Spring week 4

Induction tutor materials

Training session - linking new ideas to existing knowledge

Duration: 60 minutes

Session objectives

Learn that:

3.7. In all subject areas, pupils learn new ideas by linking those ideas to existing knowledge, organising this knowledge into increasingly complex mental models (or ‘schemata’); carefully sequencing teaching to facilitate this process is important.

Learn how to:

Build on pupils’ prior knowledge, by:

2e. Linking what pupils already know to what is being taught (e.g. explaining how new content builds on what is already known).
2f. Sequencing lessons so that pupils secure foundational knowledge before encountering more complex content.

How to prepare for the session

Read the ECT’s self-study materials for this topic.

You may also find it useful to read:

Session structure:

Welcome ECTs to the session. Explain that this module is revisiting a topic that they covered in Year 1 because it’s a complicated concept. Revisiting the idea is valuable to support their own learning.

Show an image of a landscape. Ask ECTs to spend 1 minute writing down anything that comes to mind when they look at it.

Ask ECTs to consider how their thoughts about the image may differ from those of an expert photographer or geologist.

Reflect that different people will see different things depending on their experience and knowledge. For example:

a novice may notice surface details and give a descriptive or emotive response
an expert may see a greater depth and respond to the technical details or composition

Whenever we encounter a scenario which requires thought, we draw on our experience and knowledge to think about it.

We draw upon knowledge and experiences from our long-term memory, which helps us think about and process scenarios or information in our working memory.

Recap of prior learning: what is schema theory? (10 minutes)

Revisit the following points:

information is organised into schema within our long-term memory
your mind is constantly bringing schema into your working memory to supplement your thinking
an expert has a more complex schema, so they can assimilate with more information from their long-term memory (as we saw in the first exercise)

For novice learners:

schemas are limited
there are few links between ideas
working memory is used to process information
cognitive overload is likely
learning is hard, so learners benefit from explicit instruction, support and guidance

Sequencing effectively to support the process of transferring knowledge to the long-term memory (20 minutes)

Share this statement: Our goal as teachers is to help pupils know what we know and be able to do what we do.

Ask, how can we sequence learning to support pupils to transfer knowledge from their working memory to their long-term memory?

It may be useful to share these steps:

your initial instruction includes a high degree of support
you reduce the support but still give them lots of guidance
after a while, pupils can work with light guidance
eventually pupils can work with minimal guidance, likely working independently with you giving feedback and intervening as required
finally we want pupils to do it independently without us

Share the following 3 examples. Ask ECTs what:

steps the teacher took to get pupils working independently?
steps were missing?
advice would you give them?

Example 1: Year 1

I was teaching my pupils to form the letter M. I explained that I needed all pupils to listen carefully because they were going to have a go at writing M’s as soon as I had finished explaining. I talked through how they did M’s in reception. I explained how we were going to write M’s and showed them examples on a handout I had created for them. Quite a few pupils really struggled.

Example 2: Science

I was teaching my pupils about how the heart works. I showed them a diagram on the board and explained how it worked in detail. I then asked them to have a go at drawing a diagram themselves and none of them could do it!

Example 3: History

In my lesson yesterday I looked at World War One. To start, I put a list of key words on the board and asked pupils to mind map what these words meant to them. I then asked them what they thought the lesson would be about. I explained the key facts and we looked at pictures to support understanding. I then explained that I wanted them to answer a question based on their learning; a few pupils were able to complete this but the answers I got were not great.

Putting it into practice (20 minutes)

Ask ECTs to look at a lesson plan they’ll be teaching in an upcoming lesson.

Ask them to analyse their lesson using the following questions, adding notes on their lesson plan.

How long will you spend instructing from the front?
Can you script out your exposition to ensure economy of language?
Is there an opportunity to model examples for the pupils?
How will this help pupils to achieve the learning objective?
Is there opportunity for paired or group work?
Can you see the steps to independence in your plan?
Have you focused enough time on each stage?
Is there opportunity for pupils to work independently?
Will this help pupils consolidate what they have learned?
Does it allow pupils to think about the content you’re trying to teach them?

Peer feedback (15 minutes)

Ask ECTs to work in pairs and share their lesson plans. They should cover each of the questions listed above.

Planning for action (5 mins)

Ask ECTs:

what will you now do differently in your practice?
what will you put into action in your lessons?

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