Explanation and Modelling

Session 1 - Wednesday 5th September 2018

Session 2 – 19th November 2018

Session 3 - Friday 4th January

Session 4 - 4th March 2019

Aims and Objectives

• To understand the impact that effective (and ineffective) explanation and modelling can have upon progress and outcomes

• To have identified key characteristics of high-quality explanation and modelling

Research on explanation and modelling

In his book, ‘Visible Learning’ (2008), Professor John Hattie found that the average effect size for teaching strategies which involved the teacher as a “facilitator” was 0.17, whereas the average effect size for strategies where the teacher acted as an “activator” was 0.60. Direct instruction had an effect size of 0.59 compared to problem-based learning with an effect size of just 0.15.

What does this tell us?

‘If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well

enough’Albert Einstein

Characteristics of effective explanation

1. Reduce difficulty of task during initial practice –‘chunking’ the task

2. Provide scaffolds and support – model the procedure, using strategies such as thinking aloud, guiding students’ initial practice and providing students with cues

3. Provide supportive feedback – provide ‘fix-up’ strategies and expert models of the complete task

4. Provide opportunities for extensive independent practice

I doWe do

You do

Top Tips for effective explanation

• These are already written on your handouts – do not worry!

1. Know your students really well

• In order to pitch your explanations at the correct level, you need to know (a) what your students know, and (b) what they now need to know in order to make progress. (Key research – Vygotsky, published 1962 – ‘zone of proximal development’)

Some questions designed to help you to reflect upon this…

• How can we make sure we know our students really well?

• Do you think mixed-ability teaching have any impact on this theory? If so, how can we overcome this?

2. Use challenging subject specific language repeatedly• Think about the key words that you want (need!) to stick in the

students’ minds.

• With regular repetition, such key words become integral to effective explanations and we need to stress these words in our delivery for explicit emphasis. You will often find that the pupils become more confident in using these words independently in their explanations.

• Would you be worried about all pupils being able to understand and use certain words, e.g. LAPS?

• What is the alternative, if we always ‘shy away’ from these words?

3. Make explanations simple – convey a core message• Effective explanations need to have ‘the power of compressed

language.’ The core message is often fully linked to the language of the lesson objective. A great explanation may use the ‘inverted pyramid‘, used by journalists to prioritise key information by beginning with this core message:

• Is there a danger of leaving out important information with this type of model?

4. Engage pupils’ emotions

• Emotional reactions to explanations will make them more memorable. For example, you could use humour, jokes or other strategies to provoke more deep, serious thinking. Making students enjoy their learning will often lead to them remembering what you want them to learn.

• Should we be wary of a ‘style over substance’ performance?

5. Use analogies, metaphors and images• Cognitive science has proven that analogies and metaphors are

crucial to language, thinking and memorising knowledge. Our minds naturally draw upon ‘schemas‘ –the existing patterns of knowledge we have to help us learn new knowledge. A key way of making new knowledge memorable to hook it into pupils’ existing ‘schemas‘. They give students helpful templates to build on their prior knowledge and allow them to make educated guesses.

• How could we use our own experiences to test this theory?

6. Make abstract concepts seem real

• To further support the previous point about imagery and analogies making information more memorable, we better remember concreteknowledge rather than abstractions. We are hardwired to do this. From birth, our first words are invariably concrete nouns and verbs to articulate our most basic of needs. We must also avoid using too much abstract language and jargon beyond the patterns of the key subject-specific language that we want students explicitly to remember otherwise we risk losing the core message we want students to remember.

• Brian Cox is a great example of someone who does this really well.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQSoaiubuA0

7. Check understanding with targeted questions• One way to secure attention and to make any required modifications

to our explanations is to ask targeted questions. A ‘no hands up’ approach on selected occasions can secure a higher degree of attention. Also, encouraging routines involving students commenting on what one another has said can better keep all students listening actively and deepen knowledge (The A,B,C method).

• Questions can close in on the core message, but also open up to interesting analogies and ideas that deepen understanding. When considering an effective explanation a teacher should automatically have questions embedded in that explanation and be ready to flexibly respond to the answers, recasting and redirecting, even repeating the explanation if required.

