Havering Newsletter

Assessment – Lessons learned frommoderation in 2022

Pointers for next year Supporting pupils to ‘Know more and remember more’ takes planning and pedagogy. When planning strategies to support pupils to remember, there are three main stages to consider. 1. Acquiring Memories Ensure pupils are engaged in lessons so pupils use their working memory. To do this, we need pupils to think about the right things; the objectives rather than dinner. Strategies might include a ‘hook’ for the lesson to seize pupils’ interest; the use of concrete examples, manipulatives or displays support pupils to focus on lesson objectives rather than being distracted by other facts or processes or ensuring that lessons are focused on the key 1-3 aspects of learning (age dependant) so pupils can easily follow the lesson path. 2. Transferring Information from Working Memory to Long Term Memory There are limits to the quantity of information we can assimilate but not to the size of the information. For example, a random set of eight digit such as 76816428 is fairly difficult to remember whereas 01708314 may be easier because it links to knowledge we have already (area code for Havering and pi).

Making links to prior learning is a key strategy to support pupils to transfer knowledge to long term memory whilst chunking learning can ensure pupils’ working memories are not overloaded. The plenary is also an important aspect: research by Ebbinghaus has shown that we forget most of what we learn. One way to reduce this learning loss is to revisit the learning. 3. Retrieval When pupils revisit key learning – at the end of the lesson, at the end of the day, the week, the half term - they maximise how much they remember. In this way, a spiral curriculum supports retrieval. Some schools use spaced retrieval whilst others revisit learning through low stakes quizzes. The harder pupils try to remember, the more likely they are to remember in the future so quizzes which focus on defining vocabulary or completing short tasks may be more effective than closed questions. When pupils apply a concept in a different context or location it can help them remember more.

Jane Downes HSIS Associate Adviser – Assessment hsis@havering.gov.uk 01708 433813

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