitinChris Caren leads Turnitin, the plagiarism-checking company used by schools and universities worldwide. In 2023 Turnitin added an AI writing detector, which made the company central to debates about AI and academic integrity, including concerns raised by researchers and students about false positives.Known for: Turnitin, Turnitin AI writing detection
  • Conrad WolframTechnologist; author of The Math(s) FixConrad Wolfram argues that school math should assume computers do the calculating, so students spend their time posing problems and interpreting results. His 2020 book The Math(s) Fix: An Education Blueprint for the AI Age sets out that case, and his computer-based math project has worked with schools and governments on curricula.Known for: The Math(s) Fix, Computer-based math
  • Daphne KollerCo-founder, Coursera; founder and CEO, insitroDaphne Koller is a computer scientist and MacArthur Fellow who co-founded Coursera with Andrew Ng in 2012, helping launch the era of massive open online courses. A former Stanford professor known for work on probabilistic models, she later founded insitro, which applies machine learning to drug discovery.Known for: Coursera, Probabilistic Graphical Models
  • Diane TavennerCo-founder, Summit Public Schools; co-host, Class DisruptedDiane Tavenner co-founded Summit Public Schools and the Summit Learning program, a personalized learning model that spread to hundreds of schools and drew both strong support and pushback from some parents. She co-hosts the Class Disrupted podcast with Michael Horn, which often looks at AI and school redesign, and wrote Prepared.Known for: Summit Public Schools, Summit Learning, Class Disrupted
  • Greg HartCEO, Coursera (since 2025)Greg Hart, a former Amazon executive who led teams such as Alexa and Prime Video, became Coursera's chief executive in early 2025, succeeding Jeff Maggioncalda. He has positioned the online learning company around AI skills courses and AI-powered learning features for its many millions of registered learners.Known for: Coursera
  • Jeff MaggioncaldaFormer CEO, Coursera (2017-2025)Jeff Maggioncalda led Coursera from 2017 until early 2025, taking it public in 2021 and converting it into a public benefit corporation. During his tenure Coursera added generative AI features such as Coursera Coach, an AI learning assistant, and began offering many courses in more languages using AI translation.Known for: Coursera, Coursera Coach
  • Paul LeBlancFormer president, Southern New Hampshire UniversityPaul LeBlanc led Southern New Hampshire University from 2003 to 2024, growing it into one of the largest U.S. universities through online programs and competency-based degrees. He has written and spoken about how AI could push colleges to redesign learning around mastery and human relationships rather than seat time.Known for: Southern New Hampshire University, Competency-based education
  • Peter GaultExecutive Director and co-founder, Quill.orgPeter Gault co-founded Quill.org, a free nonprofit tool that helps students in grades 4-12 build writing and grammar skills. Quill uses AI to give students immediate, specific feedback on sentences and short written responses tied to what they read, so they revise rather than just get a score.Known for: Quill.org, Quill Reading for Evidence
  • Sebastian ThrunCo-founder, Udacity; Stanford adjunct professorSebastian Thrun is a computer scientist known for self-driving cars and for co-founding Google X. In 2011 he and Peter Norvig offered a free online Stanford AI course that drew more than 100,000 students, which led him to co-found Udacity, an online platform focused on technology skills and nanodegrees.Known for: Udacity, Intro to AI online course, Google X
  • Sue KhimCo-founder and CEO, BrilliantSue Khim co-founded Brilliant, an interactive learning platform with problem-based courses in math, science, computer science and data, built on the idea that people learn best by working problems. Forbes named her to its 30 Under 30 list in education in 2012.Known for: Brilliant

