From the editor
Professor Bill Lucas, Director, Centre for Real-World Learning, University of Winchester, UK; Co-founder, Rethinking Assessment, UK Since 1918, success at school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has been largely judged by means of high-stakes, standardised examinations at the end of secondary education, with the School Certificate for 16-year-olds and the Higher School Certificate two […]
Maximizing Cognitive Science
Bradley Busch from InnerDrive will delivered a short presentation on the importance of cognitive science research for teaching and learning, before a panel reflected and discussed what has worked well in different settings, common misunderstandings and lessons learnt to avoid misapplications. Cat Scutt, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Chartered College of Teaching Bradley Busch, Psychologist at […]
Effective strategies for deeper learning and approaches to organising learning
Olatomilade Folaranmi, Lead Instructional Coach and Research Champion, Trinity Academy Leeds, UK What is deeper learning? In a psychologically safe environment underpinned by the culture of high challenge and low threat, guiding the students in our care towards expertise becomes the priority and a non-negotiable. John Sweller, in the abstract of his 1988 paper titled […]
Lightening the load: Integrating cognitive load, schema theory and progression mapping in the primary classroom
ALEX REYNOLDS, DIRECTOR OF PRIMARY LEARNING & CURRICULUM, NORTHERN EDUCATION TRUST, UK HANAH HERON, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, CLIC TRUST, UK KIRSTIN MULHOLLAND, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN EDUCATION, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY, UK LOUISE JACKSON, INDEPENDENT EDUCATION CONSULTANT, WYE EARLY YEARS, UK NICOLA CHERRY, EARLY YEARS DELIVERY MANAGER AND INDEPENDENT EARLY YEARS CONSULTANT, UK Effective teaching is complex and nuanced. It requires a deep […]
Applying the science of learning in secondary school classrooms: A case study of a ‘psychology for learning’ course for Year 9 students
Purvi Gandhi, Head of Psychology, Trent College, UK Deb Outhwaite, Director, Derbyshire Teaching Schools Alliance (DTSA), UK Introduction The science of learning provides valuable insights into information processing and retention, yet applying this knowledge to classroom practice remains a challenge. Understanding how students learn can help teachers to improve practice and empower students to enhance […]
Cognitive science in primary school: One school’s journey in applying research to practice
PATRICK MCDONALD, CURRICULUM LEAD, WESTERHOPE PRIMARY SCHOOL, UK WILLIAM GRAY, DEPUTY HEADTEACHER, WESTERHOPE PRIMARY SCHOOL, UK Introduction Cognitive science has clear implications for classroom practice (EEF,2021a), and research shows that teachers’ professional development (PD) can positively impact pupil outcomes (Cordingley et al., 2015; Rauch and Coe, 2019; Sancar et al., 2021). Drawing on evidence from […]
Cognitive Science: Research priorities launch event
Should I be using retrieval practice in every lesson? How can I combine cognitive science strategies with other teaching approaches? How can I implement cognitive science teaching strategies at the micro (lesson) and macro (curriculum) level? These are some of the questions teachers have submitted as part of our research priority setting activity. During this […]
Creating a thinking school: Developing pupil agency and collective teacher efficacy
ALAN JOHNSON, ASSISTANT HEAD, TEACHING AND LEARNING, MOUNT KELLY SCHOOL, UK To paraphrase Ken Robinson, we are all looking for ways to raise standards in education; I’ve never heard of anyone saying that they’re trying to lower them… Incremental improvement and evolution rather than revolution are ideologies to which we have been drawn at Mount […]
The power of stories: Integrating high quality reading to raise achievement
RACHEL WATSON, HEAD OF HISTORY, BISHOP CHALLONER CATHOLIC COLLEGE, UK The power of stories must not be underestimated. Stories are used from an early age to develop children’s vocabulary and understanding of the world around them; so why do we not use stories more often in secondary school lessons? The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF, 2018) […]
Rosenshine’s Principles: Questioning, with Tom Sherrington
Tom Sherrington is an education consultant and author. He writes the popular blog teacherhead.com and his books include The Learning Rainforest and best-seller Rosenshine’s Principles in Action. Most recently he co-authored the Teaching WalkThrus series with Oliver Caviglioli. With 30 years’ experience as a physics and maths teacher and school leader, Tom is in demand […]
