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Wed, 06/18/2025

Researcher talks nonsense to ChatGPT to understand how it processes language

A new study appearing in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One from a psycholinguist at the University of Kansas explores how ChatGPT, the popular artificial-intelligence chatbot, responded to nonwords.
Thu, 05/22/2025

Funding to help expand program providing technology, career training to women leaving incarceration in Kansas, Missouri

KU has received funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to team with Workforce Partnership and the Kansas City Public Library to expand a program that works with women leaving incarceration and those who have left to provide technology and career training and learn about online security. The program has also shown it reduces recidivism rates.
Tue, 05/20/2025

New book can help guide schools from overemphasis on STEM to 'STREAMS'

A new book edited by University of Kansas scholars aims to help educators move beyond overemphasis on STEM subjects to "STREAM," which merges science, technology, reading, engineering, arts, mathematics and social sciences to create a greater, more equitable educational approach.
Wed, 05/07/2025

Study finds giving pre-service social studies educators practice in teaching difficult topics boosts confidence

Four pre-service teachers designed and delivered a lesson on "Night," Elie Wiesel's seminal Holocaust survival memoir, in a University of Kansas study. The lesson, performed in a mixed-reality simulator, found the teachers did not have instruction on teaching difficult topics, but their confidence in teaching difficult material improved.
Mon, 04/21/2025

Study shows addressing working memory can help students with math difficulty improve word problem-solving skills

A study led by the University of Kansas addressed whether using interventions designed to improve working memory can help students solve math word problems. The study found that in working with more than 200 students with and without math difficulties, working memory plays a key role in word problemsolving and that interventions designed to improve it helped both students with and without math difficulties.
Tue, 04/15/2025

New book ‘Psychology of Liberty’ examines freedom as allowing humans to be what they were intended to be

“The Psychology of Liberty: Reclaiming Everyday Freedom” by Barbara Kerr of the University of Kansas combines the study of anthropology, economics, history, creativity, family studies, evolutionary studies and education to suggest a new concept of freedom: Allowing people to be free to create, play and spend time with their families, as humans did for nearly 200,000 years.
Tue, 04/01/2025

Evolution of distinctively human cognition explored in new book

In a new book, Armin Schulz, professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas, explores what makes human cognition unique, suggesting its evolution is built on a feedback loop of innate representations, forms of cultural learning and technology.
Wed, 03/26/2025

Study finds universities rarely keep contact with retirees, but benefits exist for schools, former employees when they do

KU researchers conducted a study in which they surveyed American institutions of higher education to find out whether they keep in touch with retirees. The vast majority do not, but a case study of KU, which does keep contact, found multiple potential benefits for both retirees and potential service and goodwill for the university.
Tue, 03/18/2025

KU faculty awarded AAI Arts & Humanities Grant to expand art-based aging project

The Achievement & Assessment Institute (AAI) at the University of Kansas has awarded the 2024 AAI Art & Humanities Grant to Sarah Jen, associate professor in the School of Social Welfare, and Liz Langdon, a lecturer in the Department of Visual Art, for their project, “Untold Stories of Aging in Action — Revealed and Traveled.” The project’s aim is to create and document the influence of an art-based intervention among communities of older adults and intergenerational audiences.
Thu, 03/13/2025

Author emphasizes social dimension of international development

According to a KU anthropologist, good intentions are not enough to make community-based international development work. It needs a facilitator who can literally translate but also figuratively bridge the gap in power dynamics between the two sides of the equation.
Wed, 03/05/2025

Program will train high schoolers to write code and develop microelectronics for artificial intelligence

Researchers at the University of Kansas, along with the University of Florida and the University of North Texas, will partner with regional high schools to engage about 500 students and 25 teachers in real-world projects to build interest in artificial intelligence technology as a career path.
Tue, 02/18/2025

KU researchers developing AI-boosted program to help teach writing skills to students with disabilities

A KU research team is developing and expanding Project AI-Score, a system that uses artificial intelligence technology to help instructors more efficiently teach writing to students with disabilities.
Wed, 01/29/2025

KU research team develops virtual reality, AI-boosted system to help students with autism improve social skills

A KU research team has secured funding to boost systems called iKNOW and VOISS to help students with autism spectrum disorder improve social skills in a school setting.
Tue, 01/28/2025

Book will guide teachers and child care providers in using the Pyramid Model

“Unpacking the Infant-Toddler Pyramid Model: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Providers," co-edited by researchers at the University of Kansas, is a guide for early childhood education professionals.
Tue, 01/28/2025

Research finds alternative anxiety, depression treatment for LGBTQ individuals shows results