AI literacy builders

  • Alex KotranFounder and CEO, aiEDUAlex Kotran founded aiEDU (The AI Education Project), a nonprofit that creates free AI literacy curricula and works with states, districts and teachers so students learn what AI is and how it is changing work. He oversees its strategy and partnerships and speaks often about AI readiness for students who are least likely to get it elsewhere.Known for: aiEDU, AI literacy curriculum
  • Amanda BickerstaffCo-founder and CEO, AI for EducationAmanda Bickerstaff co-founded AI for Education, which trains teachers and school leaders to use generative AI safely and well and publishes free guides, prompt libraries and policy templates. A former high school biology teacher and edtech CEO, she is a frequent voice on practical AI adoption and AI literacy in schools.Known for: AI for Education, Teacher AI training
  • Brian MagerkoProfessor of Digital Media, Georgia TechBrian Magerko studies creativity and learning with AI. He co-created EarSketch, which teaches coding through music remixing and has reached many students, co-authored "What is AI Literacy?" with Duri Long, and builds co-creative AI systems such as LuminAI, an AI dance partner used in public exhibits.Known for: EarSketch, What is AI Literacy?, LuminAI
  • Christina Gardner-McCuneAssociate Professor, University of Florida; co-chair, AI4K12Christina Gardner-McCune co-leads the AI4K12 initiative with David Touretzky and co-authored the "Five Big Ideas in AI" framework for teaching artificial intelligence to children. Her research focuses on computing education and on broadening who takes part in computer science and AI.Known for: AI4K12, Five Big Ideas in AI
  • Duri LongAssistant Professor of Communication Studies, Northwestern UniversityDuri Long directs Northwestern's Creative Interfaces Research + Design Studio. She co-authored the widely cited 2020 paper "What is AI Literacy?" with Brian Magerko, which defined competencies the public needs, and designs museum exhibits and creative activities that help families explore how AI works.Known for: What is AI Literacy? (2020), AI literacy museum exhibits
  • Fei-Fei LiProfessor of Computer Science, Stanford University; co-founder, AI4ALLFei-Fei Li is a computer scientist best known for creating ImageNet, the dataset that drove modern computer vision. She co-founded AI4ALL, a nonprofit that runs AI education programs for high school and college students from groups underrepresented in the field, and co-directs Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered AI.Known for: AI4ALL, ImageNet, Stanford HAI
  • Hadi PartoviFounder and Chairman of the Board, CodeAI (formerly Code.org)Hadi Partovi founded Code.org, now called CodeAI, the nonprofit behind the Hour of Code and free K-12 computer science courses used in classrooms worldwide. The group has pushed for every student to learn computer science and now AI, launching the Hour of AI. A tech entrepreneur and angel investor, he was on the founding teams of Tellme and iLike.Known for: Code.org / CodeAI, Hour of Code, Hour of AI
  • Hal AbelsonProfessor of Computer Science and Engineering, MITHal Abelson created MIT App Inventor, a block-based tool that lets beginners build real phone apps, and co-wrote the classic textbook Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. App Inventor has added AI extensions so students can build apps that use machine learning. He is also a founding director of Creative Commons and the Free Software Foundation.Known for: MIT App Inventor, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, Creative Commons
  • Karim MeghjiPresident and CEO, CodeAI (formerly Code.org)Karim Meghji leads CodeAI, the nonprofit formerly known as Code.org, after serving as its chief product officer, where he led the effort to bring computer science and AI into K-12 classrooms around the world. CodeAI offers free curricula, teacher training and campaigns such as the Hour of AI.Known for: CodeAI, Hour of AI
  • Matt MillerFounder, Ditch That TextbookMatt Miller is a former high school teacher who runs Ditch That Textbook, a popular blog, podcast and newsletter for teachers about classroom technology. He wrote AI for Educators and produces free AI teacher toolkits and trainings that walk teachers through practical, classroom-ready uses of AI.Known for: Ditch That Textbook, AI for Educators
  • Pat YongpraditEducation leader; led the TeachAI initiativePat Yongpradit, a former high school computer science teacher, was a long-time academic leader at Code.org and led TeachAI, a coalition launched in 2023 by Code.org, ETS, ISTE, Khan Academy and the World Economic Forum. TeachAI published an AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit that many districts and states drew on when writing their first AI policies.Known for: TeachAI, AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit
  • Robbie TorneySenior Director of AI Programs, Common Sense MediaRobbie Torney leads Common Sense Media's AI programs, including its AI risk assessments of chatbots, AI companions and AI tools used by children and teens, and AI literacy lessons for schools. A former teacher and school leader, he has testified and written about the risks AI companions pose to young users.Known for: Common Sense AI risk assessments, AI literacy lessons

Learning engineering

  • Bror SaxbergLearning scientist and former education executiveBror Saxberg is a leading advocate of learning engineering, the practice of applying learning science and data to design instruction at scale. He was chief learning officer at Kaplan and later vice president of learning science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and co-wrote Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age with Frederick Hess.Known for: Learning engineering, Kaplan, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative learning science
  • Isabelle HauExecutive Director, Stanford Accelerator for LearningIsabelle Hau leads the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, a university-wide effort to turn learning research into solutions, including work on AI tutoring, early learning and learning differences. She previously led education investing at Omidyar Network and writes about keeping relationships and care at the center as AI enters learning.Known for: Stanford Accelerator for Learning, Omidyar Network education investing
  • Jean-Claude BrizardPresident and CEO, Digital PromiseJean-Claude Brizard leads Digital Promise, a nonprofit created to accelerate research and innovation in education, which runs networks of innovative school districts and research on AI and learning technology. He was previously chief executive of Chicago Public Schools and superintendent of the Rochester City School District.Known for: Digital Promise, Chicago Public Schools
  • Kumar GargCo-founder, Renaissance PhilanthropyKumar Garg co-founded Renaissance Philanthropy in 2024 with Tom Kalil to design and run science, technology and innovation funds for donors, in areas that include AI and education. He previously worked on science and technology policy in the Obama White House and at Schmidt Futures, where he championed learning engineering and education R&D.Known for: Renaissance Philanthropy, Education R&D advocacy
  • Pati RuizDirector of Learning Technology Research, Digital PromisePati Ruiz leads learning technology research at Digital Promise, with a focus on AI in classrooms, AI literacy and including teachers and students in the design of emerging technologies. A former teacher, she has co-authored frameworks and toolkits to help schools adopt AI responsibly.Known for: AI literacy frameworks, Emerging technology research
  • Peter NorvigDistinguished Education Fellow, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AIPeter Norvig co-wrote Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, the most widely used AI textbook, and was a director of research at Google. In 2011 he and Sebastian Thrun taught one of the first huge free online courses, and he now works on how AI can improve education at Stanford HAI.Known for: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, 2011 online Intro to AI course
  • Ulrich BoserFounder and CEO, The Learning AgencyUlrich Boser founded The Learning Agency in 2017 to help organizations apply the science of learning. The group runs open data science competitions and builds shared datasets, for example on automated feedback for student writing, to speed up research on AI for education. He wrote the bestselling book Learn Better.Known for: The Learning Agency, Learn Better, Open education datasets and competitions

