teachers put your hands up if you can
remember a time where you taught
students a topic only for you to tear
students put your hands up if you can
remember a time when you drove eyes
something really well only to forget it
when it mattered and then what’s your
teacher tear their hero this forgetting
in the classroom was an early
frustration of mine as I began training
as a secondary maths teacher five and a
half years ago during my training the
bottom line from my tutors was to teach
for understanding the understanding was
the Holy Grail if we could just get this
right our students would learn and they
would succeed the difference between bad
teaching and good teaching ultimately
was whether we taught for understanding
they told me that understanding would
result in memory I can remember
and so I I dedicated a lot of time being
the naive dedicated teacher was I
dedicated a lot of time it’s making the
best lessons for understanding good
questions clear explanations
well-structured activities all the
hallmarks I knew I remember one
particular occasion in my first year I
just finished teaching a double lesson
on Pythagoras theorem one of the Titans
of any secondary maths curriculum I
ticked all the boxes the explanations
were there students had plenty of
practice time some had even managed to
prove it amazing and so a couple of
weeks later I began with a quick and
optimistic review of what we’ve learned
so class a couple of weeks ago we
learned Pythagoras theorem and did we
came a small voice from the back of the
classroom did we learn that I don’t
remember well let me tell you that child
received the most deathly of deathly
teacher glares from me the exasperate
had failed seiche on the stage at the
front of the classroom
after all our algebra and triangle
drawing and all those explanations that
practice in front of the mirror the
night before how could you forget that
have you no heart
children have a remarkable raw honesty
to their feedback which I appreciate
every day and yet this is just one of
countless stories I could tell where
students had forgotten what they
previously learned where students were
unable to recall something I’d taught
them previously in fact I find when
setting tests as few as 10% of some
classes I taught could successfully
recall everything that they’d learned in
a term or a half term and so to me this
begged the question had Lee really
learnt it at all you see going with the
definition of learning as a change in
long-term memory I began to think not
there hadn’t been a change in long-term
memory and so I began to ask myself what
if what if there was more to this model
what if there was another factor or more
factors that influenced how students how
well students learn and retain
information and so I began to research I
read books I read cognitive science
research papers I read education
journals I listen to podcasts and that’s
how I came across the work of some
psychologists by the name of Robert and
Elizabeth Bjork their theory of memory
is that it’s based on two dimensions or
two factors rather than one firstly
storage strength ie how well connected a
memory as to other memories of the brain
ie understanding and a second dimension
retrieval strength how quickly or
effectively a memory can be recalled
like all good maths teachers I like a
graph so here’s one to explain this
about further I’m going to go
interactive again for a moment please
forgive me I am a teacher and I’m going
to give you some examples of some
memories and where they might belong on
this graph
put your hand up if you could remember
what you ate for lunch earlier today put
your hand up if you can remember what
if this was just an ordinary lunch
chances are story strength is not
particularly high that memory is not
connected to other memories in the brain
so both of those memories of lunches
would be low on the storage strength
however the memory of what you ate for
lunch today would have a higher
retrieval strength because it is a more
recent memory so maybe they would belong
over there Luanne’s story’s strength but
different levels of retrieval strength
hands up if you can remember the
birthday dates of your spouse siblings
best friend or or children hands up if
you can remember the names of all the
children in your year one in primary
school class yeah a surprising few
birthday day of a significant other has
a high storage strength because it is
well connected to other memories it also
has a high retrieval strength because
you have to recall it often and if
you’re a married man here you know your
wife won’t let you forget it
so that memory would be high on story
strength and high on retrieval strength
the names of children in your year one
primary school class also has a high
story strength is well connected to
other childhood memories
however chances are you don’t have to
recall that memory very often and so
that would be lower on retrieval
strength perhaps down here I knew that
as a teacher I could teach for good
storage strength but what this theory
taught me is that retrieval strength is
an equally important factor for memory
that for students to learn something and
remember it they needed to do more than
just understand it that’s not enough
they need to be practicing recalling it
successfully and so how does this relate
back to my valiant but failed at
attempts to teach four great learning
well what this model taught me is that
these things that we once understood
well like this student who’d learned
Pythagoras theorem but have since
forgotten these memories haven’t
actually been forgotten at all they just
become inaccessible they currently have
