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Defining excellence: How I use whole class feedback

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Defining excellence: How I use whole class feedback

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I first encountered whole class feedback several years ago and was instantly captivated. And what's not to love? It promises a significant reduction in workload, no longer spending countless hours huddled over a slow burning lamp with pen in hand (forgive the Dickensian rhetorical flourish) whilst simultaneously, even miraculously, improving student outcome.

I remember the very first time I saw one of the template sheets and was filled with questions, even scepticism: but could it actually work? Don't students need individual comments? How will they know what to work on? How will they improve? But still, the promise alone was enough to try it. I mean if it did work then it would be a game changer, and I don't mean this as a cliche, but genuinely it would forever change how I approached 'marking'.

So, I tried it out. And it worked...ish. It's not that it fell short of its promise, and I could see it really could change everything, but it just didn't quite fit. Since then I've tried countless templates and tweaks and iterations of whole class feedback, some with coded feedback, some retaining marginal annotation, some with none, some with just ticks, some without.

This is a post outlining what, after much deliberation and experimentation, I now use for WCF. My process won't work for everyone just as many previous templates didn't work for me. But, maybe it might offer some ideas because, for me at least, finally, WCF has lived up to its promise.

The Template: How Does It Work?

Here, then, is the template that I use:

You will notice that it is divided into various sections, some likely familiar to those who use WCF and some that might be a little different. Much of this post, will outline how I use each of these sections and how they come together, but first, in brief, here is a short synopsis of each section and how it functions

Task: Simply the title of the task that the students have been set or the title of the esay

Excellence is...: When reading the essays I am especially looking for patterns of excellence across student work, things that students are doing that make their work excellent. This might be, for example, depth of analysis, precision and fluidity of embedded quotation, coherence of argument, use of context to illuminate, and so on. It will likely be anchored to a success criteria that was established and discussed prior to setting the essay. As I explain to my class, this is something some of us are already doing really well, but I want all of us to be doing it.

And it looks like this...: Working on the assumption that it is difficult to be excellent if we don't know what excellence looks like, I provide examples, taken from students and the essays that are being read as part of this feedback cycle, of exactly what excellence looks like. In the actual template and what students receive, this is simply a blank square because, as I'll explain in a moment, I live model this example of excellence in the feedback lesson itself. So, the message I send to students using these two aspects of the template together is: this is what excellence is and here's what it looks like.

Your Next Steps: As I read student essays, and in the traditional manner of WCF, I make a note of patterns of misconception, common errors or areas for development and attach these to a numbered code. Each student has written on their work one of these numbered codes that offers more individual feedback for students to work on. If a student doesn't fit into one of these categories, although most do, then I'll write something more bespoke. These next steps are designed very much in the traditional mode of small, granular and actionable steps that students can take, on the understanding lots of marginal gains compound over time. However, there is another reason for including this section and not something to be overlooked: student motivation. In my various iterations of WCF, I have found that those models that lacked any personalization tended to be met with a certain level of subtle antipathy. The pedagogy might have been sound, but students were simply less inclined to attend to the feedback if they felt, wrongly or rightly, their teacher did not attend to them as individuals. So, this section serves both an instructional function, but also a motivational one. The worst feedback, no matter how good, is the feedback that is ignored.

Our Together Task: This is a task that we all complete together based on whatever I think will have maximum impact across the class and that we all do in lesson. If, for example, I feel we need to work more on our depth of analysis then this task might provide additional opportunity to do just that. It is often also connected to what we previously did in the 'excellence is...and here's what it looks like' section of the feedback lesson. As I say to the class, there is no one who will not benefit from completing this task.

The Feedback Process: From Reading Essays to Handing Them Back

Now that we've explored the design of the template itself and its rationale, here is a step by step process of how all of this breaks down in a single feedback cycle. Imagine, then, I have on my desk a stack of essays, what happens next...?

Step 1: First of all I read the essays with a blank piece of paper next to me. As I'm reading the essays, I'm doing a couple of things:

1) Make very light annotations, mostly of things that I like. This might be as simple as a very short marginal annotation saying 'great point' or 'I agree that Macbeth is...' A couple of things to note though: I do this very sparingly and not on every essay and it mostly serves the kind of motivational impact I mentioned above. It shows students I am attentive to their work which, in my purely anecdotal experience of not doing this, means they are more likely to attend to the subsequent feedback. I think a mistake with WCF is to equate it with making zero personal comments or marginal annotation. But, again, this is very sparing and very quick, if at all.

2) Highlight in blue what I like. Unlike the above, this is something I do with every essay I read. As I'm reading, I have a blue highlighter on my desk and every time I read something that I like then I highlight it in blue. These highlights play a purpose later in the process.

3) I'm also, crucially, collating my impressions on the piece of paper as I go. What misconceptions am I noticing again and again? Are there any patterns of errors? What is going really really well? Is there an aspect of the question that people didn't seem to understand? Are there are specific students who seem to be struggling or excelling? All of this material is eventually going to make its way on the WCF template: this is where I am clarifying and working out the coded next steps, what excellence looks like, and other aspects of the feedback lesson.

Step 2: Type up the WCF template sheet. At this point I have read all essays and have my scribbled down notes on the piece of paper. Now it's time to translate these notes to a form that can be handed out to students. I would have already decided the coded next steps and written the numerical code on the various essays so it's just a matter of typing these up and maybe tweaking the specific wording. I will also type up the 'defining excellence' section (which is usually just a short sentence) but not 'what does it look like' because, as you'll see, this will be done live in the lesson itself. But, I will make a note of the examples I want to go through on a separate piece of paper or even a separate template that will be just for my reference during the lesson. Finally, I decide on the exact wording of the Together Task, if I haven't already, and type that up based on my observations across the class.

At this point, I can print out the template sheets and tag them into student books. I estimate for a whole class of essays all of the above, and so from opening to the first book to completing the feedback, we're looking at about between 40 to 60 minutes. However, this might take a lot less time depending on the nature of the task. I might also complete WCF in the more traditional manner which is effectively just the scribbled notes and not the template and this would take even less time.

The Feedback Process: The Lesson Itself

At this point, we've arrived at the lesson itself, which is quite possibly the next lesson after receiving the essays (such is the benefit of WCF) or perhaps more likely a couple of days later. I hand the books back to the students where they will find:

1. A very lightly annotated essay with various ticks

2. A mark, if relevant

3. A Next Steps numbered code

4. Various blue highlights

5. A tagged in feedback sheet

So, what happens next?

Step 3: As I hand the books back I ask the students to do two things first of all, ignoring all else. First, read their essay back silently and second pay very close attention to the blue highlighter. As I would have explained in a previous lesson, I am asking them to do this for a couple of reasons. I want them to read their essay back because in all likelihood they won't really remember what they wrote and, as I explain, the lesson isn't going to be of much benefit if they can't remember the work I'm offering feedback on. I also suggest they may like, in hindsight, to make any changes or tweaks to their own work at this point. I also want them to pay very close attention to the blue highlighter because this is what they're already doing really well and I want them to keep doing what they're already doing well. So, I explain, I want them to think what exactly is it that they are doing well at that point? What is highlighted in blue and why? A specific word or a sentence? An argument? A point of analysis? Are there any patterns across the things I have highlighted blue? What, I want them to consider, has gone well for them? I give them maybe 10 minutes to do this and they should all be reading, polishing, and thinking carefully about what is blue.

Step 4: At this point, we move into the defining excellence section of the feedback lesson, which I personally consider to be the most important and valuable part of this process. I begin by reiterating, and they would have heard this before, that there are certain things that some of us are doing really, really well already, but I want every single person in the room to aspire to do these things just as well. I explain what I'm about to talk them through are just two things I noticed that I thought were excellent and that I want everyone to work towards because we all can be excellent. I explain, because we're aiming for excellence, we're going to go through this together very carefully and everyone needs to pay attention because I'm going to be looking especially hard in the next essay for everyone to be aiming for these two aspects of excellence. I begin by explaining the first aspect of excellence and what makes it excellent. I then say that I'm going to show you exactly what this looks like using an example from someone in the class. This isn't me, I say, this is word for word one of you and if one person can do it then anyone can. I then write out whatever it is that I copied from a student essay and as I'm doing this I verbalise exactly what makes it excellent. I then pause to ask questions and ask students to copy what I'm doing. This works for a couple of reasons. 1) Like any live modelling, it is making concrete and breaking down what success looks like; 2) I make it clear this isn't me or a teacher but a student and so it is achievable for everyone in a way it might not appear if it's my work; 3) there's a motivational boost to wanting your work to be the one modelled and a really nice moment of pride in having your work praised and commended in front of your friends. We then follow the exact same routine for the second definition of excellence.

Step 5: As I say, for me, the most valuable part of this process is pinpointing two very specific moments of excellence and stripping them back to what students are doing well and what everyone should aim for. However, the 'Your Next Steps', which we look at now, offers a slightly more bespoke and targeted point of feedback. I first of all pick out anything in these next steps that I want to explain in more detail and then ask students to quickly copy down their relevant action step depending on the number they have been allocated. I ask them to do this so that if the feedback sheet is ever lost they still have the feedback. Depending on time and the nature of the next steps, I might ask students to do something with this feedback right now, but I equally may not. If this was the only kind of feedback I was giving then I absolutely would make sure it is a actionable step to complete in the lesson, but given what this part of the process is sandwiched between I don't feel compelled always to do this.

Step 6: Now we arrive at the Together Task, which we all complete right now in the lesson and, as I explain to them, there is no one that will not benefit from doing this. I explain what the task will involve and aim to give them a solid chunk of time to complete it, depending on the task. This is very much the opportunity now for them to implement some of the feedback they have received and to practice or refine something that my reading of the essays determined needed further attention. The task can take many different forms, whether reapplying feedback from the lesson in another similar but different context or extending their thinking around the topic in some way or developing an aspect of their essay writing. When designing this task I will try to make it connect to the Next Steps already identified to provide a way in which to practice those in a different context or to connect to the 'what excellence looks like' aspect of the lesson. This task is very much about bring together some of the different strands of the feedback lesson. This task will then take us up to the end of the lesson.

Here is a copy of a completed template after a lesson which I filled in and worked through under the visualiser:

After the Lesson: What Happens Next?

Of course, as we know, if feedback doesn't change the student then it doesn't hold much use so after the lesson and the next time we produce similar work, I make an effort to be attentive to what we covered in the lesson, especially surrounding the 'what excellence looks like'. I really do want to see how many in the class are now working if not at, then at least closer to, the aspects of excellence we explored in the lesson. This will also feed into future and subsequent lessons so we return to these ideas, with further opportunities for modelling and practice. I'll also make a note of the feedback for the next essay and look for any patterns of misconception with specific students for which it might be best and easiest to intervene.

The point here is the above feedback lesson, both before and after it, becomes part of an iterative cycle: feeding into and out of the lessons I am teaching and the work the students are doing. It is diagnostic and forward looking, for both me and my students. This model of whole class feedback allows us to place emphasis on what really matters by stripping it back to what excellence looks like, next steps, and a task we all do together. It's what I always imagined whole class feedback would be.

And, finally, here is an editable version of the template I use should you wish to adapt it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/irdvmhuzjz3k0dk/AXA%20Feedback%20Sheet%20UPDATED.pptx?dl=0

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Defining Excellence: How I Use Whole Class Feedback

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I first encountered whole class feedback several years ago and was instantly captivated. And what's not to love? It promises a significant reduction in workload, no longer spending countless hours huddled over a slow burning lamp with pen in hand (forgive the Dickensian rhetorical flourish) whilst simultaneously, even miraculously, improving student outcome.

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5 Evidenced Based Papers All Teachers Should Read (Updated)

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5 Evidenced Based Papers All Teachers Should Read (Updated)

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I first wrote this post over two years ago. In the intervening period two updated versions of the papers I included - Great Teaching & Cognitive Load Theory - have been written. I thought it was time to update the post. The title is written as a statement; arguably it should be a question. These would be the 5 key papers I think all teachers - from ITT to Headteachers - should read.

Some of the papers are pretty lengthy so you may wish to just read one at a time and return to this post for the next one, when you are ready. It is best to discuss the papers with others; collaboratively develop your depth of understanding and then work hard at implementing, within the classroom and staff room, until practices are systemic or fluent. The papers could inform a whole series of "evidence based" discussion groups in your school.

None of these papers are particularly new. Arguably, teachers are best working with evidence from researchers that is well established, has stood the test of time and been implemented in various contexts. Working with the latest evidence is fraught with difficulty. Not least, as soon as you have read one paper about the positive impact of a certain intervention, theory or way of working another new paper gives an opposing view. Let the researchers battle it out, produce evidence and counter evidence and argue their way through the fog. Wait until there is a clarity and collectiveness of view before engaging. Most teachers are simply too busy to do otherwise.

It's worth noting how experts in their field are much happier to embrace uncertainty than Twitter is, Professor Robert Coe, when talking about great teaching, said, "We don't know as much about it as we'd like to. We get glimpses at the moon through a cloudy sky - snippets that give insight. We try and bind them together, but we have a precarious grasp of something that is very complicated". Gone is the binary certainty of my Twitter time line and in comes a nuanced deep understanding. We must acknowledge degrees of certainty and uncertainty; it mustn't paralyse us rather enable us to approach any evidence with an understanding of its limitations.

Experts can also bring common sense to suggestions about implementation. My favourite example is in the Dunlosky et al paper where they comment on the "low utility" of highlighting texts as a way of learning. However given the widespread adoption of the process, rather than banning it on pain of death, they suggest, "Future research should be aimed at teaching students how to highlight effectively, given that students are likely to continue to use this popular technique despite its relative ineffectiveness."

Evidence doesn't replace experience; both work alongside each other developing, deepening and enriching each strand of professional life in a symbiotic relationship. The five papers I originally blogged about were used to stimulate discussion at regular senior leadership team meetings, over a period of months. Read them one at a time; come together and chew over what they mean and the implications for implementing. Encourage people to "play" with the ideas before seeking more formal implementation. It's often better to have an organic growth process rather than a full scale imposition.

So here are the five papers:

Great Teaching Toolkit: Evidence Review (2020) by Coe et al (Updated paper)

This would be my starter paper for discussion. It grounds you in what great teaching might be and how teachers can become great or at least much better. This more recent publication from Evidence Based Education (June 2020)is an update of the Coe et al (2014) paper What Makes Great Teaching? The 2020 paper identified "four priorities for teachers who want to help their student learn more":

1. Understand the content they are teaching and how it is learnt

2. Create a supportive environment for learning

3. Manage the classroom to maximise the opportunity to learn

4. Present content, activities and interactions that activate their students' thinking

Great Teaching Toolkit: Evidence Review (2020) by Coe et al

The paper looks at each of these components of great teaching in turn, referencing the work of Sweller et al., Rosenshine & Dunlosky (see below). Each of the four priorities are then broken down into constituent elements. For example, the first priority looks at the need for teachers to have a deep and fluent knowledge of the content they are teaching; know common pupil misconceptions & sticking points; know how to sequence the content and know a variety of activities, explanations and assessments to support pupils' learning. The fourth prioritiy focuses on activating students thinking through the use of: structuring, explaining, questioning, interacting, embedding and activating with references to the original works and examples provided to aid understanding.
Cognitive Load Theory - Sweller
Arguably the most important theory for teachers to know, according to Dylan Wiliam. The paper discusses five components that make up our human cognitive architecture and five compound effects that provide underpinning principles that govern the other simpler Cognitive Load Theory effects. The simpler effects I chose to divide into scaffolding learning effects and presenting information effects (this division is not contained within the paper). The links in this paragraph are to a set of PDFs providing an overview of key aspects of the paper; the images for the PDFs are below.

The paper requires reading, re-reading and considerable thought. As the authors lament, "Our knowledge of many of the characteristics of working memory, long-term memory and the relations between them had been well-established for many decades ... this knowledge has had a limited impact on the field of instructional design with most instructional design recommendations proceeding as though working memory and long-term memory did not exist." There is much that still requires conversion from theory into considered, purposeful and consistent classroom practice.
Principles of Instruction - Rosenshine
This is an interesting and detailed paper. The paper is built around principles rather than specific practices. Each principle has a useful "Research Findings" and "In the Classroom" section. It's one for classroom practitioners. Tom Sherrington has brought it alive in a wonderful little book published by John Catt Ltd.

Improving Students' Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology - Dunlosky et al
The paper provides a review of the ten learning techniques; each one is set out using the same format: a description of the technique and why it is expected to improve student learning; an exploration of its "generalizability" in different contexts; links to any research and any identified issues with implementation. Whilst it is worth reading the whole paper, for busy teachers the high utility techniques - practice testing & distributed practice - are worth reading first. These techniques are a common thread through many of the papers and emphasise the need for pupils to remember not just encounter, many aspects of the curriculum.

Developing Great Teaching - Teacher Development Trust
If we want great teaching and learning in the classroom then we need great professional development in the staff room first and foremost. Too much professional development is quite literally a waste of time. Substantial effective professional development of teachers is a precursor of effective implementation and supporter of significant improvements in pupil outcomes. Eight key elements of effective professional development are explained within this paper.

Five papers can never represent the totality of what is important in the classroom. Much of what is above deals with the technical aspects of teaching. They have been selected because they are arguably more within our control than many other factors which also impact significantly on the great venture that is education. The impact of socio-economic factors, importance of school culture and impact of relationships also require thought and detailed work. They are all part of a greater whole.

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5 Evidenced Based Papers All Teachers Should Read (Updated)

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I first wrote this post over two years ago. In the intervening period two updated versions of the papers I included - Great Teaching & Cognitive Load Theory - have been written. I thought it was time to update the post. The title is written as a statement; arguably it should be a question.

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Building Understanding: supporting students to assemble their own schema.

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Building Understanding: supporting students to assemble their own schema.

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Building Understanding: supporting students to assemble their own schema.

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Recently, as I’ve engaged with numerous curriculum webinars (eg EduGiveUK) and continued working with schools and colleges, observing and discussing teachers’ practice, I’ve been …

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In Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction, he stresses the vital importance of Checking for Understanding. I explore this in some detail in this post: Check for Understanding... why it matters and how to do it. In Volume 1 of Walkthrus we cover the general method, emphasising the need to ask students what they've understood, not if they've understood, engaging two or more of them in short probing dialogues.

However, it always pays to re-read Rosenshine's paper, beyond the headings. In the detail, he suggests several other specific ways that effective teachers were found to check for understanding. Developing this repertoire of methods for different situations, switching between them in planned and spontaneous moments, can make teaching highly responsive, adapting to the feedback students are giving through their responses. This works particularly well in conjunction with Cold Calling, so that all students form stronger habits around focusing their attention, in readiness to share their understanding if and when they're asked.

Here are five ways:

Summarise the story so far:

Whether reading a story or text or giving an explanation of any kind, stop at key moments to ask a student to summarise what they've understood so far. This prevents you from the delusion that it's all somehow just 'going in'. You stop to check! Also, summarising is a good thinking process for the students who are asked.

Ok let's stop there. Yousef, summarise the scene for us. What's been happening?

Right, so that's what the historian's analysis was. Amy, could you summarise the key points of her argument?

