Future Questions

Although cognitive sciences have shown the power of some learning strategies over others, not always these findings are easily translatable to the classroom.

Phonics

The EEF mentions the use of phonics interventions.
There is ample support for the use of phonics when teaching children to read.
However, several interventions have simply failed to provide any improvement in children’s performance.
How and when does phonics actually work?

Individual differences

One difficulty in bringing lab findings to the classroom is that a classroom is composed of students from different backgrounds and with different levels of abilities and motivation.
For example, teaching an older child to read poses additional challenges than teaching a student at the right age.
SEND students also require specific strategies and techniques.

Engaging material

In 2014, the US Department of Education was funding research that would investigate the applicability of cognitive sciences to education. They concluded with the following questions:
- How can teacher capture students’ attention to critical information?
- How should new material be presented so that it gets connected to prior knowledge?
- How should the curriculum be designed so that students can transfer skills to broader situations?

Interleaving and spacing

Interleaving is an extremely powerful learning strategy with immense support in the scientific literature. However, some practical questions remain unanswered?
- What is the optimal spacing between study sessions?
- How is the spacing interval influenced by the date of the exam?
- Should the spacing intervals be consistent or gradually extended?

Well done!

Thank you for completing our CPD course. We hope you've enjoyed it and that it has given you some ideas for your own classroom.

1Important Educational Researchers Currently

1.1Interesting Current Educational Researchers

1.1.1Mary Myatt

1.1.2Daisy Christodoulou

1.1.3Alex Quigley

1.1.4David Didau

2How to Have an Evidence-Informed Classroom

2.1How to Have an Evidence-Informed Classroom

2.1.16 Steps by the Evidence Based Teachers Network

2.1.23 Steps by the George W. Bush’s Institute

2.1.35 Steps by the University of Birmingham

3Interleaving

3.1Optimum Interleaving

3.1.1Optimum Interleaving

4Curriculum

4.1Cognitive Sciences and SEND

4.1.1Cognitive Sciences and SEND

4.2Curriculum Design

4.2.1Curriculum Design

4.3Christine Counsell: Senior Curriculum Leadership

4.3.1What is Senior Curriculum Leadership

4.3.2The Curriculum as a Narrative

5Future Questions

5.1Future Questions

5.1.1Future Questions

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