iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Tinkering past Utopia: Enduring legacies of 19th century school pedagogy and structures in 24th century deep space education.

Keiko O'Brien's classroom on Deep Space Nine, with students seated at desks in rows and computers lined up on top like digital inkwells.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

One of the invisible chores of academia is conference paper reviewing. Presenting papers at conferences is an important step in producing publications, but is only possible when a knowledgeable community can assess and offer feedback on that work. Thanks to all the reviewers out there! #AERA2027

A screenshot of the AERA review panel, showing that 22 proposals have been reviewed.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Just finished “If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light” by Kim Choyeop, translated by @antonhur.com and it was a fresh, fantastic short SF story collection. Apparently it sold 400,000 copies in Korea, and I understand why!

A picture of the cover of this book, if we cannot go at the speed of light. It is a picture of a person looking out at a planet space scene from a theater of chairs.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Hey—it's our new book! "The Reasons Teachers Stay: Lessons from High-Retention Schools, Districts, and Communities" by @drpoolepatzelt.bsky.social and I is now available from Harvard Education Press. Some teachers leave, but we looked at the ones who didn't. hep.gse.harvard.edu/979889557042...

Book cover of "The Reasons Teachers Stay: Lessons from High-Retention Schools, Districts, and Communities." Text is on a corkboard background with push-pins and a sticky note reading "welcome back to school."

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Current situation at our university.

Canvas error screen of robots working on a rocket ship that reads: "Canvas is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance. Check back soon."

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Just finished "God's Junk Drawer" by @peterclines.com and loved every word. I grew up as a Land of the Lost kid and this book honored that source material, and took further. Highly recommend! (Illustration is by Steve Spatucci from a "Physics of the Land of the Lost" article I wrote in the mid 90s)

Illustration (by Steve Spatucci) of a T-Rex named Grumpy harassing Marshall, Will and Holly in their Land of the Lost cave.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Just had a callback conversation with an agent, shared my concern and they will be filing a report with Apple.

text on apple feedback form: I wrote that the issue was not resolved because the app producing Child Sexual Abuse Material (X, formerly Twitter) is still available on the App Store. Once it is removed, I will consider the issue resolved.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Having a little chat right now with Apple support about X (Twitter) still being available in the App Store even though it is now producing CSAM.

Image of a text conversation:

Apple Support: : Glad to know that, you're welcome! To better help you, can you tell me more about your Family Sharing & Children concern?

Me:I am concerned about the X (formerly Twitter) app that is available at the app store. Why is Apple permitting an app that is now regularly producing CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) still permitted in Apple's App store?

Me: I am an educator (I teach teachers) and this app is now being used is very harmful ways in schools. My level of concern is very high, and I cannot understand why Apple is not doing anything about it.

Apple Support: I understand that you are concerned about the X app that is available in the App Store. I will be more than happy to help you with this to also send a complaint about this for Apple to review this.
To continue, I will be asking a few questions. Would that be okay?

Me: Sure

Apple Support: Thank you!

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Just finished SUNWARD by @willalex.bsky.social and absolutely loved it. If only all bots had such a capable parent.

The cover of the book Sunward by William Alexander, with a picture of the surface of the sun and moon framing an eclipsed body in space, radiating light from the edges.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Just finished Hole in the Sky by @danielhwilsonpdx.bsky.social and I am pleased to report that it is fantastic.

Photo of the book cover for Hole in the Sky, with a rolling green field, blue sky, and what appears to be a hole with a pale dot in the center above the ground.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Today in my work with the Fulbright Specialist program I met with Andri Rafn Ottesen, an experienced grade 9 social studies teacher at Garðaskóli, who is leading a nationwide program for new teachers in Iceland along with Soffía Ámundadóttir and Unnur Björk Arnfjörð from the University of Iceland.

Two white men (Doug and Andri) with glasses sitting in a school conference room. Andri is holding up the year-long plans on a piece of paper.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Such a great experience working at the University of Iceland as a Fulbright Specialist on the issue of teacher retention with my colleague Unnur Björk.

A picture of a man and a woman in an office, standing in front of a scenic window view of the University of Iceland campus in Reykjavik. There are logos for The Fulbright Program, Háskoli Íslands, and Montclair State University across the bottom.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Hi @actblueorg.bsky.social, Please deal with your out of control texting/spam problem. I like donating through Act Blue to people and causes I support, but I NEVER donate to texts. No way to tell what is real. We need an opt-out list that removes our number from all Act Blue lists and tools. Thanks.

This is a screenshot of a long fundraising text received today. I type "STOP" to about 10 of these each day because I never signed up for them. These keep coming and there is no way to tell what is real, so I never click the links.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Great crowd at the No Kings rally in Princeton today!