So, that's how a valley is formed. Let's try to summarise the main steps? ...Jenny, have a go.

Repeat instructions

This seems so obvious but it's not absolutely routine for everyone and it makes a big difference - saving time compared to having to interrupt and redirect confused students later on. Whenever you've given instructions for a task, an activity, some homework.... get a couple of people to repeat them back to you to check that they understood the details:

So, that's the homework everyone. Robert, let me check.. what do you think I've asked everyone to do?

Before you all get going, Taylor, run through the procedure for me. What do you have to do?.

Agree or disagree

This has two useful applications. One is to help students to form their own opinions - allowing them scope to agree or disagree. The other is as a way to secure attention when other students are talking - a soft check for listening and engagement as well as for understanding. Embedded in this is the follow-on 'and why?' Students should give their reasons.

Michael has made a really interesting point there..... Samantha, do you agree or disagree with him? (She has to have been listening to answer). Ok. Why do you think that?

Looking at those statements, I would say two are true and one is false.... Do you agree or disagree.... Ashley? And why is that?

Think aloud as you plan

This takes time to embed as a normal routine - because students are largely used to thinking privately - in the hidden way we all do. Promoting metacognitive talk is a powerful approach in general and normalising 'thinking aloud' can help to explore students' thought processes as they work out how they'll approach a task. It's a great check for understanding:

Let's look at the problem. It's not a simple one-step process. Aleisha, talk it through for me. How would you go about solving it?

Before we crack on with the composition, let's plan what we're going to do. ...OK, Toni, let's hear your thoughts. Talk through your ideas for the piece and how you'll organise them.

Explain or defend your position

When student express opinions or give an analysis, it's helpful to check that they understand the underlying concepts rather than having learned stock responses without a supporting schema. So, when students make an initial response, probe further, asking them to explain key points or to defend their position, perhaps with a counterargument as a reference:

Most of you have selected answer A. Joseph, why did you pick A? Why not B?

Interesting Anwar. The rate is increasing more gradually but why would that be?

35%? Are you sure Michael?

That's one way to say it Daisy but is it the best way?

Here's 10 minute Kitchen Pedagogy video exploring these ideas...

David Goodwin's superb one-page summary of this post is here. Download it below.

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Five Ways. A series of short posts summarising some everyday classroom practices. In Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction, he stresses the vital importance of Checking for Understanding. I explore this in some detail in this post: Check for Understanding... why it matters and how to do it.

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In order to learn new conceptual ideas and new skills, we need to focus our attention -our conscious thinking - on the material we're trying to learn. There's a place for some intentional 'attention-grabbing' - something that breaks the rhythm of an exchange; something that's a bit 'whizz bang' - but this kind of episodic attention might not always lead to the conceptual learning we're seeking and certainly can't be sustained. There's also the hope that the material is simply intrinsically interesting - the book, the story, the lecture, the maths exercise... we might want to imagine students will sustain attention just to continue the sheer joy of the learning. But we all know that even in very interesting films, books and lectures, our attention can drift. We're human. And of course the students with the least prior knowledge and weakest powers of self-regulation will drift fastest.

In reality, in most cases, attention that is sustained takes effort; it requires motivation - it's not something we can just take for granted - from ourselves, let alone our students. Given how many things are competing for mental attention at any one time and how hidden all this is to anyone else, teachers need to think about how to secure students' attention in planned ways - rather than just assuming that students are paying attention because of their externally visible behaviours. We're not just talking about removing distractions and getting students 'looking and listening' in a performative sense; we want them to focus their mental attention on the learning in hand.

To give an example, compare these scenarios:

A teacher asks a class 'can anyone list the last 6 US Presidents in order? ' - a typical question prompt for that teacher. Making the list seems effortful to Leon even though he has the knowledge stored somewhere and, short term, he has no immediate incentive to engage in the task, exploring his schema, making the effort because he can just wait to see if someone else gives the answer; they usually do. That's the norm. Even if he's making eye contact with the teacher, he might not be focusing his attention on his knowledge of US Presidents as we waits for the big reveal. He can opt out and wait - so he does.

However, by contrast if the teacher said 'Ok, everyone, write down the names of the last 6 US Presidents' and began to circulate, or said 'Ok, be ready to list the last 6 presidents, I'll be cold calling' - then Leon has an incentive. He could be asked to answer; he needs to show he is producing the visible list on his whiteboard. This incentive helps him to marshall the mental resources needed; he focuses his attention more or less without hesitation because this is the norm. He knows the names, makes the effort to retrieve and organise them and produces the list.

The example is obviously contrived- it might not be a very useful list to make! But the point applies to us all the time. Securing and sustaining attention requires creating short term incentives for students to prioritise their use of energy and conscious thinking 'space' around the material we want them to learn - ideally without it being a big decision; it's just expected, normalised, routine, everyday.

Here are five ways:

Short-loop Generative Learning Tasks

A generative task requires students to select and organise information, engaging with new knowledge using their prior knowledge, thereby integrating it into a deeper schema. This could be to :

organise information into a sequence

summarise a story

explain a concept to someone using the key vocabulary

create a structured mind map -with four key categories.

To be truly generative, the students have to do these things mainly on their own, using their own knowledge - not borrowing from others. The short-loop is about the task being quick enough to do and then check a) that it's been done by everyone and b) that it is as valid or accurate as the material requires, without the class diverging too much. The motivation then comes from knowing it will be checked or simply the norm-nudging effect that everyone else is also doing it. But a good task is one you can't do without thinking using your prior knowledge and focusing your attention. That's the key.

Questioning with accountability

This is one of main goals of a good repertoire of questioning techniques: to create a culture where students' default to expecting to answer all the questions, thinking for themselves. Attention is secured by students knowing that they could be asked a question about what is happening - more or less at any time. It's not a massive spot-lit gotcha; it's just a normal everyday expectation.

Cold calling: Ask.... pause for thinking.... then select a student. eg Read the first stanza of the poem. What's the metaphor in the first stanza?..... pause for thinking........ Alice? Alice expects to be asked; she focuses her attention. Do you agree? What else could she have said? .... pause for thinking. ...... Abdi, what do you think? Abdi sustains his attention on the poem and also subsequent responses.

Pair Share: After the pairs conclude their discussion...... Ok, what were the three main conclusions you came up with? ..Michael, let's hear yours. Michael knew he could be asked even as he listened to Yasmin, his talk partner; he'd sustained his attention on the short discussion with Yasmin in case he was asked.

Listening with accountability

During class discussions and Q&A exchanges, students who do not feel involved can drift off. Similarly, during an extended explanation, demonstration or text reading, students can lose attention. Accountability for listening is reinforced by punctuating these inputs with checks. These in turn sustain attention:
Stop and Check for Understanding:

Ok everyone, what just happened to the indicator solution? ..Jordan?

So, what's the key message Orwell is giving us there... Xavier?

Track the speaker: Great point Melissa. So, Rohan, what was Melissa's main argument? Jamil, do you agree with Rohan? The expectation is that students follow the discussion, not just focus on their own view of things. Creating cross-class accountability for listening is a means of sustaining attention to what is being discussed a useful check for understanding.

Track the board: So if angle is 72 and x is the unknown angle , what's the theorem we need to use to find it? Comparing these quotes, what's the key difference between version and version? The expectation is that students track the board - or the visualiser screen. They are following you as you navigate your diagrams and examples....focusing their attention so they know what and that refer to, again anticipating a possible cold call question.

Prediction

This harnesses the power of narrative structures where we naturally run ahead to imagine future story arcs and possible outcomes. These hooks are useful for securing attention in any exposition or story-telling scenario:

So, if I double the value of x, what's going to happen to the graph? ... Siobhan? Shall we see if you're right...

Oooh, interesting! It's getting tense now isn't it. What do you think will happen to the rabbit next? ... Suzie? Robert? Let's turn the page...

If we reverse the polarity on the terminals, what will happen to the way the motor behaves? ..James? Ok. Test it and see if you're right.

Make it personal

If you can tap into students' personal investment in a set of ideas, it helps them to filter out distractions and sustain attention. This can be linked to their emotional connection to the ideas or their concrete experience which helps provide a more secure foundation for the learning. This can be done with both physical and real-life experiences and imagined experiences.

The aesthetic question: In MARGE, Shimamura suggests that the 'aesthetic question' is powerful for motivating learning; ' What do you think? How does it make you feel? Why is it good? As he explains: " The aesthetic question engages emotional brain circuits and forces us to attend to and organize our knowledge."

Make it theirs: Give students some ownership - something tangible so they're invested in the discussions:

handling materials when discussing their properties - Kyra, how does the ice feel in your hand?

looking at our bean plants, Sacha, what can you see happening to the roots of yours?

reading part of a text that has been allocated to a student - James, let's hear your extract - how does it connect to Toni's?

Put them in the centre of things: sustain attention by placing real or hypothetical decisions in students' hands so that they feel invested:

if you were responsible, which combination of flood defences would you prioritise?

if you were making that case for women's suffrage at the time, what would your main argument have been?

put yourself in that situation, how would the evidence look to you?

choose from these options - which phrase makes the most dramatic opening to our story?

you're the judge Simon, which of those explanations is the most accurate?

would you choose the short-term savings this year or the savings over a 10 year life cycle?

Here's David Goodwins' one-page summary:

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Five Ways. A series of short posts summarising some everyday classroom practices. In order to learn new conceptual ideas and new skills, we need to focus our attention -our conscious thinking - on the material we're trying to learn. There's a place for some intentional 'attention-grabbing' - something that breaks the rhythm of an exchange;...

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There are lots of situations in teaching where teachers enjoy extending and enriching their repertoire and succeed in engaging a proportion of a class quite successfully. However, all too often these teaching modes can feel rewarding to do but still allow some students to fall behind, not to participate, to disengage or to rely very heavily on the work of others. Some of the methods teachers are using in these situations are not in themselves inherently poor strategies - it's just that insufficient attention is given to the possibility that some students will not be learning whilst the others are and the necessary safety nets are not in place. The buzz and dazzle created from the responses of a few students - or even most students - can mask the slow drifting and falling back of the students with the least confidence and knowledge.

As a general rule, strategies firmly geared towards teaching to the top or focused on high challenge open-endedness, are most prone to running this risk. Teachers very often enjoy and celebrate these strategies - they certainly benefit the most successful students, helping them to extend and deepen their knowledge - but they risk leaving the least confident students behind, opted out and/or confused. Unless we do something about it! Rather than getting into a debate about whether these things are 'good or bad' ideas - what I'm saying is this: Don't do them unless you do them incredibly well and do all you can, intentionally, to make sure you are enriching the learning for everyone, not the few.

Here are five scenarios: (chosen from those I see frequently on school and college visits).

Organic, tutorial-style discussions

I see this a lot - I've done it myself: The teacher, proudly armed only with a pen and their whiteboard (the modern day chalk and talk), regales the class with their wisdom and engages in a conversational exchange with the class, making some spontaneous notes as they go .. perhaps pausing to sit on a desk, getting into some deep exchanges of ideas; students chipping in freely. It's all very Dead Poets Society; the messy board of 'fabulous insights' testament to the depth of thinking.

Reality Check: Some students aren't contributing; they don't get it; the board is confusing, a mess of ideas and words they only half grasp and couldn't produce themselves; they're feeling a bit stupid because 'everyone else' seems to get it and they don't when actually it's only half the class who were really involved and could follow the line of reasoning.

Solution: The main thing is to be supremely conscious that the dynamic exchange is largely only really great for the people actively involved. Nearly everyone else will need extensive recapping, summarising at key points, checking for understanding, a chance to frame a response without needing to compete for air time, some order brought to the messy board. The tutorial style might be a great way to flush out ideas - but then you have to run through it all with the least confident students in mind: simplify, summarise, generally spell things out, consolidate and practise.

Group Tasks

There's something wonderfully human about people enjoying working together and it's natural for teachers to value collaborative structures in the classroom. Whenever I do teacher CPD I'm struck by the strong tendency people have towards wanting to share and talk things through with their neighbours. However, whether we are talking about the benefits of Think Pair Share or larger and more sophisticated groups and group tasks, we need to be very clear about the pitfalls. Mainly it's that, without proper attention to roles, structures and group dynamics, some students can be in a group and learn almost nothing - because other people dominate the talk and the tasks and do all the thinking.

Before you cry 'but of course', all I can say is that I regularly witness group tasks without the safeguards in place, where students don't learn much despite seeming to participate. The simplest ways to engineer and maintain group dynamics that ensure maximum learning for each individual are:

to state in advance that you will select a person to represent the group at the end of the task; they will not know in advance. This means that the group has to make sure everyone in it is prepared to represent them - stimulating lots of sharing and practising

to ensure that the team only succeeds when each individual has completed a task - not when the first person finished, but the last person. This again motivates students to support each other in making sure everyone is learning.

to ensure that the task has sub-tasks that are allocated to specific individuals so the group cannot succeed unless each person completes their part of the task.

keep the group size as small as possible. Even pairs need structure but threes or more need much more careful planning.

If you're not prepared to put one or more of these elements in place, stick to students working individually.

High Challenge Problem-solving

I've met many teachers who wrestle with this. Their class contains high performing students ready for challenging problems where they need to spot patterns, link ideas and suggest conclusions unprompted. However they also have students in the same class who still need practice with basic ideas, who flounder with difficult problems, typically giving up or just waiting for the answers to be given - as they invariably are in the end. The teacher's dilemma is that you can't simultaneously tell students the answers and not tell them the answers. If you're committed to teaching to the top, you don't want to soften the difficulty for everyone because of a few students who'll struggle; at the same time you know it's no good for less confident students to struggle for any length of time- they need to build confidence, not have it knocked further back.

One solution is to create tiered sets of problems and tasks that have in-built incremental levels of challenge. This means that all students can find a level to work at that is challenging for them - within a task that feels shared by all. This isn't about different learning intentions - it's about structuring levels of challenge and scaffolding within one set of learning intentions.

Another way to think of it is captured in our walkthru Thresholds and Pathways. The idea is that everyone needs to aim to reach a threshold level of competence before being set off on a more independent, more challenging path. Some students' focus in on reaching that threshold; for others, that might be more readily achievable so they're off exploring different pathways. If you stop to regroup and share experiences, that can keep people together, more or less - but nobody is held back and nobody is being rushed on, within the same task flow .

Student-led inputs

I'm a major fan of getting students to lead parts of lessons - I've written extensively about this in the past: Pedagogy Postcard #15: Co-construction teams: Sidekicks. However, even though the idea of students teaching concepts to others is well-evidenced within the framework generative learning, it needs to be managed so that everyone benefits. If the benefits are all to the person giving the presentation or instructional input, then it's no good for the others - the majority - who are on the receiving end. How do we make these things work for everyone?

Build in checking for understanding as part of the process: the teacher and the presenting students should ask the other students questions about what they've understood.

Build in tasks for all students to complete as part of the student-led input - this ensures they have to think and engage with material whether presented by a peer or their teacher, showing their understanding. It's not just a case of taking turns to present at each other - each presentation should be interactive and focused on the audience's understanding as much as the presenters' experience of presenting.

Make sure everyone has a turn presenting something over time - but not all in one lesson. It's better to have a few students leading some learning in any one lesson sequence - so that the quality can be managed and maintained at a high level. (Few lessons are worse than those that involve sitting through 7,8,9,10 presentations one after the other. )

Open-ended Tasks

There are lots of benefits to setting occasional open-response tasks. It's one of the six things I include in this post: Six Things That Made My Teaching Better - for me and my students and feature in this post: Pedagogy Postcard #10: Personal Projects and here: Signposting the hinterland: practical ways to enrich your core curriculum. The main value is that it creates an opportunity for students to bring a range of responses into the classroom - spanning multiple perspectives on the curriculum content and choices of media for sharing them, supplementing the mainstay of instructional teaching and teacher-set homework. Many of the best bits of work I've ever seen students produce arrived through this mechanism. But.... done poorly, you can end up with a few nuggets of gold and a large wash of mediocrity and some utter dross. Not everyone benefits automatically. How do we make sure everyone is learning and benefitting from this approach?

Make it occasional enough so that you give time to preparing the ground and making a big deal of it - but not so occasional that you can't pass the learning from one experience onto the next -eg once a term, not once a year.

Show examples - creating them if needed, in advance. Discuss the features of what an excellent outcome might include and what a mediocre, disappointing outcome might look like, using real examples. Set some specific criteria, particularly for students who might find it more difficult.

Provide scaffolds for those who need it. This might include helping them choose a topic or product-type; it might include something similar to the guidance I produced in this generic universal project guide.

Provide all the resources students need and/or explore ideas for responses that are low-tech, free and can be produced with standard school materials and IT facilities.

For sure, you don't ensure all students learn from an open-ended response task by deeming them too deprived to be given the opportunity to try doing one! That's just way too patronising in my book.

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Five Ways To: Enrich learning for everyone, not the few.

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There are lots of situations in teaching where teachers enjoy extending and enriching their repertoire and succeed in engaging a proportion of a class quite successfully. However, all too often these teaching modes can feel rewarding to do but still allow some students to fall behind, not to participate, to disengage or to rely very...

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EEF Guidance report - Teacher Feedback to Improve Pupils Learning

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EEF Guidance report - Teacher Feedback to Improve Pupils Learning

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all school leaders understand the importance of providing meaningful feedback. done well

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and thereby closing the gap between where a pupil is and where the teacher wants them to be.  however

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not all feedback has positive effects. done badly

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feedback can even harm progress. nor is feedback ‘free’. large amounts of time are spent providing pupils with feedback

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perhaps not always productively.  historically

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much consideration has been given to the methods by which feedback is delivered. specifically

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or should it be verbal? this guidance report aims to move beyond this and focus on what really matters: the principles of good feedback rather than the written or verbal methods of feedback delivery.  the guidance report is based on the best available international evidence

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in addition to a review of current practice

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and refined through consultation with teachers and other experts.

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Teacher Feedback to Improve Pupil Learning

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Six recommendations for using teacher feedback to improve pupil learning

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high quality lessons expectations with sway links

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JTHS moving to excellence, teacher reflection v2

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Private German Tutor, Online French Teacher Qualified EFL Tutor

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I love language lessons which involve an element of reading. This is because there are so many opportunities for learning and improving language acquisition with topic-related texts. Reading activities are the perfect starting point to learn rich topic-related vocabulary (adjectives, nouns, verbs etc), pick up new grammar structures, steal 'star phrases' and ultimately improve comprehension and improve language acquisition skills.

According to Moeller & Meyer (1995), reading, even at a slow pace exposes students to more sentences, grammar, and new vocabulary per minute than the average short class, TV show, or song. So, if you are in a rut with how you present and teach your reading activities, get an innovative injection of pre-reading activities and post-reading activities below.

Who Should Use These Awesome Reading Activities?

All of these reading ideas for the language classroom are low-prep and no-prep reading activities. Use them in any post-beginner language classroom, including French, German, English and Spanish lessons.

The aim of these 21 must-use reading activities is to get your language students focused and in the mood for learning. However, as the teacher, you will need to be in charge of providing a great text, to bring the reading ideas below to life. This could range from one paragraph for beginners, to a few chunky paragraphs for intermediate learners, to an extended text for advanced students.

