Pedagogy
Pedagogy and the Psychology of Teaching and Learning
Teaching Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching. It is concerned with what a teacher does to influence learning in others and involves both the instructional techniques and the strategies implemented that allow learning to take place.
Learning Pedagogy addresses the different ways students understand information and is equally as important as teaching pedagogy in understanding and supporting every student. While pedagogy refers to the interactive process between a teacher and their student/s, it also includes aspects of the learning environment (classroom, study area at home etc) as well as the actions of the family and community.
Learning happens in a cycle of input (the information provided by the teacher), output (what both the student and teacher do with the information - remember, recall, use, apply) and relearn (going over what a student doesn’t know). Students need to be working on what they DON’T know. It is a waste of time to go over things they already know. It makes them feel good because it is easy, however, learning isn’t always easy OR fun. In fact, learning new information is HARD.
Environment matters and can have a significant effect on learning. The colour of a room is important; “nature” colours like blues, greens and browns are best. The temperature should be colder rather than warmer and, in fact, 19°C is ideal. Anyone under 25 is best to work in low (60 or 40 watt bulbs) or natural light; no fluorescent lights. 60s music is best for learning as it has a beat that matches our heart rate, as is music with 50-70 beats per minute (jazz, cultural, nature, classical) which can create a calm environment.
Repetition is critical to learning and going over information within 24 hours results in up to 90% recall. Going over it within 3 days results in a 30% recall. If a student is able to go home and tell someone about what they learnt that day they will remember it much better. Another strategy is to go home and summarise (NOT copy) what they learnt that day into subject-specific notebooks.
Using visuals such as pictures, diagrams, and mind-maps make content easier for the brain to remember. Finally, breaking information up into smaller, more manageable pieces is critical as teenagers can remember approximately only 5 pieces of information at a time. So they are best to learn three facts, test for learning, then learn another 3 facts, then test for learning of all 6 facts, and so on and so forth.
If there are any ways that we could help your child learn more effectively, please let us know via email. I am more than happy to help where I can and I am sure the class teachers would be too.
Ms Maria Littlejohn - Leader of Pedagogy