Psychology in the Classroom

What exactly are schemas and why should teachers know about them? We learn about retrieval practice, metacognition, cognitive load, working memory and many other cognitive theories and underpinning pretty much all of them are schemas. It is the way that we theorise about how knowledge is stored in, linked and retrieved from long-term memory and so therefore we need to understand not only what they are but how to move our students from novice schema to expert schema. In this episode we will look at different ways that this can be done and reflect on some best practice. There are lots of previous episodes that link to schema that can be found via this link.

The links between sports psychology and education may not be immediately obvious but talking to Matt Shaw from InnerDrive clearly demonstrates just how interrelated these two areas are. Both sport and education require learning, need students to manage emotions especially during performance and aim to encourage behaviour change for many different reasons. Packed with top tips this is a really fascinating podcast. Matt mentions the InnerDrive Blogs: the sports blogs can be found here and the education blogs here.

This week's episode looks at Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) in detail, we have talked about it before with Bradley Busch but this delves into the original theory and how it has been researched more recently. With a good understanding of CLT and various other concepts that underpin it such as working memory and schemas teachers can transform learning in the classroom. We cover Sweller's 5 principles, different types of cognitive load and 14 things you could try in your classroom. The document mentioned in the podcast can be downloaded here. Sweller, J. (2010). Cognitive Load Theory: Recent Theoretical Advances. In J. Plass, R. Moreno, & R. Brünken (Eds.), Cognitive Load Theory (pp. 29-47). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511844744.004 The EEF Review can be accessed on this link.

Don Berg is an author, education psychology researcher, alternative education practitioner, and leader. He has over 20 years of experience leading children in self-directed educational settings. In this episode we focus on motivation, going beyond the traditional intrinsic-extrinsic paradigm to discuss the need for autonomy, competency and relatedness in order for students to feel motivated and engage with learning in the classroom. Some great ideas on how to make small changes to help motivation, engagement and wellbeing. You can find out more about Don's work on his website www.holisticequity.org and click this link for his Book: Schooling For Holistic Equity: How To Manage the Hidden Curriculum for K-12

Interleaving is a concept that has been around in the pyschological literature for about 10 years, the findings are quite robust but there is a lot of confusion about exactly what interleaving is and how it should be used in the classroom. This episode we define what interleaving is and is not, the consider the research that underpins it as a concept and the theories as to why it might work and finally what exactly interleaving could look like in your classroom. There are two reviews that I mention and you can click on the links below to access them: EEF Cognitive Science in the Classroom: Evidence and Practice review (go to page 53) Firth, Rivers & Boyle (2021) Contest and Implications Document for: A systematic review of interleaving as a concept learning strategy.

Following on from last week Bradley Busch from InnerDrive talks about the importance of retrieval practice in learning and how it links to the broader landscape of learning through the development of schemas, how to develop effective questions, not to mention why students don't opt for retrieval practice in their revision. If you's like to listen to Bradley's other Psychology in the Classroom Podcasts you can hear them here: The Science of Learning or Cognitive Load. You can find out more about the work that InnerDrive does at www.innerdrive.co.uk