Why a little self-doubt can make students better programmers

In Wouter Kool’s classroom, students learn an unexpected lesson: Don’t believe in yourself. The assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences challenges students who are new to coding to question their work, embrace mistakes, and treat errors as opportunities to learn. At the 2026 Teaching Innovation Showcase, Kool shared how his approach helps students develop the confidence and critical thinking skills needed to navigate an increasingly computational field — especially as artificial intelligence makes it easier to generate answers that aren't always correct.

After the federal firings, Black women felt betrayed and disillusioned. One longtime federal worker learned from experience the importance of community — that people who have experienced collective trauma need collective resilience.

William Chopik, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences, explains how friendships can improve our health and well-being — and why making new connections can be harder than it seems.

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Key points
Researchers are expanding science on Black girls by treating them as knowledge producers, not just subjects of study.
Emerging methods help researchers gather richer data that challenge long-held assumptions about Black girlhood.
Black girls share their own experiences of joy, thriving, and colorism in research settings where they feel safe and can develop supportive peer bonds.
In the summer of 2023, 10 Black teen girls gathered at the RiseBoro Community Partnership in Brooklyn to build a first-of-its-kind catalog of the various microaggressions Black girls face because of colorism. Gina Sissoko, PhD—now a clinical psychologist and postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Public Health—put the girls in an unfamiliar role: the driver’s seat. They detailed the ways colorism, a preference for lighter skin tone, operated in their lives and how to measure it. They then developed a plan to research the topic and fanned out across their community to survey more than 100 other Black girls.

If you’re dreading a midterm — or just studying hard to keep up in any class — chances are your study habits involve taking notes as you’re reading and then going back over them. Maybe you pull out (or click on) a highlighter.

It turns out those old-fashioned study habits might work if you’re cramming for a test, but they aren’t very effective for long-term learning. There are better, more efficient ways to retain knowledge.

On Tuesday, OpenAI released ChatGPT for Teens, an age-gated version of its chatbot designed for young users. The company first announced it was working on a system to automatically identify teens and restrict their usage of ChatGPT last September, following the death of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who, as alleged in a lawsuit filed by his parents, took his own life after ChatGPT acted as an enabler.

Read More: https://www.engadget.com/2241179/child-safety-experts-skeptical-of-openai-chatgpt-for-teens/

Offshore the fictional town of Portorosso in the Italian Riviera, a young sea monster named Luca herds goatfish on his family’s aquatic farm. In the surf above, fishers threaten to fatally spear any sea monster that comes within range. The youth’s mother sternly warns him: “We do not talk, think, discuss, contemplate or go anywhere near the surface!”

Deanna Barch
A team led by Deanna Barch, the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry at WashU Medicine and a professor of psychological and brain sciences, has received a $3.25 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the mechanisms underlying hallucinations and delusions in schizophrenia.

Nate Eckland and Renee Thompson explore the role of emotional clarity in reaching everyday objectives, big and small.

Did you wake up this morning with a list of aspirations for the day? Maybe you fully intended to go for a run, finally finish writing that paper, or make it to Genius on the Spelling Bee without hints. If not, there’s always tomorrow.

It's the act that's defined a generation, an experience so common it's become memeified: canceling plans. Bailing is a litmus test of sorts; who and what events you back out of says a lot about you as a person. Are you the type who commits and only bails when absolutely necessary? Or are you a frequent flake looking to change their ways? (No judgment here: The occasional canceling of plans is acceptable, and you shouldn't feel guilty about it.)

Arts & Sciences researchers are working across disciplines to prevent, treat, and ultimately defeat Alzheimer’s disease.

Nate Eckland and Renee Thompson explore the role of emotional clarity in reaching everyday objectives, big and small.