Practical Ideas

Practical Ideas for the Classroom

These are a few simple ideas to use in the classroom. These ideas directly apply some of the effective learning strategies mentioned previously.

Retrieval roulette

This is an idea put forward by Adam Boxer.
Create a bank of questions/answers covering all topics you teach using an excel sheet. Begin every class with a few questions taken from the bank.
The questions should be chosen randomly and cover more than one previous topic, not only the most recent one.
You will find examples and excel template on www.achemicalorthodoxy.wordpress.com.

Swiss cheese summary

This is an idea from Blake Harvard.
Give students a very short summary of a topic. Ask them to expand the summary as much as possible using keywords defined by you.
This activity demands students to retrieve information and create connections between the keywords.
You will find examples on www.theeffortfuleducator.com.

Colour-coded retrieval

This is an idea put forward by Blake Harvard.
Give students a question and ask them to write the answer in one colour without checking textbooks or notes. Then they should check the resources and complement the answers using a different colour.
A few days or weeks later, they should repeat the process and compare if they are able to remember more than before (ie there is more written using the first colour than the second colour).
You will find examples on www.theeffortfuleducator.com.

Retrieval grids

This one of Kate Jones' ideas.
Create 9 questions covering previous topics and add them to a board.
Students will answer the questions as in a game.
The older the content required to answer a question, the more points they get.
You will find examples on www.lovetoteach87.com.

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.

1Memory

1.1Memory Processing

1.1.1Overview of Memory

1.1.2Memory Processing

1.2Types of Memory

1.2.1Types of Memory

1.2.2Working Memory

2How Do We Learn?

2.1Neural Model of Learning

2.1.1Neural Model of Learning

2.1.2Desirable Difficulties

2.1.3The Forgetting Curve

3Cognitive Load Theory

3.1CLT

3.1.1CLT

3.1.2Background Knowledge

4Effective Strategies

4.1Rosenshine's Principles

4.1.1Rosenshine's Top 1-5

4.1.2Rosenshine's 6-10

4.2Dunlosky's Strategies

4.2.1Dunlosky's Strategies

4.3Dylan Wiliam

4.3.1Dylan Wiliam

4.4Daniel Willingham

4.4.1Daniel Willingham

4.5The Learning Scientists

4.5.1The Learning Scientists

4.5.2Practical Ideas

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