Arguing for change

This topic is particularly suitable for people who line manage a maths department.

1 (1) teach a small bite on firm foundations - embed that learning - then repeat
2 (2) retrieval practice trumps overlearning
3 (3) utility of embedding learning methods
4 (4) why most learners don’t need the proposed interventions
5 (5) motivation is an outcome of success
6 (6) teaching strategies which give greatest benefit to the hardest to teach learners

(1) teach a small bite on firm foundations - embed that learning - then repeat

We call this smaller working memory friendly teaching and it involves these 3 steps:

Teaching a small bite on firm learning foundations means learners are more likely to retain the learning of the lesson until the next lesson.
Using increasing interval retrieval practice can extend the durability of the recall-ability of the small bite from the next lesson to many months at which point …
… the small bite is very likely to be firm foundations for future learning, so we can now repeat the process on another, small bite of learning.

Teaching too large a bite or several small but similar bites or teaching on insecure learning foundations - means that although we are likely to see success of our teaching within the lesson - we are more likely to see the learner can’t independently recall and accurately apply the learning of the lesson the next lesson. i.e. not all teaching has become learning during the night after the lesson.
If the learner can independently recall and accurately apply the learning of the lesson the next lesson, they will forget that learning - or not be able to recall that learning - if they do not use the learning within a suitable time frame.
If we can successfully embedded a small bite of learning, if we don’t repeat this process sufficiently frequently - by teaching a little more on the the topic several times a year - learners will still fall behind their peers who can learn larger bites at one time.

The steps in the summary guide us to the most efficient process:

Teach an appropriate grain size - for low attaining learners this is a small bite - but which bite? The timely practice app can help the teacher identify suitable next bites to teach and provide suitable teaching and learning resources and teacher training to give a very high chance of success.
Embed the learning using increasing interval retrieval practice and respond to the need for feedback. The timely practice app schedules the retrieval practice, the teacher provides the feedback within a time in the lesson allocated for this, whilst all the other learners in the class are productively engaged in embedding learning.
Spiral through the curriculum at a faster pace, whilst ensuring steps 1. and 2. are applied.

Sufficient research on all of these aspects will be introduced throughout this - the explaining and training course - but here are links to the key research for the curious:

(2) retrieval practice trumps overlearning

After the teacher teaches and the learner practises a new skill learned in a lesson, and the learner appears to have “got it” then if we schedule extra practice

within the same lesson - this is called overlearning,
on a subsequent day - this is called retrieval practice.

A little overlearning is good - we need to make sure the learner hasn’t just had a lucky guess or question - but after a little overlearning: if we schedule extra practice which is

overlearning - the learner may well become more fluent, but won’t be prompted to embed the learning more deeply,
well timed retrieval practice - the learner will embed the learning more deeply, but for the next few practices will, almost certainly, appear less fluent.

A little overlearning is useful, but don’t waste lesson time with more,

instead use the “saved” lesson time to embed the learning of previous lessons or teach more on another topic.

Culturally we have learned that fluency is a proxy for deciding if learning has happened - and its hard to shake - but by watching learning happen with retrieval practice, especially with learners who find learning hard, I think you’ll soon become convinced.

Of course lack of fluency can also be an indication that we are teaching too much or too hard.

Good luck lesson observers in deciding if teaching is becoming learning!

Research feel free to read about Rohrer and Taylor's experiments which were designed to find the relative efficacy of overlearning and retrieval practice when teaching a new maths skill.

(3) utility of embedding learning methods

Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, and Willingham, spent time investigating the efficacy of 10 common methods used for revision.

Here is a summary of their findings

High utility

Distributed Practice: practice questions on a topic in several sessions over time rather than all at one time
Practice Testing: self testing or past exam questions done in a low stakes manner

Increasing interval retrieval practice combines both distributed practice + practice testing i.e.

several practices on a topic spaced over time each with a practice question + attempt to recall + feedback triple

Medium utility

Interleaved Practice: a schedule of practice that mixes a few different kinds of problems during a single study period
Elaborative interrogation: thinking about “why”
Self-explanation: linking new information to known information

Low utility

Highlighting: highlighting or underlining whilst reading
Imagery: formal mental images while reading
Keyword mnemonic: use of acronyms to assist learning
Summarisation: Writing summaries
Rereading: Rereading text, which has already been read

(4) why most learners don’t need the proposed interventions

(5) motivation is an outcome of success

Culturally - especially with the rise of neoliberalism - many people believe that increasing motivation gives rise to greater success.

timely practice was written to

Reduce the need for testing, we make assessment for learning low stakes and we reduce the need for future pre assess by tracking how new learning is embedding, that is we do assessment of learning, that is assessment of retrieval practice. During the pre assess process we encourage the teacher to explain to the learner its purpose is to find out what the learner knows and what the teacher should teach next, not to judge the learner.
We want learners to get over 80% of their timely practice retrieval practice questions correct - so feedback requirements are low and so feedback is likely to be successful - so, sometimes we need to reduce the number of layers which are regularly requiring feedback.
However we encourage teachers to discourage learners from giving themselves a score on their retrieval practice assignments.

(6) teaching strategies which give greatest benefit to the hardest to teach learners

Learners with ALN and SEN and learners living with poverty and trauma, usually find learning harder than peers. These learners benefit most from teaching strategies

which reduce the working memory load of the lesson,
which teach on firm learning foundations,
which help the learner to embed the learning of the lesson into long term memory and
which lead to success, which leads to increased motivation.