The research
The evidence base apto was built from
Not a blog. 158 entries drawn from a doctoral research programme, arranged as an argument that runs in three Acts: how we came to think about learning, how we tried to build and measure it, and where that is now going wrong.
Each idea appears twice. A short-form entry gets to the point in about three minutes; a long-form companion carries the theory, the evidence, and the places it breaks down. 77 of the first, 81 of the second. Start anywhere.
Published here ahead of the thesis
The doctoral thesis this material derives from has not yet been published. These entries are being released steadily in the run-up, so what you are reading is the working evidence base rather than a finished citable record. The long-form articles in particular are still being fact-audited, and are marked where that is outstanding.
We would rather say that plainly than present the material as settled. When the thesis publishes, the citation will be added to every entry and this note will be replaced by it.
Read it as an arc
The three Acts are meant to be read in order. Each one sets up the problem the next one inherits.
How we came to think about learning
Before we can build anything that actually helps people learn, we have to be honest about where our ideas of learning came from.
Read Act IHow we tried to build, measure and study it
Having a good theory of how people learn is not the same as being able to build something that helps them.
Read Act IIWhere we are now, and what is going wrong
Something different has happened to education in the last five years, and the industry is still pretending it has not.
Read Act IIIOr by subject
Ten Themes cut across the Acts. An entry sits in exactly one Act but can belong to several Themes, so this is a different way through the same material rather than a subdivision of it.
How we actually think
14How real reasoning, guesswork, and understanding work — and why most of school matches none of them.
How learning happens inside one person
14What goes on in your head when something finally clicks, and what gets in the way.
How learning happens between people
8Why almost nothing important is learned alone.
What makes someone keep going
10Motivation, identity, and the inner work that decides whether a learner carries on.
How a skill actually grows over years
10The journey from beginner to expert, and what good practice really looks like.
How we try to measure learning
12What tests really tell us, what they miss, and why results feel unreliable.
How research and evidence work
16How we decide what counts as proof, and where the easy answers break down.
How the technology actually works
16What is really inside an adaptive system or an AI tutor, underneath the marketing.
Where ethics, privacy, and fairness live
16The quiet decisions that end up shaping what happens to you and your children.
Who is in charge, and how rules are made
32Governance, regulation, and the slow work of changing systems that resist change.
Prefer to browse the whole thing
Both formats are filterable in full if you would rather search than follow the arc.