‘Learning Scientists’ Talk and Scheme of Work

Back in June 2017 I wrote an article for the Learning Scientists on how I had started to try to incorporate their Six Strategies for Effective Learning into a maths curriculum and lessons.

A year has passed since then and the work has been continuing. I’ve spoken at two conferences recently on this theme – MathsConf14 in Kettering and researchED Rugby – and have shared a few more practical ideas, including resources we have found useful along the way.

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To talk or not to talk? That is the question.

People have been talking about silence and dialogue lately.

Is silence golden?

Do talking and collaboration improve learning?

Does it matter whether or not pupils talk?

What type of talk is good talk?

This is probably one of those edu-topics that gets people all partisan, so I’m going to nail my colours to the mast and see what happens.

A Plea to Heads of Maths and Senior Leaders (On Feedback & Marking)

A colleague of mine was leading our TSST (Teacher Subject Specialism Training – for non-specialists who find themselves teaching maths) course this afternoon and was brave enough to mention feedback.  We were chatting at the end of the day and he couldn’t believe the stories he’d just heard.  Mentioning marking and feedback in a room full of teachers from different schools is something I’ve learnt to avoid now, it’s one of the most agonising discussions I encounter.

Let’s make this clear from the start: the evidence of the efficacy of marking is scant (EEF).  Marking is not the same as feedback (Toby French) and the time it takes a teacher to mark a set of books is, most often, disproportionate to the effect that marking actually has on students’ progress (Michael Tidd).  Ofsted does not demand a particular type or frequency of marking (Alex Quigley), so no-one can say they are implementing an insane marking policy thanks to the inspectorate.

Here are some of the worst atrocities my colleague and I have heard:

researchED Maths and Science 2016

When Tom Bennett announced researchED Maths and Science I was more than a little bit excited: a subject-specific conference informed by strong academic research?  Yes please!  The programme for the day was packed full of sessions I wanted to see, so selecting which ones was very difficult.  Here’s what happened on my day, a mixture of what I heard with my own thoughts.