Occasional Review of Previously Learned Material Helps Our Memory for That Material by
R esearch on effective learning reveals that an atrocious lot of what goes on in the classroom only doesn't affair. There are many pointless activities that take up valuable time in the name of engagement, merely demonstrating progress as opposed to actually making progress. Often, these approaches not but have limited touch on on student learning simply can take a hugely detrimental impact on teacher workload and wellbeing.
There is pregnant prove to propose that teachers should prune back what they do and focus on a more streamlined approach in the classroom. Then information technology's less nigh spending hours cutting things upwards and putting them in envelopes, and more about creating conditions in which students can proceeds long-lasting knowledge that can be applied in a range of situations. The following half-dozen principles are a distillation of key research on what actually matters in the classroom.
Revisit previous learning
A cadre element of effective learning is that a class is exposed to new information a number of times. For educational activity researcher Graham Nuthall, students should encounter a new concept on at to the lowest degree iii separate occasions in guild to learn information technology properly. The get-go of a lesson is an fantabulous place to consolidate previous learning and to create a sense of continuity as Barak Rosenshine notes (pdf):
The most effective teachers in the studies of classroom pedagogy understood the importance of exercise, and they began their lessons with a five- to viii-minute review of previously covered fabric. Some teachers reviewed vocabulary, formulae, events, or previously learned concepts. These teachers provided additional practice on facts and skills that were needed for recall to get automatic.
Check for understanding
This is a deft skill that needs both a strong knowledge of your students and an understanding of common misconceptions. Various techniques can achieve this, but probably the nigh useful tool in the box volition be judicious questioning that is both open and closed in nature and, crucially, informs what you will do next. Dylan Wiliam suggests that "hinge-point questions" are of great use here:
Firstly, it should take no longer than two minutes, and ideally less than 1 infinitesimal, for all students to answer to the questions; the idea is that the hinge-signal question is a quick check on understanding, rather than a new piece of work in itself. Second, it must be possible for the teacher to view and translate the responses from the class in xxx seconds.
Mark student work is another good fashion of checking understanding – only doesn't need to be an onerous job. Some marker should simply function equally a quick signpost to the teacher of how they could adapt their teaching in response to what students have or accept not learned.
Give feedback on students, not piece of work
Once a teacher gets into the addiction of regularly checking for understanding, they are in a position to provide meaningful feedback. But marking and feedback are not the same thing. A cardinal attribute of a successful classroom is that feedback is given to improve the student rather than the work, as Wiliam points out:
Likewise many teachers focus on the purpose of feedback as changing or improving the work, whereas the major purpose of feedback should be to better the educatee. If the feedback isn't helping the pupil to exercise a amend task and a ameliorate job the next time they are doing a similar chore, then it is probably going to be ineffective.
Affording students the opportunity to consider their own progress against their peers through the evaluation of exemplar work is another way to conceptualise improvement: it's very hard to be excellent if you don't know what first-class looks like. For students, feedback should be more of a mirror than a painted moving-picture show.
Create a positive classroom climate
Creating an environment where learning is not merely an aspiration but an expectation is the bedrock of any effective learning surroundings. Tom Bennett, director of ResearchED notes:
Designing and communicating clear, concrete routines to the form long in advance of any misbehaviour will minimise misbehaviour, because students will exist aware of the classroom cultural norms. Driven dwelling house often enough, it tin create tramlines for behaviour to default to. Instead of leaving behavioural choices to chance, the best strategy is for teachers to describe up exactly what is expected of their students from the beginning of the relationship.
Forging strong relationships where students have respect for not just the sanctity of the classroom but the privilege of learning is maybe the about important matter a teacher tin can do for ameliorate didactics.
Offer plenty of guidance
The limitations of working memory can be particularly problematic for novice learners. While at that place is good evidence that more practiced learners can work independently, the vast majority will demand conscientious guidance to become to that place, particularly when encountering new data, as Rosenshine says (pdf):
In i study, the more successful teachers of mathematics spent more fourth dimension presenting new textile and guiding practise. The more successful teachers used this actress time to provide additional explanations, give many examples, bank check for educatee agreement, and provide sufficient instruction so that the students could learn to work independently without difficulty. In contrast, the least successful teachers gave much shorter presentations and explanations, and so they passed out worksheets and told the students to work on the issues. Under these weather the students made too many errors and had to be retaught the lesson.
Getting students to a identify where they can work independently is a hugely desired outcome, but perhaps not the best vehicle to get there. Providing worked examples and scaffolding in the curt-term is a vital office of enabling students to succeed in the long-term.
Reduce cognitive load
Cognitive load theory has been described past Wiliam every bit "the single most important thing for teachers to know". Reducing the level of information to an optimal amount, which avoids overloading or boring students, is crucial to effective learning. Once learners take built up schemas of knowledge that allow them to work on problems without exceeding their cognitive bandwidth, then they can piece of work independently. Without information technology, their work might be in vain. Kirschner, Sweller and Clark explain:
If the learner has no relevant concepts or procedures in long-term memory, the simply affair to practise is blindly search for possible solution steps … novices can engage in problem-solving for extended periods and learn near nothing.
Present new information in small steps, providing worked examples and offering images and text simultaneously so that the learner isn't trying to call back too much. This will help create ideal weather for learning new material.
Carl Hendrick is an English instructor, caput of learning and research at Wellington College and co-writer of What Does This Look Like in the Classroom? with Robin McPherson. He tweets at @C_Hendrick.
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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2017/oct/27/teachers-your-guide-to-learning-strategies-that-really-work
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