# The Learning Dispatch Making sense of how learning happens. https://www.carlhendrick.com/ Page: Feed: --- ## [Retconning the Curriculum: Why The Science of Learning Has a Serious Design Problem](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/retconning-the-curriculum-why-the) _2026-08-09 · Carl Hendrick_ Retrieval practice is a continuity feature not a classroom activity ## [Children of the Magenta Line](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/children-of-the-magenta-line) _2026-07-05 · Carl Hendrick_ Why minimally guided AI does not work. Chatbots, novices, the automation of learning and the case for Alpha School ## [Why You Cannot Believe Your Way Into Learning](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/why-you-cannot-believe-your-way-into) _2026-06-27 · Carl Hendrick_ Why growth mindset works in the laboratory, fails in the classroom, and reveals something true about both. ## [Is There a Science of Writing?](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/is-there-a-science-of-writing) _2026-06-20 · Carl Hendrick_ "the dry rudiments of the beautiful science of reading" ## [The Monthly Dispatch — What's New in Learning Science? — June 2026](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-monthly-dispatch-whats-new-in-a9a) _2026-06-08 · Carl Hendrick_ The most-cited AI-in-education paper gets retracted, retrieval practice hits a wall under high cognitive load, and a little knowledge turns out to be worse than none at all. ## [Spandrels of the Mind: The Case Against Humanlike AI](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/spandrels-of-the-mind-the-case-against) _2026-05-30 · Carl Hendrick_ AI tutoring will work when it stops pretending to be human ## [The Death of the University Degree](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-death-of-the-university-degree) _2026-05-24 · Carl Hendrick_ Cognitive surrender, borrowed competence and the "vast counterfeiting of knowledge" ## [Novels Tell Us Who We Are](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/novels-tell-us-who-we-are) _2026-05-16 · Carl Hendrick_ Why great fiction can explain us better than we can explain ourselves ## [Learning in the Age of Algorithmic Video](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/learning-in-the-age-of-algorithmic) _2026-05-08 · Carl Hendrick_ Are children learning anything from TikTok and YouTube? ## [The Monthly Dispatch - What’s New in Learning Science - May 2026](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-monthly-dispatch-whats-new-in-3c4) _2026-05-06 · Carl Hendrick_ New evidence 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 ## [CLI-first decentralized compute (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/CHQH3cHM2HEJ) _2026-05-06 · **Sponsored**_ Run and pay spare GPUs from the CLI — transcode, coinpay (DID+escrow), infernet (AI). ## [The Problem With Banning Social Media Is That It's Social](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-problem-with-banning-social-media) _2026-04-30 · Carl Hendrick_ New evidence suggests teenagers will not log off until their friends do too ## [Rethinking Retrieval Practice: Remembering Is Not Knowing](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/rethinking-retrieval-practice-remembering) _2026-04-24 · Carl Hendrick_ Retrieval practice works best as maintenance of meaningful learning, not its creation. ## [The Monthly Dispatch - What’s New in Learning Science - April 2026](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-monthly-dispatch-whats-new-in-c6e) _2026-04-11 · Carl Hendrick_ Retrieval practice under scrutiny, feedback's missing mechanism, AI that actually teaches, and the quiet erosion of cognitive effort ## [Orthographic Skeletons: Can Children Start Learning How Words Are Spelled Before They've Seen it in Print?](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/orthographic-skeletons-can-children) _2026-03-28 · Carl Hendrick_ Why oral vocabulary predicts reading ability. ## [Learning at the Edge of Understanding](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/learning-at-the-edge-of-understanding) _2026-03-22 · Carl Hendrick_ Correct answers are a lagging indicator of learning, not the mechanism. ## [AI Brain Fry, Workslop and the Ironies of Automation](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/ai-brain-fry-workslop-and-the-ironies) _2026-03-14 · Carl Hendrick_ The Cognitive Price of AI at Work, and the Learning Science Case for Optimism ## [The Monthly Dispatch - What's New in Learning Science? - March 2026](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-monthly-dispatch-whats-new-in-f3c) _2026-03-08 · Carl Hendrick_ New studies on retrieval practice, seductive details, engagement myths, reading instruction, and the cognitive costs of modern technology ## [Reading Comprehension Is Not a Skill](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/reading-comprehension-is-not-a-skill) _2026-03-05 · Carl Hendrick_ The Case for Vocabulary Instruction as the Engine of Comprehension ## [Waiting, Not Seeking: Reading As Resistance](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/waiting-not-seeking-reading-as-resistance) _2026-02-27 · Carl Hendrick_ Attention in a World Designed Against It ## [Ultra-Quiet Business Mini (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/E5zk8xpivt37) _2026-02-27 · **Sponsored**_ Compact business mini, ultra-quiet for focused work. ## [The Blind Regulator: Ashby's Law and the Unavoidable Logic of Instructional Design](https://carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-blind-regulator-ashbys-law-and) _2026-02-20 · Carl Hendrick_ “Only variety can destroy variety.”