A University of Kansas researcher analyzed results of an alternate treatment for LGBTQ individuals contained in “LGBTQI Workbook for CTI,” which is designed to help individuals who can’t access or have not had success with professional therapy.
Thu, 12/12/2024

Education scholar calls for ecological shift to 'school within a school' to give students autonomy needed for success

Schools are one of the most resilient aspects of American society, changing little in 200 years, Yong Zhao writes. Attempts at reform have failed because they are attempted on the systemwide level. In a scholarly analysis, the KU professor of education calls for a "school within a school" approach at giving students autonomy over their own learning.
Mon, 12/09/2024

Study finds readers trust news less when AI is involved, even when they don't understand to what extent

In a University of Kansas study, readers were presented an article and given options in a byline disclosing to what extent artificial intelligence was involved. The more AI was involved, the less readers trusted its credibility, even when they didn't understand exactly what it did.
Thu, 12/05/2024

Virtue and reality of hope examined in new book

In a new book, Nancy Snow, professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas, and noted scholars from different disciplines provide a unique perspective on the qualities and expectations that hope offers.
Tue, 12/03/2024

AAI announces the Center for Geography of Education Policy

The Achievement & Assessment Institute (AAI) has announced the launch of a new center that will explore the ways that education policy and school management are both shaped by and shape geography.
Tue, 12/03/2024

Study finds American, Canadian universities vary widely in preparing future urban planners for climate change

A KU researcher has led a study examining how well universities are preparing future urban planners to mitigate and adapt to climate change as part of their curriculum. “We don’t believe you should be able to come out of a planning program without addressing climate change,” said Ward Lyles associate professor of public affairs & administration.
Mon, 11/25/2024

Study finds suburban school districts diversified since 2000, but urban districts saw more racial isolation

A study compared school districts across the country in 2020 and 2000 using census and demographic data, as well as sophisticated geographical mapping. Suburban districts across the country saw more diversity, but urban districts saw more racial isolation.
Thu, 11/21/2024

KU researchers studying efficacy of automatic recording and AI analysis of children's language use and development

KU scientists are testing how artificial intelligence could be applied to measure verbal interactions unobtrusively and automatically in a variety of settings, including at area child care or early education programs. Earlier work took them to Science City in Union Station.
Mon, 11/18/2024

New book aims to guide qualitative researchers looking to better understand the college student experience

A University of Kansas researcher's new work provides guidance, examples and considerations of how best to conduct qualitative research with college students, especially those from historically marginalized populations.
Mon, 10/28/2024

Study finds influential textbooks labeled American actions as imperialist, contradicting American exceptionalism

Stephen Jackson conducted a study in which he analyzed influential Texas world history textbooks. They clearly labeled American actions in the 19th century as imperialist, contradicting the long-standing ideal of American exceptionalism. The study unpacks that seeming contradiction.
Tue, 10/22/2024

Book gathers research on education for people with disabilities, including voices of those with lived experience

A research team at the University of Kansas has published a new edition of a book that collects the latest research on education for people with disabilities, including perspectives of individuals with lived experience through an inclusive lens.
Tue, 10/15/2024

KU researchers leading projects to make Library of Congress educational materials more accessible, use AI to aid writing instruction

Researchers have secured two grants to help make PBS Newshour Classroom materials more accessible in teaching students with disabilities and to use AI to help teachers expand an existing writing instruction program, also with a focus on students with disabilities.
Tue, 10/01/2024

State mandates requiring genocide education lack standards to guide teachers, study finds

A study analyzing state mandates requiring genocide education almost always lacked standards on what topics to teach and how to address the subject. The lack of guidance fails to give students an understanding of the causes of genocide and how to prevent them in the future, KU researchers found.
Wed, 09/11/2024

Study finds encouraging empathy makes students better at argumentation

Teaching argumentation is a key part of the common core standards in education. But a new study finds that encouraging empathy, instead of the traditional approach of winning, produces more well-rounded argumentation and writing in students.
Tue, 09/10/2024

Center for Educational Opportunity Programs secures $21.8 million in federal grants to support middle and high school students

The Center for Educational Opportunity Programs at the University of Kansas is the recipient of two federal grants totaling $21.8 million over seven years. These grants will provide critical support to middle and high school students in Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools and Kansas City Public Schools in Missouri.
Mon, 09/09/2024

KU researcher leading project to gauge effectiveness of journalism ethics disclosures

Alyssa Appelman is co-leading a project to test whether disclosing a journalist's ethical training influences readers' perceptions of that journalist's and media's credibility.

Media Contacts

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson

KU News Service

785-864-8858