A crowd of hundreds of protesters in Princeton, New Jersey

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Under the profile picture there is an option to select "Give Feedback"

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

The second and expanded edition of my book Teaching Science in Diverse Classrooms: Real Science for Real Students is now available for pre-order. www.routledge.com/Teaching-Sci...

Black book cover with colorful science icons and a green stripe at the bottom with the author's name.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

The second and expanded edition of my book Teaching Science in Diverse Classrooms: Real Science for Real Students is now available for pre-order. www.routledge.com/Teaching-Sci...

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Trenton, NJ #handsoff protest today — great turnout!

Crowd of protestors—one with a yellow sign picturing trump that reads “ bully, bigot, liar, draft dodger…”

Protesters in a crowd. Large black and yellow sign reads “even the introverts are here.”

Large crowd at the ww2 memorial in Trenton.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

The moment a cybertruck showed up and got booed at the #TeslaTakedown today.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

#teslsatakedown today in Mercer County New Jersey. Thought this would be a small protest. It’s not!

A photo of a large protest in front of a Tesla dealership in Lawrence Township New Jersey

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

thanks to @kendrawrites.com for the fix—I was one of the 1/3 not getting the Ice Breaker. Also, a curious follow-up related to your recycling story from a while back. Here in Mercer County, NJ, #5 plastics are now accepted. I can't quite get the economics, but okay. Thought of you. Keep being you!

A notice from Mercer County NJ showing that #5 plastics are now accepted for recycling in 2025.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

The type of book "you went behind the barn to read." Last one from the same issue, because everything old is new again:

Article from 1935 text: Book Ban, Kansas City Acts On Mother's Complaint
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A mother who said Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth" was a type of book which in her childhood days "you went behind the barn to read" brought about a sweeping investigation of high school reading lists in Kansas City. "Orders have gone out for teachers to give closer attention to both optional and required readings," said School Superintendent George Melcher. Earlier, the Board of Education had directed that a committee of English teachers study the optional reading list and eliminate all they consider "not appropriate." Superintendent Melcher said "no general policy" regarding Mrs. Buck's "book had been adopted, but added: "It was on the optional list at Northeast Junior College. Because Mrs. E. B. McCann objected to it as unfit for her fifteen-year-old son, we have eliminated it from the list there." Mrs. McCann expressed the ¡belief that "book reviewers, the so called intelligentsia and the great American reading public are so ignorant they don't know trash when they see it."

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

The article directly above it...

Article from 1935 with the title "Nazis First" which reads: "Berlin—Bernhard Rust, Minister of Education, has announced that those candidates for admittance to normal schools will receive first consideration who have been members of the Nazi party or one of its subordinate organizations. In his declaration he says further that in the future the teaching staffs of the public schools will be recruited chiefly among students who have been members of the Hitler Youth."

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Teacher retention problems from the 1930s.

Article from 1935 with the headline: Pretty Teachers, How to Keep them is Delaware's problem. The single paragraph reads: "Wilmington, Del. — Dr. H.V. Holloway, State Superintended of Public Instruction, is having labor trouble in his domestic science department, according to reports, which say that when the state appoints pretty teachers of the household arts it is leaning on a series of broken reeds. No sooner do they get settled down in their jobs than they leave to get married. Something has to be done about it, for the yearly turnover of domestic science teachers averages three.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Thank you @andykimnj.bsky.social for your passionate defense of USAID. www.c-span.org/program/news...

Senator Andy Kim speaks to a group of reporters in front of the USAID building

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

For the last 12 years I have been co-leading a scholarship program with colleagues at Montclair State University to support the preparation of STEM teachers, with funding support from NSF. This morning I received this notice to cease participant selection. People need to know this is happening.

screenshot of the NSF Executive Order Implementation Webpage that reads: "Message to the NSF principal investigator community
Jan. 28, 2025
Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-25-13, issued on Jan. 27, 2025, directs all federal agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of their financial assistance programs to determine programs, projects and activities that may be implicated by the recent executive orders. Therefore, all review panels, new awards and all payments of funds under open awards will be paused as the agency conducts the required reviews and analysis. NSF has created an executive order implementation webpage to ensure the widest dissemination of information and updates. We will continue to communicate with you as we receive additional guidance.

All NSF grantees must comply with these executive orders, and any other relevant executive orders issued, by ceasing all non-compliant grant and award activities. Executive orders are posted at whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions. In particular, this may include, but is not limited to conferences, trainings, workshops, considerations for staffing and participant selection, and any other grant activity that uses or promotes the use of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) principles and frameworks or violates federal anti-discrimination laws. Please work with your institutional research office to assist you in complying with the executive orders. You can also direct your questions through this webform.

Thank you for your work advancing science, engineering, technology and innovation for our nation."

