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PodSciSciReflections from CogSciSci Surrey 2025This episode is a compilation of mini-interviews that Rachel Oxburgh did with attendees at our CogSciSci conference in Surrey on 30 May. Hope this gives you a flavour of the talks we had on the day and it’d be great to see you at our next conference!List of speakers mentioned:Claudia Allan (@MBDscience, @mbdscience.bsky.social) - Prerequisite checks vs. Checking for understandingGareth Bates (@smashEDITT, @drgarethbates.bsky.social) - Retrieval practice, critical lens in education researchHaili Hughes (@HughesHaili) and Carl Hendrick (@c_hendrick)- Checking for understandingElizabeth Mountstevens (@drmountsevens.bsky.social) - ScaffoldingSarita Sharma (@sarita204sh...2025-06-2615 minPodSciSciCogSciSci Surrey 2025 - Speaker interviews: Episode 2It's been so exciting to hear from four more speakers who will be sharing their wonderful knowledge and experience in the upcoming CogSciSci conference! Check out this episode to get a flavour of what's to come - and make sure you listen to episode 1 as well!Get your tickets NOW using this link here. See you there in Weybridge on 30 May!2025-05-2030 minPodSciSciCogSciSci Surrey 2025 - Speaker interviews: Episode 1With our annual conference coming up soon, we spent some time asking some of the speakers to share with us briefly what their talks are about and why they're passionate about their topic of choice. This episode gives you a sneak peek of what's to come - It got us really excited about the conference and we hope you would too! Keep your eyes (and ears) peeled for the second episode where we will interview more speakers in the next two weeks...CogSciSci Surrey 2025 is on Friday 30 May 2025. Remember to get your ticket ASAP using this link...2025-05-0928 minPodSciSciMeaningful learning with Sarah CottinghattRach and Rachel are joined by Sarah Cottinghatt, keynote speaker at May’s CogSciSci conference, teacher educator and author of Ausbel’s Meaningful Learning in Action. Sarah talks about the importance of the way in which we learn (meaningfully or by rote) in determining the type of forgetting that inevitably follows (better forgetting happens when we learn meaningfully!). We discuss with her what we as teachers can do to facilitate meaningful learning in our classrooms and help our students form memories that last (rather than disappear by next lesson!).
Useful resources:
Sarah’s book on Ausubel’s theory o...2024-12-1939 minPodSciSciRehearsal with Pritesh RaichuraShelley and Rach are joined by Pritesh Raichura, Assistant Principal of T&L at Ark Soane Academy. Pritesh is well-known for his exceptional classroom routines, including great use of Turn & Talk and 'All Hands Up' and in this episode, shares his knowledge and experience of rehearsal. Rehearsal is a powerful tool which can be used to encode concepts into long term memory and build fluency in our students' understanding.
Useful resources include:
Bunsen Blue (Pritesh's blog) - Turn & Talk
Bunsen Blue - Three Phases of Questioning
Tom Sherrington - Rehearsal first, retrieval practice later
Elaborative rehearsal...2024-04-1849 minPodSciSciHomework with Jo CastelinoIn this episode, Shelley and Rach chat to a pirate in Hogwarts (Dr Jo Castelino) about all things homework - what does 'effective' homework look like, and why will it be different in every school? And how can you begin to build a culture of homework in your school / department? This is a fun but informative episode which will motivate you to consider what homework looks like for your classes.
CogSciSci St Albans is fast approaching on 31st May - not many tickets remaining! Discounted tickets are available for early career teachers. Click here...2024-04-0553 minPodSciSciMixed ability teaching with Bill WilkinsonAfter a long break, Shelley and Rach are back, chatting to Bill Wilkinson about mixed ability teaching and SEND provision in Science. They consider the Education Endowment Foundation evidence on setting and streaming, navigating the dreaded tier decisions at KS4 and breaking down 'microbarriers', bearing in mind the important accessibility concept of 'essential to some, useful for all'.
CogSciSci are also very excited to announce their next conference which will take place at St Albans School on 31st May, and we are looking for speakers. Tickets are available here.
Other useful links include:
The...2024-02-1448 minPodSciSciRosenshine's Principles #3: Independent practice with Adam RobbinsIn our final episode in the Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction mini-series, Shelley and Rach chat to Adam Robbins, the current Managing Editor of CogSciSci and the guy who makes the conferences happen! They discuss the need for independent practice, the conditions needed for it to be effective and, of course, SLOP (Shed Loads of Practice).
Some relevant links include:
Frederick Reif's book 'Applying Cognitive Science to Education'
Daniel Willingham's 'Why Student's Don't Like School'
CogSciSci training modules on writing SLOP
Shelley's Biology booklets with SLOP
Variation theory by Craig Barton
2023-11-2339 minPodSciSciRosenshine's Principles #2: Check for understanding with Deepika NarulaFollowing on from the first episode in the Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction series, in this episode the focus is 'Checking for Understanding'. Shelley and Rach chat to Deepika Narula about the importance of checking for understanding, and ensuring our students are 'learning with fewer errors'. Strategies discussed include diagnostic questions and BEST resources, cold calling for sampling, probing questions and the logistics of mini whiteboards.Some relevant links to this episode:
Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction in Action
Harry Fletcher Wood's 'Responsive Teaching'
Pritesh Raichura's blog - checks for listening vs. checks for understanding
2023-11-0940 minPodSciSciRosenshine's Principles #1: Effective explanations with Tom MillichampRosenshine's Principles of Instruction have become commonplace in T&L CPD over the last few years. Over the next three episodes, we will be considering the Principles in three blocks - effective explanations, checking for understanding and independent practice.
In this episode, Shelley and Rach chat to CogSciSci regular Tom Millichamp, a Lead Practitioner of Science in the Midlands. They discuss the importance of activating prior knowledge, what effective delivery looks like in the classroom (hint: there will be talk about visualisers and booklets) and the role of rehearsal in helping students to encode the new knowledge.
Lots of relevant...2023-10-2339 minPodSciSciPocket Pedagogy - Ratio with Adam BoxerDoug Lemov's concept of 'ratio' is absolutely essential in our classrooms, yet still goes under the radar in many INSET / CPD programmes in schools.
This week, Shelley and Rach are joined by Adam Boxer, who has written extensively and delivered webinars on the idea of ratio in the past. They discuss what is meant by ratio and what it looks like in the classroom, challenges that you may encounter when trying to increase ratio in your classroom, as well as some tips for HoDs/LPs looking to develop this within their team.
PS. We promise...2023-09-1345 minPodSciSciBack to SchoolAs August comes to an end, Shelley and Rachel join teachers around the country in trying to get their heads back in the game, and setting some goals for the term ahead.
Topics discussed include starting at a new school, participation ratio, effective revision strategies, and looking after our wellbeing!
Some blogs/reading discussed in this episode:
Pritesh Raichura - Hands up for guaranteed results
Adam Boxer - Ratio and What could I have done differently?
James Mannion - The learning Skills Curriculum2023-08-3143 minPodSciSciCogHiHi!Welcome to our first episode of PodSciSci! We are Shelley and Rachel, two Science teachers who are part of CogSciSci - a group of science teachers passionate about sharing and discussing research-based pedagogy.
In this episode, we talked about who we are, what CogSciSci is and how we got into the group.
Get in touch to let us know what you think and if you're interested in being on the podcast in future episodes! Email us at podscisci@gmail.com
Check out CogSciSci resources (as mentioned in the episode) at cogscisci.wordpress.com...2023-07-2731 min