We are all on this exciting journey of learning about the Cognitive Science of Learning. At a Professional Development day, our staff had the opportunity to listen and learn from Associate Professor Lorraine Hammond AM from Edith Cowan University. Lorraine has worked tirelessly in the schools in the Kimberleys and the Canberra Diocese schools to improve student data for all students.
‘The Cognitive Load Theory’ by John Sweller is a theory about how the human brain learns and stores knowledge. Dylan William has described, the cognitive load theory as the single most important theory for teachers to know. The human brain can only process a small amount of new information at once, but it can process very large amounts of stored information. Grounded in a robust evidence base, cognitive load theory provides support for explicit models of instruction.
Daily Reviews are a part of Barak Rosenshine Principles of Instructions. These ten Principles outline the evidence of how to teach a lesson. Daily Reviews are one component of Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction. Daily reviews strengthen previous learning and can lead to fluent recall. The most effective teachers in the studies of classroom instruction understand the importance of practice. All of our classes at OLW begin their reading, vocabulary writing, spelling and maths lessons with a five to eight minute review of previously covered materials. Daily Reviews help students learning go from their short term memory into their long term memory. Our students each have their own mini-whiteboards and whiteboard markers and they use these when completing their Daily Reviews. When students are asked to write a sentence using the vocabulary explicitly taught, spell a word using the phonic structure they have been taught or solve a maths problem, they use their whiteboards. We always cater for our high performing students so they are challenged in all curriculum areas daily.