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Is it a 'sin' to tell teachers how to teach?

Jan 27, 2016 | Category: learning

Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated use rather than total abstinence. Samuel Butler According to a recent TES article, Professor John...

Why I struggle with learning objectives and success criteria

Dec 06, 2015 | Category: learning

A strenuous soul hates cheap success.Ralph Waldo Emerson Broadly, I’m in favour of sharing with students the intention behind what they are being asked to do. Anything that adds clarity to the murky...

#Dylan Wiliam #Daisy Christodoulou

Is mimicry always a bad thing?

Dec 05, 2015 | Category: learning

Make not your thoughts your prisons.Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra Mimicry is the conscious or unconscious copying of experts in order. To understand the potential dangers of mimicry, it helps to...

#semi colons

What is 'transfer' and is it important?

Sep 17, 2015 | Category: learning

Very kindly, Greg Ashman posted his thoughts on #WrongBook on his site yesterday - if you haven't seen his 'review' you can find it here. I really like both the style and the substance of Greg's piece...

#Robert Bjork #transfer #Greg Ashman

Can we make learning permanent?

Aug 30, 2015 | Category: learning

How can we know whether a student has learned something? To answer that we need a working definition of what we mean by learning and the one I've come up with is tripartite; learning is composed of re...

#Threshold concepts #phenotypic plasticity #speeding

Dipsticks: It all depends on what you mean by 'engagement'

Apr 01, 2015 | Category: learning

Yesterday I wrote a post - Does Engagement Actually Matter? - detailing some very interesting findings on the links between intrinsic motivation, enjoyment and attainment. It turns out that the more m...

#engagement #edutopia

Does engagement actually matter?

Mar 31, 2015 | Category: learning

Suggesting that student engagement might actually be a bad thing tend to get certain people's dander up. There was a mild spat recently about Rob Coe reiterating that engagement was a 'poor proxy' for...

#motivation #interleaving #engagement #Tom Loveless

A defence of the fixed mindset

Jan 23, 2015 | Category: learning

The growth mindset has been so universally heralded as 'a good thing' that it's in danger of becoming one of those memes we think with rather than about. A number of commentators have been critical of...

#Carol Dweck #Growth mindset #Daniel Dennett #fixed mindset #plasticity #Star Wars

Revisiting lost learning by Gerald Haigh

Nov 30, 2014 | Category: learning

In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important a function as recollecting. - William James As teachers, we tend to do all in our power to prevent students from forgetting what we...

#learning #Robert Bjork #performance #forgetting #Gerald Haigh #music

Are we fetishising marking?

Nov 14, 2014 | Category: learning

When you make something a fetish, ashes and dusts will laugh at you, because they know even the most valuable fetishes will turn into dusts and ashes!Mehmet Murat ildan Last night I innocently posted...

#John Hattie #homework #marking #Robert Bjork #EEF #Sunk Cost Fallacy