8. Consider your delivery – paralinguistic features• The delivery of our explanations is crucial if we are to make them truly

memorable. Content without clarity and confidence is less likely to stick in the memory. We don’t need to be performing monkeys, but stressing key words explicitly, using clear emphasis and a tone that conveys enthusiasm will help engage students so they may then listen with intent.

• We must have undivided attention if students are to process complex new knowledge, therefore our tone must also convey authority. We may have physical positions of authority in the room where students expect you to speak from, or we could move about the room to ensure students are actively listening, which requires often a clear and no-nonsense approach.

• ‘A great explanation is worthless if students are not listening to it’ – to what extent do you agree with this?

9. Think about the long-term…

• Knowledge stored in the long term memory is most typically information that is revisited, therefore a great explanation must be followed up if we are to maximise its value. The ‘Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve‘ is a visual way to remind us that we must give effective explanations, but then revisit the core message with spaced repetition, otherwise there is danger that it will be forgotten:

The Ebbinghaus ‘Forgetting Curve’

Definitions of modelling

• Modelling is…

• ‘demonstrating the desired skill or behaviour while describing the actions and decisions being made throughout the process.’ (Harbour, 2015)

• ‘an instructional strategy in which the teacher demonstrates a new concept or approach to learning and students learn by observing.’ (Eggen and Kauchak, 2001)

Why is modelling an important technique?

Modelling has been proven to:

• decrease student error

• positively affect the perceived importance of a task

• increase self-regulated learning

Modelling can also ‘reduce student confusion and enhance understanding’ (Harbour, 2015)

Advantages of modelling

• Modelling can often make the unclear clearer.

• Some activities cannot be adequately expressed in words.

• Using this type of instruction, teachers engage students in imitation of particular behaviours that encourage learning.

• Modelling can promote inclusion.

• Modelling can help teachers measure the difficulty or work load of their students.

• Metacognitive modelling is particularly useful for exam groups.

• Stops students wasting time because they “can’t think of anything.”

Disadvantages of modelling

• Possibility to offend students if teachers are not working with empathy and integrity.

• Students may begin to “expect” models.

• Less able students are more likely to accept what is being modelled and not challenge it.

• Reduces students own thinking and creativity skills.

‘Students are replicating teachers models in tasks which require imagination’ (Agnes, 2000)

‘when used inappropriately it can inhibit learning’ (Haston, 2007)

Modelling in the classroom

• Most human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling.

• Research has shown that modelling can be used across disciplines and in all year and ability level classroom.

• A model can provide examples of what is expected of the students in terms of work and/or behaviour.

• A teacher can model by using visual, auditory, tactile, and/or kinaesthetic instructional techniques.

Types of modelling

• Disposition

• Task and performance

• Metacognitive

• Scaffolding technique

• Student-centred

Disposition modelling

• Teachers convey personal values or ways of thinking.

• Teachers can model desired personal characteristics.

Disposition modelling is ‘important for facilitating the development of character and community’ (Eurich, 1995)

Task and performance modelling

• Teacher demonstrates a task which students will be expected to do on their own.

• Used so students can first observe what is expected of them.

Examples of task and performance modelling

• Modelling a dance step that a class is about to learn

• Showing a completed answer to a maths problem

Metacognitive modelling

• Thinking skills that focus on interpreting information and data, analysing statements and making conclusions about what has been learned.

• Teachers talk through their thought process whilst doing the question.

Examples of metacognitive modelling

• Working through an example essay question/long answer – planning and writing it out loud (use a visualiser?)

Modelling as a scaffolding technique

• Teachers model the task, and then students work through the task at their own pace. (Teacher demonstration – joint activity – scaffolding activity – independent activity)

Teachers can model the task multiple times for students who have learning disabilities or English as an additional language (Baldwin et al, 2006)

Example of scaffolding technique

• Extended piece of writing: Newspaper article

• Layout: headline, subheading, picture,

picture caption, writing in columns

• Language: Who is your audience?

Student-centred modelling

• Teachers can often call on students to model expected behaviours or thought processes.

Teachers engage students who have mastered specific concepts or learning outcomes and model the task for their peers (Haston, 2007)