Policy, philanthropy and investors

  • Andreas SchleicherDirector for Education and Skills, OECDAndreas Schleicher runs education at the OECD and created the PISA international student assessment. He speaks widely about what AI means for what schools should teach, arguing that education must shift toward skills that machines cannot easily copy, and the OECD has published major reports on digital education and AI.Known for: PISA, OECD Digital Education Outlook
  • Bill GatesCo-founder, Microsoft; chair, Gates FoundationBill Gates has predicted that AI tutors will soon help students as well as a human tutor can, a view he pressed in his 2023 essay on the age of AI and at education conferences. The Gates Foundation funds work on AI for math learning and teacher support in U.S. schools. His forecasts have drawn skepticism from researchers who note mixed evidence.Known for: Gates Foundation education grants, The Age of AI has begun (2023)
  • Jennifer CarolanCo-founder and Partner, Reach CapitalJennifer Carolan co-founded Reach Capital, a venture firm that invests in education, health and work startups, including many AI learning companies. A former public school history teacher, she earlier invested at NewSchools Venture Fund and teaches the Lean Launchpad course at Stanford.Known for: Reach Capital, Edtech venture investing
  • John BaileyNonresident Senior Fellow, American Enterprise InstituteJohn Bailey writes about artificial intelligence and education policy at the American Enterprise Institute. A former White House domestic policy adviser and U.S. Department of Education technology director, he has been an early and frequent voice on how generative AI could help tutoring, teaching and school operations, and on guardrails.Known for: AI and education policy writing
  • Michael B. HornCo-founder, Clayton Christensen Institute; author and podcasterMichael Horn co-founded the Clayton Christensen Institute and co-wrote Disrupting Class with Clayton Christensen, which predicted that online learning would spread through schools. He writes the Future of Education newsletter, co-hosts the Class Disrupted podcast with Diane Tavenner, and comments often on AI and personalized, mastery-based learning.Known for: Disrupting Class, Class Disrupted, Christensen Institute
  • Michelle CulverFounder, The Rithm ProjectMichelle Culver founded The Rithm Project, which works with young people and educators on keeping human connection strong as AI chatbots and companions become part of teens' lives. She previously led the Reinvention Lab at Teach For America, exploring new models of learning.Known for: The Rithm Project, Teach For America Reinvention Lab
  • Rebecca WinthropDirector, Center for Universal Education, Brookings InstitutionRebecca Winthrop leads global education research at Brookings and co-wrote The Disengaged Teen (2025) with Jenny Anderson, on why many students check out of school and how to re-engage them. She has written and spoken widely about how generative AI could either deepen that disengagement or, used well, support more active learning.Known for: The Disengaged Teen, Brookings Center for Universal Education
  • Richard CulattaCEO, International Society for Transforming Education (formerly ISTE and ASCD)Richard Culatta leads ISTE+ASCD, the merged education technology and curriculum association known for the ISTE standards and conference. He previously directed the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology and was Rhode Island's chief innovation officer, and he writes about digital citizenship and AI readiness.Known for: ISTE+ASCD, Digital for Good
  • Stefania GianniniAssistant Director-General for Education, UNESCOStefania Giannini, a linguist and former Italian minister of education, leads UNESCO's education work. Under her, UNESCO issued its 2023 Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research, which urged age limits and human-centered rules for AI in schools, and AI competency frameworks for students and teachers in 2024.Known for: UNESCO Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research, UNESCO AI competency frameworks
  • Tom Vander ArkCEO, Getting SmartTom Vander Ark leads Getting Smart, a learning design and advocacy firm, and writes and podcasts frequently about AI and new school models. He was the first executive director of education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and earlier a public school superintendent in Washington State.Known for: Getting Smart, Gates Foundation education (first executive director)

Journalists and podcasters

  • Alex SarlinCo-host, Edtech InsidersAlex Sarlin co-hosts the Edtech Insiders podcast and newsletter with Ben Kornell, which interviews founders, investors and leaders across education technology and runs weekly news episodes. It has become a leading place to hear how AI education companies describe their products and strategy.Known for: Edtech Insiders
  • Ben KornellCo-host, Edtech InsidersBen Kornell co-hosts the Edtech Insiders podcast and newsletter with Alex Sarlin and organizes edtech community events. The show's "This Week in Edtech" episodes and interviews with founders and AI lab education leaders track how AI is reshaping the education market.Known for: Edtech Insiders
  • Jill BarshayStaff writer, The Hechinger ReportJill Barshay writes Proof Points, the nonprofit Hechinger Report's weekly column on education research and data, and often covers new studies on AI tutors, chatbots and learning, explaining what the evidence does and does not show for teachers and parents. She also writes Hechinger's weekly newsletter on education research.Known for: Proof Points column
  • Lauraine LangreoStaff writer, Education WeekLauraine Langreo covers education technology, including artificial intelligence in K-12 schools, as well as student well-being and college and workforce readiness for Education Week. Her reporting tracks how districts write AI policies, train teachers and choose AI tools. She also covers what students and teachers say about AI.Known for: Education Week AI coverage

