My Diminishing Returns

If learning is a change in long term learning, then planning time should be devoted to ensuring this change. In order for this change to take place first pupils need clear explanations, then they need to think deeply about a concept for it to enter their long term memory and then there needs to be regular retrieval to ensure it stays in their long term memory.

The blog that has had the biggest impact on my teaching this year has undoubtedly been by Pritesh Raichura on explaining a concept by going from concrete to abstract. In simple terms, starting an explanation with an example that pupils will be able to grasp easily and then when more abstract terms are used, pupils have the anchor of this concrete example to give meaning to the abstract term. Instinctively most of us would start explaining a theory or definition and then use an example to explain it rather than the other way round. I’ve become convinced of the merits of going from abstract to concrete, I think it’s especially helpful when teaching subjects like economics and business where there are so much jargon that it can seem like we are speaking a different language.