Case studies

So far this week you have engaged with the research evidence around the effective presentation of new content and ideas and explored how technology can help to develop pupil knowledge and understanding.

To help you explore some of these ideas further and see how schools have approached them in practice, we have collated a variety of case studies for you to explore across a range of contexts. You don’t need to explore all of the case studies in this section – just choose one or two to spend your time on this week (you can always return to the other case studies at a later date).

Think back to the statements you reflected on at the start of this week’s content:

1. When I explain new concepts, pupils grasp them quickly and remember them later

2. When I present new learning, I know how to present it in clear and accessible ways

3. My pupils have ways of presenting their learning to me and others in ways that build understanding

4. When I ask pupils to work collaboratively, the outcome is one in which there has been equal contribution from all group members

5. When pupils collaborate, I am confident they are helping one another to build new understanding.

You might like to focus on the one or two case studies that seem to fit the areas above which present the most challenge for you. When you’re watching or reading the case studies, you should focus primarily on the teaching and learning practice the case study portrays, rather than the specific technology used. It might be possible to achieve the same result as portrayed in a case study, even if the tools they’ve chosen won’t be suitable for your own context.

Case studies in this week of the course include:

Presenting learning: dual coding (1, 2) – In this video, we take a look at how dual coding is used in a secondary science lesson to present difficult concepts to pupils. The teacher uses a tablet and pencil, which he mirrors to the screen at the front of the classroom.

Presenting learning: writing for an audience (3) – In this written case study, we consider how the use of an authentic audience might serve to encourage primary pupils to write creatively and share their work with peers for comment.

Presenting learning: pupil portfolios in SEND (3) – In this video, we learn how SEND pupil portfolios can be used to evidence learning for parents and other stakeholders; capturing a range of multimedia evidence.

Collaboration: writing in the primary classroom (5) – In this written case study, we hear from a teacher who has made use of an online tool to encourage ideas generation ahead of engaging with creative writing tasks.

Collaboration: student mentoring (4, 5) – In this video, we see how pupils at one secondary school are supported by older pupils in another via a video mentoring scheme to help build knowledge and understanding.

When you are ready click the ‘Mark as complete’ button below and then select ‘Dual coding’ to see the first case study. Just keep clicking until you arrive at a case study you’d like to focus on this week.