Carl Hendrick

Retrieval practice is a powerful tool but it's often used in ways that are not supported by the evidence. Here are five principles to think about when trying to avoid lethal mutations and apply it more effectively. open.substack.com/pub/carlhend...

#BlueLZ "On the same page he writes that “without knowledge, there can be no learning of our subjects”, and two paragraphs later, of application, that “memory is a basic ingredient but it necessitates still ‘higher mental functioning’”. "

“To suggest that evaluating an argument depends on knowledge and understanding is one thing; to conclude that teaching this knowledge is therefore an inferior educational activity is quite another. Yet this is the way that this concept has now become embedded in education.“

NEW POST: The Untold Story of Bloom's Taxonomy and the Pyramid That Never Was carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-untold...

Power Up Your Curriculum is published tomorrow 😊 @carlhendrick.substack.com has written a brilliant foreword. Here’s part of it👇 Pre-order here: amzn.eu/d/0ixDGAaL

An Alpha student's perspective on the bootcamp feedback challenge austinscholar.substack.com/p/austin-sch...

“This book crosses the theory–practice gap that swallows so much educational writing, and it does so without condescension and without jargon.” - @carlhendrick.substack.com POWER UP YOUR CURRICULUM is published a fortnight today 😊 Pre-order here: amzn.eu/d/02b0KHVc

They'll be a lot of chatter about England's PISA results this morning, but we need to talk just as much about Wales. They rejected phonics and knowledge-rich curricula in favour of 'areas of learning', 'skills suites' and barely any testing. Wales is now 40 points below England in every domain.

‘Hasty readers’, the PISA decline and what happens when you prioritise skills over knowledge carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-great-...

Roundup of latest learning science including new research on explaining answers, building knowledge, reading instruction, social media and the conditions under which AI helps students learn. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Has a commercial edtech company or school chain ever had the press attention of Alpha School? Getting in Scientific American seems like a big win for Alpha School PR. Reckon it's also a clear sign of its strategy to claim *scientific* legitimacy. www.scientificamerican.com/article/alph...

NEW POST: You can't apply the science of learning to materials that weren't designed for it. Retrieval practice is a curriculum property, not a teaching technique. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/retconning...

Nigel Farage will soon be the least popular political party leader in the UK by some margin. The confidence trick isn't working any more www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/the-nigel-...

A difficult read though it builds on a lot we already know about the decline of reading. As @carlhendrick.substack.com notes elsewhere, it’s not just children who are reading less. Though adults sometimes do have less time for reading, hence my passion for short stories and poems alongside novels.

"The Alpha maths app is built on Engelmann, not a chatbot. If your mental image of an Alpha maths lesson is a child chatting to an AI tutor, drop it. There is no chatbot" - @MrZachG @mrbartonmaths eedi.substack.com/p/ai-in-educ...

Chatbots, novices, the automation of learning and the case for Alpha School carlhendrick.substack.com/p/children-o...

Finally, @carlhendrick.substack.com asks if there is a science of writing in another of his pieces looking in detail at research. substack.com/inbox/post/2... My disagreement is with the subheading which implies that writing has the same research base that reading has but much less influence.

Why growth mindset works in the laboratory, fails in the classroom, and reveals something true about both. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/why-you-ca...

Writing research has the evidence reading had, but not the influence. Why? carlhendrick.substack.com/p/is-there-a...

As usual, lots of fascinating things in the monthly round-up of research from @carlhendrick.substack.com but the *most widely-cited paper on the learning benefits of AI* has been formally withdrawn is certainly the standout! open.substack.com/pub/carlhend...

The Illusion of Performance in the American Educator @aft.org @carlhendrick.substack.com www.aft.org/ae/winter202...

Discussing curriculum and pedagogy with Christine Counsell Tim Oates and Harold Hislop as part of the NI TransformED programme youtu.be/Sd4Bs2_wlXw?...

