The Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr. Distinguished Lecture in the History of Psychology
2025 Benjamin Lecture
Daniel T. Willingham, PhD
Improving the Use of Psychological Science in K-12 Education
Save the Date: May 15, 2025
The Cummings Center for the History of Psychology is pleased to announce that Daniel T. Willingham, PhD will be our Featured Speaker for the 2025 Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr. Distinguished Lecture in the History of Psychology. Willingham is an acclaimed psychologist whose research has focused on the application of cognitive psychology to K-16 education.
The 2024 Benjamin Lecture will be held on Thursday, May 15, 2025. More information, including registration details, will be available soon.
Abstract
How well-informed are American teachers about principles of psychology relevant to classrooms? Relevant data are scarce, but discouraging. In this talk, Dr. Willingham will suggest that the core problem is that teachers are taught this content as though they were future researchers, not future practitioners. Dr. Willingham will discuss changes to teacher preparation that could improve the use of psychology in K-12 education, and boost student achievement.
About the Benjamin Lecture
This lecture series honors Dr. Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr., an outstanding teacher, scholar, and researcher, whose work has contributed significantly to our understanding of psychology and its history.
The annual Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr. Distinguished Lecture in the History of Psychology is hosted by the Cummings Center each year in May.
Past lectures are listed below. Click the links to access recordings of these lectures via the Cummings Center YouTube channel:
2024: | (Download Lecture Handout)
2023:
2022: Dr. David B. Baker, Saving Time: The History of Psychology and the Human Experience
2021: Postponed due to COVID-19
2020: Postponed due to COVID-19
2019: Dr. Laura Stark, The Other Akron: Searching for the 鈥淣ormal鈥� Mind in Postwar America
2018:
2017:
2016:
2015:
2014:
2013: