Thinking about... the rules for learning

This post presents my previous four posts on the 'rules for learning' into one, easy to digest, table. 

The table includes a definition for learning. It sounds obvious but all teachers should really share a common definition of what learning actually is. 

The table outlines a summary of of how learning occurs. 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. 

The remainder of the table presents the rules of learning. Each of the eight rules clearly links back to the summary of how learning occurs, includes a brief explanation and outlines some strategies of what this might look like in the classroom.   

The Rules for Learning

For more detailed information on the above rules please read the four blogs below:

• Part One - An introduction to the rules of learning and a summary of how learning occurs. 
• Part Two - Rules one, two and three. 
• Part Three - Rules four, five and six. 
• Part Four - Rules seven and eight. 

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. 

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

This blog is the fourth and final part in the series; 'what really makes a difference to learning'. Read part one here.

This series outlines the research I have conducted into learning. I have collated and summarised the research into eight easily digestable 'rules for learning'. This blog outlines the final two, rules 7 and 8.

Rule 7 - Pupils remember (learn) what they think about 

Pupils remember what they think about and therefore the best teachers ensure pupils spend time thinking about the meaning of what they are learning.

One way to ensure pupils spend time engaged in thinking about what they are learning is through elaboration. Elaboration involves pupils giving new material meaning by expressing it in their own words and connecting it with what they already know.

The more an individual can elaborate on how new learning relates to what they already know, the stronger the grasp on new learning will be, and a greater number of connections will be created to remember it later. Simply strategies that can be employed within the classroom include:

•  Making links to other previously leant material.
• Pupils explaining concepts in their own words. 
• Asking pupils to relate concepts to their life outside of the classroom
• A powerful form of elaboration is creating a metaphor or visual image. 

Generation is another effective strategy as it makes the mind more receptive to new learning. It is attempting to answer a question or solve a problem before being shown the answer or solution. The following are generation tasks: 

•  Reading and filling in the blanks (more effective than simply reading)
• Experimental learning/problem solving.
• Skim reading and followed by explaining the key ideas that you expect to find, why it is useful to read it and how it might link to prior learning.
• Homework – solve problems before getting to class. 

Reflection - Is a combination of elaboration and retrieval practice that adds layers and strengthens skills.

Taking the time to review what has been learnt through metacognitive questions and ‘writing to learn’. Following lessons or topics pupils might be required to ‘write to learn’ by generating their own written summaries of the key ideas they have learnt.  For example; restating concepts in their own words and elaborating on the subject by generating examples of them.

One final suggestion to ensure pupils think about what you want them to learn is to organise learning by creating a conflict around a conflict. In other words, the material we want pupils to know is the answer to a question and the question generates that conflict. Start with the material you want pupils to learn and work backwards to the intellectual question it poses. This can become a real aid to learning because if it is done successfully you are engaging pupils with the actual substance of the discipline. Simple, yet effective, strategies can be used to create a conflict:

• Replace learning objectives with a key question. 
• Planned questions.
• Dialogic questioning.

Rule 8 - The pupils don’t know when they are learning

Individuals are poor judges of when they are learning and when they are not. When learning is hard, slow and feels less productive pupils tend to resort to strategies that feel more beneficial, unaware that these are temporary.

Poor study techniques such as re-reading and highlighting text provides the illusions of mastery. Pupils read a text and because they can fluently follow it gives them the illusion that they know it. However, when put to the test they cannot recall the critical ideas or apply them in a new context.

Pupils prefer reading and highlighting because it feels more fluent and it ‘feels like learning’. However, the struggles experienced with trying to recall information is far more beneficial. It can, for pupils, feel frustrating but the effort actually increases your ability to recall in the future. Also, studying something after trying to recall it helps an individual learn it better than if they had not tried to recall it.

Having established what doesn’t work, pupils need to engage in more effective revision strategies that work well and make a difference to learning. These could include:

• Retrieval Practice - Pupils should engage in practice testing and regular low stake self-quizzing.
• Self-testing should be spaced out and interleaved with different topics.
• Why? Should become the main form of studying in place of re-reading. It arrests forgetting, improves storage strength and helps recall in the future (increases retrieval strength).
• Self-explanation – pupils should consider how new information can be linked to what they already know. This is where mind maps – might come in useful. The process of creating the mind map is probably more useful than the finished product itself.
• One of the most effective strategies for improving pupils’ ability to retain information is explicitly educating students about the research on effective learning strategies.  Educators are encouraged to be transparent about the frustrations but the importance of the ‘testing effect’ and the principle of ‘desirable difficulties’ whilst warning them of the ‘illusions of knowing’. 

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

This blog is the third part in the series; 'what really makes a difference to learning'. Part one can be found here and part two here. 

This series outlines the research I have conducted into learning. I have collated and summarised the research into nine easily digestable 'rules for learning'. This blog outlines rules 4-6. 

Rule 4 – Pupils need more tests!

Generally, tests are considered for assessment purposes only. Teachers, in the main, have a negative perception of testing due to the significant increases in the number of tests that pupils now have to take during their school careers. However, they turn out to actually be one of the most effective tools for learning; quizzing and low stakes testing are crucial to optimise learning.

Testing has to be thought of as in a pedagogical sense. Testing, when used this way, engages learners in practicing recalling memories (information learnt). ‘The act of retrieving a memory changes the memory, making it easier to retrieve again later’. Repeated recall appears to help memory consolidate into cohesive representation in the brain to strengthen and multiply the neural routes by which the knowledge can later be retrieved. Research proves that practicing retrieval makes learning stick far better than re-exposure.

Retrieval practice is one of the most successful strategies for learning and the more effortful the retrieval the stronger the benefit. The greater the effort to retrieve learning, provided that there is high rates of success, the more learning is strengthen by retrieval. 

Rule 5 - Difficulties in learning are desirable

‘Learning is deeper and more durable when it is effortful’

The recent drive to increase the level of ‘challenge’ in lessons is an important one, but only if this challenge is focused and achievable. Teachers should take into account the expected knowledge, concepts and skills in their subject and teach just beyond this point. This way the most challenging assessment material that pupils face will not be the most challenging material they are exposed to.

Memory is the residue of thought and therefore challenges should ensure that pupils are thinking about subject content.

Rule 6 – Forgetting is the key to remembering

Forgetting does not mean information is lost but rather it is inaccessible as a result of disuse. However, it does remain in memory. Considering this forgetting is actually a desirable and important part of learning. As information is forgotten, retrieval strength decreases. When the information is presented again additional levels of learning are achieved. The struggle to recall the information improves connections within memory which leads to greater storage strength. 

Space Out Retrieval Practice 

It is important to leave a considerable amount of time between sessions of retrieval to take advantage of forgetting.

The misconception is that massed practice can lead to embedding something into long-term memory. Although this might lead to increased performance it is not conducive to learning. This is because when retrieval strength is high additional study has no effect on storage strength. When ideas have been forgotten the effort to recall them reconstructs the learning from long-term memory and makes the idea more memorable and connects it to other knowledge more recently learnt.

Mix it Up

Blocked practice where by an individual masters one type of problem before progressing onto another type of problem feels more productive. However, the mixing up of problems increases the ability to discriminate between different types of problems, helps to better spot the underlying structure of a problem and improves transfer in a later test.

In my next post I will present the final three rules (rules 7 and 8). 

Thinking about... T&L to meet the demands of the GCSE reforms.

Recently, I have been thinking about how to prepare my pupils to meet the increased demands of the GCSE reforms. The changes will result in pupils sitting more linear examinations not to mention: increased content with more complex topics to master.

There are two strategies that I have worked on and used within my own practice. They are both highly effective and easy to implement. I regularly test pupils to help them acquire the extensive amount of knowledge they require. I also develop my pupils’ ability to think like experts in order to help them become more effective at applying their knowledge during examinations. 

Increase testing

Generally, tests are considered for assessment purposes only. Teachers, in the main, have a negative perception of testing due to the significant increases in the number of tests that pupils now have to take and the pressures associated with those tests; when in actuality, testing is proven to be one of the most effective tools to optimise learning!

Testing has to be thought of as in a pedagogical sense. Testing, when used to aid learning, engages pupils in the practice of recalling information learnt and is often referred to as ‘retrieval practice’. Retrieval practice helps consolidate the memory by strengthening and multiplying the neural routes by which the knowledge can later be retrieved more readily. Research proves that retrieval practice makes learning stick far better than re-exposure.

This does not mean that pupils should be sitting test papers every week! However, gains in learning can be achieved if they are engaged in quizzing and low stakes testing. To achieve this I often present pupils with a ‘do now’ task when they arrive to a lesson. This is simply a short activity that requires them to recall previously learnt material. There are a variety of activities that can be used to achieve this, including:

  ü  Daily, weekly, monthly review of content via quizzing.

  ü  Cooperative learning structures (quiz-quiz-trade, rally coach, inside-outside circle etc).

  ü  Key word games.

  ü  Cue card activities.

  ü  Various questioning-strategies.

  ü  The use of ICT (e.g. Kahoot)

  ü  Interleaving and spacing out practice to increase effort required to retrieve learned content.

Teaching pupils to think like experts

‘Pupils are poor at transferring knowledge learned in one context to another without explicit instruction and advice’  (David Didau)

As teachers we focus on delivering the content of our subject and when we do focus on answering exam questions we continue to prompt pupils until we get the correct answer. But how often do we focus on how to tackle the question?

We have probably all taught a topic where pupils have successfully answered a question to a proficient level in class only for them to struggle with a very similar question in a test because the question is phrased slightly differently.

Pupils have poor metacognition; they see the surface of examination questions (what it is about) rather than recognising its deep structure (what it is asking). We are experts in our subjects. When presented with an exam question we analyse it to determine what it is about, what it is asking, the level of detail required in the response and exactly what is needed to gain full marks. Our pupils do not naturally possess this ability; they often rush to the answer without carefully considering what it is asking. To enable pupils to think like experts we need to develop their metacognitive skills.

Metacognition is about how we go about preparing pupils to deal with the problems that they face. Basically, as the quote above suggests, it is ‘thinking about thinking’. Pupils with well-developed metacognitive skills can think through a problem or approach a task, select appropriate strategies and resolve the problem more successfully. 

Teachers need to provide scaffolds to help pupils develop their metacognitive skills by making the frameworks for meta-cognition explicit. Deliberately building this type of framework into teaching can help pupils develop thought processes that enable them to effectively answer questions/address the problems that they are faced with.

I used ‘cover it in custard’ as a meta-cognitive scaffold (see image above) with my pupils to help them deconstruct exam questions and improve their examination performance. As a result of this strategy I have observed:

ü  Reductions in the number of silly mistakes pupils have been making.

ü  More clear and concise answers and less waffle,

ü  Answers have a more logical structure.

ü  An increase in confidence – pupils feel they are now in control of the paper.

ü  Less time wasted.

It was not easy to convince all pupils to adopt this strategy initially. I have found that some pupils felt it was too much effort or too time consuming, but it is important to understand that ‘thinking like an expert’ does not come naturally. As David Didau suggested in his post about metacognition; pupils not only need meta-cognition they also need to know that they need it – and they need to be to be told this. I had to ensure that pupils repeatedly engaged with and practiced using the CUSTARD scaffold and, over time, this way of thinking became habitual. 

If we want our pupils to adopt these models, we need to provide opportunities for them to observe ‘expert thinking’– teachers need to demonstrate ‘thinking out loud’. Explicitly modeling how, we as teachers, use the same metacognitive frameworks helps pupils to understand that they need to adopt this practice. This can be achieved in a number of ways:

ü  Walking Talking Mock – The teacher talks through their thought processes as they work through questions.

ü  Annotated paper (annotated with thoughts only)

ü  Live modelling – often using a document camera.

ü  Pupil to pupil modelling.

ü  Modelling the thinking and the answer.

ü  Metacognitive workbook

Thinking about how to meet the increased demands of the GCSE reforms? Test your pupils more and scaffold and model to increase their ability to think like experts. Judging by the amount of custard my year 11s bought me at the end of this year, they seemed to appreciate the advice!

For more information on preparing pupils for examinations and metacognition you may wish to read the blog posts below:

 ü  This much I know about…what REALLY WORKS when preparing students for their examinations!

 ü  What is meta-cognition and can we teach it?

 ü  This much I know about…The Sutton Trust/EEF Toolkit and the Golden Thread from evidence to student outcomes, via deliberate intervention