CLT with S3
Continuing to share the ideas of Cognitive Load Theory has been an important part of our collaborative project. We have now started to share it more widely, doing 10 minute sessions in tutor time with our S3 students (14-15 year olds). This is a very brief introduction to the idea of our working memory being limited, and the need to prevent overload if we want to learn. I talk a little about being able to complete a task but not learn anything from it, the fact that practice helps to reduce the intrinsic load, and also the different extraneous loads they might experience. At the end of the session we decided to set them the challenge of reducing the extraneous load of talking with friends in class. The tutor is doing a follow up session a few days after our session, where they look at some common examples of myths around cognitive load, with a focus on "distractions".
Continuing to share the ideas of Cognitive Load Theory has been an important part of our collaborative project. We have now started to share it more widely, doing 10 minute sessions in tutor time with our S3 students (14-15 year olds). This is a very brief introduction to the idea of our working memory being limited, and the need to prevent overload if we want to learn. I talk a little about being able to complete a task but not learn anything from it, the fact that practice helps to reduce the intrinsic load, and also the different extraneous loads they might experience. At the end of the session we decided to set them the challenge of reducing the extraneous load of talking with friends in class. The tutor is doing a follow up session a few days after our session, where they look at some common examples of myths around cognitive load, with a focus on "distractions".
We are now half way through the tutor groups, and although students are engaging in the session, and seem to understand what it is we are saying, the only way it will become habit is with continued reminders. This is the next challenge for us as a group, to come up with how we could extend this past our own classes.
Boosting Achievement with Messages that Motivate
I read this article and wrote a blog post on it for my school's T&L blog.
I read this article and wrote a blog post on it for my school's T&L blog.
Science of Learning Week 5
I completed the Science of Learning course last week, and my reflections for the final week can be found here. In a couple of weeks I plan to reflect on the whole course in a little more depth and what implications it has for my future teaching.
I completed the Science of Learning course last week, and my reflections for the final week can be found here. In a couple of weeks I plan to reflect on the whole course in a little more depth and what implications it has for my future teaching.
Slow Education
Carl Honoré came to speak to us this week about the SLOW movement, and, in particular, slow education. The idea of the slow movement is one that has interested me for a while, and much like Carl himself, the birth of my son last year has been a catalyst in changing my priorities (more time at home, less screen time, etc). To find out a little more about this side of things, I strongly recommend watching Carl's TED Talk. I want to reflect on a few of the points he made specifically about education here.
Carl Honoré came to speak to us this week about the SLOW movement, and, in particular, slow education. The idea of the slow movement is one that has interested me for a while, and much like Carl himself, the birth of my son last year has been a catalyst in changing my priorities (more time at home, less screen time, etc). To find out a little more about this side of things, I strongly recommend watching Carl's TED Talk. I want to reflect on a few of the points he made specifically about education here.
Firstly, he talked about the pressure on students to be involved in a myriad of activities, and the "need" for these to improve university applications. This is something I have felt for a while, and that we sometimes push students to do too much. It is better to focus on one thing and do it well, and improve in that. No top athlete/musician/actor/businessman/anything else you like to think off got to where they are by spreading themselves thinly. They focused on improving in one thing, and becoming excellent at that. As Carl said, "We've forgotten how to do one thing at a time" and we should be aiming for "…not as fast as possible, but as well as possible". Should we be limiting students to one activity?
Carl also talked about the impact of technology on our lives, and specifically on education and learning. He cited an OECD study which found that there was a negative correlation between student computer use and learning outcomes. From a quick glance over the report it looks like a small amount of computer access is beneficial, but lots has a negative impact on outcomes. This is something I have been thinking about a lot recently, and finding this study is certainly of interest. I am looking forward to diving into it in a bit more depth.
Carl also talked about the digital native myth and the fact that we have not evolved in 20 years to learn differently than we did before. Though he did not labour this point as much as I might have liked, it was certainly refreshing to hear this from him. He also discussed briefly the myth of multitasking, and that this is actually just switching between things quickly.
Whilst Carl was talking there were lots of times when my mind drifted to the ideas of Cognitive Load Theory (and interestingly one of my colleagues made the same links). For example, the extraneous load of technology in the classroom, or the load caused by having too many external pressures from activities. He also talked about other ideas that are staples of good teaching, such as wait time (he called it the 5-minute warning).
Coming out of the session, it was clear that all teachers were thinking about the slow movement, and accepting that it is important to slow down at times. Although he did not quote Willingham, his idea of time to think links to "Memory is the residue of thought" very well. And if we are getting teachers to think about the thinking students are doing then that is great.
But, what about the slow movement for teachers? If we know it is more productive for our students to slow down, then surely the same is true for teachers? As a school we need to be careful that we don't take this to the extreme and push teachers so hard to incorporate it that they are always in a rush!
Logic in 6B
I am teaching Logic for the first time to my IB Mathematical Studies class at the moment (and I never studied it at University either). This is the second time in this course that I have had to teach myself some Maths that I have never studied myself (the first was Chi Squared tests for independence), and before that I had never been in that situation. There have been times when I have had to relearn something (when teaching Higher Level IB, Mechanics and Statistics at A-Level for example), but nothing that I have never seen before! It has been an interesting experience, and once I have finished teaching it, I will have to reflect on how to improve for next year.
I am teaching Logic for the first time to my IB Mathematical Studies class at the moment (and I never studied it at University either). This is the second time in this course that I have had to teach myself some Maths that I have never studied myself (the first was Chi Squared tests for independence), and before that I had never been in that situation. There have been times when I have had to relearn something (when teaching Higher Level IB, Mechanics and Statistics at A-Level for example), but nothing that I have never seen before! It has been an interesting experience, and once I have finished teaching it, I will have to reflect on how to improve for next year.
Graphs with S4
After the disaster I described last week, I managed to pull it back when looking at finding the constants of different types of graphs. I have been thinking a lot about try to use consistent methods for solving problems lately, to help students create links between related ideas. So I decided to teach finding the equations of lines, quadratics, reciprocals and cubics separately (in light of cognitive load theory), but using the same method (as shown in the summary image below). After doing a little practice on each, I presented the mixed examples, and then an interleaved exercise. I have found that using the colour coded way of linking the same steps is really helpful for students to see the connections (and I got them to do the examples in their books in a similar way).
After the disaster I described last week, I managed to pull it back when looking at finding the constants of different types of graphs. I have been thinking a lot about try to use consistent methods for solving problems lately, to help students create links between related ideas. So I decided to teach finding the equations of lines, quadratics, reciprocals and cubics separately (in light of cognitive load theory), but using the same method (as shown in the summary image below). After doing a little practice on each, I presented the mixed examples, and then an interleaved exercise. I have found that using the colour coded way of linking the same steps is really helpful for students to see the connections (and I got them to do the examples in their books in a similar way).
RSS Feed
