Teaching & Learning

  • Daniel Willingham’s Blog on Learning

     25th Jan 13
    Daniel Willingham, a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Virginia, specialises in applying psychology to learning in schools. His articles in the American Educator magazine are fascinating and together with his blog cover a range of topics related to learning. These articles and his blog are available at http://www.danielwillingham.com When you click on the articles tab, it is like when you open a box of chocolates; which one first? All of them look applicable to your practice;...
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  • Understanding by Design By Ben Rogers

     26th Nov 12
    Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe are two US educationalists who got frustrated by the poor quality of courses offered to students. They felt that with a few simple guidelines, courses could be created that supported rapid progress in learning. Their three-stage plan has been used widely in the US, the UK and around the world. Stage 1: Identify the desired results: What skills or knowledge do we want our students to have by the end of the course? Often these will be determined by a syllabus we have...
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  • Schlechty: Working on the Work By Ben Rogers

     28th Sep 12
    Schlechty's principal argument is that we spend too much time trying to develop students as learners and teachers as teachers. In his view, time would be better spent by schools and teachers designing and developing excellent 'work' for the students to do. I don’t think the evidence backs him up, but creating meaningful, engaging work must be a good thing. He identifies five different ways that students respond to activities: Authentic engagement: The outcome of the work is meaningful to...
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  • CPD Programme 2012/13

     19th Jul 12
    Please click here to view our latest CPD Programme for 2012 and 2013....
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  • Stone Age Pedagogy

     6th Feb 12
    Evolutionary Psychology in the Classroom by Ben Rogers I teach in a modern science classroom, teaching modern young people modern physics. This is not the Stone Age. However, the students in front of me have the same brains and the same instincts as our Pleistocene ancestors. Our brains, and the instincts for learning we are born with, are adapted to the savannah of 150,000 years ago. Learning is our key adaptation for survival and we do it naturally as a swift flies. This fact is not well...
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  • Learning Objectives by Ben Rogers

     2nd Nov 11
    This is a summary of what the research shows about effective Learning Objectives (Hattie).  Setting effective learning goals based on your knowledge of the students has a large effect on achievement (d=0.56).  The improvement happens when the goal is appropriately challenging at the start of the lesson and the lesson provides situations so the students can achieve the goals.  A route map through the lesson boosts the size of the effect (e.g. A simplified lesson plan on slide 1 of your...
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  • Feedback by Ben Rogers

     2nd Nov 11
    "Feedback is information with which a learner can confirm, add to, overwrite, tune, or restructure information in memory," (Winne and Butler).  Feedback is one of the most effective methods of raising achievement in the classroom. (d=0.73 Hattie). However, not all feedback is effective. According to research, the least effective types of feedback are: praise, punishment and extrinsic rewards (e.g. merits).  The most effective type of feedback relates to the learning objectives. Video of performance...
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  • E-Learning @ Victory

     30th Aug 11
    Ben Rogers Director of Learning and Teaching, Ormiston Victory Academy Philosophy E-learning at the Academy focuses on making learning more effective. We innovate using educational evidence and theories of learning. We evaluate how well the students have learnt. We use what works. People learn best when: • They can collaborate. • They have a strong personal interest in what they are learning. • They have choice. • The challenge is high but within their grasp. • They have feedback...
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  • My Professional Learning Need

     28th Jun 11
    How can I make Students more Reflective in Art & Design? Rebecca Ashford My Professional Learning Need Reflection is an integral part of both art and learning. It forces us to focus intently on what we are doing. Encouraging students to take the time to reflect on their work allows them to better understand their progress. Allowing them time to reflect on other artists and students allows them the opportunity to make judgements about quality. It is an integral part of the enquiry process and...
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  • Use of Feedback in Art & Design

     23rd Mar 11
    A study in the use of formative feedback in Art Rebecca Ashford This study explores the use of written and verbal feedback in informing students of their progress and next steps in Art. The use of Praise I have found that without positive comments students are reluctant to read on and listen to the critique that is offered. I decided to use the two stars and a wish method that helps teachers and students to appreciate the strengths of a piece of work before offering a suggestion for improvement....
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