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Autumn week 2

Mentor materials

Prior knowledge, memory and misconceptions

Learning intentions

Your ECT will learn how to:

Build on pupils’ prior knowledge by:

  • identifying possible misconceptions and planning how to prevent these forming.
  • linking what pupils already know to what is being taught (e.g. explaining how new content builds on what is already known).
  • sequencing lessons so that pupils secure foundational knowledge before encountering more complex content.
  • encouraging pupils to share emerging understanding and points of confusion so that misconceptions can be addressed.

Deliver a carefully sequenced and coherent curriculum by:

  • being aware of common misconceptions and discussing with experienced colleagues how to help pupils master important concepts.

Avoid overloading working memory by:

  • taking into account pupils’ prior knowledge when planning how much new information to introduce.
  • breaking complex material into smaller steps (e.g. using partially completed examples to focus pupils on the specific steps).
  • reducing distractions that take attention away from what is being taught (e.g. keeping the complexity of a task to a minimum so that attention is focused on the content).

Topic introduction

In their self-directed training session earlier this week, your mentee began to examine the ways in which learning rests on the interplay between new information and prior knowledge, with working memory acting as a sort of ‘conscious mental workspace’ within which this interplay occurs, and long-term memory providing stores for prior knowledge of ideas and how to do things. They considered the relationship between long-term and working memory, using an illustrative exercise to examine how activation of prior knowledge from long-term memory can reduce the load on working memory load, which has limited capacity. They also noted that where prior knowledge is weak, it can lead to errors in their immediate activity and the learning that results from this. They applied insights from this session to examples from their own past experience with pupils and to a lesson plan for use in their teaching in the forthcoming week.

The learning outcomes from their self-directed study were to learn that:

2.1 Learning involves a lasting change in pupils’ capabilities or understanding.

2.2 Prior knowledge plays an important role in how pupils learn; committing some key facts to their long-term memory is likely to help pupils learn more complex ideas.

2.3 An important factor inlearning is memory, which can be thought of as comprising two elements: working memory and long-term memory.

2.4 Working memory is where information that is being actively processed is held, but its capacity is limited, and it can be overloaded.

2.5 Long-term memory can be considered as a store of knowledge that changes as pupils learn by integrating new ideas with existing knowledge.

2.6 Where prior knowledge is weak, pupils are more likely to develop misconceptions, particularly if new ideas are introduced too quickly.

3.4 Anticipating common misconceptions within particular subjects is also an important aspect of curricular knowledge; working closely with colleagues to develop an understanding of likely misconceptions is valuable.

3.5 Explicitly teaching pupils the knowledge and skills they need to succeed within particular subject areas is beneficial.

In this session, you will help your mentee build on this previous activity, focusing for the most part on its practical implications. It is crucial for your mentee to become alert to potential misconceptions (2d, 3e), take into account pupils’ prior knowledge when planning how much new information to introduce (2a) and consider the best means of linking this new information to what they already know (2e). It is equally crucial that they appreciate how to sequence lessons and plan activities to build a firm foundation of effective understanding that will provide the basis for organised growth of increasingly complex stores of knowledge within long-term memory (2b, 2c, 2f). You will help them consider ways of identifying ‘in conflict’ misconceptions (2g) and discuss how to sequence lesson content to provide a more secure base for future learning. You will also assist them in developing activities and approaches to be tried in the classroom, starting with their planned activity for promoting working memory/long-term memory exchange to reduce working memory load.

Key goals include helping them to a) recognise the extent of their pupils’ prior knowledge and how (and how much) new material should be introduced and b) plan for creating a foundation of facts in long-term memory to reduce load on working memory when introducing new concepts.

Meeting activities

Throughout the session, try to refer explicitly to the Learning Intentions and encourage your mentee to record key points in their Learning Log. Tailor your use of the Theory to Practice activities below in response to the Review and Plan section of this session.

Review and Plan 5 mins

Clarify the Learning Intentions for this session with your mentee.

At the start of this module, you looked at all of the ‘learn how to’ statements for Standards 2 and 3 and conducted a module audit with your mentee: in some areas, they will already be confident and skilled; in others, they will want more practice and support from you and others. Look back at this audit now and use it to help decide how you and your mentee will make the most productive use of the suggested Theory to Practice activities below.

Theory to Practice 40 mins

  1. Collaborative planning Jointly work through your mentee’s lesson plan from their last self-directed session incorporating working memory/long-term memory exchange. They had Hasan’s Year 9 English lesson to work from as a model. Work together to explore how this might be refined in order to avoid cognitive overload to working memory and maximise learning. To support this exploration of their lesson you might like to ask:
    • Do you think your pupils, or some of them, might find this too hard?
    • If so, could it be because their working memory is overloaded – you are asking them to handle too many ‘bits’ of knowledge at once?
    • Have you done enough to help your pupils to retrieve knowledge from their long-term memories?
  2. Discuss with mentor Briefly discuss with your mentee their ideas about:
    • how to identify when prior knowledge is weak and pupils have misconceptions
    • what strategies might be effective for their class(es) in anticipating and dealing with these misconceptions Focusing specifically on an instance of misconception that your mentee has encountered, jointly work through their ideas and how these might be refined in order to minimise the occurrence of this. To support this discussion, you could refer to the research and practice summary in this week’s ECT materials, and use perhaps two of these prompts:
    • consider how they might discover the likely extent of this misconception, both across their class as a whole and among different pupils (e.g. do a quick quiz of their previous learning, get pupils to rehearse ‘everything they remember’, give a quick recap of what they ought to have learned and follow up with one or two multiple-choice questions, ‘correct the teacher’ – deliberately quote the likely misconception and challenge the class to point out the mistake)
    • draw out implications of this discussion for what – and how – new material might be introduced
    • building on their understanding of the role of memory in learning, map out a strategy for addressing misconceptions that could be used within their classroom, including providing appropriate external support and thinking about what form this should take
    • draw up a list of specific ways in which lesson content might be sequenced to prevent misconceptions from occurring in the first place by sharing and reflecting on examples from your own or another teacher’s planning and activity

Ask your mentee to identify three other specific opportunities in which they will apply the insights they have gained. How could they make this a routine part of their teaching?

Next Steps 5 mins

Agree with your mentee how they will now put their learning from this week’s session(s) into practice in their teaching. Help your mentee to clarify:

  1. the action(s) they will take and how these action(s) are expected to contribute to improving their workload and wellbeing
  2. what success will ‘look like’ in relation to these action(s)
  3. how they will evaluate their success in taking these action(s)

Note the date of your next mentor meeting, when you will check on your mentee’s progress.