Pre-Reading Activities

1. "Find The Word" Reading Aloud Activity (Pair Work)
Put students in pairs and provide them with one copy of a text. Have a secret list of words at the ready and call them out, at random, one at a time. Allow time for students to scan the text for the word they hear. The first person in the pair to point correctly at the word in the text gets a point. Make sure you set sound level rules, as well as clear guidance on how the class should be silent ready for the next round.

2. "Reading Aloud" Task (Pair Work / Small Group Work)
Provide students with a 'chunky' text split into paragraphs. Advise that each student in the pair/group must read one paragraph aloud. If the person has an issue pronouncing a word, he/she must circle it and if they come across a word they don't understand, they must underline it. Allow students to discuss their problem areas in pairs and then in fours. Go around making a note of the common issues and write on the board with whole group choral work and discussion at the end.

3. "Team Reading Aloud" - Pronunciation Reading (Whole Group)
Split the classroom in two and assign all students in each team a number and repeat (using the same numbers) with the other team. Provide students with a 'chunky' text for reading and set each team off with 20 points. The aim of the activity is to be the team to finish with the most points after the text has been read. Flip a coin to see which team begins. Randomly choose a number and that student must begin reading. If the other team spots a pronunciation error, as the student is reading, a member of the team must put their hand up. If all others in the team agree, everyone's hand must go up - this should keep everyone focused. If they spot a genuine pronunciation error, they can help the reader make the correction receive a point (provide support if their 'help' isn't quite accurate). However, if the whole team has made a mistake and picked a word that was correctly pronounced, they will lose a point and the other team will gain a point. Each time an error in pronunciation is correctly spotted, swap the reading team. Deduct points for talking or misbehaviour.

4. "Avoid The Line" - Reading Aloud Activity (Pair / Small Groups) When you prepare a text, underline words at random. Students start with 5 points. Each student must read 5 words at a time, but must avoid actually saying any words that have been underlined. Should they read the underlined word by accident, they lose a point. Students with with the most points at the end of the reading activity win.

5. "Bratwurst" Name" - Reading Out Aloud Activity (Small Groups) One student begins and after a pre-determined number of words or sentences, they shout "Bratwurst / Pain au chocolat / Churros" (etc, depending on the language you teach) plus the name of someone in the group i.e. Bratwurst Laura. This person must then continue where the other reader left off. Award points at the beginning and if someone loses focus and doesn't know where the previous reader was, they lose a point.

6. Teacher Names - Reading Activity Out Aloud (Whole Group)
Split the class in two and assign 5 points to each team. Then, model pronunciation of the text by reading it out aloud. At random intervals, instead of reading the next word, call out a student's name and that student must read the word that their name was replaced by. If the chosen student doesn't respond without being prompted within 5 seconds of stopping, the team loses a point. Perfect for getting students to focus on reading activities, as well as getting them to pronounce the words you think they might find tricky or could do with knowing. In addition, you could get students to create a list of vocabulary replaced by students names and translate/make sentences with, as a post-reading activity.

7. "Wie bitte?" - Reading Aloud Activity (Small Groups)
Put students into threes, taking it in turns to read a sentence. As they read, a student must make a mistake, on purpose. This could include: wrong words, incorrect genders, wrong pronunciation, incorrect verb ending etc. When a listener hears a mistake, they must say 'Wie bitte?' 'oh la la' or 'Oye', depending on the language you teach. If they can correct the mistake, they win a point and if they can't correct the error, the reader gets a point. This can also be done as a whole group with students standing up when you make a mistake. The last one to stand up is 'out'. However, make sure you give students who are out a little task to do until the end of the game.

8. Spontaneous Reading Activity (Whole Group)
One student starts reading at random and can read a maximum of one sentence. As soon as they end their sentence, another student must begin reading. If no-one starts within a second, or more than one person starts reading, the whole group must go back to the beginning. Starting with another student reading the first sentence. You can vary this by getting learners to translate the text as they read the sentence or change the person (thus the verbs and possessive adjectives etc). Keep going back to the beginning until the reading out aloud activity has been completed as per the rules.

9. Find .... - Skim Reading Activity (Alone)
As soon as you give students a reading text, provide them with a list of words in L1 (native language) to find in L2 (language being learnt) in the text. This could be all masculine nouns, all verbs, all adjectives, all words beginning with 'a'. They could either highlight the words in the text or underline the words.

10. Find the Synonym - Skim Reading Activity (Individual)
As with reading activity 10, give students a reading text and provide them with a list of words in L2. They must find and note down the synonyms they find in the text.

11. Be A Presenter - Reading Aloud (Pairs)
Have iPads or laptops available, enough for one between two. Have students paste a copy of your text into cue prompter with one student sitting with their back to the laptop and the other person reading aloud. The presenter must read clearly with accurate pronunciation and the listener must fill in the gaps on their sheet as they are listening with the words they hear. They may not ask the presenter to spell any word. Instead, if they have gaps at the end, the presenter must re-read (the whole lot or just the sentence, depending on how you're feeling on the day).

12. Running Dictation Speaking Reading Activity (Small Groups)
This works better with shorter texts or splitting a whole text into paragraphs, which each team is responsible for. Put enough copies of the texts up outside the classroom with a number on each. Assign each team a number. Advise the aim is for students to be the first team to communicate the text from their corresponding paragraph outside the classroom, without cheating. Students must take it in turns to read a sentence in sequence from their paragraph, and be the first team to finish communicating and writing the paragraph down on a sheet of paper.
RULES: a) only one student can be out of their seat at a time, b) students must not run or shout, c) students must also take it in turns to write the sentences on the paper, d) learners are not allowed to spell any words, but they are allowed to go back as many times as they need to to re-read the sentence, e) the rest of the group must work as a team to ensure the words are spelled accurately and the grammar is also correct.

13. Wrong Words Reading Activity (Individual)
The teacher provides students with a copy of the text with a selection of incorrect words. As they listen to the text being read, they must highlight the word they hear that is incorrect. Go through a second time, and this time, the students must write in the correct words. This will give the students an idea of the text before they do any comprehension activities.

14. Key Word Bingo - Vocabulary Based Reading Activity (Individual)
From the text, read 5-20 words (dependent on text length) at random in L2. Students must cross them off as they hear them.

Post-Reading Activities

1. Summarise The Text - Post Reading Activity (Individual)
Once students have read the text, advise that they must underline the key messages, depending on the size of the text. I recommend advising a maximum number. Students must then combine and re-word these ideas to summarise the whole text in a set number of words.

2. Walking Text - Reading Comprehension Activity (Individual)
Instead of getting students to read the texts in their seats, print out a few copies. Ensure the text is enlarged and in paragraphs with line numbers. Then, chop them up with numbers, indicating the paragraph number on each and stick them around the room. I recommend doing a few copies to ensure that no more than 2 students are at one paragraph of text at a time. Give them some pre-printed comprehension questions to answer as they go around. You can support learners who need it with an indication of the paragraph number, correlating to the question, written on their sheet.

Want these ideas in a handy downloadable format? Download my 21 must-use reading activities for all language classrooms PDF here:

Did you enjoy this reading activities for the language classroom post? If so, be sure to check out these posts to improve language acquisition here too:
Fun Games for the MFL Classroom
Spontaneous Speaking with Video Clips in the Language Classroom
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21 Must-Use Reading Activities For Your Language Lessons

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I love language lessons which involve an element of reading. This is because there are so many opportunities for learning and improving language acquisition with topic-related texts. Reading activities are the perfect starting point to learn rich topic-related vocabulary (adjectives, nouns, verbs etc), pick up new grammar structures, steal 'star phrases' and ultimately improve comprehension and improve language acquisition skills.

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Using Prequestions to boost memory and cognition when teaching using videos 

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Using Prequestions to boost memory and cognition when teaching using videos 

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By Christian Jarrett

The "testing effect" is well-established in psychology: this is the finding that answering questions about what you've learned leads to better retention than simply studying the material for longer. Testing is beneficial because the act of recall entrenches learned material in our memories, and when we can't answer, this helps us make our future revision more targeted. Less well-known and less well-understood is the effect of "prequestions": questions pertaining to upcoming information that you attempt to answer before you've started learning that information. A new study in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition suggests that answering prequestions may be a simple and effective way to boost your learning from videos and perhaps short lectures too.

Shana Carpenter and Alexander Toftness asked 85 students to watch a short video about the history of Easter Island. The video was split into three segments each of about two minutes length, and before each segment, half the students attempted to answer two prequestions that pertained to the upcoming video content, such as "How many families originally settled on the island of Rapa Nui?" (the students nearly always failed to answer the prequestions correctly and no feedback was given). The other students acted as controls and simply pressed a space bar to continue on to each new video segment.

After the entire video was over, all the students answered the same 12 questions about the history of Easter Island as told in the video. For the prequestion group, 6 of these questions were the prequestions they'd attempted to answer earlier, the other 6 questions were new and about different information. For the control group, this was the first time they'd encountered any of the questions.

In this post-video test, the prequestion group outperformed the control group, not only in correctly answering more of what had been the prequestions, but also by correctly answering more of the 6 new questions, the ones that they hadn't seen before.

The researchers think prequestions probably have this benefit because they act as an "orienting device", directing viewers to look out for specific information, and perhaps also because they reduce viewers' complacency and overconfidence in their knowledge, thus motivating them to pay more attention.

These new findings add to previous research that's looked at the benefits of prequestions on learning from text, with mixed results. Some past studies have suggested that while prequestions can help the learning of the information targeted by the prequestions, they do so at the expense of other information in the text - perhaps because readers skip through the text to find the answers to the prequestions. However, when readers are encouraged to pay attention to all the reading material (for example, by asking them to rate the comprehensibility of each paragraph), then prequestions have been shown to be beneficial without cost.

Carpenter and Toftness think prequestions may be especially suited to helping learning from videos because it's not easy for viewers to skip mentally through the video material to find the answers to the prequestions; instead they end up paying more attention to the entire video than they would have done without the prequestions. A similar benefit may occur for short lectures, though perhaps not for longer, complex lectures; the limited evidence on this to date suggests that when the gap between prequestions and to-be-learned material is too great, the benefits may disappear.

We need more research to pin down when and why prequestions are likely to be helpful, and how long the benefits might last, and also when they could have costs. Of course another issue from the learner's perspective is that you ideally need someone to compose some suitable prequestions.

On the popular TED-Ed educational video site, all the videos (including this one I prepared earlier on the psychology of ownership) come with a set of complementary questions to answer after you've finished watching. These new results on the benefits of prequestions suggest that perhaps you should try answering the questions before you watch the videos, as well as afterwards. Or maybe if TED-Ed hear about this research, they will soon introduce both pre- and post-video questions.

- The Effect of Prequestions on Learning from Video Presentations

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Here's a simple way to boost your learning from videos: the "prequestion"

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By Christian Jarrett The "testing effect" is well-established in psychology: this is the finding that answering questions about what you've learned leads to better retention than simply studying the material for longer. Testing is beneficial because the act of recall entrenches learned material in our memories, and when we can't answer, this helps us make our future revision more targeted.

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Using Prequestions to boost memory and cognition when teaching using videos 

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Using Prequestions to boost memory and cognition when teaching using videos 

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By Christian Jarrett

The "testing effect" is well-established in psychology: this is the finding that answering questions about what you've learned leads to better retention than simply studying the material for longer. Testing is beneficial because the act of recall entrenches learned material in our memories, and when we can't answer, this helps us make our future revision more targeted. Less well-known and less well-understood is the effect of "prequestions": questions pertaining to upcoming information that you attempt to answer before you've started learning that information. A new study in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition suggests that answering prequestions may be a simple and effective way to boost your learning from videos and perhaps short lectures too.

Shana Carpenter and Alexander Toftness asked 85 students to watch a short video about the history of Easter Island. The video was split into three segments each of about two minutes length, and before each segment, half the students attempted to answer two prequestions that pertained to the upcoming video content, such as "How many families originally settled on the island of Rapa Nui?" (the students nearly always failed to answer the prequestions correctly and no feedback was given). The other students acted as controls and simply pressed a space bar to continue on to each new video segment.

After the entire video was over, all the students answered the same 12 questions about the history of Easter Island as told in the video. For the prequestion group, 6 of these questions were the prequestions they'd attempted to answer earlier, the other 6 questions were new and about different information. For the control group, this was the first time they'd encountered any of the questions.

In this post-video test, the prequestion group outperformed the control group, not only in correctly answering more of what had been the prequestions, but also by correctly answering more of the 6 new questions, the ones that they hadn't seen before.

The researchers think prequestions probably have this benefit because they act as an "orienting device", directing viewers to look out for specific information, and perhaps also because they reduce viewers' complacency and overconfidence in their knowledge, thus motivating them to pay more attention.

These new findings add to previous research that's looked at the benefits of prequestions on learning from text, with mixed results. Some past studies have suggested that while prequestions can help the learning of the information targeted by the prequestions, they do so at the expense of other information in the text - perhaps because readers skip through the text to find the answers to the prequestions. However, when readers are encouraged to pay attention to all the reading material (for example, by asking them to rate the comprehensibility of each paragraph), then prequestions have been shown to be beneficial without cost.

Carpenter and Toftness think prequestions may be especially suited to helping learning from videos because it's not easy for viewers to skip mentally through the video material to find the answers to the prequestions; instead they end up paying more attention to the entire video than they would have done without the prequestions. A similar benefit may occur for short lectures, though perhaps not for longer, complex lectures; the limited evidence on this to date suggests that when the gap between prequestions and to-be-learned material is too great, the benefits may disappear.

We need more research to pin down when and why prequestions are likely to be helpful, and how long the benefits might last, and also when they could have costs. Of course another issue from the learner's perspective is that you ideally need someone to compose some suitable prequestions.

On the popular TED-Ed educational video site, all the videos (including this one I prepared earlier on the psychology of ownership) come with a set of complementary questions to answer after you've finished watching. These new results on the benefits of prequestions suggest that perhaps you should try answering the questions before you watch the videos, as well as afterwards. Or maybe if TED-Ed hear about this research, they will soon introduce both pre- and post-video questions.

- The Effect of Prequestions on Learning from Video Presentations

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Here's a simple way to boost your learning from videos: the "prequestion"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Christian Jarrett The "testing effect" is well-established in psychology: this is the finding that answering questions about what you've learned leads to better retention than simply studying the material for longer. Testing is beneficial because the act of recall entrenches learned material in our memories, and when we can't answer, this helps us make our future revision more targeted.

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Use your phone as a visualiser in class to model thinking, planning, structures and processes.

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Interleaving refers to the benefits of sequencing learning tasks so that similar items - two examples of the same concept, say - are interspersed with different types of items rather than being consecutive. This results in a more variable and challenging task but is associated with benefits in terms of memory and transfer, which apply to concept learning as well as other domains (Kang, 2016).

Interleaving tends to be contrasted with classroom tasks that are scheduled in blocks of similar items, with the latter termed a 'blocked' arrangement. For example, in Figure 1, item 'A' is interleaved with items 'B' and 'C'.

Interleaving versus spacing

Interleaving can also be distinguished from a much better known memory phenomenon: the spacing effect. The latter refers to the benefit of incorporating time delays between learning and practice, leading to improved performance over educationally relevant time periods (Cepeda et al., 2008), compared to 'massed' items, where practice sessions occur close together. An interleaved presentation of material is inevitably spaced to some extent, given that sequencing items so that they are non-consecutive leads to a time delay between one example and the next. For example, in Figure 1, above, there are larger gaps between the instances of item A in the interleaving sequence than in the blocked sequence. However, a key difference between the two effects is that when items are spaced, the gaps between learning and practice needn't include related material.

Indeed, the benefits of interleaving seem to depend on the mixing of related items, such as examples from similar categories. This may be because such scheduling puts different items side by side, improving the perception of differences between them (Kornell and Bjork, 2008). This is known as the discriminative-contrast hypothesis, and is supported by research into interleaving of unrelated categories. One such study (Hausman and Kornell, 2014) interleaved anatomy terms with Indonesian vocabulary and found no benefit. Additionally, interleaving seems to be especially effective when differences between items are subtle (Carvalho and Goldstone, 2014).

To avoid confounding interleaving and spacing, a number of studies have used filler activities to increase the spacing of blocked items, meaning that spacing remains the same in both conditions (see Figure 2).

In one such study, Birnbaum et al. (Birnbaum et al., 2013) presented images of types of butterfly, either in groups with four different pictures of the same species (blocked) or four pictures of different species (interleaved). Participants were later tested on novel examples, and identified them more accurately following the interleaved study. However, this benefit disappeared if the two types of presentation (blocked versus interleaved) both had their temporal spacing increased, due to this interfering with discriminative contrast (see Figure 3).

Educational implications

Both interleaving and spacing are what Bjork and Bjork (Bjork and Bjork, 2011) term 'desirable difficulties', i.e. strategies that make learning more difficult, but in a way that is beneficial. They are both widely recommended among those who aim to apply cognitive psychology to education, appearing, for example, among the 'Six Strategies for Effective Learning' recommended by the popular Learning Scientists blog (The Learning Scientists, n.d.).

The two strategies differ in their primary benefits. The spacing effect boosts memory - practice or restudy of material is more effective if spaced out over time, with forgetting reduced - while interleaving boosts inductive category learning and later transfer. Recent demonstrations of this include the categorisation of chemicals into types (Eglington and Kang, 2017) and the conceptual learning of science categories or examples (e.g. (Rawson et al., 2015)).

However, there are drawbacks to their use. Smith and Scarf (Smith and Scarf, 2017) note that for spacing learning across days to be helpful, a minimum initial level of experience is required. Davis et al. (Davis et al., 2017) have found that frequent switching between studying and test questions can be detrimental, while Kang (Kang, 2016) reasons that a hybrid approach can be beneficial, with new learning occurring via blocked practice, and interleaving used in a practice or consolidation phase.

The application of spacing and interleaving to the school-based learning of new scientific concepts is open to question. It is unclear how they interact in realistic situations and what effect interleaving and spacing have when combined in authentic classroom learning of concepts. The aim of this study was to address these questions.

Method

Participants

An opportunity sample of 31 school pupils was used. All were between 16 and 17 years of age. Data was gathered during an end-of-year taster session, during which pupils sampled several subjects. They were entirely new to the topic being learned.

Design and materials

In order to make the tasks as authentic as possible, all materials were based around a school psychology specification, featuring psychological theories of phobias. The experiment aimed to reproduce the range of activities in a typical school class, and so learners were taught both concepts (types of phobia) and relevant research evidence.

Tasks were delivered via an online protocol. The target learning material was presented in two main phases. In the first, a research study pertaining to phobias was shown on two screens, one with a description of the study and one with evaluation points, with the latter either presented immediately (massed condition) or after the second phase (spaced condition). The precise time delay for each participant therefore depended on their reading speed during the second phase (reading 353 words on screen); pilot testing had indicated a delay of two to three minutes.

During the second phase, types of phobia (specific phobia, agoraphobia and social anxiety) were defined, with key diagnostic information given; concepts and information were either presented together (blocked) or mixed with information about different types of phobia on the same screen (interleaved). For example, in the blocked condition, a participant would view three items relating to agoraphobia, while in the interleaved condition they would view a key feature of each of the three types. Definitions were based upon criteria in DSM-V (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

The online tasks also featured a test, comprising multiple choice questions about the research studies and the categorisation of novel examples of each type of phobia.

