Konstantina Ioannou
I have been teaching in primary and preschool since 2013 and also worked as a research associate to the project "Science of Learning for Teacher Education" (University of Bristol).
Location Cyprus
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We are very pleased that you enjoyed the course and well done for completing it! Any feedback on how to improve it even more, will be very much appreciated; thank you! I believe that what actually made this course successful is everyone's contributions to the comments sections since you shared your insights, experiences and thoughts about how these theoretical...
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Thank you for all your contributions to the discussions and for sharing ideas and experiences, Caroline- that's what really makes a useful course I think!
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That's so exciting Susan! Please keep us posted on your research and even if the course finishes, I will be checking in once in a while for your updates. You may find this presentation useful for designing your research: https://www.sig22neuroeducation.com/uploads/1/1/2/7/112722403/richard_churches.pdf
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Including the families in your projects sounds very interesting! Keep us posted Miquel! :)
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Thank you Sadhana for your contributions and sharing your valuable experiences and insights! Happy retirement:)
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Great news Carol and trust me once the passion learning about the brain is ignited then it is a never ending process! :p Let me know if you are trying to find something more specific or if you need any additional clarifications after reading an article because I might be able to help you.
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That's a very encouraging message Alma! :) If I remember correctly, you are supporting SEN students, so if they are also young in age, they might enjoy reading together this book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QSPfnQCIY0
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Thank you Justine for sharing as this is a very helpful break down on how you will apply some of the ideas by looking at short-term, medium-term and long-term planning. Best of luck with your new post and many thanks for your feedback! :)
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Konstantina Ioannou made a comment
Firstly, thank you all for your questions. It's great to see so many of you thinking about how to take the ideas from the course into your workplace.
A number of teachers form CPD groups to take the course together in their schools, meeting up on a weekly basis to discuss ideas and application. We hope that you might be able to lead these groups in your own...
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That's a very specific objective Joanna so I am sure you will be able to achieve it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. If you would like, you can also share a topic that you are going to focus on next week here and then consider how you are going to help your students to apply their knowledge in different contexts.
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You may want to check the course 'Blended Learning Essentials' Alejandra since they give advices on how to create engaging and effective online content and materials for students: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/blended-learning-getting-started
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It is lovely to hear that you found the content helpful to inform your practices Emily. :) As an additional challenge, which concept would you like to test e.g. the following week, and how would you like to test it? Thank you for your contributions!
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Let's hope Amy that teachers will become the leading researchers in our discipline! :)
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You may then want to check these resources Fozia as they have also lesson plans and accompanied worksheets for the students to develop their understanding of the brain and its plasticity: http://brainu.org/
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Great to read your feedback Zahida and I am sure your students are very lucky having you! :) Please feel free to share any resources you have found useful from this course with your colleagues too and also let me know if you need anything else.
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It is very encouraging to read your feedback @تيسيرالطيب and that you found some of the concepts applicable to your everyday practice! Best of luck with everything! :)
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Hi Vivi! Thank you for sharing your reflection. It might be interesting if you would also like to share a topic that you are going to focus on e.g. next week and then we can all work together and see how can we promote further consolidation and make meaningful links between the various representations. Well done for being specific and being able to narrow down...
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Great reflection Justine as it is specific and practical! Best of luck and I am sure your students are very lucky having you! :)
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Konstantina Ioannou made a comment
Thank you to everybody for sharing your definitions, insights and feedback! As an additional challenge: since all these scientific concepts of learning are not novel, does the neuroscience actually adds any value, why or why not? Also, how is this approach different to the cognitive and more traditional theories of learning e.g. Piaget and Vygotsky?
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Hmm...that's definitely a tough situation Alejandra! If we can't then focus on the lesson delivery, what about focusing on the materials you are sending to the students? For instance, we discussed about the Cognitive Load Theory and that Power Points should not be overloaded. What about including more game-based quizzes? Or always included few slides at the...
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Indeed, some of the concepts are a bit tricky to establish in a virtual learning environment e.g. sharing attention when their cameras are actually off and you don't have the ability to create break-out rooms to allow further collaboration. But then again, using technology you can keep your students engaged with other ways e.g. using quizzes and uncertain...
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Hi Ruth! With the current circumstances, you may then want to conduct qualitative research instead of quantitative. So, what about interviewing a small number of students and gain some initial insights about your research. These can then inform your research and feed in your later on qualitative research when you will have the numbers too. But then again,...
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Hi Miquel! Regarding the study of emotions at the neural level, will you be able to perform any type of neuroanatomical research? For your second question, are you going to focus on some specific learning methods and test their effectiveness to promote consolidation of knowledge? If yes, you may want to check the Learning Scientists materials...