a lowest or at low retrieval strength
just like the names of people in your
year one primary school class now if I
were to give you a class photograph of
your year one primary school class I
reckon you could probably recall a lot
of those names that would then boost the
retrieval strength of that memory in the
same way my class needed to be
challenged to recall and apply
Pythagoras theorem in order to boost the
retrieval strength of that memory and
this is what we can often neglect as
teachers and educators in our bit to
ensure that school is not just all about
testing we denounced the mini quiz or
the little test a straight from the
devil itself and it’s sure that we never
demand that students recall previously
learned information or as students we
never test ourselves because it’s easier
just to highlight some nice notes with a
nice yellow highlighter and yet from
what I’ve seen in the research testing
ourselves is one of the most powerful
tools for learning you see every time we
successfully recall knowledge we boost
the retrieval strength of that knowledge
I’m currently finishing my master’s in
mass education and I’ve been putting
some of this research and theory into
practice with my students regularly
practicing this recall in
order to boost retrieval strength this
find it amazing to have students
discussing the memories of what they’ve
learned and reflecting on how they can
improve these through all this theory
and this classroom experience what I’ve
come to realize is that this is not a
good enough model for learning but this
is a much better one and yet the current
educational paradigm is that this this
regular recall practice mainly goes on
in the period just before an exam ie
cramming okay but this is the point
where students make the most progress I
believe that this model should be a
mainstay of our schooling both from
primary secondary and Beyond into
further education I believe that as
teachers we have the responsibility not
just to ask the question before planning
a lesson how can I convey this concept
as clearly as possible but also we
should be asking how will I ensure that
my students remember this a week from
now a month from now a year from now and
as students we have the same
responsibility when learning something
how will I ensure that I remember this a
week from now a month from now a year
from now more widely I would like to see
all of us who are invested in education
whether we are teachers stakeholders or
learners engage with the cognitive
science behind behind how learning
actually works what if we as a learning
community took this opportunity to make
a change to improve our understanding of
how learning works we could learn more
effectively grow stronger and be part of
a more educated society thank you [Applause]
remember a time where you taught
students a topic only for you to tear
students put your hands up if you can
remember a time when you drove eyes
something really well only to forget it
when it mattered and then what’s your
teacher tear their hero this forgetting
in the classroom was an early
frustration of mine as I began training
as a secondary maths teacher five and a
half years ago during my training the
bottom line from my tutors was to teach
for understanding the understanding was
the Holy Grail if we could just get this
right our students would learn and they
would succeed the difference between bad
teaching and good teaching ultimately
was whether we taught for understanding
they told me that understanding would
result in memory I can remember
and so I I dedicated a lot of time being
the naive dedicated teacher was I
dedicated a lot of time it’s making the
best lessons for understanding good
questions clear explanations
well-structured activities all the
hallmarks I knew I remember one
particular occasion in my first year I
just finished teaching a double lesson
on Pythagoras theorem one of the Titans
of any secondary maths curriculum I
ticked all the boxes the explanations
were there students had plenty of
practice time some had even managed to
prove it amazing and so a couple of
weeks later I began with a quick and
optimistic review of what we’ve learned
so class a couple of weeks ago we
learned Pythagoras theorem and did we
came a small voice from the back of the
classroom did we learn that I don’t
remember well let me tell you that child
received the most deathly of deathly
teacher glares from me the exasperate
had failed seiche on the stage at the
front of the classroom
after all our algebra and triangle
drawing and all those explanations that
practice in front of the mirror the
night before how could you forget that
have you no heart
children have a remarkable raw honesty
to their feedback which I appreciate
every day and yet this is just one of
countless stories I could tell where
students had forgotten what they
previously learned where students were
unable to recall something I’d taught
them previously in fact I find when
setting tests as few as 10% of some
classes I taught could successfully
recall everything that they’d learned in
a term or a half term and so to me this
begged the question had Lee really
learnt it at all you see going with the
definition of learning as a change in
long-term memory I began to think not
there hadn’t been a change in long-term
memory and so I began to ask myself what
if what if there was more to this model
what if there was another factor or more
factors that influenced how students how
well students learn and retain
information and so I began to research I
read books I read cognitive science
research papers I read education