Spandrels of the Mind: The Case Against Humanlike AI AI tutoring might work if it stops pretending to be human carlhendrick.substack.com/p/spandrels-...

The Death of the University Degree: Cognitive surrender and the "vast counterfeiting of knowledge" carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-death-...

Instructional Illusions: What We Get Wrong About Good Teaching A conversation between Jim Heal, @carlhendrick.substack.com, Robert Pondiscio, and me. #EduSky www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH3_...

The people behind this are openly neo-Nazi. Reminder that the Conservatives argued this march was fine as it did not directly target any particular groups, beyond “criticism of religion”.

A really lovely post by @carlhendrick.substack.com, with a bit of bonus Heaney. Novels Tell Us Who We Are open.substack.com/pub/carlhend...

/3 and I’m reminded of this great post from James Theobald (I miss him) who nails it.

It’s not often that something on social media stops me in my tracks, but this week I was transfixed by a recent interview with Bob Odenkirk who was describing a near-death experience, and the strange way a particular novel was able to help him make sense.. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/novels-tel...

"What leaders (usually) get wrong about motivation" featuring me and Doug Lemov www.nytimes.com/athletic/727...

Privileged to be part of the #TransformED curriculum team. Thanks to the Minister Paul Givan and the brilliant dept of education team for the welcome and tour of Parliament Buildings at Stormont today.

Fascinating conversation on AI and education with Craig Barton and education's foremost rational optimist Becky Allen youtu.be/5SHwZlJvvhM?...

My 3 daughters may belong to a generation that no longer fears cancer in the way mine did. Having lost both parents to it, that thought makes me deeply happy. substack.com/home/post/p-...

School smartphone bans improve classroom conditions (and that's a reason to do it in itself), but this study finds no clear early evidence that they improve mental health. www.nber.org/papers/w35181

The inimitable @carlhendrick.substack.com takes a measured look at short-form video as a learning tool, giving a fair shake to its potential advantages (ex. motivating learners about a new topics). Still, it’s primarily a cautionary signal. This section, whew. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Are students learning anything from TikTok and YouTube? And do we have the research to know? ⤵️ carlhendrick.substack.com/p/learning-i...

Very nice piece on our recent paper with @wimdeneys.bsky.social by @carlhendrick.substack.com 🙌 carlhendrick.substack.com/p/rethinking...

A LOT going on this month in the science of learning. New studies on the limits of retrieval practice, phone bans that don't move test scores, ChatGPT as cognitive crutch, and why early vocabulary growth tells us surprisingly little about later reading. ⤵️ substack.com/home/post/p-...

Do test scores improve after phone bans? Not really. - High schools gain a little. Middle schools lose a little. The average is close to zero. www.nber.org/papers/w35132

💡 FREE RESOURCES 💡 You can find new literacy resources (quick sign up) based around my new book, 'Literacy Essentials for Every Teacher' - Talk routines: ABC feedback - The SEEC model for vocab - 6 strategies to develop reading fluency - 5 steps for spelling success alexquigley.co.uk/resources/

"Research should illuminate thought, not close it down." @markmccourt.bsky.social www.emaths.co.uk/blog/general...

Amazon has a global technical issue; my paperback is still stuck. But! The eBook & hardback are available. If you want to read beyond telling and retrieval get a copy: mybook.to/teachingmean... I'd really appreciate the support (and an honest review to help this calamitous launch).

The problem with banning social media is that it's social. New post ⤵️ carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-proble...

The Evidence Base on AI in K-12: A 2026 Review scale.stanford.edu/sites/defaul...

The problem with banning social media is that it's social. New post ⤵️ carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-proble...

Könnte das die Brücke sein über die Gräben der Kompetenz- und der Wissensvermittler? Grandioser Post von @carlhendrick.substack.com Wie Wissen ungleich Performanz ist und umgekehrt. #BlueLZ open.substack.com/pub/carlhend...