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Hi Zahida! As Caroline noticed a regular 5-minute booster sessions may indeed improve their learning. Therefore, your next step may be to think the pre- and post-test methods to collect your data and what are you going to include in your sessions. Next, regarding self-esteem, since it includes quite few virtues, it might be easier if you are a bit more...
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That's a very good starting point Sadhana, but you may want to be a bit more specific since the EBC framework includes a lot of concepts and many different learning processes. What about, 'How can the EBC framework support the critical reflections of teachers? Does it increase their job satisfaction?' Then again, if you would like to focus on the students'...
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Hi Ruth! You made a good start with your research questions so the next step should be to choose the instruments to check whether concentration and mood are being improved. I think concentration it is a bit tricky to assess, since there are many cognitive processes interacting and to get reliable data you might need specialised equipment. Someone may argue...
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Indeed, the sleep topic it is quite tricky, except if your children are wearing smart watches to track their sleep patterns. Regarding the times tables, it sounds very practical and feasible to achieve and if all classes agree to take part then you will have a quite big sample size. So, you might want to design a pre-test to have a baseline (you can use e.g....
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The topic of sleep is indeed very fascinating and it is a bit tricky to examine since it will be hard to control many of the variables. What about look into 5 minute power naps before e.g. spelling tests? Will these help the students improve and why or why not?
Regarding the positive pep-talk, what exactly are you going to focus on? Will you be sharing with... -
Actually, working in small groups is a great benefit Justine since you can get richer data and details regarding their comprehension skills. So, are you going to have a pre- and post-test or have a control group to be able to compare and evaluate your intervention?
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Konstantina Ioannou made a comment
All these questions are great starting points for promising research. If somebody struggles to think of a well-defined question, you might want to think first 1-2 hypotheses or look at the relevant literature. You might even want to replicate a study with your students or read the journals' section where the authors are discussing the limitations and future...
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Being taken account in their final qualification definitely motivates the students Miquel! However, how can you ensure that the students are intrinsically motivated to participate for the joy of learning and not for the final mark? Muchas gracias for your insights and for sharing your experiences.
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Konstantina Ioannou made a comment
Being aware of how busy and sometimes overwhelming a teaching job can be on an everyday basis, especially with the additional Covid measures and protocols, do you think you can test a method that you're already been using in order to establish its effectiveness and convince more colleagues to adopt it? You may not have the time for a full-scale research, but...
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Konstantina Ioannou replied to Amy F
Hi Amy! We actually used the same strategies of the Philosophy for Children with student teachers it was a very dynamic method, so I can't see any reasons why it will not work with teenagers.
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Konstantina Ioannou made a comment
It has been very encouraging to read everybody's comments regarding a project they will be interested to trial in their educational setting! Specifically, there is a great variety of projects that people are interested in or have already been involved with that move the educational research forward!=)
However, as we are aware of the demands of everyday life...
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I think this links with the misconception that when we are having fun we are also definitely learning. I am interested to find out a bit more about which parts of it you noticed that it doesn't work with you cohort of students and what are your thoughts about adapting some of its elements to promote further learning. Thank you for sharing your insights Hellen!...
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I believe this is the case for most of us Emily as we sometimes don't have enough time to research new approaches so we learn through trial and error. However, now with more experience on the online learning, which 1-2 scientific concepts of learning do you think you will be able to apply e.g. from next week? Also, based on what observations did you make those...
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That's such a great example of actually using STEAM in your practice Sadhana! :)
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That's such a fascinating finding @CarolFrench and @ZahidaSaghir! Based on your observations you adapted your approach and this is what is it all about being a critical reflective practitioner! Actually, this could be a very good topic for research. Now, as an additional challenge, based on the scientific concepts of learning that we discussed in this course,...
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That's a very interesting approach Stephen and your feedback and details on how you have been using the devices in the class. Did other schools try the same approach? How can we then integrate technology in our everyday lessons and what are the pros and cons? Also, which age differences should we be aware of?
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If you are interested in the more digestible doses Amy, especially now with the additional workload, you may want to download the app Blinklist since it offers one free book daily and sometimes they are quite relevant to education too. Just to be clear, I do not advertise it, but I am currently using it as I also prefer reading books! :)
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Konstantina Ioannou made a comment
Thank you everybody for sharing your ideas, resources and creating such an amazing community! Hopefully, in the following years research articles will be open to everyone, but you can always contact the researchers.
I would add to this rich list the following link to Cambridge Neuroscience where you may also find some relevant interesting...
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As you already noticed Kim, the ideas of engagement, build and consolidation are not actually novel concepts as they align with already established ideas from educational psychology e.g. Bruner- scaffolding, Vygotsky - social constructivism. Consequently, do you think that neuroscience adds any value to the science of learning? If yes, how and why, but if it...
