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Slides used at Wellington Education Festival 2013 on Robert Bjork's theories of 'desirable difficulties'
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Deliberately difficult Why it might be better to
make learning slower
David Didau Wellington Education Festival
22nd June 2013
The most important role of teaching is to promote
learning and to raise pupils’ achievement.
Ofsted Inspection Handbook, 2013
Outstanding teaching and learning will result in
“almost all pupils … making rapid and sustained
progress.”
Ofsted Inspection Handbook, 2013
2 questions
Q: If Ofsted judge T&L by observing lessons, what does ‘progress in lessons’ look like?
A: Performance
Q: Can progress be both rapid and sustained?
A: No
Teaching
Learning
Learning
The input/output myth
• But “as learning occurs, so does forgetting…
…learning takes time and is not encapsulated in the visible here-and-now of classroom activities.”
Graham Nuthall, The Hidden Lives of Learners
The input/output myth
Learning & forgetting
What can be done?
1. Separate performance from learning
2. Introduce ‘desirable difficulties’
Prf. Robert Bjork, UCLA
1.Separating learning from performance
Performance is measurable but learning must be inferred from performance: it cannot be observed directly.
Robert Bjork
2. Why is difficulty desirable?
• Rapid improvement (performance): predictability, cues, massed practice• Sustained improvement (learning): variability, spacing, interleaving
These slow down performance but lead to long term retention & transfer of knowledge
The (New) Theory of Disuse
Retrieval strength
Sto
rag
e s
tren
gth
Old friend’s address
New friend’s address
Childhoodaddress
What you learn in this
session
Rapid progress prevents sustained progress
• The higher the retrieval strength, the smaller the gains from additional study or practice
• Forgetting creates the likelihood of increased learning
• If learning is difficult, retrieval strength will decrease in the short term but will increase in the long term
“The illusion of knowing”
Everyone likes rapid progress
But…
The route to sustained progress is counter intuitive
Why your intuition is wrong
Why your intuition is wrong
Desirable difficulties
• spacing• interleaving• variability• generation• testing• reducing feedback
Hermann Ebbinghaus, 1885
What the evidence says
Spaced vs massed practice d = 0.71
Acquisition increased by d = 0.45Retention increased by d = 0.51
John Hattie, Visible Learning
Interleaving
Reading non-fiction
Persuasive writing
Audi
ence
& p
urpo
se
Spel
ling,
pun
ctua
tion
&
gram
mar
Para
grap
hing
& st
ruct
ure
Anal
ysin
g
Cont
extu
alis
ing
Audi
ence
& p
urpo
se
Spel
ling,
pun
ctua
tion
&
gram
mar
Para
grap
hing
& st
ruct
ure
Anal
ysin
g
Usi
ng e
vide
nce
Cont
extu
alis
ing
Audi
ence
& p
urpo
se
Spel
ling,
pun
ctua
tion
&
gram
mar
Para
grap
hing
& st
ruct
ure
Anal
ysin
g
Cont
extu
alis
ing
Usi
ng e
vide
nce
Usi
ng e
vide
nce
Analysing poetry
Creative writing
Generation
Generating information is more memorable than just reading it
ApplePear Or_____Ra______
Items we’ve not practised retrieving are more likely to be forgotten in the short term
But, forgetting increases chances of retaining information that is represented
Retrieval induced forgetting
Testing
• Which study pattern will result in the best test results?
1. STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY – TEST2. STUDY STUDY STUDY TEST – TEST3. STUDY STUDY TEST TEST – TEST4. STUDY TEST TEST TEST - TEST
Tests don’t have to be dull
Variability
Reducing feedback
• Providing feedback of success is counter productive• Students become dependent• Slows down pace of learning• Prevents risk taking & challenge
A teacher’s job is not to make work easy. It is to make it difficult. if you are not challenged, you do not make mistakes. If you do not make mistakes, feedback is useless.
John Hattie, Visible Learning
Key messages
• Performance is not evidence of learning
• Share the theory of ‘deliberate difficulties’ with your students
• Don’t trust your gut!
Sapere aude!
David Didau@LearningSpy
learningspy.co.ukddidau@gmail.com
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