Welcome to Key Stage 4 How we can use current evidence about learning to support student achievement Craig Hewitt Deputy Headteacher

Message no 1 Have a growth mindset Based on the work of Professor Carol Dweck Our minds and particularly our memories are more powerful than we might think: Anders Ericsson at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh conducted a series of experiments about memory Participants selected at random were given training on how to improve their memory After significant training some could recall sequences of up to 102 random digits, there seemed to be no ceiling to their capabilities. From ‘:59 Seconds Think a little change a lot by Professor Richard Wiseman’ What is the world record for recalling Pi? The most decimal places of Pi memorised is 70,000, and was achieved by Rajveer Meena (India) at the VIT University, Vellore, India, on 21 March 2015. Rajveer wore a blindfold throughout the entire recall, which took nearly 10 hours.

102 random letters looks like this: mnjgubchdbenogyrufhdnajdfjsurhhgurnvhasdimhonumbhjfjncrograsderghnfvjcsnvcrfjdsawnbabfdtrfnbvikpomygqf

So how do you develop your brain? How do you develop your muscles? Would lifting tiny weights develop your muscles? Would lifting weights once a month develop your muscles? Would lifting weights the wrong way develop your muscles? Work – really hard at things which are challenging

The expansive capacity of the brain Experiments have shown that the brain under constant stimulation can expand and develop. Purposeful practice builds new neural pathways. how the brain develops

‘Learning happens when you think hard.’ Professor Robert Coe Students often want to look for the short cuts, but the reality is that there aren’t any! ‘Learning happens when you think hard.’ Professor Robert Coe

‘Amateurs call it genius. Masters call it practice.’ Thierry Henry

Message no2 Listen to feedback ‘Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’ Albert Einstein Current educational research suggests effective feedback is one of the biggest levers for improving results, often getting students to ‘listen’ to feedback is the biggest challenge.

Message no3 Know what kind of studying works Specific practices which have good evidence of improving attainment include: asking a large number of questions and checking the responses spacing-out study or practice on a given topic, with gaps in between for forgetting making students take tests or generate answers, even before they have been taught the material And what doesn’t . . . Summarization - Writing summaries (of various lengths) of to-be-learned texts Highlighting - Marking potentially important portions of to-be-learned materials while reading Rereading - Restudying text material again after an initial reading Effectiveness of ten learning techniques, from Dunlosky et al (2013)

Message no4: Revision starts now! The latest research suggests that if we transfer information effectively into our long term memory then we should be able to access this when needed. ‘One of the best habits a learner can instil in herself is regular self-quizzing to recalibrate her understanding of what she does and does not know.’ Form Make it Stick: the science of successful learning Better still, the biggest determinant of our learning capacity is how much we already know, so the more we learn the more we can learn.

In summary Help your son/daughter to be organised Reinforce high expectations of what they can achieve Reinforce the idea that this will require hard work over the next two years (and perhaps some sacrifices) Ask them to explain what they are doing to you and if possible ask them questions about their work Check that they know how to improve in each subject If you are concerned or confused by anything or just want more information, contact the school.