Concealed From View

Instructional Illusions by Paul A. Kirschner, Carl Hendrick, Jim Heal
Hachette Learning, August 29, 2025

Although the size of Kirschner, Hendrick, and Heal’s narrow volume (the main text of the book is under 90 pages) might cause readers to underestimate it, Instructional Illusions packs a mighty punch. Built around 11 classroom “illusions,” the authors probe the perplexing, persistent, and pernicious gaps between what teachers think is happening and what students actually learn. The illusions framework might read as kitschy, but it helps demystify the process of learning, since, like illusions, “so much of what happens when we learn is concealed from view.” Grounding their arguments in the most up-to-date “science of learning” research and insights, the authors take aim at many of the pieties and practices of classroom teachers, not with the goal of shaming them but instead from a deep commitment to creating the best possible conditions for students to learn how to learn. Some of the dismantled illusions, like the early chapter on “engagement” and another on “performance,” won’t shock readers familiar with contemporary thinking on learning and attention. Others, however, like the authors’ analysis of “expertise” and another on “innovation,” will likely provoke and will most certainly inspire more reflective practice and appropriate skepticism about flashy buzzwords. Ultimately, Kirschner, Hendrick, and Heal offer a model of teaching in which teachers are deeply attentive to their students, learning from and with them as they work to collaboratively create the conditions for learning, growth, and skill development. Instructional Illusions, therefore, is an incredibly rich primer on effective teaching.