David Fainstein
@teachingabilities.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in School Psychology figuring out K-12 school supports that matter. PNW 🇨🇦🇺🇸 I run [analyses, races, into trouble]
Teachingabilities.ca
Teachingabilities.ca
Reposted by David Fainstein
In the 15th inning of tonight's ALDS, my beloved Humpy the salmon won his first ever victory in the Mariners' salmon race.
A half an inning later, the Mariners finished it all off. Coincidence?
www.mlb.com/mariners/fan...
A half an inning later, the Mariners finished it all off. Coincidence?
www.mlb.com/mariners/fan...
October 11, 2025 at 6:02 AM
In the 15th inning of tonight's ALDS, my beloved Humpy the salmon won his first ever victory in the Mariners' salmon race.
A half an inning later, the Mariners finished it all off. Coincidence?
www.mlb.com/mariners/fan...
A half an inning later, the Mariners finished it all off. Coincidence?
www.mlb.com/mariners/fan...
Reposted by David Fainstein
This ought to be engraved somewhere.
September 23, 2025 at 2:56 AM
This ought to be engraved somewhere.
Reposted by David Fainstein
v1.108 is rolling out today 🚚
Now live, at long last: Bookmarks, aka Saved Posts. For all those posts you'll definitely plan to come back to!
Update the app and give it a try. The button is right down there 👇
Now live, at long last: Bookmarks, aka Saved Posts. For all those posts you'll definitely plan to come back to!
Update the app and give it a try. The button is right down there 👇
September 8, 2025 at 6:24 PM
v1.108 is rolling out today 🚚
Now live, at long last: Bookmarks, aka Saved Posts. For all those posts you'll definitely plan to come back to!
Update the app and give it a try. The button is right down there 👇
Now live, at long last: Bookmarks, aka Saved Posts. For all those posts you'll definitely plan to come back to!
Update the app and give it a try. The button is right down there 👇
Good dialectical reasoning at it’s finest and applied to a significant public health concern
Helpful article. My take? More than one thing can be true:
1) Haidt may be correct
2) The research evidence isn't strong enough to know whether he is correct, yet
3) Phones are a distraction that should not be available during instruction
(1/2)
1) Haidt may be correct
2) The research evidence isn't strong enough to know whether he is correct, yet
3) Phones are a distraction that should not be available during instruction
(1/2)
Is Jonathan Haidt right about smartphones?
In ‘The Anxious Generation’, Haidt makes the case that social media and smartphones have ‘rewired’ today’s teenagers, but his critics say the evidence tells us something very different - and that…
www.tes.com
September 4, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Good dialectical reasoning at it’s finest and applied to a significant public health concern
Reposted by David Fainstein
![Comic. [Three people standing behind podium labeled math department. Person with bun holds up a paper. Behind them is a projector screen displaying the equation 💀>26 x 10^21] [caption] Good news: Mathematicians have put a new lower bound on the *Cursed Number That Destroys the Minds of All Who Perceive It!* It’s at least 22 digits, which means it’s unlikely to be seen by any human no matter how many random numbers they look at. They say it’s once again safe to view large random numbers without eye protection.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifaxe64bsuqi4gckktpv4pmoegy5nv7kfhp2mz4f7x6ulrbu62mtu@jpeg)
September 4, 2025 at 6:55 PM
For the uninitiated: youtu.be/ri2YukcvXFM?...
Casually Explained: The Greatest Country on Earth
YouTube video by Casually Explained
youtu.be
September 1, 2025 at 5:54 AM
For the uninitiated: youtu.be/ri2YukcvXFM?...
See, here’s the thing, when you include credible sources calling the theory of action underpinning a causal link into question, you ruin good’nuff journalism by using this shitty click-bait title.
.. and in Seattle of all places! 🙄
As a related PSA: get screened, runners and non-runners!
.. and in Seattle of all places! 🙄
As a related PSA: get screened, runners and non-runners!
Are marathons and extreme running linked to colon cancer?
Are marathons and extreme running linked to colon cancer?
A small, preliminary study found that marathoners were much more likely to have precancerous growths. Experts aren’t sure why.
www.seattletimes.com
August 19, 2025 at 10:10 PM
See, here’s the thing, when you include credible sources calling the theory of action underpinning a causal link into question, you ruin good’nuff journalism by using this shitty click-bait title.
.. and in Seattle of all places! 🙄
As a related PSA: get screened, runners and non-runners!
.. and in Seattle of all places! 🙄
As a related PSA: get screened, runners and non-runners!
Reposted by David Fainstein
2 bits of data from new Economist/YouGov poll.....
13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/
13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/
August 19, 2025 at 3:04 PM
2 bits of data from new Economist/YouGov poll.....
13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/
13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/
Reposted by David Fainstein
The massive list of suspended UCLA grants came out today: 300 NSF and 500 NIH grants. I am miraculously not on the list, but this is devastating. Science will be lost, progress will be frozen, people will lose jobs, and careers in science and medicine are being destroyed. This is not ok.