Procedure

Participants sat at individual PCs, and a teacher oversaw the session. After a general briefing, each completed an on-screen consent form, followed by viewing the material presented in an order that depended on allocation to experimental conditions, which was decided via random numbers. As soon as participants had completed the task, the software automatically initiated the test.

Ethics approval followed the school's framework; as a research-focused school, it had set up its own in-school ethics board, with an academic panel providing oversight.

Results

The mean percentages of correct answers on the end-of-task test for the interleaved and blocked conditions are shown in Figure 4. A between-subjects ANOVA was carried out. This analysis revealed a significant main effect of spacing (performance in the spaced condition being worse than the massed condition, with mean scores of 12.25 vs 9.45, p = .002), while interleaving did not have a significant main effect.

Importantly, there was also a significant (p = .009) interaction between the two variables (spacing vs interleaving), indicating that interleaving had a mediating or protective effect against the difficulties caused by spacing (see Figure 5).

Figure 4: Table of mean scores

Figure 5: Graph showing interaction between interleaving and spacing

Discussion

The findings demonstrated that spacing had a harmful effect on the immediate test, while the main effect of interleaving was neutral. The results fit with the idea that these are 'desirable difficulties', with the potential to impede learning in the short term. Soderstrom and Bjork (Soderstrom and Bjork, 2015) describe how such strategies often lead to performance being slower and more error-prone, but improve learning over longer intervals.

Nevertheless, increased errors within a short learning session could suggest inefficiency in the learning process, and raise questions about the use of spacing, in particular with new concept learning. In a related finding, Donovan and Radosevich (Donovan JJ and Radosevich, 1999) found that spacing was not beneficial for complex tasks; complexity interacts with learner experience and, when learning a new concept, complexity for a learner can be high. Such an explanation suggests that desirable difficulties interact with learner skill, as proposed by McDaniel and Butler (McDaniel and Butler, 2011).

One way to get around short-term difficulties is to utilise a hybrid schedule, with interleaved or spaced practice being utilised subsequent to an initial learning phase. This fits with the recommendation of Rawson and Dunlosky (Rawson and Dunlosky, 2011) that learners should first automise recall of concepts, and later retrieve items three times at widely spaced intervals. Interestingly, Yan et al. (Yan et al., 2017) found that a blocked-to-interleaved schedule was not superior to pure interleaving, which fits the current findings that interleaving alone did not cause short-term difficulties.

Interaction

The findings of this experiment support the hypothesis that spacing and interleaving can interact within a classroom situation as, surprisingly, interleaving one phase of the task appeared to attenuate the short-term difficulties caused by spacing the other. On the face of it, this result does not fit well with Birnbaum et al.'s (Birnbaum et al., 2013) finding of a negative interaction between spacing and interleaving, but it is important to note that, in the present experiment, the two interventions were used in different task phases, and spacing therefore didn't prevent discriminative contrast.

Why did adding two desirable difficulties make the task easier? It is conceivable that the difficulty of one task focused attention on the other - a variation of the attenuation of processing theory (see (Dellarosa and Bourne, 1985)), which suggests that spacing results in more attention being paid to a task. However, it is unclear why increased attention would not also impact on spacing in isolation.

Another possibility is that the learners benefited from forming conceptual links between the two task phases, with interleaving prompting learners to seek outside meaningful connections beyond what was on a single screen in a way that did not happen when the concept learning phase was presented in blocks. Such connections could be harder to recall or perceive if the first learning phase had been massed and appeared complete. This explanation could be examined in future by comparing the learning of sets of information with varying levels of conceptual similarity, on the basis that meaningful links could not be formed if items were unconnected (similarly to the findings of Hausman and Kornell (Hausman and Kornell, 2014), whereby material from different domains couldn't be productively contrasted).

Limitations

The present study was limited in terms of its scope and sample. A small number of pupils were tested and, as teenagers in the latter stages of education, their levels of motivation or general knowledge could differ from adults or younger learners, potentially affecting the findings. Any discussion of the effects of spacing and interleaving must take account of individual learner differences, and future studies should increase sample size and diversity.

As the learners in this study were new to the material being studied, a control group was not deemed necessary, given that prior concept knowledge was assumed to be absent. Future studies could confirm this assumption by presenting the test phase alone to a comparable group of pupils.

The present study focused on a relatively brief set of tasks within a single lesson, and future work could follow learners over a longer period to see how desirable difficulties play out across the learning of a topic. It is also essential to establish the extent to which the negative short-term classroom effects of interleaving and spacing would be counteracted by improved long-term ability to remember and transfer learning, and whether the interaction found in the present study would apply over longer timescales.

Conclusion

This classroom-based study found that while spacing caused short-term harm to learner performance, interleaving counteracted this problem. As such, it is suggested that combining interleaving and spacing may prompt learners to seek meaningful connections during concept learning.

References

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The application of spacing and interleaving approaches in the classroom | impact.chartered.college

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Interleaving refers to the benefits of sequencing learning tasks so that similar items - two examples of the same concept, say - are interspersed with different types of items rather than being consecutive. This results in a more variable and challenging task but is associated with benefits in terms

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10 Strategies to Enhance Students’ Memory

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Effective and efficient memory is critical for reading and school success. Here are 10 strategies to help children develop their memories.

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What does the evidence say about questioning? 

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What does the evidence say about questioning? 

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From Durrington Research School

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What does the evidence say about questioning?

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How are ____ and _____ alike? - What is the main idea of ______? - What are the strengths and weaknesses of _____? - In what way is _____ related to_____? - Compare ____ and ____ with regards to - What do you think causes ____?

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Retrieval Practice and Transfer of Learning 

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Retrieval Practice and Transfer of Learning 

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Download our Transfer of Learning Practice Guide! - Retrieval Practice

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We are thrilled to share our new downloadable guide on retrieval practice and student's transfer of learning. Why? Because retrieval practice improves more than just memorization. Learn about the latest research and teaching strategies that boost transfer in the classroom.

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Explaining the science of learning to teachers: A handbook for teacher educators

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A revised version of Harry Fletcher-Wood’s guide for teacher educators on how to teach teachers the science of learning. Discover more here.

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The Emerging Science of Teacher Expertise - from Deans for Impact

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Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) is all the rage. It was cited by Ofsted in their new inspection framework, it is discussed at educational conferences and it is finding its way into CPD sessions in schools up and down the country.

What is it?

CLT is a theoretical model that seeks to explain how learning takes place and which methods of "instructional design" (or "teaching" to you and I) will be most effective as a result.

At its heart are two commonly accepted ideas. The first is that our working memory is extremely limited, the second is that our long-term memory is essentially limitless; we can store information and retrieve it when needed, thereby freeing up space in our working memory.

The theory suggests that we consider the "load" placed on working memory by a task pupils have been given. This load comprises of two parts. The intrinsic load is created by the complexity of the task itself.

The more difficult the task, or the more novel the information (how far it is removed from what the pupil already knows) the higher the load.

We want to manage the intrinsic load but not necessarily reduce it. We want our pupils to tackle difficult tasks as it makes them think hard (and, as cognitive scientist Daniel T Willingham reminds us, "memory is the residue of thought").

The second kind of load we want to consider is the extraneous load. These are pressures put on the working memory by things outside the material being learned.

They might come from overly complex instructions, distractions in our environment or being given too much additional information.

We can therefore think of CLT as a way of designing how we teach to support pupils learning complex ideas by supporting them with the intrinsic load of a task whilst reducing the extraneous load.

The single most important thing...

So, is cognitive load theory the " single most important thing for teachers to know " as suggested by emeritus professor of educational assessment at UCL, Dylan Wiliam, or is it just common sense? I'd argue it is both.

The problem that CLT has, if it could be described as a problem at all, is that it just supports how excellent teachers have always taught. It provides the rationale for why that works and helps less experienced teachers leapfrog some of the trial and error that they might have to go through to reach this level of understanding themselves.

It also challenges some of the ways we have been encouraged to teach in the past. For example, that pupils will learn best by discovering things for themselves.

CLT reminds us that pupils start a topic as novices and as such much of what they are learning will be unfamiliar and the intrinsic load will be high.

They won't have much information about the topic stored in their long-term memory to draw on (their schema) and so will benefit from material being presenting in small, simple, steps with plenty of opportunity to practice after each step until they develop a greater understanding.

At this point they will benefit from more complex, problem-solving type tasks using what they have learned so that they have the opportunity to retrieve what they have learned and apply it to new situations.

This theory also suggests that during the early stages of a topic we will want to support our pupils' working memory by providing worked examples that show how an expert (you, the teacher) reaches an answer to a question before they try and complete a similar task themselves.

It helps to reduce their need to think through the steps (holding this in their working memory) at the same time and thinking about the information they will need to use. Over time we will want to remove this scaffolding so that pupils practice all the stages themselves.

The final foot

As with all educational research, it means very little until it has been filtered through the professional expertise of those in the classroom.

One of the most useful guides for teachers on CLT was produced by the New South Wales' Department for Education and called Cognitive Load Theory in Practice. This guide talks through seven strategies drawn from CLT with illustrations on how they might look on the ground.

They suggest:

1. Tailoring lessons to a pupils existing knowledge and skills. Building on prior knowledge reduces how much novel information needs to be handled in the working memory.

2. Using worked examples to teach pupils new content or skills. As discussed above, these examples help pupils to think about what is being learned rather than the steps to complete a task.

3. Gradually increase independent problem solving. Pupils need the opportunity to practice applying information to new contexts but now until they have learnt this information.

4. Cut out inessential information. This could be extraneous information on a slide, interesting tangents in your explanation or irrelevant detail on a diagram. We need to direct pupil attention to the information they need.

5. Present all essential information together. Pupils will struggle to hold the information presented on one slide and apply it to the information another. If the explanation you gave at the start of the lesson needs to be applied to the diagram given 10 minutes later, include the relevant information again on the diagram.

6. Present oral and visual information together. This takes advantage of dual-coding which is our ability to take in information on two channels and makes this information easier to process.

7. Encourage students to visualise what they have learnt. This encourages pupils to draw information out of their long term memory and review what they have learnt.

CLT only provides a model for how pupils learn and what this might mean in terms of instructional design. What any of this actually looks like in the classroom comes down to what Rebecca Boomer-Clark of the Ark academy chain calls "the final foot" - that space in the classroom between the teacher and their pupils.

It is in this final foot that the teacher must decide how to manage the intrinsic difficulty of a task and ensure the level of challenge is pitched right.

It is in this final foot that they must work out when to model and when to allow the pupils to fly solo. Cognitive load theory may be "the most important thing for teachers to know" but only teachers will know what to do with it next.

Mark Enser is head of geography and research lead at Heathfield Community College. His latest book Teach Like Nobody's Watching is out now. He tweets @EnserMark

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How useful is cognitive load theory for teachers?

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Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) is all the rage. It was cited by Ofsted in their new inspection framework, it is discussed at educational conferences and it is finding its way into CPD sessions in schools up and down the country.

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Use higher order retrieval practice is more effective. 

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Use higher order retrieval practice is more effective. 

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Quizzing will not, on its own, lead to good outcomes on higher order test items.

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How to avoid retrieval practice becoming a tick-box exercise and ensuring it is beneficial for students.

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...across the curriculum

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Removing assistance gradually over time. Students should be supported to become increasingly independent. Over time, writing cycles (planning, drafting and editing) should become longer. The report points out that 'while not every writing task will require every step in the cycle, an important part of teaching writing is ensuring that students understand that expert writers in any subject follow multiple steps to create high quality work' (21).

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Retrieval Practice - more than a pub quiz!

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Retrieval Practice - more than a pub quiz!

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Activities involving comprehension tasks aid retention more than tasks just requiring factual knowledge recall.

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Abstract

The goal of this randomized controlled trial was to investigate whether Jungle Memory working memory training (JM) affects performance on working memory tasks, performance in mathematics and gains made on a mathematics training (MT) in school aged children between 9-12 years old ( N = 64) with both difficulties in mathematics, as well as attention and working memory. Children were randomly assigned to three groups and were trained in two periods: (1) JM first, followed by MT, (2) MT first, followed by JM, and (3) a control group that received MT only. Bayesian analyses showed possible short term effects of JM on near transfer measures of verbal working memory, but none on visual working memory. Furthermore, support was found for the hypothesis that children that received JM first, performed better after MT than children who did not follow JM first or did not train with JM at all. However, these effects could be explained at least partly by frequency of training effects, possibly due to motivational issues, and training-specific factors. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether the effects found on improving mathematics were actually mediated by gains in working memory. It is argued that JM might not train the components of working memory involved in mathematics sufficiently. Another possible explanation can be found in the training's lack of adaptivity, therefore failing to provide the children with tailored instruction and feedback. Finally, it was hypothesized that, since effect sizes are generally small, training effects are bound to a critical period in development.

Keywords: working memory, training, mathematics, attention deficits, ADHD, dyscalculia

Introduction

Studies have shown that persistent difficulties in mathematics develop in approximately 5% of school-aged children. An even larger number of children struggle with math on a day-to-day basis, without meeting the criteria for developmental dyscalculia. The underpinnings for math difficulties are manifold, with both cognitive as well as emotional factors contributing to its manifestation and maintenance over time. Recent literature can be divided in multiple foci of interest. Attentional resources ( Marzocchi et al., 2002; Dormal et al., 2014), memory processes ( Perna et al., 2015), basic number sense ( Piazza, 2010; Brankaer et al., 2014; Vanbinst et al., 2015), as well as math anxiety (i.e., Maloney and Beilock, 2012) hold their own in what seems to be a still unintegrated field of research. Mathematics disabilities are recognized as complex neuro-psychological syndromes related to many distinct neurocognitive constructs ( Perna et al., 2015) and underlying brain activation ( Arsalidou and Taylor, 2011; Metcalfe et al., 2013; Demir et al., 2014). However, relationships between these constructs remain largely unclear.

A large body of research, however, has been conducted in the field of executive functions and their relationship to mathematics. Predominantly, the role of working memory has been a topic of interest. Following the most influential model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1977), elaborated upon by Miyake et al. (2000), working memory can be viewed as a cognitive buffer system that allows the temporary storage and manipulation of incoming information necessary for complex tasks. The model describes two slave systems: a visuo-spatial sketchpad and an auditory-verbal component, called the phonological loop. Both slave systems are supervised by a flexible control system, the Central Executive (CE), that is thought to monitor and update information as well as inhibit incoming irrelevant information.

A slightly different approach to working memory has been advocated by Cowan (1988). In this model, working memory is conceptualized as a memory storage in the center of attention, that is limited in both duration and load, so that its contents can be operated on and be integrated with information in long-term memory. Compared to the model of the Baddeley and Hitch model, emphasis is placed on awareness and both voluntary as well as involuntary attentional processes. In this view, not only processing errors of updating can lead to mathematical difficulties. Problems with activating previously learned information or attentional problems would lead to the same behavioral results. This approach is relevant for the present study, as it incorporates attentional processes.

Regarding the role of working memory in the development of mathematical competency the updating component of working memory plays an important part ( Lee et al., 2012; Van der Ven et al., 2012; Kolkman et al., 2013a). Updating represents the ability to update relevant information in working memory and the concurrent ability to inhibit irrelevant information. The construct is part of the CE component of working memory in the Baddeley and Hitch model. Updating seems to be the process involved in keeping track of intermediate outcomes of mental arithmetic and problem solving ( Passolunghi and Pazzaglia, 2004, 2005). Involvement of working memory in mental arithmetic in children might follow a developmental path, with the contribution of verbal working memory increasing with age, while that of visuospatial working memory decreases ( Van de Weijer-Bergsma et al., 2015c). Children with less working memory capacity tend to perform worse on general mathematical tasks than typically developing peers ( Friso-van den Bos et al., 2013).

Despite the fact that most recent contemporary reviews consider working memory to be a relevant factor in mathematics learning and development, contrasting views are advocated by different authors. Considering different aspects of working memory, some authors have found deficits in visual working memory, but no apparent problems in verbal working memory ( McLean and Hitch, 1999). Furthermore, Landerl et al. (2004) describe a group of children with mathematics learning disorder in the absence of difficulties in working memory. In this same vein, Temple and Sherwood (2002) found no relationship between working memory and number sense, or working memory and arithmetic capabilities. Working memory is considered by these authors to be neither a necessary, nor a sufficient factor in explaining mathematical difficulties. They advocate a standpoint in which number sense abilities play the most prominent role in a developmental model of mathematical difficulties. Other authors, however, propose a double deficit model: Number sense and working memory both lead to weaker performance in tasks involving mathematical problem solving. Children that exhibit both number sense as well as working memory difficulties, obtain lowest results ( Östergren and Träff, 2013; Kroesbergen and van Dijk, 2015). In addition to contrasting research findings, variation in research design, usage of working memory tasks involving counting and covariance of working memory with other domain-general factors, like processing speed, make interpreting results quite difficult ( Cowan and Powell, 2014).

Relationship between Attention Problems and Mathematics

Both clinical observations as well as scientific research have pointed out a high incidence of comorbidity between attention problems and learning disorders. Estimations currently revolve around 30% ( DuPaul and Volpe, 2009). Recent evidence from twin-studies suggests a genetic link between symptoms of ADHD, primarily the inattentive symptoms, and mathematic disabilities ( Greven et al., 2014). Inattentive children tend to make more mistakes when calculating than attentive children, quite possibly due to working memory deficits frequently found in groups of children with both ADHD and persistent math disabilities. Both working memory and attention are neurocognitive traits that can be viewed as dimensional constructs, with - at the lower end of the continuum- the deficits common in children with ADHD (e.g., Larsson et al., 2012; Martin et al., 2015) and developmental dyscalculia. Based on the above, it could be concluded that a group of children with mild or moderate problems in attention or working memory, in the presence of normal general intelligence, is struggling with mathematics, but doesn't meet the formal criteria for ADHD or developmental dyscalculia. This is, however, a highly interesting group that is often overlooked and that is -at least in the Netherlands- not eligible for specialized treatment. Teachers could benefit from knowledge on this subject, as well as methods describing how to remediate difficulties with mathematics. However, scientific knowledge about cognitive underpinnings of learning problems is not frequently transferred to the classroom or remediation programs in school.

Working Memory Training and Mathematics

One of the possible training programs that could possibly find, and has found, its way into the schools is working memory training. Some research suggests beneficial effects of working memory training on mathematics ( Bergman-Nutley and Klingberg, 2014; Söderqvist and Bergman Nutley, 2015), but effect sizes are generally small and studies have their methodological limitations, mostly because of a small sample size. The largest sample size to date can be found in a study by Holmes and Gathercole (2013). These authors used Cogmed Working Memory Training in a classroom setting and found considerable long term effects on both working memory as well as mathematics. There is, however, debate in the literature on transfer of working memory training in general. Meta-analyses carried out recently point out effects of training on both verbal and non-verbal working memory, but authors disagree on the matter of far transfer. Melby-Lervåg and Hulme (2013) conclude that at follow-up limited near transfer effects could be measured and there is no clear evidence of generalization of training to other skills. Specifically, for arithmetic, effect sizes are generally low and non-significant. On the other hand, two recent meta-analyses showed long term effects of working memory training on measures of attention in everyday functioning ( Shinaver et al., 2014; Spencer-Smith and Klingberg, 2015), which should be beneficial for learning behavior and for outcomes of academic performance, including mathematics. Possibly, effects of working memory training on mathematics are indirect and depend on instructions and training of mathematical skills after gains in working memory have been made. The present study elaborates existing literature by addressing this issue. The questions raised by existing literature are whether children with attentional problems and problems in working memory (a) profit from training working memory and (b) show more gain in a training of mathematical abilities than their untrained peers.

