Thinking about... what really makes a difference to learning (part two)

In my previous post; I considered how learning occurs, outlined my journey to becoming a more evidence-based practitioner and explained how I collated my research to make my staff more aware of what really makes a difference to learning. This second post presents the first three of nine ‘rules for learning’. 

Rule 1 – Combat the limitations of the working memory with mastery teaching.

‘Mastery’ has been referred to as the new ‘buzz-word’ in education. Whilst I am usually skeptical of the latest fad, mastery teaching, when used effectively, can impact on pupils’ learning. There appears to be a misconception about what mastery is; it has been simplified to ‘not moving on until pupils’ have secured the desired knowledge’. However, it is much more than simply the rate of progression. It is a pedagogical approach that involves breaking content down into a series of sequential steps. Mastery teaching will enable teachers to deal with the limitations of working memory more effectively and also ensure that pupils spend more time thinking about content, which in turn makes it more likely that learning will occur.

Barak Rosenshine (2012) published a paper on ‘research based strategies that all teachers should know’. These were based on both research into cognitive science and the most effective teachers.  The ten principles provide a research-based understanding of the art of teaching. Two of the principles, discussed within Rosenshine’s paper, resonate with mastery teaching include ‘spending more time guiding practice of new material’ and ‘obtaining a high success rate’.

Image from teachinghow2s.com

Pupils need to spend lots of time rephrasing, elaborating and summarising new material in order to store it within their long-term memory. If this rehearsal time is too short, pupils are less able to store, remember or use the new material. Another finding is that the more time spent guiding pupils, the better prepared for independent work they are and the fewer mistakes they make. Where as, if the rate of progression to independence is too quick pupils may end up encoding misconceptions.

‘Pupils must demonstrate a high level of success on tests, typically at about 80% level, before progressing to new content’. This ratio of success to mistake shows that pupils are learning material, yet also challenged by it. If a child is not secure in a topic and they are moved on too quickly, then they will carry gaps in knowledge and misconceptions to the next topic. Previously teachers have moved on too quickly because they feel a need to show progression despite the fact that it is likely insecure knowledge will need to be retaught again. 

The problem is that we try to teach pupils too much and this is why so little of it sticks. A basic understanding of the limitations of working memory can help us to conceptualise why over-stuffing lessons and the curriculum does not work. The working memory can only cope with a limited number amount of new information at one time. When it becomes ‘overloaded’, there is no room left to think, which can then prevent new information from reaching the desired destination.

The term ‘practice by variation’ is associated with mastery teaching and it is also recognised as a pedagogical approach which is conducive to learning. It would appear that in learning new material, 3 is the magic number. To securely learn a concept a pupil must revisit it in its entirety, at least three times over a few days or weeks; with each repetition understanding does not change a great deal, but it is the reiteration itself that leads to long-term retention. It is also not as simple as re-teaching the same concept three times over. Pupils learn from exposure to concepts in a variety of different scenarios and contexts 

The biggest problem with mastery teaching is that it is difficult to judge that pupils have ‘mastered’ a topic. All we can ever do is infer from their current performance what they are likely to be able to do at a later date. Overtime, pupils forget and information previously learned becomes more difficult to access. Fortunately, we can take steps to reduce and possibly even arrest this decay but only if we assume what pupils appear to have mastered will likely be forgotten. Teachers therefore need to consider how many opportunities pupils are given to revisit topics in order to avoid learnt material being forgotten.

Rule 2 – New knowledge must build on the knowledge that already exists

To get pupils to understand, a teacher must ensure the right ideas from the pupils’ long term memory are pulled up and put into the working memory. The right features must be combined, attended to or manipulated in some way.

It is best to begin lessons by activating the pupils’ prior knowledge. This prevents teachers’ explanations repeating what the pupils already know and it can help embed learning in the long-term memory. It helps pupils form concrete links between new content and existing content, strengthen memory traces and consolidate learning.

This will also have implications for curriculum design. Teachers need to be aware of pupils’ prior learning to ensure that learning can be accelerated and learners can experience high challenge from the outset.

Rule 3 - ‘less is more’ (in relation to curriculum design)

• Threshold Concepts - Which ideas and concepts are absolutely crucial to the overall mastery of the topic?

• Mix it Up - How many opportunities to revisit these ideas within different contexts can be included in the plan?

Threshold Concepts

There has been a tendency to stuff the curriculum with content and teachers expect their pupils to absorb it and reproduce it yet very little actually sticks. It doesn’t stick because of cognitive overload – pupils have too much information to process at once. The working memory can only cope with a limited amount of information and when it becomes overloaded it is unable to hold the information and store into the long-term memory.

It is argued that teachers should aim for more depth and less breadth. If pupils can’t learn everything then teachers should focus on the concepts that come up again and again. Research suggests that a curriculum should rather be designed around threshold concepts. A threshold concept is ‘central to the mastery of a subject’ and it is often the most difficult knowledge for pupils to grasp and therefore for teachers to deliver. It is recommended that teachers need to plan the KS3 curriculum around a number of ‘big ideas’ that are most important to providing pupils with the foundations to be successful at GCSE level. It is essential that these, more difficult, threshold concepts are taught first so that they can be returned to and practiced later.

Teachers should look to expand upon the current idea before progressing to the next ones. The beauty of this ideology is that we might achieve more by doing less simply by stepping back, by deciding which content is most important and examining it in depth, rather than let five or six ideas be touched upon superficially.