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Just to clarify, the EBC should be treated as a framework and not as a model, at least that's what we had in mind when we were working on it with Prof Paul Howard-Jones. You emphasise correctly the issue that we can't have a one-size-fits-all approach. Therefore the EBC framework can just be added to everyone's current Assessment for Learning practices to help...
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That's a very good reflection Ruth and it seems that the consolidation process is usually the one that we all need to work on a bit more. Therefore, you may want to integrate the EBC concepts with your current assessment for learning practice. Thank you for sharing! :)
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That's very encouraging Alma, knowing that it might be possible to use more of these scientific concepts of learning in your planning and everyday practice. Please keep in touch and let us know if and how you integrated science of learning even further in your practice!=)
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Thank you so much Caroline for such an effective summary of the concepts since good teaching practices are and should be timeless. We are glad that these concepts make contact with what everybody is already doing and with your prior knowledge.
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@LauraM I think nowadays there is too much information available and so little time to apply all these concepts. However, as most of you noticed, the EBC framework is mainly providing scientific evidence to support already established effective practices. Therefore, you may want to use it mainly as a tool to reflect on what you are already being doing in the...
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Hi Janet! I loved your ideas of empowering the students by allowing them to become independent and increasing their ownership of the end product. Viewing teacher as a facilitator definitely allows us to move away from the traditional models of teaching that was mainly regarded as the "transmission of knowledge"! However, we must indeed take into consideration...
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That's a great questions @AlejandradelaRocha. Is there an important aspect for each of you? Also, @SimonStephens you mentioned that you would like to know that is going on in pupils' heads. Since most of the concepts that are taught here are not actually new and unfamiliar, does the knowledge of neuroscience adds any additional value to your everyday teaching...
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Konstantina Ioannou replied to Sarah Edejer
A very useful critical reflection @SarahEdejer as we do sometimes tend to rush through the curriculum and forget how important it is to promote consolidation by making the links with prior knowledge more visible! As an additional challenge, which scientific concepts of learning would to like to share with the parents in a future Meet the Teacher session and...
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Konstantina Ioannou replied to Maria D
This is such an amazing and encouraging feedback Maria as we are very pleased that you found the content of this course useful and familiar to your practice; thank you so much!=)
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Konstantina Ioannou replied to Caroline S
Hi @CarolineS! That is very encouraging, we are pleased that you found this framework useful to promote critical and reflective thinking. Please get in touch with us with updates and feedback. Many thanks!=)
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Exactly @StephenMarsh as these concepts should just complement or support existing good practices and learning theories, as well as to support our critical reflections.
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Konstantina Ioannou made a comment
A massive thank you to everyone for sharing your thoughts and insights! We are humbled by knowing that people are willing to apply the concepts in their classrooms based on their critical reflections!=) Also, I was pleased to read some comments about avoiding the caveat of creating a three-part lesson as all these processes can happen simultaneously. It is...
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Student's wellbeing should indeed be paramount and inform our everyday planning and delivery Sadhana, especially in such extenuating circumstances! How can we then help our students in a virtual environment or in classes where we still have a lot of restrictions? Any suggestions from the community will be much appreciated! :)
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You are right @CarolFrench as there are a lot of variables that impact children's positive development of cognitive, social and self-regulation skills. You may be interest in these articles: https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/53904/Resilience?sequence=1
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13540602.2014.937955
The second article...
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That's so true Sonia, since we always need to take into consideration the individual differences. Regarding the power of yet, you may enjoy reading Carol Dweck's opinion on how her theory on growth mindset was used in schools and what she suggests we should do to avoid misconceptions through oversimplification:...
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Thank you Marienta for sharing the link and such useful information and insights, especially regarding the age differences! :) You may find some useful resources here: https://schools.au.reachout.com/
They also have a useful guide on how to create a growth mindset: 'Embracing the F word: Using failure to build resilience and motivation @ school.'... -
Hi Shaun! Studies have indeed showed (as they ones that have been referenced above) that by educating and informing the students about concepts, such as brain plasticity, might have a positive impact, thus reframing their prophecies. Great idea to make the links with prior successes visible and discussing what strategies they used that helped them can be...
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Konstantina Ioannou replied to Julie Wilson
That's sound very exciting Julie! :) Any more details on how you are teaching this concept in early years will be very much appreciated.
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Konstantina Ioannou replied to Amy F
You can find the resources that Paunesky et al used in their study in 2015 here: https://www.perts.net/orientation/hg
Personally, I haven't used it, but since it is free you may want to have a look at it Amy and enroll your students. -
Konstantina Ioannou replied to Ruth Estrella-Pinto
Such approach may indeed empower and motivate intrinsically our students Ruth since the main argument against some of the the reward systems discussed earlier in this course was that their effects can be short-term. Regarding feedback, from your experience, did you find any age-related differences?
