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Ed fest desirable difficulties
David Didau argues that deliberately making learning more challenging can lead to better long-term retention and understanding among students. He highlights the distinction between performance and true learning, advocating for practices such as spaced learning and interleaving to foster sustained progress. Additionally, he cautions against relying on rapid performance gains, suggesting that real learning often happens through facing difficulties.
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Ed fest desirable difficulties
- 1. Deliberately difficult Why itmight be better to make learning slower David Didau Wellington Education Festival 22nd June 2013
- 2. The most importantrole of teaching is to promote learning and to raise pupils‟ achievement. Ofsted Inspection Handbook, 2013
- 3. Outstanding teaching and learningwill result in “almost all pupils … making rapid and sustained progress.” Ofsted Inspection Handbook, 2013
- 4. 2 questions Q: IfOfsted 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
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- 6. • But “aslearning 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
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- 8. What can bedone? 1. Separate performance from learning 2. Introduce „desirable difficulties‟ Prf. Robert Bjork, UCLA
- 9. 1.Separating learning from performance Performanceis measurablebutlearning must be inferred from performance: it cannot be observed directly. Robert Bjork
- 10. 2. Why isdifficulty 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
- 11. The (New) Theoryof Disuse Retrieval strength Storagestrength Old friend‟s address New friend‟s address Childhood address What you learn in this session
- 12. Rapid progress prevents sustainedprogress • 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
- 13. “The illusion ofknowing” Everyone likes rapid progress But… The route to sustained progress is counter intuitive
- 16. Desirable difficulties • spacing •interleaving • variability • generation • testing • reducing feedback
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- 18. What the evidencesays Spaced vs massed practice d = 0.71 Acquisition increased by d = 0.45 Retention increased by d = 0.51 John Hattie, Visible Learning
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- 21. Generation Generating information ismore memorable than just reading it Apple Pear Or_____ Ra______
- 22. Items we‟ve notpractised retrieving are more likely to be forgotten in the short term But, forgetting increases chances of retaining information that is represented Retrieval induced forgetting
- 23. Testing • Which studypattern will result in the best test results? 1. STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY – TEST 2. STUDY STUDY STUDY TEST – TEST 3. STUDY STUDY TEST TEST – TEST 4. STUDY TEST TEST TEST - TEST
- 24. Tests don’t haveto be dull
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- 26. Reducing feedback • Providingfeedback of success is counter productive • Students become dependent • Slows down pace of learning • Prevents risk taking & challenge
- 27. A teacher‟s jobis 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
- 28. Key messages • Performanceis not evidence of learning • Share the theory of „deliberate difficulties‟ with your students • Don‟t trust your gut!
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Editor's Notes
- #5 Performance can be propped up by predictability and current cues that are present during the lesson but won’t be present when the information is needed later. This can make it seem that a student is making rapid progress but there may not actually be any learning happening.
- #10 Learning occurs but performance in the short term doesn’t improve, or…Performance improves, but little learning seems to happen in the long term.
- #13 represent, change context etc.
- #20 Threshold concepts?
- #23 Interference vs inhibiition??Items we’ve not practised retrieving are more likely to be forgotten in the short term but are more likely to be ‘learned’ in the long term
- #26 We respond to familiar cuesIf you take a test in the room in which you’ve learned you’ll do better – but much worse in an unfamiliar settingBut, if you learn in lots of different configurations, you’ll do better in tests