Aaron Wong’s Reviews > Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn > Status Update

Active learning:
• uses activities and/or discussions e.g. group work
• higher-order thinking
• creating, consolidating, reinforcing, extending neural links in LTM
• information in LTM (e.g. definitions, examples, accumulated associations) are foundation for conceptual understanding (absorbing, retaining, analysing new information) & springboard for creativity
- p. 40-41

Active learning makes students 33% less likely to fail compared to talk&chalk; grades improved by 6%. - p. 39

Error analysis — identify, explain, fix errors in poor sentences
1. Work through with private think time
2. Compare responses with partner, increasing accountability & social motivation
3. Provide much practice & immediate corrective feedback
- p. 34-35

Teachers & working memory:
• students are worse in self-directed learning, and better with teacher direction
• practice builds info into long-term memory thru quick & automatic procedural learning pathway
• LTM enhances working memory thru automaticity e.g. punctuating sentences
• listening to teacher uses working not LTM, so they can’t implement
• have opportunities to practise during class
- p. 32-33

Improving note-taking for lesser-capacity working memories:
• provide skeleton outline with gaps students fill
• don’t speak/write quickly
• structure cues (signposting)
• mini-breaks to reread/clarify notes
• pause to ask open-ended hinge question to retrieve new information
• retrieve-taking: don’t take notes, but jot key points during pauses
- p. 31

Create strong varied links in long-term memory:
• downsize class notes to flashcards — simplifies & crystallises concepts with elegant simplifications
• frequently quiz one another
• being tired lessens working memory capacity, but makes one more creative
- p. 29-30

Differentiating instruction:
• paragraph frame for writing
• learning stations
• personalised agendas; adjust difficulty, not duration
• Carol Ann Tomlinson’s teaching up: aim high & scaffold differently
• orbital studies similar to main topic
- p. 29

Scaffolding:
• Hikers: allowing more time, breaking down steps, extension criteria
• Race cars: in-depth questions about connecting concepts, working with others, complex layered problems, authentic texts, extension projects, AI-differentiated instruction
- p. 28-29

Gauging working memory capacity:
• Excellent: can understand complex explanations & simultaneously take notes
• Average: can take notes but might lose track of challenging material
• Lesser: struggle to take notes & understand simple material simultaneously
• Circumstances (e.g. interest, home conditions) can affect
- p. 25

Education doesn’t change working memory capacity, but instead increases knowledge on long-term memory. - p. 24