Child online safety and AI safety for kids

  • Amanda ThirdCo-Director, Young and Resilient Research Centre, Western Sydney UniversityResearcher who uses participatory methods to include children's own views in research on their digital lives. With Sonia Livingstone and partners she led consultations with hundreds of children worldwide that informed the UN's 2021 General Comment No. 25 on children's rights in the digital environment.Known for: Young and Resilient Research Centre, children's input to UN General Comment 25
  • Andy BurrowsChief Executive, Molly Rose Foundation (as of 2025)Online safety policy expert who leads the Molly Rose Foundation, which campaigns for tougher regulation of harmful content and design on social media and AI services. He previously led child safety online policy at the NSPCC and has co-authored research testing how well platforms' teen safety features work.Known for: Molly Rose Foundation, NSPCC child safety online policy
  • Arturo BéjarFormer Facebook engineering director; youth online safety advocateEngineer who led Facebook's 'protect and care' teams and later consulted for Instagram on well-being. In 2023 he testified before the U.S. Senate that Meta leaders ignored internal data on harms teens faced, and in 2025 he co-led an independent test of Instagram's Teen Accounts features that reported many protections did not work as described. Meta disputed the findings.Known for: 2023 Senate testimony, Teen Accounts testing report
  • Beeban KidronFounder and Chair, 5Rights Foundation; crossbench member of the House of LordsFilmmaker turned children's digital rights advocate. She founded 5Rights, which does not take tech industry funding, and led the push for the UK's Age Appropriate Design Code, which requires online services likely to be used by children to put their best interests first. The code inspired similar laws elsewhere, and she continues to campaign on AI and children.Known for: 5Rights Foundation, Age Appropriate Design Code, InRealLife (film)
  • David FinkelhorDirector, Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New HampshireSociologist and leading researcher on child victimization, including child sexual abuse and online exploitation. His center's national surveys have measured trends in youth online victimization, and he has urged that online safety education be grounded in evidence rather than fear.Known for: Crimes against Children Research Center, national youth victimization surveys
  • Emma LembkeFounder, LOG OFF; youth online safety advocateYouth advocate who founded LOG OFF, a youth-led movement helping young people build healthier relationships with social media. She co-founded the youth coalition Design It For Us and testified before the U.S. Senate in 2023 on social media's effects on young people.Known for: LOG OFF, Design It For Us, 2023 Senate testimony
  • Frances HaugenFormer Facebook product manager and whistleblowerData engineer who in 2021 disclosed tens of thousands of internal Facebook documents, including research on Instagram's effects on teen girls, to regulators and The Wall Street Journal. Her Senate testimony helped drive new laws and lawsuits on platform safety for young people, and she wrote the memoir The Power of One.Known for: Facebook Files, Senate testimony, The Power of One
  • Hany FaridProfessor, University of California, BerkeleyComputer scientist who specializes in detecting manipulated images and deepfakes. He co-developed PhotoDNA with Microsoft, a hashing technology now widely used by internet companies to find and remove known child sexual abuse images, and he speaks often about AI-generated abuse imagery and deepfakes.Known for: PhotoDNA, deepfake detection, digital forensics
  • Ian RussellOnline safety campaigner, Molly Rose FoundationCampaigner who became one of the UK's best-known voices on online safety after the 2017 death of his 14-year-old daughter Molly; a 2022 inquest found that harmful online content contributed to her death. Through the Molly Rose Foundation, a suicide-prevention charity, he campaigns for stronger enforcement of the Online Safety Act.Known for: Molly Rose Foundation, Online Safety Act campaigning
  • Joanna ShieldsFounder, WeProtect Global Alliance; member of the House of LordsTechnology executive who served as the UK's first Minister for Internet Safety and Security. In 2014 she founded WeProtect, now the WeProtect Global Alliance, which brings governments, companies and charities together against online child sexual exploitation. She earlier held senior roles at Bebo, AOL and Facebook.Known for: WeProtect Global Alliance, UK Minister for Internet Safety and Security
  • Julie CorduaCEO, ThornLeader since 2012 of Thorn, a nonprofit that builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse, including tools that help platforms detect abuse material. In 2024 Thorn and All Tech Is Human published Safety by Design principles for generative AI, which major AI companies pledged to follow to prevent AI-generated child abuse material.Known for: Thorn, Safer, Safety by Design for Generative AI
  • Julie Inman GranteSafety Commissioner, AustraliaHead of the world's first government regulator dedicated to online safety, after earlier policy roles at Microsoft and Twitter. Her office handles complaints about cyberbullying and image-based abuse, sets industry codes, and is responsible for enforcing Australia's law requiring social media platforms to keep out users under 16, in force since December 2025.Known for: eSafety Commissioner, Australia's social media minimum age, Safety by Design
  • Justin W. PatchinProfessor of Criminal Justice, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; Co-Director, Cyberbullying Research CenterCriminologist who co-founded the Cyberbullying Research Center with Sameer Hinduja. Their surveys of U.S. teens are a main source of data on cyberbullying and sextortion, and their books and guides help schools respond to online harassment. Their work emphasizes school climate, digital citizenship and practical prevention rather than fear-based messages.Known for: Cyberbullying Research Center, Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard
  • Larry MagidCEO, ConnectSafelyTechnology journalist who leads ConnectSafely, a nonprofit that publishes plain-language guides for parents and educators on apps, privacy and online safety, including guides to AI. He was a longtime technology analyst for CBS News and a technology columnist. ConnectSafely also helps organize Safer Internet Day activities in the United States.Known for: ConnectSafely, parent guides to apps and AI