Mix it up

Due to the relationship between storage and retrieval strength we know that newly learned concepts don’t seem to stick very well. Therefore, just because pupils have been taught something it does not mean they have learned it.

Single experiences rarely seem to turn into learning, but if pupils encounter information on three different occasions or within three different contexts, then there is an 80% chance they would remember it 6-months later. Teachers need to ensure they provide a number of opportunities and return to these big ideas in a range of different contexts across the curriculum.

Read part three of this blog here for rules 4-6.

Thinking about... what really makes a difference to learning (part one)

Over the past 12 months I have embarked on a journey to become more aware of what really makes a difference to learning. As the individual who possess the responsibility for Teaching and Learning within my school, it is my responsibility to ensure my colleagues are evidence-based practitioners. Teachers need to make decisions about the strategies they use in the classroom based on what works. In my opinion this is what is meant when teaching is referred to as being a ‘research-based profession’; making decisions about pedagogy based on research and not necessarily conducting it.

Whilst on my journey I have reflected and discovered that I, myself, did not know enough about how my pupils actually learn and I believe that this it true of the majority of my colleagues and the profession as a whole.

Momentum is starting grow thanks to recent publications, popular edu-reads and well-known professionals championing educators’ awareness of cognitive research. However, there is still a long-way to go.  The TES suggests that a lack of time, interest and support prevent teachers from implementing research into the classroom.

To support my colleagues in becoming more evidence-based practitioners I have attempted collate some research so that it is easy to digest. They will be presented as ‘rules for learning’. The connotations associated with ‘rules’ has been discussed at length; is it appropriate to present something to staff as rules? Will they feel patronised? Will they be accountable for evidencing these rules? Whilst these concerns need to be considered, I will make it explicit that they are simply referred to as ‘rules’ because research has indicated they work; following them increases the likelihood that learning will occur.

Over my next few blogs I will share these ‘rules for learning’, stating with the introduction below. Please consider that I do not claim to be an expert on cognitive research. I am simply documenting the discoveries of my journey (so far) in the hope that colleagues will join me in the attempt to becoming more aware of what really makes a difference to learning. Please get in touch and let me know your thoughts and/or direct me to what I am still yet to discover.

An Introduction to 'The Rules of Learning'

As educators, our main responsibility is to ensure that our pupils learn. The following outlines a set of recommended ‘rules for learning’ and for these the following definition for ‘learning’ will be used as we move forward:

‘Learning is acquiring knowledge and skills; and moreover having those skills readily available from memory as to make sense of future problems’ (Brown et al. 2014)

With this in mind Daniel Willinghamand Tom Bennett state that, ‘all teachers should understand how the basics of the memory work’, however, ‘a great deal of what we think we know about how to learn is taken on faith and based on intuition but does not hold up under empirical research’ (Brown et al. 2014).

The most recent example of practice within education that does not hold up under the scrutiny of research is: the grading and judgment of lesson observations. The popular belief, driven from Ofsted, is that learning is visible and therefore pupils must make ‘rapid and sustained’ progress every lesson.  However, after observing one lesson all we can see is what the pupils can do now (current performance).

Learning vs. Performance

Evidence suggests that learning and performance are separate and, worryingly, that current performance is a poor indicator of learning. In an attempt to prove progress, teachers have reduced the potential for error and therefore there has been a lack of challenge in lessons. The desirable goal is to make learning difficult. The most effective strategies for learning are counter-intuitive because they reduce performance. However, learning is deeper and more durable when it is effortful.

Teachers have been aspiring to create conditions within their classrooms which result in an ‘outstanding’ lesson observation grade. Although these lessons may be impressive to the observer, they are not necessarily conducive to learning.  These ‘rules for learning’ aim to challenge the perceptions of what makes an effective lesson and provide educators with a better understanding of how learning actually occurs.

How learning occurs

Image from: psychologicalscience.org

Remembering information is an active process of construction; it happens in layers. Embedding new learning into the long-term memory requires a process of consolidation, in which memory traces are strengthened, given meaning and connected to prior knowledge.

The active process of constructing memories occurs when pupils are engaged in thought. Information from the environment and the long-term memory is combined within the working memory and for the material to be retained it must reside there for some time.

The working memory has limited capacity meaning that if pupils try to juggle too much information they lose track and learning is greatly impeded. Understanding the limitations of the working memory can help teachers to identify ways to slow the learning process and break required knowledge apart so that is more likely to be learned

The difficulty with learning is not so much in the storing of information (getting knowledge into memory) but with getting this information out again it is needed. Memories have a storage strength and a retrieval strength; storage strength refers to how well-connected information is, and retrieval strength, is how accessible information is at the present moment. There is no limit on storage strength but there is on retrieval strength. The two are interrelated as storage strength determines how quickly retrieval strength is lost or regained. However, the higher the current retrieval strength the smaller gains in storage strength as a result of additional study.

Summary of how learning occurs

1.  The most effective strategies for learning are counter-intuitive.
2.   For learning to take place information must reside within the working memory for some time.
3.  Working memory has a limited capacity.
4.   Learning new content is a process of construction.
5.   Retrieval strength is dependent on storage strength. 

By considering how learning occurs and by providing effective strategies the recommended ‘rules for learning’, shared in future posts, will enable teachers to ensure that pupils acquire knowledge and skills and have them readily available when they are need to be recalled. 

Read part two of this blog here