August 1, 2025 at 8:49 PM
The massive list of suspended UCLA grants came out today: 300 NSF and 500 NIH grants. I am miraculously not on the list, but this is devastating. Science will be lost, progress will be frozen, people will lose jobs, and careers in science and medicine are being destroyed. This is not ok.
Reposted by David Fainstein
Ichiro Comedy Special Somehow Already Up on Netflix: tinyurl.com/mry8xvj5
July 29, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Ichiro Comedy Special Somehow Already Up on Netflix: tinyurl.com/mry8xvj5
Reposted by David Fainstein
![Comic. [3-column table with headers Period, My Favorite Part, and My Biggest Complaint] [Row 1] P: *Precambrian*, MFP: Life develops, MBC: Snowball Earth episodes [Row 2] P: Cambrian, MFP: Trilobites!, MBC: Evolution could stand to calm down a little [Row 3] P: Ordovician, MFP: Earth might have had rings, MBC: Scary volcanic eruption in North America [Row 4] P: Silurian, MFP: First land animals, MBC: Earth’s newfound mold problem [Row 5] P: Devonian, MFP: Big mountains in Boston, MBC: Yeah, sure, what those giant killer fish needed was *armor* [Row 6] P: Carboniferous, MFP: Cool forests, MBC: Bugs too big [Row 7] P: Permian, MFP: Pangea, MBC: Google “The Great Dying” [Row 8] P: Triassic, MFP: Tanystropheus [dinosaur with extremely long neck next to tiny person for scale], MBC: Damage to Canada still visible from space at Manicouagan [Row 9] P: Jurassic, MFP: Birds, MBC: Parasitoid wasps [Row 10] P: Cretaceous, MFP: Raptors, MBC: Raptors [Row 11] P: Paleogene, MFP: Pretty horseys!!!, MBC: Paleocene-eocene thermal maximum [Row 12] P: Neogene, MFP: Forests of *Dracaena* Dragonblood Trees, MBC: Zanclean Flood [Row 13] P: Quaternary, MFP: Burrito invented, MBC: Whoever picked this name for the third period of the Cenozoic](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifyh56h2dhfnxxuarc6hspobseq6jzurt7mnkuo3dkvlkyrw6e76i@jpeg)
July 28, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reposted by David Fainstein
It is fucking insane that we had a decade of people complaining about the dangers of cancel culture, and now literally hundreds of thousands of people are being purged from government jobs for ideological reasons, but that is not cancel culture.
July 25, 2025 at 1:35 PM
It is fucking insane that we had a decade of people complaining about the dangers of cancel culture, and now literally hundreds of thousands of people are being purged from government jobs for ideological reasons, but that is not cancel culture.
Reposted by David Fainstein
I think you are thinking of Paul Bruno's list: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
useful_data_resources
docs.google.com
July 23, 2025 at 1:29 AM
I think you are thinking of Paul Bruno's list: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Reposted by David Fainstein
New paper about a brief word-problem screener for use in the elementary grades. It's free to read this article! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
And then download the screener at: www.piratemathequationquest.com
And then download the screener at: www.piratemathequationquest.com
July 10, 2025 at 4:45 PM
New paper about a brief word-problem screener for use in the elementary grades. It's free to read this article! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
And then download the screener at: www.piratemathequationquest.com
And then download the screener at: www.piratemathequationquest.com
Reposted by David Fainstein
"In the meantime for the sake of transparency to transit riders, King County Metro says it will be officially renaming Route 8 to Route ∞."
Scientists Discover First Law of Motion Does Not Apply to Route 8 Buses: tinyurl.com/3txf89wp
July 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM
"In the meantime for the sake of transparency to transit riders, King County Metro says it will be officially renaming Route 8 to Route ∞."
Reposted by David Fainstein
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
Reposted by David Fainstein
This is generally a must-listen podcast anyway, but this episode hit really hard. While none of my close friends and family who are teachers worked in the US during the pandemic, the statements that teachers' lives were the trade off to reopen schools still felt so true and validating.
Episode 41: "In Covid's Wake" Part 2
Republican counties may have three times higher COVID death rates than Democratic counties, but have you considered that they have lower rates of liberal groupthink?
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
Republican counties may have three times higher COVID death rates than Democratic counties, but have you considered that they have lower rates of liberal groupthink?
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
"In Covid's Wake" Part 2: Wron… - If Books Could Kill - Apple Podcasts
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 06/19/2025 · 1h 10m
podcasts.apple.com
June 20, 2025 at 9:38 AM
This is generally a must-listen podcast anyway, but this episode hit really hard. While none of my close friends and family who are teachers worked in the US during the pandemic, the statements that teachers' lives were the trade off to reopen schools still felt so true and validating.
Reposted by David Fainstein
BREAKING: A federal judge ruled all transgender and intersex people can obtain passports that align with their gender identity while the case against President Trump's executive order proceeds.
