Case Study: Adam Riches

Case Study of Learning by Summarising

Adam Riches is an assistant principal and the author of 'Teach Smarter.' He taught his pupils to use a strategy for summarising.

Personal background

Riches first adopted Cornell note-taking during university.
This method was meant to help him condense his notes into a succinct and formulated revision tool.

Observations

Riches found that there was a common assumption that students knew how to take notes.
In reality, many had no idea how to make non-general notes.
- He observed that many students, when asked to revise without instruction, tend to write down everything, making the information harder to access and rendering their note-taking process passive.

Solution

Riches taught his year 10s Cornell note-taking in order to combat the general note-taking habits.

Case Study of Learning by Summarisation: Outcomes

After teaching his students the Cornell note-taking method, Adam Riches observed many positive effects.

Riches' approach

Riches adopted the idea of breaking a note-taking page up so that it includes:
- A clear title
- A column for key points/key ideas
- A column for notes
- A summary box at the end of the sheet

Riches' guidance

Riches discouraged students from taking pages and pages of such notes.
He also discouraged the use of full sentences.
He stressed the importance of the summary box.
He provided his own work as a model at first, scaffolding his students' uptake of the Cornell note-taking technique.

Outcomes

Cornell note-taking proved especially good at engaging students with video-based resources, audio resources and texts.
- It added clarity and logic to new learning materials.
It allowed for more efficient independent study as students became more confident about tackling taught content.

Surprise bonus

The summary box was also helpful for teachers.
It helped reduced the marking workload as it provided a quick, clear window into students' understandings of the taught material.
- Any misunderstandings could easily be highlighted or identified via the summary.

1Introduction

1.1From Teaching to Learning

1.1.1Context in the Education Landscape 1

1.1.2Context in the Education Landscape 2

2Summarising

2.1Learning by Summarising

2.1.1What is a Summary?

2.1.2Learn by Summarising

2.1.3Summarisation at Work

2.1.4Case Study: Adam Riches

3Self-Testing

3.1Learning by Self-Testing

3.1.1Learning by Self-Testing

3.1.2Case Study: Emma Smith

4Self-Explaining

4.1Learning by Self-Explaining

4.1.1Learning by Self-Explaining

4.1.2Case Study: Ceridwen Eccles

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