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  • Support for early career teachers
  • Education Development Trust
  • Year 2: Second half-term: revisiting the importance of subject and curriculum knowledge

    • Classroom practice

    Making explicit links to embed new content

    By trying this activity you will…

    Learn how to: Support pupils to build increasingly complex mental models, by: 3h. Drawing explicit links between new content and the core concepts and principles in the subject.

    If this is happening in your classroom, you will see…

    • Pupils can articulate the key concepts/principles.
    • Pupils are able to articulate the links between new content and core concepts/principles.
    • Pupils articulate a shared understanding of how key concepts/principles link together.

    Practise...

    You can demonstrate to your pupils that links to the foundations of the subject can be made through everything they learn. Embed opportunities for pupils to practise making links and connections between their new learning and the big ideas that underpin the subject.

    You could ask:

    • Is there a key idea we have covered that helps you understand this topic?
    • When else have we covered similar ideas?
    • Can you think of another character similar to this one? What makes them similar?
    • How might you link this idea to (diversity / mass / grammar and meaning / product life-cycle)?

    Pupils will not be able to make links between what they do not know so make sure that they have a good understanding of the big ideas that they will need in order to build a shared understanding of the subject. Once they have a secure foundation of knowledge built on the big ideas you identified, you can use this to help pupils make sense of new concepts.

    Practise using structures pupils already know in new contexts: ‘we know this is the formula for X and you have practised using it for X, how could you use it here?’

    Cover the same concept in different forms: ‘What does this diagram show us about X?’

    Use every opportunity for retrieval as an opportunity to build connections: ‘The quick quiz you did at the beginning of this lesson tested you on your understanding of X. Keep your answers in mind as we look at this…’

    Plan retrieval opportunities for the core concepts and principles and use these to help pupils form new connections.

    Plan retrieval opportunities in places that will help pupils form new connections. This will not only strengthen and reinforce the big ideas but support pupils to make links between new content and existing knowledge.

    • Use low stakes quizzes to reinforce learning of key concepts and to support pupils to make links. For example, you might set a short quiz on descriptive techniques as a starter activity in a lesson in which pupils are asked to write descriptively.
    • Consciously space out practice over time. When planning out your curriculum map, actively plan out when pupils will be quizzed on the core concepts and principles to match the learning outcome of the lesson.
    • Use think/pair/share to get pupils to consider their learning of the big ideas and make connections: ‘In silence you are going to have a go at working out the challenge on the board. I am going to give you two minutes… Now the two minutes are up, I want you to discuss how this links with X.’

    In your notepad

    Reflect on your practice:

    • which idea(s) for practice did you try?
    • what did you do?
    • what happened?
    • what will you do next?