To address these two questions, we trained working memory in a sample of children in primary schools using Jungle Memory training (JM) for 8 weeks, before training basic arithmetic abilities (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and dividing) using a Dutch computer based adaptive arithmetic training (Math Garden) for 8 weeks and compared this group to two control groups. We measured transfer to both verbal and non-verbal working memory tasks and a speeded arithmetic task. Based on some previous studies, we expected a limited transfer to mathematical abilities directly after working memory training but a larger training effect of the arithmetic training compared to our control groups. Current literature, however, is not clear about this issue and the direction this hypothesis is leading, giving us other concurring hypotheses to consider. Based on the meta-analysis by Melby-Lervåg and Hulme (2013) one could hypothesize that all groups would profit equally from the mathematics training. A third possibility would be that performance in mathematics depends on working memory as a base engine, in which case both groups training working memory would perform equally well and better than the group training mathematics only.

Materials and Methods

Participants

Children ( N = 64) were recruited from regular elementary schools in The Netherlands, primarily in the Rotterdam area. Teachers of different schools were asked to participate and they selected the children based on the inclusion criteria provided to them. Children were eligible to participate if they were 9-12 years old when training started (Grades 4-6), had difficulties in mathematics (scores on standardized school based tests below or far below average), and were observed to have attentional difficulties (above average scores on a standardized rating scale - Scholte and van der Ploeg, 2005) as rated by their teachers. Working memory was evaluated by the teachers as well. They were asked to fill out the BRIEF (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function), a rating scale measuring a variety of executive functions, including working memory ( Huizinga and Smidts, 2010). Children were, however, not excluded when they did not exhibit specific working memory problems as rated by their teachers. Descriptive statistics can be found in Children with below average scores on reading or reading comprehension or known psychiatric disorders other than ADHD were excluded from participation.

Table 1

Parents received written information on the study and we obtained their written consent, in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, before starting the assessments and training. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral science, Utraecht University (FETC14-022).

Tests

There were three main variables of interest in this study: verbal and spatial working memory and mathematical ability. The tests that were used for measuring working memory were (1) a visuospatial working memory task called 'Lion Game,' and (2) a verbal working memory task called 'Monkey Game' ( Van de Weijer-Bergsma et al., 2015b, c). Tasks were administered on a computer with headphones in the school setting, supervised by a student who was present the whole time.

The Lion Game is a visual-spatial complex span task, in which children have to search for colored lions. Children are presented with a 4×4 matrix containing 16 cells. In each trial, eight lions of different colors (red, blue, green, yellow, and purple) are consecutively presented at different locations for 2000 ms. Children have to remember the last location where a lion of a certain color has appeared and use the mouse to click on that location after the sequence has ended. The tasks consist of five levels each of four items, in which working memory load is manipulated by the number of colors children have to remember and update. No cut-off rules are applied ( Van de Weijer-Bergsma et al., 2015b). Proportion correct responses were collected. Reliability and validity of The Lion Game have been studied recently ( Van de Weijer-Bergsma et al., 2015b). Good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.87), satisfactory test-retest reliability (α = 0.71) and good concurrent (α = 0.51) and predictive validity have been found. Scores on The Lion Game appear to be a significant predictor of math ability.

The Monkey Game is a verbal span-backward task, in which children have to remember and recall different words backward. Children hear spoken words (i.e., moon, fish, rose, eye, house, ice, fire, cat, and coat). In Dutch, these words are some of the words first learned in reading by children in first grade. Children have to remember the words and recall them backward, by clicking on the written words presented visually in a 3×3 matrix. The task consists of five levels each of four items, in which working memory load is manipulated by the number of words children have to remember and recall backward, ranging from two words in level 1 to six words in level 5. No cut-off rules were applied ( Van de Weijer-Bergsma et al., 2015c). Proportion correct responses were collected. The Monkey Game has good internal consistency (Cronbach's α ranging from 0.78-0.89) and shows good concurrent and predictive validity ( Van de Weijer-Bergsma et al., 2015a).

The test used to measure mathematical abilities was the Arithmetic Tempo Test (Tempo Toets Rekenen, de Vos, 1992), a fast paper-and-pencil screening instrument. Five columns are presented, each with 40 arithmetic exercises: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and mixed, slowly increasing in difficulty. All problems consist of two-operant equations with outcomes smaller than 100. Pupils are instructed to solve as many problems as they can within a 1-min limit per column. Test-retest reliability was computed in a study by Van de Weijer-Bergsma et al. (2015c) and ranged from α = 0.84-0.87 after 4 months and from α = 0.82-0.86 after 8 months. Combined number of correct answers in the five columns was used as an outcome measure in this study.

To check whether there were group differences in number sense abilities or inhibition, four tasks were administered during the first assessment only. Children were given (1) a symbolic number task that asked them to evaluate which of two numbers was greatest, (2) a non-symbolic number task on which they were asked to evaluate the number of dots presented on either end of the screen. (3) A number line task was presented on which participants had to place a given number on a line that ranged from 0 to 100. A further description of these tasks, as well as information on reliability and validity can be found in an article by Kolkman et al. (2013b). (4) An inhibition task following a Go-NoGo paradigm ( De Weerdt et al., 2013) concluded the assessment. Speed and accuracy were measured in these tasks. These tasks were administered individually. As can be seen in , groups did not differ meaningfully in performance on these tasks.

Intervention

Jungle Memory TM (2008) is a web-based memory training program aimed at 7-16 year-old children. In comprises of three interactive computer games with up to 30 levels of difficulty in each game to train working memory. Each game trains different aspects of working memory and provides the student with regular feedback of progress, both during training and in the back-end of the program. Game 1 (Quicksand) involves memory for and later use of word endings, Game 2 (Code Breaker) features mental rotation of letters, and Game 3 (River Crossing) involves sequential memory of mathematical solutions. Motivational features in the program included positive verbal feedback, a display of the user's best scores, percentile rankings, and the number of 'super monkeys' collected as a result of successfully completing training levels ( Alloway et al., 2013). Completion of all three tasks can be obtained in 20-25 min. The program can be found on a website by Memosyne Ltd (2011) - http://lb.junglememory.com.

The Math Garden ( Van der Maas et al., 2009) is an adaptive web-based game in which children are able to train their math skills. It comprises of different games of which five calculation-based games (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and speed) were used during this study. Children are presented with 10 math problems per game during which they received direct feedback on their answers. To encourage motivation, children are presented with a virtual garden that grows and blooms depending on the effort and progress. The website for Math Garden can be found on http://www.rekentuin.nl.

Procedure

First, children were randomly assigned to three groups. These groups were given three different treatment procedures: (1) the experimental group received Jungle Memory Training (JM) first (8 weeks), before starting mathematics training [MT (mathematics training), 8 weeks]; (2) one control group that received the mathematics training first, before commencing JM, and (3) a second control group that received education as usual in the first period and MT the second period. Assessment occurred three times: prior to training, after 8 weeks and post training. This was done in a group setting on individual computers with headphones. The assessment and treatment procedures are depicted schematically in

During training periods, progress and effort was monitored by trained undergraduate students visiting schools. In the back-end of both training programs, number of times trained as well as quality of the training can be easily monitored. Undergraduate students visited schools at least once every 2 weeks, giving children feedback on the obtained results, showing their progress and thereby trying to motivate the children. Both children training with JM as well as those training with MT were encouraged to complete four sessions a week by their teachers, as well as the undergraduate students. They were provided training time and a quiet place to train by their teacher during school days. Furthermore, they were provided with training schedules stating the days and the time on which they were supposed to train. Children were given no further rewards or incentives. Both teachers and undergraduate students looked for motivational or technical problems occurring during training. These problems were reported to the corresponding author who attempted to solve the issues. Motivational issues most commonly arose when training or assessment times were planned during a specific activity that was liked by the pupil. These were easily adjusted and no children dropped out. The most common technical issue was a temporary problem with the server of the web-based training programs or the working memory tasks. Sometimes appointments for assessment or training times had to be rescheduled. Children training with JM received feedback and were provided with strategies by the undergraduate students to improve their skills on the training tasks when they failed to pass the task three times in a row. This feedback was based on a protocol that was provided to us by LerendBrein, an organization based in The Netherlands, specializing in training professionals in healthcare and education. Children training with MT received no further feedback; The training program provided all the necessary feedback.

Data Screening

Missing data showed a number of missing data points, most probably due to server problems during the administration of one the working memory tasks. Missing value counts ranged from 3.1 to 10.1% in one instance, randomly distributed (χ ² = 6.011, σ = 1.00). Since the software for the data analysis does not allow for missing data, single imputation based on the series mean was used to replace missing values. The data contained no significant outliers.

Main Analyses

First, to examine the relationship between progress during JM and gains on the external working memory tasks, Pearson's r correlations were calculated between the working memory pre-test and the reported improvement within the game. Correlations were calculated both for the first and for the second training period, as we were interested in both short and long term effects of JM.

To be able to test the multiple hypothesis formulated without the loss of power, Bayesian evaluation of informative hypotheses was used to examine the relationship between working memory and mathematical abilities. For a detailed introduction to Bayesian statistics, one is directed to Klugkist et al. (2005) and Van de Schoot et al. (2011). This type of analysis is confirmative and provides a quantification of support in the data for each hypothesis discussed and is therefore especially useful in studies with smaller sample sizes. The posterior model probability (PMP) is computed for each hypothesis to quantify the support in the data. If the PMP of one hypothesis is larger than the PMP of the unconstrained hypothesis ( H u), the constraints used to describe the hypotheses are supported by the data. If the PMP of a first hypothesis is larger than the PMP of a second hypothesis, the support in the data is largest for the first. Mark that the sum of the PMPs for a given set of competitive hypothesis is always one.

Next, the Bayes-factor was computed. This is a measure for the degree of support for each hypothesis compared to a hypothesis without constraints. This Bayes-factor was computed by dividing the PMP-value of a hypothesis by the PMP-value of the unconstrained hypothesis, which results in a value showing the evidence in favor of one hypothesis compared with the unconstrained hypothesis.

For effect of JM on gains in working memory we considered two competing hypotheses, for both short and long term effects. All four hypotheses were translated into statistical hypotheses with (in)equality constrained parameters ( Klugkist et al., 2005). In this case, the parameters were group means on a verbal and a visual working memory task. For the first training period, the first hypothesis stated that the children that received the JM first would outperform other groups on the working memory tasks, i.e., μ ₁ > μ ₂ = μ ₃ (Model 1). The second hypothesis was that all groups would perform equally well μ ₁ = μ ₂ = μ ₃ (Model 2). For the second training period, the second group -now receiving JM- would have gained more at the working memory measures: μ ₂ > μ ₁ = μ 3. The alternative hypothesis we formulated was μ ₁ = μ ₂ = μ 3, stating that all groups would perform equally well.

For effect of JM on gains made in the MT, three hypotheses were formulated for both the first and second training period. During the first training period, the group receiving MT was thought to perform best, with the group receiving JM performing better than the group receiving no training at all: μ ₂ > μ ₁ > μ ₃ (Model 1). Alternative hypotheses were as follows: μ ₂ > μ ₁ = μ ₃ (Model 2, no direct effect of JM on mathematical abilities), and μ ₁ = μ ₂ = μ ₃ (Model 3, no effect of both trainings). During the second period, the formulated hypotheses were the following: μ ₁ > μ ₃ > μ ₂ (Model 1, stating that the experimental group would outperform the other groups, with the third group -now receiving MT- would gain more than the second group), μ ₁ = μ ₃ > μ ₂ (Model 2, no added effect of JM on MT), and μ ₁ = μ ₂ = μ ₃ (Model 3, suggesting no effects of both MT and JM).

The main question of this study was assessed by examining the total gains on the mathematical abilities outcome measure over both training periods. The first hypothesis stated that children that received the JM first, before the MT, would outperform the groups that either received the JM after the MT or received the MT only, i.e., μ ₁ > μ ₂ > μ ₃ (Model 1). The second hypothesis stated that both groups that trained their working memory would outperform the third group training mathematical abilities only μ ₁ = μ ₂ > μ ₃ (Model 2). The last hypothesis stated that all groups would perform equally well on the last test for mathematical abilities μ ₁ = μ ₂ = μ ₃ (Model 3). All informative hypotheses stated in the section above were compared to the alternative empty hypothesis: μ 1, μ 2, μ ₃ (Model 0), to protect against incorrectly choosing the hypotheses.

Results

Descriptive Statistics

shows the descriptive statistics considering the outcome measures of mathematical abilities, visual, and verbal working memory of our three groups.

Table 2

shows the descriptive statistics considering the training periods.

Table 3

Relationship between Gains Made in JM and Generalization to Non-trained Tasks

shows the Pearson's r correlations between gains obtained in JM by the experimental group, as shown in the stats tab provided by the program, and scores on the non-trained working memory tasks, both after the first (short term) and after the second (long term) period of training. No significant correlations could be obtained. Generalization of the training thus seemed negligible.

Table 4

Working Memory Training and Gains in Working Memory

depicts the results of Bayesian analysis of the group effects on the working memory outcome measures, BFs (Bayes Factors) and PMPs are presented. It was expected that during the first training period ( t = 1), the experimental group would gain most on working memory outcome measures, μ ₁ > μ ₂ = μ ₃ (Model 1). Model 2 stated that all groups would perform equally well, μ ₁ = μ ₂ = μ ₃ (Model 2). These were compared to the empty Model 0 (μ 1, μ 2, μ ₃). For visual working memory, no support was found for our first hypothesis. For verbal working memory, however, the data showed some support for effects of JM. Both the first and the second model received substantial support by our data, but the first model was more likely.

Table 5

During the second period (t2), it was expected that our second group, training with JM, would show more gains in working memory: μ ₂ > μ ₁ = μ ₃ (Model 1), while the alternative hypothesis was that all groups would gain equally well: μ ₁ = μ ₂ = μ ₃ (Model 2). Both for visual and for verbal working memory, most support was found for the second hypothesis, respectively, receiving weak and substantial support by our data.

Working Memory Training and Mathematical Abilities

shows the results of Bayesian analysis for the mathematics training. During the first training period it was hypothesized that the group training with MT would perform best on the mathematical abilities outcome measure and a smaller training effect could be found for the JM as well (μ ₂ > μ ₁ > μ ₃,Model 1). Alternative hypotheses were formulated: μ ₂ > μ ₁ = μ ₃ (Model 2) and μ ₁ = μ ₂ = μ ₃ (Model 3). Most, but only weak support was found for the second hypothesis, indicating a training effect for MT and not for JM on mathematical abilities.

Table 6

During the second period, the experimental group trained with the MT. It was hypothesized that this group would show most gains in mathematical abilities after this period, followed by the third group, also training with MT: μ ₁ > μ ₃ > μ ₂ (Model 1). Alternative hypotheses were formulated: μ ₁ = μ ₃ > μ ₂ (Model 2) indicating no added effect of JM, and μ ₁ = μ ₂ = μ ₃ (Model 3) suggesting no effect of both JM and MT during the second period. Our data provided most and substantial support for the first model.

shows the results of the analysis on group differences on the mathematical abilities outcome measure, to examine which group benefited most from both trainings, regarding mathematical abilities: BFs and PMPs are presented. Recall that Model 0 represents the alternative (empty) hypothesis (μ 1, μ 2, μ 3). Model 1 stated that the children training with JM first would benefit most from the MT: μ ₁ > μ ₂ > μ 3. Model 2 stated both groups training with JM would show most improvement on the MT: μ ₁ = μ ₂ > μ ₃, while Model 3 stated that all three groups would perform equally and profit equally from training mathematics. Model 1 received most support from the data, indicating an effect of the working memory training, although the effect seems small and weak compared to the empty Model 0.

Table 7

Discussion

This intervention study compared three groups of children with math difficulties and attentional problems on effects of both a working memory training (Jungle Memory) and a math training (Math Garden). To our knowledge this is the first attempt to combine both training procedures to investigate the effects of working memory training on both measures of working memory and learning mathematics. Prior research has been inconsistent regarding the effects of working memory training and low effect sizes are reported, especially on mathematical abilities, so multiple hypotheses were tested in this study, using Bayesian statistics.

Regarding the immediate and long term effects of working memory training on closely related working memory tasks, mathematical abilities and learning mathematics, results were discouraging. Gains made in JM showed little or no relationship with gains on non-trained working memory tasks. Some support was found for short term gains in verbal working memory only, but long-term retention was not supported by our data. Children generally trained less during the second training period, most likely due to holiday periods and extracurricular activities that occurred during this period or motivational issues. The experimental group, however, trained relatively often, compared to the control groups. It was observed that individual children that trained most, gained most in both verbal working memory and mathematical abilities, but on a group level this could not be confirmed.

Support was found for an effect of MT on gains in speeded mathematics, as was expected. Also, an added effect of JM was found. Children training with JM improved their mathematical abilities directly after training. After completing both JM and MT, the group training with JM first, showed most improvement. The effects, however, are small and were possibly mediated by the amount of training (our experimental group trained more frequently than our control groups that did not train with JM first). Furthermore, it could be argued that JM contains a task in which pupils are required to solve (and retain and update) mathematical problems. Therefore, these children had more practice time, solved more problems, than children that did not train with JM. This fact confounded the results obtained by this study.

Theoretically, working memory is a considerable factor in predicting math problems. However, training working memory with Jungle Memory does not seem to have a profound effect on mathematical abilities, requires supervised practice, and has to be accompanied by specific feedback by a trainer. Several explanations, both theoretical and practical, could be given for these results. It could be argued that Jungle Memory does not specifically train the aspects of working memory relevant to mathematics. Since Jungle Memory does train the updating component of working memory and has a processing speed component, it could be argued that attentional focus and activation of long-term memory, not directly trained by Jungle Memory, would play a crucial role in mathematics. This would give indirect support for the model proposed by Cowan (1988), that emphasized these components of working memory. Another explanation, and one that fits the Baddeley model of working memory, would be that Jungle Memory does not provide the trainee with the adequate components necessary for training working memory efficiently. Regarding this issue, lack of the program's ability to adapt efficiently to the level of the trainee -as has been proposed by Klingberg et al. (2002, 2005)- could be an explanation for the results obtained by this study.