journals I listen to podcasts and that’s
how I came across the work of some
psychologists by the name of Robert and
Elizabeth Bjork their theory of memory
is that it’s based on two dimensions or
two factors rather than one firstly
storage strength ie how well connected a
memory as to other memories of the brain
ie understanding and a second dimension
retrieval strength how quickly or
effectively a memory can be recalled
like all good maths teachers I like a
graph so here’s one to explain this
about further I’m going to go
interactive again for a moment please
forgive me I am a teacher and I’m going
to give you some examples of some
memories and where they might belong on
this graph
put your hand up if you could remember
what you ate for lunch earlier today put
your hand up if you can remember what
if this was just an ordinary lunch
chances are story strength is not
particularly high that memory is not
connected to other memories in the brain
so both of those memories of lunches
would be low on the storage strength
however the memory of what you ate for
lunch today would have a higher
retrieval strength because it is a more
recent memory so maybe they would belong
over there Luanne’s story’s strength but
different levels of retrieval strength
hands up if you can remember the
birthday dates of your spouse siblings
best friend or or children hands up if
you can remember the names of all the
children in your year one in primary
school class yeah a surprising few
birthday day of a significant other has
a high storage strength because it is
well connected to other memories it also
has a high retrieval strength because
you have to recall it often and if
you’re a married man here you know your
wife won’t let you forget it
so that memory would be high on story
strength and high on retrieval strength
the names of children in your year one
primary school class also has a high
story strength is well connected to
other childhood memories
however chances are you don’t have to
recall that memory very often and so
that would be lower on retrieval
strength perhaps down here I knew that
as a teacher I could teach for good
storage strength but what this theory
taught me is that retrieval strength is
an equally important factor for memory
that for students to learn something and
remember it they needed to do more than
just understand it that’s not enough
they need to be practicing recalling it
successfully and so how does this relate
back to my valiant but failed at
attempts to teach four great learning
well what this model taught me is that
these things that we once understood
well like this student who’d learned
Pythagoras theorem but have since
forgotten these memories haven’t
actually been forgotten at all they just
become inaccessible they currently have
a lowest or at low retrieval strength
just like the names of people in your
year one primary school class now if I
were to give you a class photograph of
your year one primary school class I
reckon you could probably recall a lot
of those names that would then boost the
retrieval strength of that memory in the
same way my class needed to be
challenged to recall and apply
Pythagoras theorem in order to boost the
retrieval strength of that memory and
this is what we can often neglect as
teachers and educators in our bit to
ensure that school is not just all about
testing we denounced the mini quiz or
the little test a straight from the
devil itself and it’s sure that we never
demand that students recall previously
learned information or as students we
never test ourselves because it’s easier
just to highlight some nice notes with a
nice yellow highlighter and yet from
what I’ve seen in the research testing
ourselves is one of the most powerful
tools for learning you see every time we
successfully recall knowledge we boost
the retrieval strength of that knowledge
I’m currently finishing my master’s in
mass education and I’ve been putting
some of this research and theory into
practice with my students regularly
practicing this recall in
order to boost retrieval strength this
find it amazing to have students
discussing the memories of what they’ve
learned and reflecting on how they can
improve these through all this theory
and this classroom experience what I’ve
come to realize is that this is not a
good enough model for learning but this
is a much better one and yet the current
educational paradigm is that this this
regular recall practice mainly goes on
in the period just before an exam ie
cramming okay but this is the point
where students make the most progress I
believe that this model should be a
mainstay of our schooling both from
primary secondary and Beyond into
further education I believe that as
teachers we have the responsibility not
just to ask the question before planning
a lesson how can I convey this concept
as clearly as possible but also we
should be asking how will I ensure that
my students remember this a week from
now a month from now a year from now and
as students we have the same
responsibility when learning something
how will I ensure that I remember this a
week from now a month from now a year
from now more widely I would like to see
all of us who are invested in education
whether we are teachers stakeholders or
learners engage with the cognitive
science behind behind how learning
actually works what if we as a learning
community took this opportunity to make
a change to improve our understanding of
how learning works we could learn more
effectively grow stronger and be part of
a more educated society thank you [Applause]
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