Carl Hendrick
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carlhendrick.substack.com
Carl Hendrick
@carlhendrick.substack.com
Dad | Professor of applied sciences @AcademicaUoAS | Dubliner | PhD @KingsCollegeLon | Keats devotee | persecuted by an integer
https://www.carlhendrick.com/
Pinned
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...
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
Feeling full to bursting, then someone cracks out the Lindor
December 25, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Joy to the world ❤️
December 25, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Joy to the world!
I can't be bothered with Christmas after my mum passed away unexpectedly & I had to empty her house of all those years of consumerism, I have zero interest in continuing to fill our house with stuff I don't need, I'm getting a skip to start clearing crap in the new year.
December 22, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
Super blog from @scientistsinthemaking.com on retrieval practice from a US science teachers's perspective, building on @carlhendrick.substack.com's excellent recent post on lethal mutations.

scientistsinthemaking.substack.com/p/the-dos-an...
The Dos and Don'ts of Retrieval Practice: A Teacher's Perspective
A response to Carl Hendrick's article “The Lethal Mutation of Retrieval Practice.”
scientistsinthemaking.substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
“Selecting an answer from a multiple-choice array is a pale shadow of producing that answer from memory.”

And other gems on how (not) to build an education app from @carlhendrick.substack.com
December 21, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
A common problem with learning, whether through apps or other methods, is the emphasis on completing tasks rather than providing ongoing formative feedback.
December 21, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
"We definitely don't think students should be using ChatGPT to outsource work".

Says the company who are obviously delighted that more and more students are using their product to outsource work.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Experts warn AI is making your brain work less
Generative AI tools have become hugely popular but some experts worry about the effect they have on the brain.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 21, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
Why Most Education Apps Fail carlhendrick.substack.com/p/why-most-e...
December 20, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
As usual, @carlhendrick.substack.com provides valuable insights on learning &, in this case, that are particularly relevant to popular language learning apps:

Read the article: carlhendrick.substack.com/p/why-most-e...
December 20, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Excellent post from Mary. As @counsellc.bsky.social says, "You cannot Rosenshine your way into a curriculum, and nor can you Rosenshine your way into mediating content in subject sensitive ways."
I don’t think as much attention has been paid to implementing the curriculum as it has to the pedagogy to teach it.

It’s a bit like going into a restaurant where all the effort has gone in to making it look amazing...

open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...
What criteria for implementing the curriculum?
Well hello there, and welcome to update #148!
open.substack.com
December 20, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
I don’t think as much attention has been paid to implementing the curriculum as it has to the pedagogy to teach it.

It’s a bit like going into a restaurant where all the effort has gone in to making it look amazing...

open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...
What criteria for implementing the curriculum?
Well hello there, and welcome to update #148!
open.substack.com
December 20, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Why Most Education Apps Fail carlhendrick.substack.com/p/why-most-e...
December 20, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Short clip of me talking about memory and retrieval for the Victorian dept of education in Australia earlier this year. Part of the VTLM 2.0 Evidence to action series. arc.educationapps.vic.gov.au/learning/sit...
December 17, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
utterly incapable of grace
December 15, 2025 at 2:54 PM
In 1849, Dostoyevsky was sentenced to death and lined up to be shot. At the very last second, his sentence was commuted. He went back to his cell and wrote a letter to his brother that's one of the most powerful things I've ever read. A powerful reminder to stop sleepwalking through life.
December 14, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Shocking but not shocking at all. This is precisely why education cannot rely on compelling anecdotes or elegant narratives. We need robust evidence; randomised controlled trials, replication, falsifiable hypotheses, converging findings etc, not memorable stories. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Oliver Sacks Put Himself Into His Case Studies. What Was the Cost?
The scientist was famous for linking healing with storytelling. Sometimes that meant reshaping patients’ reality.
www.newyorker.com
December 13, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Latest post on retrieval practice and what happens when good science becomes bad practice. ⬇️
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...
December 13, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
"A lethal mutation is an idea or a practice that is prompted by sound scientific evidence, but is implemented in a way that reduces, or even completely negates, its effectiveness.
Wiliam, D., Jones, K. (2022)"
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...
December 12, 2025 at 1:03 AM
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...
December 11, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
The Illusion of Performance is now in American Educator @carlhendrick.substack.com Jim Heal @lisahansel.bsky.social
For a 15% discount on the book visit go.aft.org/u2x and use the code InstructionalIllusions15 by March 31, 2026.https://www.aft.org/ae/winter2025-2026/kirschner_hendrick_heal
The Illusion of Performance
www.aft.org
December 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
Interessante Studien, u.a. zu Effekten von "retrieval" auf Transfer, einem Vergleich direkter Instruktion mit "problem solving first", Lernen mit KI-Zusammenfassungen, ... 👇
#BlueLZ
The Research Brief: What's New in Learning Science - December 2025 open.substack.com/pub/carlhend...
December 3, 2025 at 1:47 PM
The Research Brief: What's New in Learning Science - December 2025 open.substack.com/pub/carlhend...
December 3, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Reposted by Carl Hendrick
Cognitive automation for teachers poses the very same problems that cognitive automation poses for students. Astute observations here on how the cult of efficiency runs counter to just about everything we know about learning.
November 24, 2025 at 2:14 PM