In studies that found transfer effects of working memory training in mathematical abilities, authors generally describe a small effect. In these studies, speeded arithmetic tasks were used ( St Clair-Thompson et al., 2010; Bergman-Nutley and Klingberg, 2014), just like in the present study, but only addition and subtraction problems were administered. It could be argued that other operations of calculation, specifically division, could load on working memory more heavily, because of the fact that most pupils are less familiar with dividing. The effect of training could therefore be somewhat larger than has yet been shown. However, although this study used a composite score of four basic operations, it is not likely that this kind of effect would have been found, given the small and noisy effects that were obtained. A study by Alloway and Alloway (2009), that did administer a division task, has shown effects on mathematical ability, using the same working memory training as in the present study. This study, however, was underpowered and effects on improvement in mathematics were small. Another study ( Holmes et al., 2009) only found long term effects (6 months) of WMT on mathematics and used a mathematical reasoning task that measures number sense, in contrast to basic calculating operations. This finding could be similar to the effect that was found in this study, whereas children that trained with JM first, performed slightly better during the second period than their peers. A last study ( Kroesbergen et al., 2012) also found effects of working memory training on early numeracy, but was conducted with pupils in kindergarten. This leads to the hypothesis that there might be a sensitive period for working memory training, during earlier development, and that no great effects of working memory training are to be expected when pupils are trained during later classes of primary school.

Limitations

The present findings are to be viewed in light of several shortcomings. It proved to be very difficult to plan the intervention periods within a school setting. Training periods were interrupted frequently by vacations, sports activities, preparations for end-of-year activities, and other extracurricular enterprises. After the month of May, training compliance dropped both with pupils as well as teachers. Both lack of continuity as well as decreasing training compliance will have influenced our results in several ways. First, training compliance might have caused gains to be less than they could have been. Second, some children expressed their boredom with the tasks that were used during the assessments. This might have led to less effort on the part of the pupils during the last measurement especially.

Another hazard was the fact that pupils were selected from several different schools, which might have had consequences for standardization of child-teacher relationships and teaching material. Different schools use different methods of teaching mathematics, all with slightly different contents and possible effects on outcome measures. The study design doesn't allow to control for this effect.

The sample size was lower than expected, due to a lower number of eligible children in the different classes, and due to time restrictions. Bayesian analysis was used to control for this issue. Even though the sample size was small, the feedback system provided to us by LerendBrein was quite difficult to carry out, because schools were far apart and only few pupils per school were eligible to participate in this study due to strict inclusion criteria. Feedback provided to the pupils therefore might have been less than optimal during this study. This might have negatively affected both the intensity and efficacy of the training and therefore the obtained results regarding working memory gains and possibly mathematical abilities.

Conclusion

In sum, this study provides a limited contribution to the literature of working memory training and its near and far transfer effects, by directly examining the effects on mathematics training. On the positive side, computerized mathematics training has a desirable effect on mathematical abilities in children, in higher grades of elementary school, with difficulties in mathematics and attentional problems. Working memory training, specifically Jungle Memory, did seem to have a positive and added effect on outcomes, but it is still unclear if these effects are mediated by improvement of verbal and/or visual working memory. Unfortunately, this could not be confirmed by our study. These findings are in concordance with existing literature. Based on observations during the study, increasing the amount of effort in working memory training might improve the outcomes in working memory and ultimately mathematics. More research would be needed on this matter. The role of working memory and its mechanisms in mathematical abilities remain unclear. Due to its limitations, the results of this study must be considered with caution. Further research has to account for the precise planning of the intervention program, proper support of the children during their training periods and probably a reward system encouraging the children to do their best during measurements. Furthermore, it is recommended that other outcome measures of mathematical abilities are used concurring with the speeded tests used in most studies. More theoretically, training of attention and strategies aiding retrieval from long term memory might be beneficial for children with mathematical difficulties and attentional problems in higher grades of elementary school. Further research is needed to test these hypotheses.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made substantial, direct, and intellectual contributions to the work, and approved for publication. EK and MN construed the study together, EK provided the master students that gathered the data. Analyses were carried out by MN while receiving feedback from EK. MN wrote the paper and EK gave constructive feedback an suggestions on improving the paper.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all pupils, parents, and schools that participated in this study. Furthermore, the authors acknowledge the contribution of LerendBrein, providing us with necessary training and the feedback protocol used in the study. Parts of the results in this paper have been presented at the 2016 International Neuropsychological Society Mid-Year Meeting on the eight of July 2016.

References

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Limited Near and Far Transfer Effects of Jungle Memory Working Memory Training on Learning Mathematics in Children with Attentional and Mathematical Difficulties

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The goal of this randomized controlled trial was to investigate whether Jungle Memory working memory training (JM) affects performance on working memory tasks, performance in mathematics and gains made on a mathematics training (MT) in school aged children between 9-12 years old ( N = 64) with both difficulties in mathematics, as well as attention and working memory.

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THE MIDLAND KNOWLEDGE SCHOOLS HUB

The Midland Knowledge Schools Hub, based at Saint Martin's Catholic Academy is a network supporting schools and teachers who are trying to develop a Knowledge-rich Curriculum. Saint Martin's, inspired by schools some great schools and educational thinkers, has been developing a curriculum that has at its heart the ambition that pupils will encounter the 'best that has been thought and said'. We have been working with a number of schools and Multi-Academy Trusts across the midlands to support, train and offer CPD. The aim of the Hub will be to link like minded teachers and schools to help and develop this approach to education.

We are all the inheritors of the greatest ideas, writings and discoveries of the past. The Knowledge Curriculum is designed to enable pupils to learn about these ideas, creating an extraordinarily ambitious curriculum underpinned by expert teaching, effective memorisation, no excuses approaches to discipline and a driven academic ethos where all pupils can thrive.

The aim of the Hub, working with Parent and Teachers for Excellence @PTE_Campaign, is to offer advice, training and support for schools interested in developing this approach. Although the Hub is based at Saint Martin's, we link teachers and school leaders across the midlands, disseminating, sharing and supporting academies and colleagues.
For more information on the services of the Hub click here
Joe Kirby's Blog, Pragmatic Reform, is a brilliant one stop guide to some of the ideas that have been influencing schools like those involved in this movement - Click here.
​

Training & CPD

We offer CPD and training opportunities. Teachers are always welcome to visit Saint Martin's to see an example of how a Knowledge Curriculum can be developed.

Links & Social Media

Saint martin's

Saint Martin's was previously a Leicestershire 11-14 High school which converted to become an 11-16 Academy in 2014 delivering GCSEs for the first time in 2016. Through the inspiration of other great schools that focus on this approach (Thank you Michaela and others!) we have been able to deliver great outcomes at GCSE in an extraordinarily short space of time.

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The Midland Knowledge Schools Hub, based at Saint Martin's Catholic Academy is a network supporting schools and teachers who are trying to develop a Knowledge-rich Curriculum. Saint Martin's, inspired by schools some great schools and educational thinkers, has been developing a curriculum that has at its heart the ambition that pupils will encounter the 'best that has been thought and said'.

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What is it and how might we develop it? Peps Mccrea

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Expert Teaching: What is it, and how might we develop it?

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This paper attempts to pull together the best available evidence from education and beyond and to offer a high-level overview of what expert teaching is.

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Research based on student outcomes from the Chartered College

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Positive greetings at the door * Chartered College of Teaching

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Cook CR, Fiat A, Larson M et al. (2018) Positive Greetings at the Door: Evaluation...

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Retrieval Practice

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Yup, that simple. Retrieval practice can take 5 minutes or less. A few tips:

Have students write down their responses individually. Compared to calling on one student at a time ("cold calling"), individual writing ensures that all students are retrieving.

Do not use this activity for a grade. Keep it no-stakes and emphasize that this is a learning strategy, not an assessment strategy.

Be specific with your prompt. It helps students to know what they're writing and how much they're writing. If you ask them to write down everything they can remember about a specific topic, set a brief time limit. Or, ask for 1-3 things they can remember about a broad topic without a time limit.

If possible, include spacing and feedback, but free recall is still powerful as a standalone activity. To quickly add spacing, ask students to write down what they can remember from yesterday. To quickly add feedback, have students discuss their similarities and differences with each other ("turn and talk") for only a minute or two before moving on.

While brief quizzes may come to mind when you think about retrieval practice, a large proportion of research on retrieval practice uses free recall as the initial retrieval activity. Free recall facilitates learning of past content, future content, and even students' organization of knowledge for a variety of subject areas, basic knowledge, and complex learning. Contrary to its name in the scientific literature, free recall improves students' inferential learning and metacognition, too.

Transforming learning doesn't require a huge investment in instructional time. Use free recall and brain dumps! Make a big impact with a simple, quick strategy for powerful learning.

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Brain Dump: A small strategy with a big impact - Retrieval Practice

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With the end of the semester within sight, we feature a small strategy that makes a big impact on student learning - based on decades of cognitive science research . In scientific lingo, we call it "free recall."

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The Why and How of the Learning Curriculum

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The Why and How of the Learning Curriculum

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Explaining the science of learning to teachers: A handbook for teacher educators

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A revised version of Harry Fletcher-Wood’s guide for teacher educators on how to teach teachers the science of learning. Discover more here.

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Cognitive Load Theory 3 - intrinsic, extraneous, germane.

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Classroom Guide- Understanding Working Memory

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Enhancing Long-Term Memory: 7 Strategies For eLearning Professionals

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Wondering What eLearning Professionals Should Know About Long-Term Memory? Check the Enhancing Long-Term Memory: 7 Strategies For eLearning Professionals.

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In the annals of being a teacher, hoping to see 20 eager hands raised when you've asked a question but seeing only two or three instead is among the most common challenges.

Since this blog is a judgment free zone I just want to say it's ok. We have all, every single one of us, been there.

But is it ok to just call on those 2 or 3 reliable hand raisers every time? No. Is it beneficial to announce to the class (with a bit of edge in your voice), "Do I need to remind you that your participation is graded?" or "I'm seeing the same three hands... I'd like to hear from some of the gentlemen in the back..." Not really.

So what can you do?

Here's a great video of Alonte Johnson, some time English Teacher and full time Dean of Curriculum and Instruction at Uncommon's Leadership Prep Ocean Hill Middle Academy, that shows a high level model of one solution- we call it a "Responsive Turn and Talk" because the Turn and Talk is a response to a low number of hands.

Alonte Johnson.TResponsive Turn and Talk from TLAC Blog on Vimeo.

Alonte's 7th graders are reading Edna St. Vincent Millay's Poem "The Courage That My Mother Had" and Alonte asks, "If she compares her mother's courage to a rock, what associations can we make about how the speaker views her mother?"

He gets two hands. He leaves four or five seconds of Wait Time and augments it by narrating hands, counting off the number he sees slowly ("I see one... two... three hands..." to show they matter to him and he notices who volunteers. He gets two more. Better but still not enough.

Notice he's calm here. No frustration evident. It's a hard question.

So Alonte goes to a Turn and Talk. The presumption here is that if reinforcing the importance of hand raising isn't enough they may well be genuinely stumped. He lets them talk it out and rehearse some initial thoughts for 30 seconds.You'll notice this is a routine for them. They do this all the time and they know how to do it the right way so when he says, "Turn and Talk to your partner. Go!" everyone engages right away. He circulates and engages during the 30 seconds to show he cares about the quality of their thinking.

Pause. He asks for hands again. He's casual and easy going about the question, repeating it in an easy-going tone.This time there are more hands 9 or 10 at least.

He's sure to tell them he notices the difference, making his goal of engaging the class in the discussion transparent: "Love the increased number of hands."

"Track Sakani," he says.

Sakani has had time to think through her thoughts and get confident. And everyone tracking her reinforces their respect for her ideas and the value they place in her contribution. So she pretty much crushes it:

"The daughter is inspired by her mother. She compares her mother to a rock because her mother is durable..." she begins.

So... the recipe here is:

Leave Wait Time

Narrate Hands to Show They Matter

Insert Turn and Talk if Necessary

Remain easy going and supportive in tone while structured and clear on expectations

Hope you'll let me know how it goes if you try it. Thanks to Alonte for sharing his video!

By the way, if you want to help your teachers crush Turn and Talk like Alonte does, our Turn and Talk Plug and Play might be for you!

Alonte Johnson, Turn and Talk, Wait Time

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Things To Do When You Don't Get Many Hands - Teach Like a Champion

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In the annals of being a teacher, hoping to see 20 eager hands raised when you've asked a question but seeing only two or three instead is among the most common challenges. Since this blog is a judgment free zone I just want to say it's ok.

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Best Revision Resources for English Language

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Best Revision Resources for English Language

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The 10 best ways to revise English Language at GCSE (Teachwire)

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10 of the Best Revision Resources for GCSE English Language - Updated for 2018

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10 of the Best Revision Resources for GCSE English Language - Updated for 2018

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Retrieval Practise and Lower Working Memory

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Retrieval Practise and Lower Working Memory

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Study strategies to boost learning

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Google drive full of resources and reflection activities

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Download Our Free Resources – Retrieval Practice

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In our free resources, written by cognitive scientists, we condense research on teaching strategies, why they enhance learning, and how to implement them in the classroom.

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What does it mean for classroom teachers?

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Cognitive Load Theory and what it means for classroom teachers

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Working memory capacity difference, therefore, is one of the main reasons why some students learn less than other students from the same teacher input. However, we should also be aware that the working memory capacity of all humans is very small, even those with a larger than average capacity.

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Sign up to the free monthly Staffordshire Research School newsletter here.

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Staffordshire Research School, part of the Research School Network

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Matt Bromley in Insight Magazine

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Insight mag - foundations of effective teaching

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A different take on modelling which combines Rosenshine Principles and Cognitive Load Theory.

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Live Modelling with PowerPoint's 'Active X Textbox'

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Live Modelling with PowerPoint's 'Active X Textbox'

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Don't have a visualiser but want to model the perfect paragraph with students? Use this handy guide to create your own interactive PowerPoints.

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YES - for targeted questioning. Interesting article from Jarlath O'Brien

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I'd been a teacher for five years when our school got a new headteacher.

This is a big moment in the life of any school; my colleagues and I sat expectantly in the hall on that first day back in September, waiting to get the measure of our new leader.

They spoke incredibly persuasively for 45 minutes (a lesson in making a first impression that I have never forgotten). And one thing they said, in particular, sticks in my brain:

"The single most effective thing you can do to improve behaviour in your class is to have a seating plan."
Quick read: Quick listen: Want to know more? How tidying up my teaching put the joy back in the job What role does executive function play in the classroom? Why some school rules are made to be broken
Looking back on that statement now, I am not sure if it is strictly true, but I do believe it to be important.

There is good research on seating arrangements (how and where you arrange your desks, as opposed to who is actually sitting in those places).

Unsurprisingly, it has found that off-task behaviour is reduced if children sit in rows when working independently (I emphasise this point as it is often lost in Twitter spats on the topic) in order to make inappropriate interactions between peers more inconvenient and more readily apparent to teachers.

Wannarka and Ruhl (2008) conclude: "There is no single classroom seating arrangement that promotes positive behavioural and academic outcomes for all tasks, because the available research clearly indicates that the nature of the task should dictate the arrangement."

Think of drama, PE and early years colleagues, for example - along with those of us who teach in science labs with hexagonal tables fixed to the floor because of gas and water supplies.

Who, where and how

This research is informative, but it seems to me self-evident that who is sitting where and who they are sitting near and next to is at least as important as where those seats are - and probably more so. This is why seating plans are a good idea.

Schools seem to operate in one of three ways:

1. There is no school policy and teachers are free to decide.

2. The school policy is that all teachers will have seating plans, but the teacher retains autonomy over the details.

3. The school has a rule on how children will be seated.

For the record, I prefer the middle option. The third one is rare, but two colleagues I know run schools with strict policies: in one, children sit alphabetically; and in the other, they sit alphabetically but also boy/girl.

I suspect in both cases that there needs to be a degree of flexibility. Not just because of a likely imbalance in boys and girls, but also for children like my daughter who require specific consideration over where they sit (due to a visual impairment, in her case), or where one child has been bullying another.

Unplanned plan

So I recommend a seating plan, but I admit that, in my 19 years of teaching, this plan has sometimes been to allow children to sit where they liked.

In each case, though, I have made it crystal clear that I always retain the right to seat people where I choose without consultation or notice. Interestingly, the older I've got, the less I do this, preferring to avoid the disruption or standoff that sometimes occurs when moving children.

I have found it easier to adjust my own plans, and children tend to be more accepting than to overturn the decision of another child. There is the added benefit for secondary teachers that it can significantly speed up learning the names of all the new children you're teaching.

Lastly, don't forget support staff. If you're lucky enough to have a colleague with you, where in the room they work can make a big difference.

Yes, they are likely to be working with some children more regularly, but precisely where they place themselves can really help to minimise disruption and maintain on-task behaviour.

Jarlath O'Brien is a school leader and physics teacher in Oxfordshire. His latest book Leading Better Behaviour: a guide for school leaders will be published by Corwin in March 2020

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I'd been a teacher for five years when our school got a new headteacher. This is a big moment in the life of any school; my colleagues and I sat expectantly in the hall on that first day back in September, waiting to get the measure of our new leader.

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YES! - Interesting article from Jarlath O'Brien

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I'd been a teacher for five years when our school got a new headteacher.

This is a big moment in the life of any school; my colleagues and I sat expectantly in the hall on that first day back in September, waiting to get the measure of our new leader.

They spoke incredibly persuasively for 45 minutes (a lesson in making a first impression that I have never forgotten). And one thing they said, in particular, sticks in my brain:

"The single most effective thing you can do to improve behaviour in your class is to have a seating plan."
Quick read: Quick listen: Want to know more? How tidying up my teaching put the joy back in the job What role does executive function play in the classroom? Why some school rules are made to be broken
Looking back on that statement now, I am not sure if it is strictly true, but I do believe it to be important.

There is good research on seating arrangements (how and where you arrange your desks, as opposed to who is actually sitting in those places).

Unsurprisingly, it has found that off-task behaviour is reduced if children sit in rows when working independently (I emphasise this point as it is often lost in Twitter spats on the topic) in order to make inappropriate interactions between peers more inconvenient and more readily apparent to teachers.

Wannarka and Ruhl (2008) conclude: "There is no single classroom seating arrangement that promotes positive behavioural and academic outcomes for all tasks, because the available research clearly indicates that the nature of the task should dictate the arrangement."

Think of drama, PE and early years colleagues, for example - along with those of us who teach in science labs with hexagonal tables fixed to the floor because of gas and water supplies.

Who, where and how

This research is informative, but it seems to me self-evident that who is sitting where and who they are sitting near and next to is at least as important as where those seats are - and probably more so. This is why seating plans are a good idea.

Schools seem to operate in one of three ways:

1. There is no school policy and teachers are free to decide.

2. The school policy is that all teachers will have seating plans, but the teacher retains autonomy over the details.

3. The school has a rule on how children will be seated.

For the record, I prefer the middle option. The third one is rare, but two colleagues I know run schools with strict policies: in one, children sit alphabetically; and in the other, they sit alphabetically but also boy/girl.

I suspect in both cases that there needs to be a degree of flexibility. Not just because of a likely imbalance in boys and girls, but also for children like my daughter who require specific consideration over where they sit (due to a visual impairment, in her case), or where one child has been bullying another.

Unplanned plan

So I recommend a seating plan, but I admit that, in my 19 years of teaching, this plan has sometimes been to allow children to sit where they liked.

