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.