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Congrats to Lauren and all the authors in this amazing book—just arrived today! @aerastl.bsky.social

This is a picture of the book climate change, education across disciplines K-12: New Jersey and beyond edited by Lauren Madden with a picture of New Jersey on the front.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Current mood, driven by A.I. pollution:

A cover of the book, "The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Birthday" edited to read "The Berenstain Bears and Too Much A.I" Brother Bear has an extra foot and three eyes and Papa Bear has a misplaced eye as well, in the style of AI image errors. I changed the spelling of the Berenstain's name at the bottom—the top is correct— as a nod the possibly of A.I.s encountering a Mandela effect of their own.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Had a sneaking suspicion that Barbara Kingsolver wanted readers to take in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield (which I'd never read—I blame that on being a physics major) before her book Demon Copperhead. Took me a while, but now that I've finished both, I can confirm that doing so was rewarding!

This is the cover of the book Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. It is white with black pencil nature drawings, with the title in red capitals and the author's name in blue. There are two seals at the bottom: one says Oprah's book club 2022 and the other says Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

I like this authentication method for academics: post your ORCID link in your Bluesky bio, then put your Bluesky handle in your Website & Social links section of your ORCID page. Happy for all the new follows out there, but anything that looks like a bot, bigot, or bait is getting blocked.

This is a screenshot of my (Doug Larkin's) ORCID page showing my Bluesky handle in the Websites and social links section.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

I have some new followers, so I thought I'd share 3 things I've made in the science teacher education space that I'm most proud of. First is "Teaching Science in Diverse Classrooms," (2nd edition coming in 2025) which I turned into a free audiobook during COVID: creators.spotify.com/pod/show/dou...

This is a book cover with colorful science icons like a globe, a tree, a microscope, etc on a black background. The title of the book reads: Teaching Science in Diverse Classrooms, Real Science for Real Students.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

@alyankovic.bsky.social I am honored and need to tell my 1982 self about this.

A screenshot of Weird Al Yankovic following me back on Bluesky

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 20/09/2024

When the worst idea in the world greets you at breakfast

A Washington Post news banner that reads: "BREAKING: Microsoft deal would reopen Three Mile Island nuclear plant to power its AI"

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 17/09/2024

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,760,690!

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 16/07/2024

At the #Noyce2024, conference in Washington DC today with some amazing Noyce scholars from Montclair State University!

Professor and two pre-service STEM teachers stand in from of a neon sign that reads, "THE FUTURE OF STEM".

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 13/06/2024

So today the Google AI decided to change the laws of physics by suggesting incorrect units for the constant k in Coulomb's Law.

An AI result from a Google search that incorrectly lists the units of the constant k in Coulomb's Law.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 04/06/2024

Join the AERA Science Teaching & Learning SIG on Zoom June 19th at 7pm EST/4pm PST for a chat with Dr. Daniel Morales-Doyle about his new book, "Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability," from Harvard Ed Press. Register here: montclair.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

This is a flyer with a QR code in the bottom right corner to register for the event.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 22/05/2024

Thanks to Dr. Maria Ong, for a great conversation about her book, "The Double Bind in Physics Education" last night at our @aeraedresearch.bsky.social Science Teaching and Learning SIG book chat!

A photo of Maria Ong next to the cover of her book.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 13/05/2024

At the Prudential Center this morning to celebrate all of the Montclair State University graduates. Congratulations Class of 2024!

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 05/05/2024

Join AERA STL on Zoom May 21st at 7pm EST/4pm PST for a chat with with Dr. Maria Ong about her new book, "The Double Bind in Physics Education: Intersectionality, Equity, and Belonging for Women of Color," from Harvard Education Press. Register here: montclair.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

This is a flyer with the same information as the post. There is an image of the book, the author, and a QR code.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 28/04/2024

Just arrived! Really looking forward to reading Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability by Daniel Morales-Doyle.

Book cover in hand.Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability
by Daniel Morales-Doyle

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 06/04/2024

Join the AERA Science Teaching & Learning SIG on Zoom April 30th at 7pm EST/4pm PST for a chat with with Drs. Allan Feldman, Jawaher Alsultan, Katie Laux, & Molly Nation about their book, "Dialogic Collaborative Action Research in Science Education" Register here: montclair.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 20/03/2024

This was my last year to chair the NARST Early Career Award Committee, and I am delighted with our two winners at #narst24: @drtrmorton.bsky.social and KC Busch. Congratulations to you both!

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 15/02/2024

Looks like they used Midjourney. As of now the article is still up. www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.... I wonder if the internet will be so full of this stuff soon that it will be hard to Google anything. We’ll be back to AOL-like walled gardens before you know it.

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Doug Larkin @douglarkin.bsky.social · 08/02/2024

The Science History Institute is a hidden Gem in Philly. Here today prepping for AERA 2024 in April.

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