In each case, though, I have made it crystal clear that I always retain the right to seat people where I choose without consultation or notice. Interestingly, the older I've got, the less I do this, preferring to avoid the disruption or standoff that sometimes occurs when moving children.

I have found it easier to adjust my own plans, and children tend to be more accepting than to overturn the decision of another child. There is the added benefit for secondary teachers that it can significantly speed up learning the names of all the new children you're teaching.

Lastly, don't forget support staff. If you're lucky enough to have a colleague with you, where in the room they work can make a big difference.

Yes, they are likely to be working with some children more regularly, but precisely where they place themselves can really help to minimise disruption and maintain on-task behaviour.

Jarlath O'Brien is a school leader and physics teacher in Oxfordshire. His latest book Leading Better Behaviour: a guide for school leaders will be published by Corwin in March 2020

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I'd been a teacher for five years when our school got a new headteacher. This is a big moment in the life of any school; my colleagues and I sat expectantly in the hall on that first day back in September, waiting to get the measure of our new leader.

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DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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Staff shared>T&L>IMT

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DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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Staff shared>T&L>IMT

# data[].attributes.headline
DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

# data[].attributes.subject
DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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Staff shared>T&L>IMT

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DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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Staff shared>T&L>IMT

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DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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Staff shared>T&L>IMT

# data[].attributes.headline
DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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DON'T FORGET Innovate My Teaching strategies

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Staff shared>T&L>IMT

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4 pillars of effective teacher-teen  relationships

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4 pillars of effective teacher-teen  relationships

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From the ASCD (Association of School and Curriculum Design)

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Mary Ann Ware and Jodi Rath

Teenagers are renowned for wanting more freedom, and their desire for independence is a normal part of adolescent development. What teenagers want and what teenagers need is not always in perfect harmony. Adults who work with teens are often uncertain how to influence young adults whom they can no longer control. They may sabotage their authority by extending too much freedom, expecting too little, or responding to adolescent frustration with harsh words. By establishing the four pillars of consistency, respect, high expectations, and kindness in the classroom, a teacher can build a rapport with teen students that promotes engagement and success.

Consistency

Freedom without consistent rules and routines is a recipe for disaster. Teenagers need the consistency of clear boundaries, balanced schedules, and regular routines to create a safe, predictable environment conducive to success. While it seems paradoxical, consistent boundaries can increase opportunities for teenagers to experiment with their growing autonomy; total freedom often leads to problems, power struggles, and ultimately more restrictions for teens at school and at home.

This is especially evident in online education. When students transition from the traditional school to the online environment, they may be seduced by the freedom and flexibility. Freedom becomes the enemy if students do not have the self-discipline or the oversight at home to establish consistent boundaries, schedules, and routines without a teacher present. Families who establish consistency often see teenagers who struggled flourish in ways they hadn't before. Families who don't establish order may find their teens scrambling to recover academically after a semester online.

Behavioral problems and lower academic growth often plague traditional classrooms without consistency. Homes without predictability increase the probability of strained relationships and personal struggles. Fortunately, there are many online resources where teachers can learn more about setting up rules and routines, preparing students to learn, enforcing rules fairly, and mastering transitions. Schools can also help educate parents about the importance of supporting student success by establishing consistency at home.

Respect

A respected teacher will find it easier to engage, influence, and inspire students. If respect cannot be demanded of students, how can a teacher create it? Students respect a teacher who makes them feel valued. Teachers who are highly respected focus less on impressing their students and more on highlighting the ways that their students impress others.

Being different can be particularly challenging as a teen. Teachers can facilitate prosocial behavior and illuminate the value of multiple perspectives while teaching diverse student populations. Resources like teachingtolerance.org share critical practices for antibias education to help teachers show respect for the qualities that make each student unique, while teaching students to respect each other's differences.

Teachers may inadvertently foster competition in the classroom, creating a hierarchy of power in which high-achieving students are perceived as more respected than students who are struggling. Such a hierarchy can affect struggling students' self-esteem and decrease teacher influence with the students who may need it most. By focusing on growth rather than achievement, the teacher creates an equal playing field, giving each student's hard work equal value. This both shows respect and garners it.

High Expectations

There will always be students who do not want to be pushed academically. I (Jodi) taught at a district that had an Ohio Work Education (OWE) program, and these students were in my first period English class. Many of them did not like academics and thought that because their jobs paid them, they didn't need school. They were always tired in my class, and having to read and write didn't help. They wanted to be able to sit together in a group in the back of the classroom.

They highly respected their OWE teacher. I had a private conversation with her about my expectations for them. She was a pistol of a teacher and wanted to rip into them-and they would have listened to her, momentarily. I asked our administration if we could get a substitute for her first period one day so that she and I could have a conference with the students. We created an agenda listing our expectations and reasons for these expectations. We also asked for their input to make the class successful. We negotiated that, as long as they met expectations, they could sit together in the middle of the room. We committed to meeting quarterly to reflect on how things were going.

I worried that these students would take advantage of this set up or think I wasn't strict enough, but because we laid it all out, arranged consequences, and allowed them to be heard, they were on board. Students who had barely passed previous English courses were achieving Bs in my class.

These resources can help you promote high expectations for students:

Concordia University Blog post offers suggestions for timely feedback-prioritize grading and comments so students know you are expecting a lot of yourself as well.

Kid's Health provides information an educator can give to parents who want to know how to support their teen in high school. Edutopia provides some stats and simple, daily things to do in the classroom to promote high expectations.

Kindness

When I (Jodi) taught seniors, my substitute teachers would say they could not believe how respectful my students were toward them, but they would have those same students in other classrooms, and many of those same students showed disrespect. Why? I can only think of two reasons. One is that I made it a point daily to say "please" and "thank you" to every student. My students quickly picked up on my manners and would do the same. The second reason is that my students knew I had high expectations for their behavior and the quality of their work. I did not let casual carelessness creep into our classroom community. For example, if a student threw something in the trash can, missed, and then ignored it saying, "That's what the janitor gets paid to do," it was a launchpad to discuss character as a class. Additional resources to promote kindness in the classroom include two articles from PBS and Medium.

Teaching teens is equal parts challenge and reward. If you can build your classroom on the four pillars of consistency, respect, high expectations, and kindness, you will create a platform for teens to thrive in school and in their lives after graduation.

Mary Ann Ware is in her 16th year of teaching high school English. Her blog is stillchasingfireflies.com. Jodi Rath is in her 20th year as an educator. Find out more about her business, MYS ED LLC, at www.jodirath.com.

ASCD Express, Vol. 14, No. 26. Copyright 2019 by ASCD. All rights reserved. Visit www.ascd.org/ascdexpress.

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4 Must-Haves for Positive Teacher-Teen Relationships

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Mary Ann Ware and Jodi Rath Teenagers are renowned for wanting more freedom, and their desire for independence is a normal part of adolescent development. What teenagers want and what teenagers need is not always in perfect harmony. Adults who work with teens are often uncertain how to influence young adults whom they can no longer control.

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Opportunities to maximise feedback by checking understanding on mass

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Opportunities to maximise feedback by checking understanding on mass

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Tweet from John Tomsett (08/10/2019)

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Tweet from John Tomsett (08/10/2019)

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Structuring your checking of understanding  

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Structuring your checking of understanding  

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From Tom Sherrington

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The #1 problem/weakness in teaching and how to address it.

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I see a lot of lessons - hundreds of them in multiple contexts - and I'm going to suggest that there is one very common challenge that teachers face that is often not addressed well enough, even by experienced teachers. In my view, it's the single biggest reason for lessons being ineffective or certainly less...

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A shift in teacher mindset and practice required - from Tom Sherrington

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The #1 problem/weakness in teaching and how to address it.

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I see a lot of lessons - hundreds of them in multiple contexts - and I'm going to suggest that there is one very common challenge that teachers face that is often not addressed well enough, even by experienced teachers. In my view, it's the single biggest reason for lessons being ineffective or certainly less...

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A shift in thinking and classroom culture from Tom Sherrington

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The #1 problem/weakness in teaching and how to address it.

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I see a lot of lessons - hundreds of them in multiple contexts - and I'm going to suggest that there is one very common challenge that teachers face that is often not addressed well enough, even by experienced teachers. In my view, it's the single biggest reason for lessons being ineffective or certainly less...

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Aimed at Maths but lots of takeaway points and signposts to further research at the end.

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October 2019 Research updates available here

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In partnership with the Institute for Effective Education (IEE)
Every month The National College provide the Institute for Effective Education's 'Best Evidence in Brief' roundup in video format; focusing on stories with practical implications for schools and policy makers, including only high quality research from around the world.

About The Expert

Jonathan Haslam

Find out more

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In partnership with the Institute for Effective Education (IEE) Every month The National College provide the Institute for Effective Education's 'Best Evidence in Brief' roundup in video format; focusing on stories with practical implications for schools and policy makers, including only high quality research from around the world.

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Teaching for Mastery in Mathematics

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Working Memory in Mathematica

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Variation Theory in Maths

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That’s a claim! Key Concepts for thinking critically about educational claims

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What and how should we teach young people? There are lots of claims about what is and isn't effective, many of which you will have come across. For example, there are claims that extending the school day improves pupils' learning, increases attendance, and adds to teacher stress. How can you know which of these claims are trustworthy? And how should you decide when to act on claims like these?
An educational 'intervention' refers to any kind of change to the practices within a school that is intended to achieve better pupil outcomes - for example, restructuring the curriculum or introducing a new teaching method. An effect is something an intervention makes happen - - like improving pupil attainment or reducing the incidence of problem behaviours.

People make lots of claims about the effects of interventions. How can we tell which claims are right or wrong? To do this, you need to look at what supports their claim - its basis. For example, someone's personal experience is not by itself a good basis for a claim about what is effective teaching. This is because we don't know what would have happened if that person had done something else.

To know if a treatment (like extending the school day) causes an effect (like improved attainment), the intervention has to be compared to something else (like not extending the school day). Researchers compare an intervention given to people in one group with something else given to people in another group. Those comparisons provide evidence - facts to support a conclusion about whether a claim is right or wrong. For those comparisons to be fair, the only important difference between the groups should be the interventions they receive.

A good choice is one that uses the best information available at the time. For education choices, this includes using the best available evidence of intervention effects. Good choices don't guarantee good outcomes, but they make good outcomes more likely.

Claims, comparisons, and choices
Claims: Many claims about the effects of interventions are not trustworthy. Often this is because the basis for the claim is not trustworthy. The first (pink) group of guides are things you should watch out for when you hear or read an education claim. BEWARE of claims that are too good to be true, that are based on faulty logic, or that are based on trust alone.

Comparisons: It is always a good idea to question what evidence there is to support a claim. Evidence about the effects of interventions comes from intervention comparisons. The second (yellow) group of guides can help you decide how trustworthy that evidence is. Make sure that intervention comparisons are FAIR, that summaries of studies comparing interventions are reliable, and that you are not misled by the way that interventions effects are described.

Choices: Knowing how trustworthy the evidence is can help you make good choices. But there are other things you need to think about when you decide what to do and what not to do in schools. The third (blue) group of guides can help you make good choices. TAKE CARE when you decide what to do. Think carefully about what your problem is and what your options are, whether the evidence is relevant, and whether the advantages are better than the disadvantages.
Using the guides
Claims about the effects of interventions that are not supported by trustworthy evidence often turn out to be wrong. Consequently, people who believe and act on these claims waste resources and suffer unnecessarily by doing things that do not help and might be harmful, and by not doing things that do help.

We developed the Assessing Claims in Education (ACE) Key Concepts as part of a research project to help people make informed choices across a range of fields, including education. The original Key Concepts were developed for health and have been adapted here for an educational context. The ACE Key Concepts are the starting point for developing learning resources, such as this website. Descriptions of all the concepts are available here, and summarise in this poster. An introduction to the Key Concepts, with school-based examples, is available here.

The website, poster and introductory summary can be used in different ways. For example, by finding examples of educational claims in the media and - using the guides - thinking critically and discussing how trustworthy those claims are and what you would do. The resources could feed into a training session for staff, support the decision making of a Senior Leadership Team, or be used by the governing body.

Please contact us and share your experience using this website and any suggestions you have.

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What and how should we teach young people? There are lots of claims about what is and isn't effective, many of which you will have come across. For example, there are claims that extending the school day improves pupils' learning, increases attendance, and adds to teacher stress.

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Links to positive reinforcement on Pivotal Education's webpage

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We have taken the principle of positive notes home and adapted them for use inside your setting. Provide teachers, learners and visitors the opportunity to reward great behaviour.

This is the price for 10 pads, 1000 A5 sheets in total.

These can be purchased individually, or as a refill for our Behaviour Stars Box.

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You searched for positive - Pivotal Education

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We have taken the principle of positive notes home and adapted them for use inside your setting. Provide teachers, learners and visitors the opportunity to reward great behaviour. This is the price for 10 pads, 1000 A5 sheets in total. These can be purchased individually, or as a refill for our Behaviour Stars Box.

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Question types, wait time, probing etc.

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Seven Simple Rules for Science Teaching 

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Seven Simple Rules for Science Teaching 

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From the Royal Society of Chemistry - linked to the Education Endowment Foundation's Improving Secondary Science Guidance Report.

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The Royal Society of Chemistry will soon be launching a new website that will bring together all of the support that we offer for chemistry teaching in one place - including Education in Chemistry.

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The Royal Society of Chemistry will soon be launching a new website that will bring together all of the support that we offer for chemistry teaching in one place - including Education in Chemistry.

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by Alex Quigley

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5 Vocabulary Activities for the New School Year

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With a new school year comes the promise of new classes and fresh opportunities. For many teachers, trialling novel strategies around vocabulary instruction will be the order of the day,... | Teachwire News

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Modelling & Cognitive Load Theory in the practical classroom

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Modelling & Cognitive Load Theory in the practical classroom

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Chartered College of Teaching article

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The basis of teaching in a practical classroom, such as art and design or design technology, is the much repeated and reliable teacher-led demonstration. These demonstrations or modelling approaches allow the teacher to inform, instruct and guide students in their own practical outcomes; however, only recently have I considered the impact of cognitive load theory (CLT) upon how I deliver a modelling session to students.

Much has been mentioned recently on Twitter, in articles like this and in discussion at many school INSET and CPD sessions about CLT and the implications that it can have on us as teachers and our planning of the curriculum; we are encouraged to improve our instructional procedures in the classroom, ensuring that our teaching is tailored to students' knowledge and skills. Use of worked examples is key, as is the removal of inessential information and simplifying complex information by presenting it both orally and visually. However, the research is often heavily weighted towards those subjects that deliver lessons where theory teaching is prevalent, not classrooms where creativity and practical outcomes are a key component and a necessity for successful progression.

Gathercole and Alloway (2007) have stated that the working memory has a limited capacity, and handling too much information or engaging in a demanding task can overwhelm the working memory of students; this builds upon the initial research from Sweller et al. (1998), which asserts that the working memory of our mind can only handle a limited amount of information at one time. With this understanding in mind, my approach to demonstrations over the last year of teaching has adapted in an attempt to support student progress through the application of CLT.

The approach to modelling I initially took was to evaluate my current success rate of student understanding whilst I model a new technique; immediately, before checking student outcomes, it was clear that I used a lot of instructions, some not completely pertinent to the demonstration that I was completing. These wordy demonstrations completely discounted the processing capacity of my students, and this was evident in their outcomes. Within an introduction to the sewing machine lesson, students who succeeded had managed to follow my instructions or asked for support from their peers, whilst those students who needed further support asked considerably more questions or were on the verge of refusing to complete the task.

It then became necessary that I detailed for myself exactly what I wanted to discuss in my modelling, and explained that to students before completing the teacher-led demonstration. For example, in a GCSE art lesson, I was explicit that students must watch my control of the paintbrush when using acrylic paint and not concern themselves with the colour-mixing process. With Year 7 textiles, I decided to make the explicit skill a question that they could answer: how do you complete a successful straight line of sewing on the sewing machine? My modelling to students took a more focused approach and did have a positive impact upon the outcomes; however, it did then mean that, as a result, I was doing more teacher-led modelling sessions to cover all the skill and knowledge that I wished to in one lesson. This was not an approach I wished to maintain in the long term, as it made the modelling and learning process fragmented and unmanageable in the space of an hour's lesson. Therefore, I decided to spend time improving the teacher instruction, which hopefully will lead to the students doing more and doing it better.

After a discussion with a colleague in maths, I was directed to an article by Linsin, 'Why silent modelling is a powerful strategy' (2014). Within this article, Linsin asserts that when you model in silence, you are assured of providing the purest form of instruction. With this in mind, I again adapted my approach to modelling in lessons. This was by no means an easy task; I feel at a loss in demonstrations when I am not talking, and I was once reminded by a Year 7 that I shouldn't be talking.

When modelling in silence, it was clear that both my and student focus were much more intense; a member of staff who observed me silent-model commented on how attentive the students were whilst I was on the sewing machine. It by no means has been an easy approach to modelling; my GCSE classes are much more reticent about watching a silent demonstration and their attention wains far quicker than my Year 7 classes. With the younger years, it is evident that they are more adaptable to new modelling techniques in the classroom, but they also enjoy watching a process come to fruition, whereas the older years are used to being told what to do and how to do it, and have been slower to follow the process and show success in comparison to Year 7 and 8 students. Having explored silent modelling in several practical demonstrations, my overriding concern was that if students missed a step, or if I didn't make a step clear to understand for novice learners who had never seen a teacher demonstration previously and did not know what to look for, how would they feel in the lesson regarding their working memory and lesson outcomes? How would they keep up with the practical process without the feeling of being overwhelmed by information?

It became necessary to find a way that I could still use silent modelling successfully; students would still watch a silent demonstration, but I would support it further with visuals. I had previously trialled showing them online videos of artists working and they had responded well to these and to the related discussions, so I utilised technology to record videos of myself completing the tasks that they would soon be required to do themselves. Instead of recording the whole task, I focused on just key skills that they would need, and played the videos on loop throughout the lesson to complement the initial silent demonstration and support working memory without overloading the students. The student outcomes from this approach were much improved for Years 10 and 11, and student voice from the lesson was clear that the combined approach was something they preferred.

Reflecting on my experience, I like how silence during a demonstration focuses attention - attention being another limited resource, like working memory (Weinstein et al., 2018). As the younger students progress through their creative education, they will have become used to silent modelling and there will be none of the reticence I received from Year 10 and 11 students this year.

Taking this idea forward, it is clear that silent modelling must be more carefully planned in terms of the teacher-led direction and the key skills that you wish students to practically use and develop. When supported with other forms of instruction and planning, silence during modelling in a practical classroom can help to reduce the burden on students' working memory and hopefully, in turn, lead to greater, more successful outcomes.

References

Gathercole SE and Alloway TP (2007) Understanding working memory: A classroom guide. Available at: www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WM-classroom-guide.pdf (accessed 5 August 2019).

Linsin M (2014) Why silent modelling is a powerful strategy. In: Smart Classroom Management. Available at: www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2014/09/27/why-silent-modeling-is-a-powerful-strategy (accessed 5 August 2019).

