Daniel Ethier

Retired middle school math teacher and cross country coach. Also at and

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@JamesSurowiecki Kevin McHale did it his rookie year with Bird.

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@firastopher @Doug_Lemov I like Oreos more than I like AI.

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@SketchesbyBoze @Doug_Lemov There were these things called books …

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@JamesSurowiecki This shows rate of participation, not percent of recipients (the Any Welfare percents add to more than 100%). The report (https://t.co/sYp0s6rq2a) says that undocumented immigrants can get benefits for their citizen children. The report is not saying what this post implies.

[Carl Hendrick @C_Hendrick]

The science of learning isn't about prescriptions, it's about probabilities. And this is where knowing the boundary conditions of any principle matters so much. Knowing when not to use it can be as important as knowing when to.
This is my problem with every lesson starting with retrieval practice "because science".
A principle applied everywhere becomes dogma; a principle applied within its limits increases the probability of it being effective, because it honours the conditions that make it work in the first place.

Retrieval practice is a key driver of learning but there are a lot of contexts where retrieval might be counterproductive: introducing new concepts or when prior knowledge is insufficient to make retrieval attempts meaningful rather than random guessing.

The boundary conditions matter precisely because they reveal the mechanisms underlying the effect. Retrieval practice works through the effortful reconstruction of knowledge from memory, which strengthens retrieval pathways. But if there's nothing meaningful to retrieve, or if the retrieval demands exceed working memory capacity, the mechanism breaks down. The practice becomes ritual rather than science.

Interleaving benefits discrimination between similar concepts, but becomes less valuable when categories are already easily distinguishable. Spacing enhances retention through forgetting and relearning, but may hinder initial acquisition when foundational knowledge is still forming.
Senior leaders saying "use retrieval practice when learners have established some initial knowledge of the material, when the cognitive demand matches their capacity, and when errors can be corrected through feedback" is less compelling than "start every lesson with retrieval practice." The nuanced version requires professional judgment; the simplified version offers algorithmic certainty.
This is where we need to move away from "what does the research say" but "under what conditions does this research apply/not apply to my context and how can I apply it?"

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

Working now. At least I saw the last mile. Sigh.

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

Hey @NBCSports I got up early to watch the women's 10,000 meters on Peacock. Your stream freezes after the ad and the intro. I can watch the shot put, but not the track events?? Fix this!!

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@JamesSurowiecki Not unexpected from the same people who don’t understand that you can’t reduce prices 1500%.

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@RickPildes I use GoodLinks on Mac, iPad, and iPhone.

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@NewsFromGoogle How will you decide "common usage" in the United States? I think you are sacrificing your credibility by doing this.

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@NewsFromGoogle And paragraph 8 includes "In other words, if a ruler announced that henceforth the Pacific Ocean would be named after her mother, we would not add that placemark unless and until the name came into common usage."

Will you be following your own policy for the Gulf of Mexico?

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@AstroPixelProc I get an error when trying to stack my images.

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@BarbMcQuade @tigers Twins doing everything they can to help!

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@MarkHertling @MuellerSheWrote Very informative thread!

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@zeynep Except that the longer he talks the deeper the hole he digs for himself.

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@RachelBitecofer I’d worry more about RFK Jr eating my cat.

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@lee_kovarsky And if the principal loses, his allies will storm the teacher’s lounge!

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@emptywheel I watched that video last night. It was pretty cool!

[Daniel Ethier @dethier1958]

@MNXCCoachHop That race was epic!