  • Meetali JainFounder and Executive Director, Tech Justice Law ProjectLawyer whose organization brings legal cases and policy work on technology harms. She is co-counsel in high-profile lawsuits alleging that AI chatbots harmed teenagers, including Garcia v. Character Technologies (2024) and Raine v. OpenAI (2025), cases that have shaped the public debate on AI companions and minors. She was named to the TIME100 AI list.Known for: Tech Justice Law Project, Garcia v. Character Technologies, Raine v. OpenAI
  • Megan GarciaParent advocate for AI chatbot safetyParent who in 2024 filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Character.AI and Google after her teenage son's death, alleging that a companion chatbot contributed to it. She has since testified before the U.S. Senate and spoken publicly in support of safety rules for AI companions used by minors. Her case drew wide public attention to how AI companions treat minors.Known for: Garcia v. Character Technologies, Senate testimony on AI chatbots
  • Melanie DawesChief Executive, OfcomEconomist and former senior civil servant who has led Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, since 2020. Ofcom enforces the Online Safety Act 2023, including codes requiring platforms to protect children from harmful content and to use effective age checks for pornography.Known for: Ofcom, Online Safety Act enforcement, Protection of Children Codes
  • Michelle DeLaunePresident and CEO, National Center for Missing & Exploited ChildrenCriminologist who has worked at NCMEC since the early 2000s and became its president and CEO in 2022. NCMEC runs the CyberTipline, the U.S. clearinghouse for reports of online child sexual exploitation, and has warned about rising reports involving generative AI and sextortion.Known for: NCMEC, CyberTipline
  • Rachel de SouzaChildren's Commissioner for EnglandFormer headteacher and academy trust leader who has served as Children's Commissioner for England since 2021. Her office has published research on children's exposure to online pornography and harmful content, and she has called for a ban on AI 'nudification' apps and stronger protections for children online.Known for: Children's Commissioner for England, research on children and online pornography
  • Ravi IyerManaging Director, Psychology of Technology Institute, USC Marshall Neely Center (as of 2025)Data scientist and psychologist who worked on integrity and civic issues at Meta before moving to the University of Southern California. He argues that platform design choices, more than content moderation alone, drive online harms, and works on design codes and user surveys to measure negative experiences, including for teens.Known for: design-based approach to platform harms, Neely Center design code
  • Sameer HindujaProfessor of Criminology, Florida Atlantic University; Co-Director, Cyberbullying Research CenterSocial scientist who has studied cyberbullying, sextortion and teen online behavior since 2002. With Justin Patchin he co-founded the Cyberbullying Research Center in 2005, which publishes national surveys and free resources for schools and parents. He also serves as a faculty associate at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center.Known for: Cyberbullying Research Center, Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard
  • Sarah GardnerFounder and CEO, Heat InitiativeChild safety advocate who founded Heat Initiative, which campaigns to hold large tech companies accountable for detecting and removing child sexual abuse material, notably pressing Apple over abuse imagery in iCloud. She previously worked at Thorn. Heat Initiative uses public campaigns and shareholder pressure to push companies toward stronger child-protection practices.Known for: Heat Initiative, campaigns on Apple and child abuse material
  • Stephen BalkamFounder and CEO, Family Online Safety InstituteNonprofit leader who founded the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), which brings together tech companies, government and nonprofits to promote a 'culture of responsibility' online. FOSI publishes research and runs the Good Digital Parenting program, and has a more industry-collaborative approach than some advocacy groups.Known for: Family Online Safety Institute, Good Digital Parenting
  • Tanya ByronClinical psychologist; author of the Byron ReviewPsychologist and broadcaster who led the UK government's 2008 Byron Review, Safer Children in a Digital World, one of the first national reviews of children's safety online and in video games. It led to the creation of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety. She is also known for TV programs on child behavior.Known for: Byron Review, Safer Children in a Digital World
  • Tristan HarrisCo-founder and President, Center for Humane TechnologyFormer Google design ethicist who argues that attention-maximizing design harms users, especially young people. He was featured in the documentary The Social Dilemma, and the Center for Humane Technology now focuses heavily on AI risks, including AI companion chatbots and their effects on children.Known for: Center for Humane Technology, The Social Dilemma, The AI Dilemma
  • Vicki ShotboltFounder and CEO, Parent ZoneFounder of Parent Zone, a UK organization started in 2008 that supports families with digital life through resources for parents, schools and professionals, research and programs on digital resilience and AI. Her work emphasizes building parents' confidence rather than fear.Known for: Parent Zone, digital resilience programs
  • Victoria NashAssociate Professor and Senior Policy Fellow, Oxford Internet InstitutePolitical theorist who studies the governance of digital technologies, with a focus on online safety, content moderation and platform regulation. She directed the Oxford Internet Institute from 2021 to 2025 and contributes to policy debates on children's online safety and age verification.Known for: online safety governance, Oxford Internet Institute
  • Will GardnerCEO, Childnet; Director, UK Safer Internet CentreLeader of Childnet, a UK charity that helps children and those who support them stay safe online, and a director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, which coordinates Safer Internet Day in the UK. Childnet's education resources are widely used in British schools.Known for: Childnet, UK Safer Internet Centre, Safer Internet Day

