Research School Network: Evidence Informed Teaching This summaries a series of posts this half term that have focused on six evidence informed pedagogical principles.

Over the past half term the Durrington Research School team have been blogging about the research evidence behind six evidence informed pedagogical principles. These principles feature in the book ​‘Making every lesson count’ by Shaun Allison& Andy Tharby and provide teachers with a framework to support a more evidence informed approach to their teaching.

The first principle, challenge, is the driving force of teaching. Only by giving our students work that makes them think, and having the highest possible expectations of their capacity to learn, will we be able to move them beyond what they already know and can do.

Further reading – ​‘The fundamentals of challenge – expectations & cognitive load.

Challenge informs teacher explanation, which is the skill of conveying new concepts and ideas. The trick is to make abstract, complex ideas clear and concrete in students’ minds. It is deceptively hard to do well. 

Further reading – ​‘Unpicking Explanation’

Next is modelling. This involves ​‘walking’ students through problems and procedures so that we can demonstrate the procedures and thought processes they will soon apply themselves. 

Further reading – ​‘Mastering Modelling’

Without practice student learning will be patchy and insecure. They need to do it, and they need to do it many times, as they move towards independence. It goes without saying that practice is the fulcrum around which the other five strategies turn. This is because it develops something that is fundamental to learning – memory. 

Further reading – ​‘Practice with Purpose’

Students need to know where they are going and how they are going to get there. Without feedback, our fifth principle, practice becomes little more than ​‘task completion’. We give students feedback to guide them on the right path, and we receive feedback from students to modify our future practice. And so the cycle continues.

Further reading – ​‘Thinking about Feedback’

Our last principle is questioning. Like explanation, questioning is a master art. It has a range of purposes: it allows us to keep students on track by testing for misconceptions and it promotes deeper thought about subject content.

Further reading – ​‘Questioning’