Children learn new knowledge by tethering it to prior knowledge. Concrete examples can be useful at giving meaning to the learning and supporting the working memory by linking to already existing schemas. Many of the concepts we teach are fairly abstract in nature and in seeking to help pupils understand them we can build on …
Working memory capacity increases with age and in general, a person can hold 5-9 items in their working memory at one time. Working memory is limited by content and time. Only a set number of items can be considered in the working memory at one time, therefore chunking material is essential. When items are chunked …
Attention is limited and is all too easily lost. There will be times when it is hard for children to focus. The main limitations for a pupil when it comes to maintaining attention include: Capacity: a child’s capacity to focus it is not large and pupils are not able to process everything they sense at …
The Theory of information processing helps us to understand how children learn. Info_processing_model There are 3 stages: Attention: This links to our focus and motivation to learn. Pupils are bombarded with new information from our environment and surroundings, as well as the content they must learn. This is an immediate effect and if pupils are …
It really helps pupils to understand a concept when it is presented in partnership with a connected visual. Based on the principle of dual coding this will help cement the word in the child’s mind. It will also help to attach the word with the image, therefore increasing the likelihood they will remember that term. …
In Beck and McKeown’s book (Beck et al., 2007) ‘Bringing word to life’ there is fantastic guidance in relation to explicit vocabulary instruction: 1.Introduce words through explanations in everyday connected language, rather than dictionary definitions 2.Provide several contexts in which the word can be used 3.Get students to interact with word meanings right away 4.Develop …
The Academic Word List, developed by Averil Coxhead at Victoria University of Wellington, (Coxhead 2000) consists of 570 word ‘families’ commonly found in academic subject texts. Use this tool to identify academic vocabulary within extracts of text used within lessons. AWL look up tool AWL_tool
Word mats can help pupils to uplevel the vocabulary they use when writing. It can provide alternative choices of words or simply provide prompts to challenge pupils to use more advanced vocabulary. Word mat Tables like the one below can help pupils to know how to improve the vocabulary used in their writing. Uplevel vocab …
Quizlet is a versatile tool to help pupils familiarise themselves with new vocabulary and test themselves on it in different ways. It supports the teaching and repetition of Tier 3 vocabulary. Each vocabulary set that is created enables pupils to test themselves by hearing it, spelling it, writing it as well as games based learning …
In order to embed a depth of understanding this technique tests whether a pupil can make links between two words. Display a series of words and ask pupils to pair them up in whichever way they choose. They then must provide an explanation for their choice. Pupils demonstrate their acquisition of new vocabulary by identifying …