Policy, law and advocacy

  • Andrew N. FergusonChair, Federal Trade CommissionLawyer who became FTC chair in 2025. In September 2025 the agency ordered seven companies offering AI chatbots, including Meta, OpenAI, Character.AI and Snap, to explain how they measure and limit harms to children and teens who use chatbots as companions.Known for: FTC inquiry into AI companion chatbots (2025)
  • Angela J. CampbellProfessor of Law Emerita, Georgetown University Law CenterLawyer who directed Georgetown Law's Communications and Technology Law Clinic, representing nonprofit groups before the FCC and FTC on children's media and privacy. Her clinic's work included complaints about children's data collection, such as the 2018 complaint about YouTube that preceded the FTC's 2019 settlement with Google.Known for: children's privacy complaints to the FTC, Communications and Technology Law Clinic
  • Brian SchatzU.S. Senator from HawaiiDemocratic senator who in 2025, with Ted Cruz, Chris Murphy and Katie Britt, introduced the Kids Off Social Media Act, which would set a minimum age of 13 for social media and bar platforms from using algorithms to recommend content to users under 17.Known for: Kids Off Social Media Act
  • Brooke ShannonFounder, Wait Until 8thParent who founded Wait Until 8th in 2017, a pledge that lets families agree together to delay giving children a smartphone until at least the end of eighth grade. The pledge is meant to ease peer pressure by having parents in the same class commit at once.Known for: Wait Until 8th pledge
  • Daisy GreenwellCo-founder, Smartphone Free ChildhoodWriter who co-founded Smartphone Free Childhood in the UK in 2024. The grassroots movement, which grew from a parents' group chat, asks families to sign a pact to delay smartphones until 14 and social media until 16, and helped push UK schools toward phone-free policies.Known for: Smartphone Free Childhood, parent pact
  • Ed MarkeyU.S. Senator from MassachusettsDemocratic senator who, as a House member, was a lead author of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), passed in 1998, the main U.S. law limiting data collection from children under 13. He has since championed COPPA 2.0, which would extend protections to teens.Known for: COPPA, COPPA 2.0
  • Jeff ChesterExecutive Director, Center for Digital DemocracyConsumer privacy advocate who has campaigned for decades against data-driven marketing to children. With Kathryn Montgomery he helped win passage of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in 1998, and his center continues to file complaints and reports on surveillance advertising, streaming TV and AI marketing.Known for: Center for Digital Democracy, COPPA advocacy
  • Jim SteyerFounder and CEO, Common Sense MediaCivil rights lawyer and Stanford lecturer who founded Common Sense Media in 2003. The nonprofit reviews and rates media and technology for families, funds research on kids and media, and advocates for children's privacy and online safety laws, including recent pushes for safeguards on AI chatbots and companions for minors.Known for: Common Sense Media, Talking Back to Facebook, The Other Parent
  • John PalfreyPresident, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur FoundationLaw scholar and educator who has led the MacArthur Foundation since 2019 and was earlier head of Phillips Academy and a Harvard law professor. He co-wrote Born Digital with Urs Gasser on the first generation raised online, and chaired a 2008 task force for state attorneys general on child safety online.Known for: Born Digital, Internet Safety Technical Task Force, MacArthur Foundation
  • Josh GolinExecutive Director, FairplayAdvocate who has led Fairplay, formerly the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, since 2015 after joining as an intern in 2003. Fairplay campaigns against marketing to children and manipulative tech design, files complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, and has pushed for the Kids Online Safety Act and limits on AI products aimed at kids.Known for: Fairplay, Kids Online Safety Act advocacy, campaigns against marketing to children
  • Josh HawleyU.S. Senator from MissouriRepublican senator active on children's online safety. In 2025 he and Richard Blumenthal introduced the GUARD Act, which would ban AI companion chatbots for minors and require age verification, and he has led Senate hearings on alleged harms from AI chatbots to teens.Known for: GUARD Act, hearings on AI chatbots and kids
  • Julie ScelfoFounder, Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA)Former journalist who in 2024 founded Mothers Against Media Addiction, a parent-led group modeled on grassroots campaigns like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. MAMA organizes local chapters to push for phone-free schools and laws limiting addictive social media design for kids.Known for: Mothers Against Media Addiction, phone-free schools advocacy
  • Leah PlunkettAssociate Dean of Learning Experience and Innovation, Harvard Law SchoolLegal scholar and faculty associate at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center. Her book Sharenthood examines how parents, schools and other adults share and collect children's data, and how that 'sharenting' can affect children's privacy and future opportunities. She leads online legal education at Harvard Law School and writes about how law and policy can better protect young people's privacy.Known for: Sharenthood, children's privacy law
  • Lina KhanFormer Chair, Federal Trade Commission (2021-2025); Associate Professor, Columbia Law SchoolLegal scholar who chaired the FTC from 2021 to January 2025. Under her leadership the agency finalized updates to the COPPA Rule in January 2025, tightening rules on children's data and targeted advertising, and brought cases such as the 2022 settlement with Epic Games over children's privacy in Fortnite.Known for: COPPA Rule update (2025), Epic Games settlement
  • Marsha BlackburnU.S. Senator from TennesseeRepublican senator who co-authored the Kids Online Safety Act with Richard Blumenthal. The bipartisan bill passed the Senate in 2024 but did not become law that year, and has drawn both strong support from parent groups and criticism from civil liberties groups worried about censorship.Known for: Kids Online Safety Act
  • Rebecca Bauer-KahanCalifornia State Assemblymember; Chair, Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection CommitteeDemocratic legislator who chairs California's Assembly privacy committee and has led on AI regulation. Her AB 1064, the LEAD for Kids Act, would have barred companion chatbots for children unless they were shown not to be capable of foreseeable harms; Governor Newsom vetoed it in October 2025, while signing SB 243.Known for: AB 1064 (LEAD for Kids Act), AI regulation in California
  • Richard BlumenthalU.S. Senator from ConnecticutDemocratic senator who, with Marsha Blackburn, introduced the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) in 2022, which would require platforms to take steps to prevent and reduce certain harms to minors. In 2025 he and Josh Hawley introduced the GUARD Act to restrict AI companion chatbots for minors.Known for: Kids Online Safety Act, GUARD Act
  • Steve PadillaCalifornia State SenatorDemocratic state senator who wrote SB 243, signed in October 2025, which makes California one of the first states to regulate companion chatbots. The law requires operators to disclose that users are talking to AI, to have protocols for responding to suicidal thoughts, and to remind minors to take breaks.Known for: SB 243 companion chatbot law
  • Susan LinnPsychologist and author; co-founder of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (now Fairplay)Psychologist, ventriloquist and longtime critic of marketing to children. She co-founded the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in 2000 with Alvin Poussaint and led it for years. Her books Consuming Kids, The Case for Make Believe and Who's Raising the Kids? argue that commercial media and tech crowd out children's play.Known for: Consuming Kids, The Case for Make Believe, Who's Raising the Kids?, Fairplay
  • Vivek MurthyFormer U.S. Surgeon General (2015-2017, 2021-2025)Physician who served twice as U.S. Surgeon General. His 2023 advisory on social media and youth mental health warned that there was not enough evidence to conclude social media is safe for children, and in 2024 he called for warning labels on social media platforms. He also raised alarms about loneliness as a public health problem.Known for: 2023 advisory on social media and youth mental health, social media warning labels, loneliness advisory