Rosenshine’s Principles: Sequencing concepts and Modelling, with Tom Sherrington
Tom Sherrington is an education consultant and author. He writes the popular blog teacherhead.com and his books include The Learning Rainforest and best-seller Rosenshine’s Principles in Action. Most recently he co-authored the Teaching WalkThrus series with Oliver Caviglioli. With 30 years’ experience as a physics and maths teacher and school leader, Tom is in demand […]
The opportunities and challenges of cognitive science within education
This session will inspire and enable new thinking about the benefits and viability of cognitive science in education, developing research-informed and research-generating practices. We will discuss and explore the nature, advantages, and disadvantages of cognitive science, as well as how scientific knowledge connects to pedagogical expertise. Keynote address by Dr Tom Perry “Cognitive Science and Professional […]
Translating research into classroom practice: Cognitive science and beyond
Pedro De Bruyckere, Arteveldehogeschool University of Applied Sciences, Belgium; Utrecht University, Netherlands Paul A Kirschner, Emeritus Professor, Open University of the Netherlands, Netherlands; Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Belgium; kirschner-ED Welcome to this issue of Impact, with the theme of ‘Translating research into classroom practice: Cognitive science and beyond’. The print version contains a […]
Neuromyths about Special Educational Needs: What should teachers know
Jo Van Herwegen, Associate Professor, Psychology and Human Development, Faculty of Education and Society, UCL, UK Michael Thomas, Director, Centre for Educational Neuroscience, Birkbeck, University of London, UK Chloe Marshall, Professor, Psychology and Human Development, Faculty of Education and Society, UCL, UK Rebecca Gordon, Associate Professor, Psychology and Human Development, Faculty of Education and Society, […]
Consolidating learning in Key Stage 5 chemistry
Helen Skelton, Head of Science, Beaumont School, UK Knowledge is required to think and therefore to learn. Learning has been defined as ‘relatively permanent changes in comprehension, understanding, and skills of the types that will support long-term retention and transfer’ (Soderstrom and Bjork, 2015, p. 176). The long-term retention of learning is a particular challenge […]
Applying cognitive science principles to primary science
Dr Sarah Earle and Dr Kendra McMahon, School of Education, Bath Spa University, UK Introduction Cognitive science provides insights into learning that can inform practice in education, but the plethora of publications and, in some cases, the lab-based nature of studies that are remote from classroom realities make it difficult for practitioners to use this […]
Using cognitive science principles to design a knowledge-rich primary science curriculum
Rebecca Wardell, Primary Trust Assistant Principal, Dixons Academies Trust and Dixons Music Primary, UK In 2017, a major report funded by the EEF (Nunes et al., 2017) found strong evidence of a link between socio-economic status and science attainment. This science attainment gap becomes apparent at Key Stage 1 and gets wider throughout the rest […]
Using feedback-driven metacognition to develop metacognitive skills in Year 9 Chemistry students
Deepika Narula, Teacher of Chemistry, Beaumont School, UK Students often feel that they have studied a lot for a test, yet they are not able to do well. Classroom teachers have experienced this at some point, and Agarwal and Bain (2019, p. 126, p. 129) found that students have an ‘illusion of confidence’ and incorrect […]
A cognitive science approach to accelerate learning in the theoretical elements of physical education qualifications
Bethan Coles, Teacher Education, University of Bedfordshire, UK Introduction ‘Learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful. Learning that’s easy is like writing in sand, here today and gone tomorrow.’ (Brown et al., 2014, p. 3) Make it Stick: The Science of Effective Learning explores a cognitive science (CS) approach to learning, which has […]
Does question difficulty impact the effect of retrieval practice/testing effect?
Lewis Adams (CTeach), Assistant Headteacher, UK Increasingly, education is becoming about understanding and applying cognitive science in the classroom. The new Early Career Framework (ECF) actively seeks to train our new teachers to teach their students to ‘retrieve information from memory’ (DfE, 2019, p. 11), and Ofsted have now defined learning as ‘an alteration in […]