A New York Times article about engaging kids in online learning during quarantine features COE Professor Emeritus Allan Wigfield. The article describes engaging kids in active learning processes to capture and keep their attention, with the author recalling how his 13-year-old son overcame setbacks in fixing a broken moped during quarantine.

“We often underestimate what middle-schoolers can do,” Dr. Wigfield said in the article. “Their cognitive skills are blossoming and they’re starting to think more independently. But it’s critical that they find success along the way.”

Dr. Wigfield is professor emeritus in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, and has research interests in achievement motivation as well as development and socialization of motivation.