Sweller J, van Merrienboer JJG and Paas FGWC (1998) Cognitive architecture and instructional design. Educational Psychology Review 10(3): 251-296.

Weinstein Y, Sumeracki M and Caviglioli O (2018) Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide. Abingdon: Routledge.

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Cognitive Load Theory explored through modelling in the practical classroom | impact.chartered.college

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The basis of teaching in a practical classroom, such as art and design or design technology, is the much repeated and reliable teacher-led demonstration. These demonstrations or modelling approaches allow the teacher to inform, instruct and guide students in their own practical outcomes; however, on

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Blog by Adam Boxer

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Language learning- the best way to teach

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Language learning- the best way to teach

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Research based article on the best way to teach a second language.

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It doesn't have to be all fun and games. Shutterstock

People often assume that children learn new languages easily and without effort, regardless of the situation they find themselves in. But is it really true that children soak up language like sponges?

Research has shown that children are highly successful learners if they have a lot of exposure to a new language over a long time, such as in the case of child immigrants who are surrounded by the new language all day, every day. In such a scenario, children become much more proficient in the new language over the long term than adults.

But if the amount of language children are exposed to is limited, as in classroom language learning, children are slow learners and overall less successful than teenagers or adults. How can we explain this apparent contrast?

Researchers have argued that children learn implicitly, that is, without conscious thought, reflection or effort. And implicit learning requires a large amount of language input over a long period of time.

As we get older, we develop the ability to learn explicitly - that is, analytically and with deliberate effort. Put differently, adults approach the learning task like scientists. This explains why more mature classroom learners have greater success: they can draw on more highly developed, efficient, explicit learning processes which also require more effort.

Which is best?

When it comes to learning a language, however, it is not a question of either implicit or explicit learning. They can coexist, so it is more often a question of how much of each approach is used.

In our new study, we asked whether younger children who are generally thought to learn implicitly had already developed some ability to learn explicitly as well. What's more, we looked at whether the ability to analyse language can predict foreign language learning success in the classroom.

We worked with over 100 Year 4 children, aged eight to nine, in five primary schools in England. The children took a number of tests, including a measure of their language learning aptitude, which assessed their ability to analyse language (language-analytic ability), to memorise language material (memory ability) and to handle language sounds (phonological awareness).

Over one school year, the children participated in language classes for 75 minutes per week. For this purpose, they were divided into four groups.

In the first half of the school year, each group was taught, respectively, German, Italian, Esperanto or Esperanto with a "focus-on-form method". This method involved the teacher drawing the children's attention to regular patterns in the language, asked them to think about what particular parts of words might mean or how sentences are put together in the language, for example. In other words, the children were encouraged to use their language-analytic ability, taking an explicit approach.

In the other groups, language was taught in a way that is typically used at primary school, that is, entirely playfully with games, songs and worksheets. This method is more likely to result in implicit learning.

Shutterstock

In the second half of the school year, all groups experienced the same type of language class: they all learned French, taught with a focus-on-form method. For our study, we assessed the children's progress in French over the second half of the school year and then looked at whether any components of their aptitude - language-analytic ability, memory ability, phonological awareness - would predict their success in learning French.

If children learn implicitly, we would expect that memory ability would be most important. In other words, the ability to pick up language material as you hear and see it is most relevant. If children learn above all explicitly, we would expect that language-analytic ability would be most important.

The results

Differently to what people might expect, we found that the children's language-analytic ability was most important, followed by phonological awareness. These two abilities contributed to predicting the children's achievement in French, while memory ability was only marginally relevant. This suggests that children as young as eight or nine years can indeed learn explicitly to some extent, if the teaching method they experience encourages them to engage in analysis of the language to be learned.

Our results are in line with a previous study which directly compared children and adults experiencing different teaching methods. Here the researcher also found that learners' use of an explicit approach in the foreign language classroom did not exclusively depend on age, but on how learners were taught. This means that even younger children can approach a learning task like scientists.

Of course, it is important to note that children of primary school age are still developing their ability to learn explicitly. Therefore, we cannot expect to teach them languages in exactly the same way as we would teach teenagers or adults. But some activities that encourage children to consciously reflect on and analyse the language material to be learned can be introduced to make best use of the limited class time that is available for foreign language teaching.

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What's the best way to teach children a second language? New research produces surprising results

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People often assume that children learn new languages easily and without effort, regardless of the situation they find themselves in. But is it really true that children soak up language like sponges?

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 

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50 strategies shared on twitter by Lawn Manor Academy, Swindon

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Rosenshine's Principles V Lemov's Teach Like a Champion

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Should I use a visualiser to model writing? 

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Should I use a visualiser to model writing? 

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Bradford Research School blog

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Should I use a Visualiser to Model Writing?

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visualisers could improve the quality of explanation and modelling if they enable teachers to show pupils a wider range of high-quality models than they would otherwise be able to, or if teachers use the visualiser to increase the precision with which they explain worked examples, which has consistently been found to increase learning (e.g.

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From Bradford Research School

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Should I use a Visualiser to Model Writing?

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visualisers could improve the quality of explanation and modelling if they enable teachers to show pupils a wider range of high-quality models than they would otherwise be able to, or if teachers use the visualiser to increase the precision with which they explain worked examples, which has consistently been found to increase learning (e.g.

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from the Institute of Effective Education

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Education Endowment Foundation  - @EducEndowFoundn
Research Schools - @rs_network
Stephen Fraser - @EEFStephenF
ASCD - @ASCD
CUREE - @CUREE_official
Sutton Trust - @suttontrust
Alex Quigley - @HuntingEnglish
David Weston @informed_edu
Tom Sherrington - @teacherhead
Shaun Allison - @shaun_allison
Cat Scutt - @CatScutt

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The National Forest Teaching School @ John Taylor

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Tweets by NftSchool

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The beneficial side-effects of retrieval practice

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The beneficial side-effects of retrieval practice

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Andy Tharby @atharby

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Cognitive Load Theory Research the Teacher Really Need to Understand

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Cognitive Load Theory Research the Teacher Really Need to Understand

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For the classroom on P6 & 7

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from Tom Sherrington @Teacherhead

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There are several superb summaries of educational research that have been compiled into easily accessible websites and articles in pdf format that can be read online and shared with staff. Although they are easy to find via an internet search, I am pulling them together into one place for easy access. I'll keep adding to it as I find things and when people make suggestions:
John Dunlosky: Strengthening the Student Toolbox

Click to Download

Barak Rosenshine: Principles of Instruction

See also: Rosenshine Re-ordered. A Poster by @olicav
Rob Coe et al: What makes great teaching. Dylan Wiliam: 9 things every teacher should know- via tes
The article is here: https://www.tes.com/news/dylan-wiliam-nine-things-every-teacher-should-know with a nice box inset about that researchers - many of whom are featured in the other summaries represented here.
James Ko et al: Effective Teaching
John Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory, summarised by Oliver Caviglioli for How2.

Here's another great paper from CESE in New South Wales on Cognitive Load Theory - with thanks to Matthew Benyohai: Summary on page 7 is very helpful.

Daniel Willingham' s Why don't kids like school. Summary.

And here's a link to Willingham's American Educator article:

The Learning Scientists - downloadable materials

Yeager, Walton and Cohen: Addressing achievement gaps with psychological interventions.

Also, for quick reference:

EEF Toolkit: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/resources/teaching-learning-toolkit
Chris Husbands and Jo Pearce: Nine claims from research
American Psychology Association Top 20 Principles from Psychology

There's a quick access summary of the 20 principles here:

Clark, Kirschner and Sweller - A readable version of their research into guided (and minimally guided) instruction.

Education Endowment Foundation report on Metacognition: by Professor Daniel Muijs et al .

Robert Slavin on Cooperative Learning - Group work - a short helpful summary via CUREE.
Arthur Shimamura: MARGE: A whole brain learning approach.
See also: Introducing MARGE: A superb ebook about learning by Arthur Shimamura.
Bjork: Desirable Difficulties:
See also: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/desirable-difficulties which includes an excellent video presentation by Robert and Elizabeth Bjork.
The Great Teaching Toolkit
This superb review from Evidence Based Education is a definite must-read. It's a very comprehensive guide to most of the ideas above - grouped into four categories. Download it here

This is summarised in this brilliant A4 summary:

IES Practice Guide Organizing instruction and study to improve student learning -
As recommended by Dylan Wiliam:

Just realized that I've never tweeted a link to the IES's 2007 Practice Guide on "Organizing instruction and study to improve student learning": https://t.co/VU0LJdM4hB. The checklist makes a much better placemat than most of the quick reference guides offered to teachers. pic.twitter.com/onmAYxJvzG
- Dylan Wiliam (@dylanwiliam) October 29, 2020

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Teaching and Learning Research Summaries: A collection for easy access.

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There are several superb summaries of educational research that have been compiled into easily accessible websites and articles in pdf format that can be read online and shared with staff. Although they are easy to find via an internet search, I am pulling them together into one place for easy access.

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Nick Rose - Memory Research for the Classroom 

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Nick Rose - Memory Research for the Classroom 

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Slides from the 2019 John Taylor MAT Conference

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Immediate feedback through live marking in Science

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This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

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Institute for Effective Education (IEE) 

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Institute for Effective Education (IEE) 

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The Effect of immediate live marking on progress research
https://the-iee.org.uk/what-we-do/innovation-evaluation-grants/live-marking/

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Surgeons learn about the body before operating. So why don't more teachers learn about the brain before educating? In this free white paper, McREL CEO Bryan Goodwin makes the case for incorporating brain science into the practice of teaching. Knowing how memory works can suggest classroom tactics that aid the acquisition and recall of information, he says. Furthermore, adopting a model for learning, rather than relying solely on the increasingly common (and increasingly detailed) instructional framework, can help teachers layer innovation upon tradition, in much the same way that models help screenwriters and composers to be creative within the audience's expectations.

Goodwin, B. (2018) Student learning that works: How brain science informs a student learning model. Denver, CO: McREL International.

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White Paper | Student Learning That Works: How brain science informs a student learning model (2018) - McREL International

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Surgeons learn about the body before operating. So why don't more teachers learn about the brain before educating? In this free white paper, McREL CEO Bryan Goodwin makes the case for incorporating brain science into the practice of teaching. Knowing how memory works can suggest classroom tactics that aid the acquisition and recall of information, he says.

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White Paper from McREL international

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Surgeons learn about the body before operating. So why don't more teachers learn about the brain before educating? In this free white paper, McREL CEO Bryan Goodwin makes the case for incorporating brain science into the practice of teaching. Knowing how memory works can suggest classroom tactics that aid the acquisition and recall of information, he says. Furthermore, adopting a model for learning, rather than relying solely on the increasingly common (and increasingly detailed) instructional framework, can help teachers layer innovation upon tradition, in much the same way that models help screenwriters and composers to be creative within the audience's expectations.

Goodwin, B. (2018) Student learning that works: How brain science informs a student learning model. Denver, CO: McREL International.

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White Paper | Student Learning That Works: How brain science informs a student learning model (2018) - McREL International

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Surgeons learn about the body before operating. So why don't more teachers learn about the brain before educating? In this free white paper, McREL CEO Bryan Goodwin makes the case for incorporating brain science into the practice of teaching. Knowing how memory works can suggest classroom tactics that aid the acquisition and recall of information, he says.

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Learning: What is it and how might we catalyse it? 

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Learning: What is it and how might we catalyse it? 

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Paper by Peps Mccrea from the Ambition Institute  https://www.ambition.org.uk/

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This second edition of 'Learning: What is it, and how might we catalyse it?' by our Dean of Learning Design, Peps Mccrea, has been produced to share our thinking, guide our programmes, and stimulate discussion around the nature of learning and teaching.

This updated paper provides a coherent, high-level overview of the domain - organised around nine insights, with a taste of what the implications of these insights are for our classrooms.

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Learning: What is it, and how might we catalyse it?

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This second edition of 'Learning: What is it, and how might we catalyse it?' by our Dean of Learning Design, Peps Mccrea, has been produced to share our thinking, guide our programmes, and stimulate discussion around the nature of learning and teaching.

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Learning: What is it and how might we catalyse it?

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Learning: What is it and how might we catalyse it?

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Paper by Peps Mccrea
See Insight 3 & 4 for Attention

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This second edition of 'Learning: What is it, and how might we catalyse it?' by our Dean of Learning Design, Peps Mccrea, has been produced to share our thinking, guide our programmes, and stimulate discussion around the nature of learning and teaching.

This updated paper provides a coherent, high-level overview of the domain - organised around nine insights, with a taste of what the implications of these insights are for our classrooms.

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Learning: What is it, and how might we catalyse it?

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This second edition of 'Learning: What is it, and how might we catalyse it?' by our Dean of Learning Design, Peps Mccrea, has been produced to share our thinking, guide our programmes, and stimulate discussion around the nature of learning and teaching.

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T&L @ John Taylor High School

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The Staffordshire Research School @ John Taylor

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Tweets by JTStaffsRSch

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Research-Based Strategies that all Teachers Should Know

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By Mark Esner

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Here's a roundup of tech tools that harness retrieval practice and provide features in line with the science of learning. Each tech tool has free options, can be used during and outside of class, and includes instant feedback.

is platform where students respond to brief prompts via informal videos. Powerful for both K-12 and higher education, students engage in without even knowing it. Bonus: Students can respond to each other's videos for interactive and elaborative .

has a "Remind" feature for , providing a desirable difficulty in a low-stakes environment . Bonus: Instead of worksheets, assign Kahoots for homework and even more retrieval practice at home.

have a "Live View" feature that provides for teachers and students, promoting metacognition and transfer of knowledge . Bonus: Students don't use cell phones during class! Students hold up cards with QR-like codes that you can scan using only your device. Perfect for large classes.

PollEverywhere includes many question formats, including open ended polls and Q&A formats. Bonus: PollEverywhere integrates well with PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Keynote. You don't have to launch a separate app.

has a feature where students view questions until they've correctly answered twice. This is supported by research on successive relearning , or the importance of retrieving multiple times, not just once. Bonus: Quizlet is a great tool for students to create and use flashcards outside of class, too.

has a "Jumble" feature that mixes up content - perfect for . Bonus: The random order makes it tough for students to .

includes multiple-choice and short answer questions for retrieval practice. Research demonstrates that both types of questions boost learning . Bonus: Socrative works well on the fly and also for exit tickets.

A few things to keep in mind:

We have not been paid to recommend or endorse these tech tools. We like them because they boost learning with research-based features!

Tech tools promote engagement and motivation, but make sure you emphasize the benefits for learning , too.

Research demonstrates that tech tools can decrease anxiety and increase anxiety . Avoid competitive activities and focus on retrieval.

These tech tools work great for teachers, and more are available for students, including Anki, TrueLearn, and StudyBlue.

For more recommendations on harnessing tech tools for retrieval practice, check out the podcast/blog Teaching in Higher Ed and the blog by Matt Miller .

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Recommended tech tools to make retrieval practice quick and easy - Retrieval Practice

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There are lots of tech tools that make retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, and feedback quick and easy. How can you sort through all of them? We've done the work for you. Check out our recommendations! Also, join the Powerful Teaching book tour in a city near you !

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EEF Report - Improving Secondary Science

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EEF Report - Improving Secondary Science

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While these preconceptions can be hard to shift, presenting pupils with compelling evidence that contradicts them can be a good way to move thinking on. For example, many pupils find it hard to understand that the space between gas particles is empty and will often say it is filled with ​air', ​dust', or ​'bacteria'. However, showing that it is possible to compress a gas, for example by pushing down a syringe, is a good way of opening a discussion about what this means about the spaces between gas particles.

Building on pupils' preconceptions is one of seven recommendations in today's report designed to support secondary schools to provide every pupil - but particularly those from disadvantaged homes - with a high-quality and well-rounded grounding in science and an interest that may lead them to further study. Improving Secondary Science reviews the best available research to offer science teachers practical classroom suggestions.

Previous research by the EEF and the Royal Society found that there is a gap in science outcomes between disadvantaged pupils and their classmates at every stage in the education system. The gap first becomes apparent at Key Stage 1 (ages 5 - 7) and only gets wider throughout primary and secondary school and on to A‑level.

This earlier research found that it is not lack of motivation to learn science that is contributing to the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their better-off classmates. Analysis of attainment data found that the biggest predictors of pupils' attainment in science are their levels of literacy and their scientific reasoning ability.

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seven practical recommendations focused on improving science teaching

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particularly for disadvantaged pupils almost all pupils develop their own explanations for science concepts before they learn about them in lessons but their ideas about things like ‘how plants grow’ or ‘how we see things’ don’t always align with scientific understanding

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according to new guidance for improving science teaching published today by the education endowment foundation (eef) however

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the report suggests that teachers can harness these common misconceptions to improve pupils’ learning.   according to the 'improving secondary science' report

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put together by a panel of teachers and leading experts

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teachers should have a clear understanding of the common misconceptions in the area they’re teaching so that they know the issues that are likely to be problematic for their pupils. teachers should also work to uncover the specific misconceptions their pupils hold through class and group discussion

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before moving on to challenge these.  improving secondary science reviews the best available research to offer science teachers practical classroom suggestions.  while these preconceptions can be hard to shift

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presenting pupils with compelling evidence that contradicts them can be a good way to move thinking on. for example

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many pupils find it hard to understand that the space between gas particles is empty and will often say it is filled with ‘air’

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showing that it is possible to compress a gas

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is a good way of opening a discussion about what this means about the spaces between gas particles. building on pupils’ preconceptions is one of seven recommendations in today’s report designed to support secondary schools to provide every pupil – but particularly those from disadvantaged homes - with a high-quality and well-rounded grounding in science and an interest that may lead them to further study. improving secondary science reviews the best available research to offer science teachers practical classroom suggestions. previous research by the eef and the royal society found that there is a gap in science outcomes between disadvantaged pupils and their classmates at every stage in the education system. the gap first becomes apparent at key stage 1 (ages 5-7) and only gets wider throughout primary and secondary school and on to a-level. this earlier research found that it is not lack of motivation to learn science that is contributing to the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their better-off classmates. analysis of attainment data found that the biggest predictors of pupils’ attainment in science are their levels of literacy and their scientific reasoning ability.  the biggest predictors of pupils' attainment in science are their levels of literacy and their scientific reasoning ability.  a second recommendation in today’s report focuses on developing pupils’ scientific vocabulary to support them to read and write about science. according to the report

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“learning science involves learning a whole new language and it is important that you develop pupils’ fluency in that language.” while pupils need to learn scientific words like photosynthesis or carbon dioxide

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they struggle most with familiar words that have a different meaning in science. the report recommends that pupils are explicitly taught words that have a different meaning in science - like valid

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random or spontaneous – so that they can understand and interpret scientific texts. the other five recommendations focus on:  using models to develop understanding developing children’s abilities to self-regulate aspects of their learning. supporting pupils’ memory skills

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so that they can retain and retrieve knowledge. using experiments purposefully. using structured feedback to move on pupils’ thinking.  sir kevan collins

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chief executive of the education endowment foundation

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said:  many pupils come up with their own explanations for the science concepts they meet on a daily basis

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New EEF guidance report published: Improving Secondary Science

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tackling pupils' scientific misconceptions is difficult, but can lead to big gains in learning