While this is good news, we will continue fighting until this executive order is blocked permanently.
While this is good news, we will continue fighting until this executive order is blocked permanently.
June 17, 2025 at 9:42 PM
BREAKING: A federal judge ruled all transgender and intersex people can obtain passports that align with their gender identity while the case against President Trump's executive order proceeds.
While this is good news, we will continue fighting until this executive order is blocked permanently.
While this is good news, we will continue fighting until this executive order is blocked permanently.
Reposted by David Fainstein
Over the next 25 years, if proposed cuts in NIH funding are made real, “In a population of more than 340 million, this reflects **82 million** fewer years of life.”
In the US alone.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
In the US alone.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Cutting the NIH—The $8 Trillion Health Care Catastrophe
This JAMA Forum discusses the recent budget cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of these cuts on scientific research and health of individuals in the US, and the prospects for cha...
jamanetwork.com
June 15, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Over the next 25 years, if proposed cuts in NIH funding are made real, “In a population of more than 340 million, this reflects **82 million** fewer years of life.”
In the US alone.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
In the US alone.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Reposted by David Fainstein
An important thing to know about Donald Trump is that very few people actually like him! The structure of his support at this point is a relatively small number of psychotic groypers and a much larger swathe of the public who have been convinced by right-wing propaganda that Democrats are worse.
I don’t mean this in the conspiratorial way, I accept that it happened, but how in the blue fuck can a country that turns out millions for anti-Trump protests and barely thousands for his lame ass birthday parade be <8 months out from having re-elected him?
June 15, 2025 at 4:37 AM
An important thing to know about Donald Trump is that very few people actually like him! The structure of his support at this point is a relatively small number of psychotic groypers and a much larger swathe of the public who have been convinced by right-wing propaganda that Democrats are worse.
Reposted by David Fainstein
I want to help teachers work smarter, not harder.
That’s why I rely on respected researchers like Dr. Brian Poncy & @rastokke.bsky.social to tell me what the research says AND which resources to use to support my instruction. I don’t have time for new fads in education & my students don’t either.🧵
That’s why I rely on respected researchers like Dr. Brian Poncy & @rastokke.bsky.social to tell me what the research says AND which resources to use to support my instruction. I don’t have time for new fads in education & my students don’t either.🧵
June 13, 2025 at 1:09 PM
I want to help teachers work smarter, not harder.
That’s why I rely on respected researchers like Dr. Brian Poncy & @rastokke.bsky.social to tell me what the research says AND which resources to use to support my instruction. I don’t have time for new fads in education & my students don’t either.🧵
That’s why I rely on respected researchers like Dr. Brian Poncy & @rastokke.bsky.social to tell me what the research says AND which resources to use to support my instruction. I don’t have time for new fads in education & my students don’t either.🧵
Reposted by David Fainstein
Huge thanks to @rastokke.bsky.social for not just telling teachers like me what to do but for providing great tools to support us!
Most teachers aren’t trained how to read, understand and interpret research papers. I only learned in my M.Ed. So here’s a helpful “cheat-sheet” for those who need it:
Most teachers aren’t trained how to read, understand and interpret research papers. I only learned in my M.Ed. So here’s a helpful “cheat-sheet” for those who need it:
June 7, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Huge thanks to @rastokke.bsky.social for not just telling teachers like me what to do but for providing great tools to support us!
Most teachers aren’t trained how to read, understand and interpret research papers. I only learned in my M.Ed. So here’s a helpful “cheat-sheet” for those who need it:
Most teachers aren’t trained how to read, understand and interpret research papers. I only learned in my M.Ed. So here’s a helpful “cheat-sheet” for those who need it:
Reposted by David Fainstein
Increasingly believe that this should be required reading before anyone is allowed to do science.
I spend an *inordinate* amount of time these days citing this piece and explaining that RCTs are not instrinsically and exclusively causal.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
I spend an *inordinate* amount of time these days citing this piece and explaining that RCTs are not instrinsically and exclusively causal.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Understanding and misunderstanding randomized controlled trials
Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) are increasingly popular in the social sciences, not only in medicine. We argue that the lay public, and sometimes…
www.sciencedirect.com
June 9, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Increasingly believe that this should be required reading before anyone is allowed to do science.
I spend an *inordinate* amount of time these days citing this piece and explaining that RCTs are not instrinsically and exclusively causal.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
I spend an *inordinate* amount of time these days citing this piece and explaining that RCTs are not instrinsically and exclusively causal.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by David Fainstein
Updated literature review on special education teachers' occupational wellbeing and burnout is published online! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/... @lizbettini.bsky.social @michellecumming.bsky.social Excited to see the nascent intervention work prior research has catalyzed!
May 30, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Updated literature review on special education teachers' occupational wellbeing and burnout is published online! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/... @lizbettini.bsky.social @michellecumming.bsky.social Excited to see the nascent intervention work prior research has catalyzed!