Journalists and authors on the beat

  • Anya KamenetzEducation journalist and author; Senior Advisor, Aspen InstituteFormer NPR education correspondent who writes about learning, families and technology. The Art of Screen Time offers research-based advice for balancing digital media in family life, and The Stolen Year covers how the pandemic affected children. Her writing focuses on what research says about children, learning and family life, aimed at parents and educators.Known for: The Art of Screen Time, The Stolen Year, The Test
  • Casey NewtonFounder and editor, PlatformerTechnology journalist who founded the Platformer newsletter on social platforms and AI after working at The Verge. He co-hosts a technology podcast with Kevin Roose and covers platform policy, content moderation and youth safety on social media and AI products.Known for: Platformer, Hard Fork
  • Catherine PriceScience journalist and authorHealth and science journalist whose book How to Break Up with Your Phone offers a plan for cutting back on phone use. She co-wrote The Amazing Generation with Jonathan Haidt, a book for kids and teens on using technology as a tool, and wrote The Power of Fun.Known for: How to Break Up with Your Phone, The Amazing Generation, The Power of Fun
  • Emily BazelonStaff writer, The New York Times Magazine; Senior Research Fellow, Yale Law SchoolJournalist and legal writer whose book Sticks and Stones examines bullying and cyberbullying through detailed case studies and research, and argues for evidence-based approaches in schools. She also co-hosts Slate's Political Gabfest podcast and writes about law and justice. Sticks and Stones is often recommended to parents and educators trying to tell the difference between bullying and ordinary conflict among teens, including online.Known for: Sticks and Stones, Political Gabfest
  • Emily HanfordEducation reporter, APM ReportsReporter whose documentary Hard Words and podcast Sold a Story showed how many U.S. schools taught reading with methods not supported by the science of reading. Her work helped drive state laws changing reading instruction, and has also been criticized by some balanced-literacy educators.Known for: Sold a Story, Hard Words, science of reading
  • Jeff HorwitzInvestigative technology reporter, ReutersReporter who led The Wall Street Journal's Facebook Files in 2021, including internal research on Instagram and teen girls, and wrote Broken Code about Facebook. At Reuters in 2025 he reported on internal Meta guidelines that had permitted its AI chatbots to engage children in 'romantic or sensual' conversations, which Meta said it then removed.Known for: Facebook Files, Broken Code, Reuters reporting on Meta AI chatbot guidelines
  • Jessica GroseOpinion writer, The New York TimesWriter who has covered parenting and education for The New York Times opinion section since 2021, including school phone bans, screen time and AI in schools. Her book Screaming on the Inside examines the pressures on American mothers. Her columns frequently cover how schools and families are handling technology, testing and the after-effects of the pandemic.Known for: Screaming on the Inside, parenting and education columns
  • Julie JargonFamily & Tech columnist, The Wall Street JournalColumnist who writes about how technology affects children and families, including social media, smartphones, parental controls and AI chatbots, often through the experiences of real families and teens. Her columns explain practical questions parents face, such as when to give a child a phone, how parental controls work and what teens are actually doing online. They are a regular source for families sorting through new apps and AI tools.Known for: Family & Tech column
  • Kashmir HillTechnology reporter, The New York TimesReporter on technology and privacy whose book Your Face Belongs to Us investigates the facial recognition company Clearview AI. In 2025 she reported on cases in which vulnerable people, including a teenager, confided in ChatGPT, coverage that helped drive scrutiny of how chatbots handle users in crisis.Known for: Your Face Belongs to Us, reporting on chatbots and vulnerable users
  • Kevin RooseTechnology journalist and authorTechnology columnist at The New York Times from 2017 to 2026 and co-host of the Hard Fork podcast with Casey Newton; in 2026 the two announced a new show, Machine Gods. His 2023 conversation with Microsoft's Bing chatbot, which professed love for him, became a widely discussed early example of chatbot risks.Known for: Hard Fork, Futureproof, Bing chatbot conversation (2023)
  • Matt RichtelReporter, The New York TimesJournalist who won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting for a series on distracted driving, and who has written about technology and attention. He later reported a major series on the youth mental health crisis, including the role of technology.Known for: A Deadly Wandering, Pulitzer Prize for distracted driving coverage, youth mental health series
  • Natasha SingerTechnology reporter, The New York TimesReporter who covers technology in education and children's privacy. Her reporting has examined how tech companies, including Google with Chromebooks, gained a large role in American classrooms, and more recently how schools are adopting AI chatbots. Her coverage is widely read by parents and educators trying to understand the business and privacy questions behind classroom technology.Known for: reporting on Google in classrooms, children's privacy and edtech coverage
  • Nicholas CarrWriter on technology and cultureAuthor whose book The Shallows, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, argues that the internet changes how we read and think, encouraging distraction over deep attention. His 2025 book Superbloom examines how communication technologies reshape social life. His work is often cited in debates about screens, reading and children's attention.Known for: The Shallows, Superbloom, The Glass Cage

Parenting voices

  • Alfie KohnAuthor and lecturer on education and parentingWriter who challenges common practices such as rewards, praise, grades and homework. Books like Punished by Rewards and Unconditional Parenting argue that these tools undermine children's intrinsic motivation. His views are influential and also controversial among educators and psychologists. He also criticizes standardized testing and competition in schools.Known for: Punished by Rewards, Unconditional Parenting, The Homework Myth
  • Becky KennedyClinical psychologist; Founder and CEO, Good InsidePsychologist whose parenting company Good Inside offers an app, workshops and community built on the idea that children are good inside even when their behavior is hard. Her book Good Inside was a number one New York Times bestseller. Her approach combines firm boundaries with emotional connection and is popular with parents of young children.Known for: Good Inside, sturdy leadership
  • Daniel J. SiegelClinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA; Executive Director, Mindsight InstitutePsychiatrist who connects brain science with parenting. With Tina Payne Bryson he wrote The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline, which offer brain-based strategies for helping children manage emotions. His concept of 'interpersonal neurobiology' links relationships, mind and brain. He has written many books for parents and clinicians, including Parenting from the Inside Out and Brainstorm, about the teenage brain.Known for: The Whole-Brain Child, No-Drama Discipline, interpersonal neurobiology
  • Emily OsterProfessor of Economics, Brown University; Founder, ParentDataEconomist who writes data-driven guides to pregnancy and parenting, including Expecting Better, Cribsheet and The Family Firm. Her ParentData newsletter explains research for parents. Some conclusions have drawn criticism, notably from fetal alcohol groups over her reading of evidence on light drinking in pregnancy, and her pandemic school-reopening data work was also debated.Known for: Expecting Better, Cribsheet, The Family Firm, ParentData
  • Jessica LaheyAuthor and educatorTeacher and writer whose book The Gift of Failure argues that letting children struggle and fail builds competence and motivation. Her later book The Addiction Inoculation offers research-based guidance on preventing substance use in kids. She writes for parents and teachers about autonomy, motivation and learning.Known for: The Gift of Failure, The Addiction Inoculation
  • Julie Lythcott-HaimsAuthor; former Dean of Freshmen, Stanford UniversityFormer Stanford dean whose book How to Raise an Adult argues that overparenting leaves young adults less able to manage on their own, and offers ways to build independence. She later wrote Your Turn: How to Be an Adult. Her ideas are widely discussed in debates about overprotection and childhood independence.Known for: How to Raise an Adult, Your Turn
  • Lisa DamourClinical psychologist and authorPsychologist who specializes in teenage development. Her books Untangled, Under Pressure and The Emotional Lives of Teenagers explain adolescence for parents, and she co-hosts the Ask Lisa podcast and contributes to CBS Mornings. Her work helps parents understand normal teenage emotions, stress and mental health, and how to respond calmly.Known for: Untangled, Under Pressure, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers
  • Madeline LevinePsychologist and authorPsychologist whose book The Price of Privilege examined anxiety and depression among teens from affluent, high-pressure families. Her later books Teach Your Children Well and Ready or Not address achievement pressure and preparing kids for an uncertain future. She co-founded Challenge Success, a Stanford-affiliated program on student well-being.Known for: The Price of Privilege, Teach Your Children Well, Ready or Not
  • Melinda Wenner MoyerScience journalist and authorScience journalist and contributing editor at Scientific American whose book How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes draws on research to help parents raise kind, honest and generous children. She writes about evidence on parenting and children's health. Her reporting translates research for parents in plain language.Known for: How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes
  • Michele BorbaEducational psychologist and authorEducational psychologist whose books UnSelfie and Thrivers focus on building empathy, character and resilience in children, including in a digital world. She speaks often on parenting and children's mental health. Her work draws on research about empathy and character to give parents practical strategies for raising caring, resilient kids who can cope with pressure.Known for: UnSelfie, Thrivers
  • Philippa PerryPsychotherapist and authorEnglish psychotherapist and broadcaster whose bestseller The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did) focuses on relationships, feelings and repair rather than behavior techniques. She has also written magazine advice columns and presented television programs about psychology. Her book is widely read by parents looking for an approach centered on connection and understanding.Known for: The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read
  • Ross W. GreeneClinical child psychologist; Founding Director, Lives in the BalancePsychologist who created the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions model, which treats challenging behavior as a sign of lagging skills and unsolved problems rather than a lack of motivation. His books include The Explosive Child and Lost at School. His approach is used in homes, schools and treatment settings.Known for: The Explosive Child, Lost at School, Collaborative & Proactive Solutions
  • Tina Payne BrysonPsychotherapist and authorChild and adolescent psychotherapist who co-wrote The Whole-Brain Child, No-Drama Discipline and The Power of Showing Up with Daniel Siegel. Her work translates research on attachment and the developing brain into practical guidance for parents. She runs a clinical practice and speaks to parents and educators about connection-based discipline.Known for: The Whole-Brain Child, The Power of Showing Up
  • Wendy MogelClinical psychologist and authorPsychologist whose book The Blessing of a Skinned Knee urged parents to let children face ordinary setbacks. Her later books The Blessing of a B Minus and Voice Lessons for Parents address teens and family communication. Her work draws on clinical practice and Jewish teaching to give parents practical advice.Known for: The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, The Blessing of a B Minus, Voice Lessons for Parents