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Konstantina Ioannou replied to Simon Stephens
That can be a true challenge indeed Simon and an eye-opener! Will it be a good idea then to inform our students about the detrimental effects of distractions and "multitasking"? You might even want to do a small experiment with your whole classroom e.g. condition A: 15 minutes reading a text that will be followed with comprehension questions, condition B: 15...
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Great association Susan, and especially bilingualism can be a strong candidate of examining the experience-dependent brain plasticity as on average relevant studies have found that bilingual students outperform monolinguals on specific cognitive tasks e.g. executive functions. However, due to the myriad factors that shape human cognition, e.g. socio-economic...
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Such great and useful analogies are used here, thank you for sharing Shaun and Ruth. So, as an additional challenge, probably more appropriate for Ruth since, I am assuming, is working with a group of students: how do you keep all your students engaged and appropriate challenged when they are working in different levels? For instance, in a group of 5 students,...
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Very well said Mariagrazia! :) However, we should also be aware that every time we recall a memory its structure actually changes and it is very fragile. Therefore, how can we ensure that we do not create misconceptions every time an information is recalled?
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That's right Mariagrazia and your comment actually emphasises the importance of viewing the connections between the broad areas of learning and how they influence one another. As an additional challenge, how can we create such a positive virtual classroom environment nowadays?
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Konstantina Ioannou replied to Catherine Wedel
Unfortunately this happens a lot Catherine and it is such a missed opportunity that many learners don't know this. Since our beliefs about learning and our abilities are quite resistant to changes, how can we tackle the issue of students giving up due to the belief that they just aren't good at learning/or a subject in a more practical manner? Thank you! :)
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Konstantina Ioannou replied to Simon Stephens
Exactly Simon, learners of all ages can benefit from learning more about brain plasticity. Do you have any ideas of how you're going to do this? Let us know how it goes!
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Konstantina Ioannou replied to Sadhana Madhavan
Luckily Sadhana such courses have started being introduced to teachers' training and specifically this course was a by-product of introducing the Science of Learning into Initial Teacher Education at the University of Bristol. Here you can find some of the resources we developed in the first year we trialled it: http://edneuro.net/
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Konstantina Ioannou made a comment
You may be interested in the resources created by the BrainU Institute, since you can find some very interesting lesson plans: http://brainu.org/
For older children, this video has a lovely idea to demonstrate the transmission of information from one neuron to the other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAKscnzkhHg (~0:10:00)
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Answering questions Emily is just one way to promote consolidation, but you have already described other methods that you actually facilitate that e.g. practical applications, and discussing the new knowledge, which could be equally effective. Can you think of something that you can easily change or add in a lesson, which will not actually require more time to...
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I believe this is one of the main ideas of cross-curricular practice Sadhana!=)
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Love the idea of team work to reach a goal, Simon. I am guessing this could be very efficient for teenagers too since they are very socially oriented. Now, when do you think the same practice may not be as effective and what can you do to adapt it?
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Keeping them engaged through competition!:) Another additional challenge Janet: why do you think this approach is effective in your classroom and why the same practice may not be as effective for some students?
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Indeed Sonia, there's a lot of cross over between assessment for learning strategies, and practice and retrieval strategies. There's a lot of ideas collated here for questioning (although the resources were pulled together for secondary science teachers, much is not subject specific, or is transferable) https://www.stem.org.uk/secondary-science/standard-6
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Creating a 'tree of knowledge' - such a lovely and creative idea Manuela! :)
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By reading your comments, I got a sense that most of you are already using the above strategies in your everyday practice. :) However, some of you using the same strategies a bit differently since there aren't any one-size-fits-all strategies. Specifically, something that works for one class might not work for the next classroom. Also the teachers are...
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STEAM is indeed the new hype term Amy. How do we know that this approach actually works then i.e. students are learning and what could be the possible caveats that we should be aware of when planning and delivery such curriculum? You may want to take into consideration scientific concepts of learning from the previous sections too (e.g. CLT, making meaningful...
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Great way to develop their metacognitive skills too Janet! As an additional challenge, what happens when there are still misconceptions? At which point and who is mainly responsible addressing them and 'fixing' them and why?
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I also love it when students learn how to debate Yemi! How did you teach your students the skill to debate effectively and how do you ensure that all students are engaged?
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That's right @ElemonSakala since if we consider who is an effective teacher we can find references that apply nowadays from ancient times! :) Now, what may have changed a bit are the ways to keep learners engaged, thus how do you achieve this in your classroom?
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Hi Stephen! Taking into consideration the scientific concepts of learning why do you think such practice promotes learning in your learning i.e. which concepts from the engagement, build and consolidation do you think are relevant to this approach? Thank you!
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Great point Sadhana since teaching practices are only effective when we are considering how they enhance the students' learning.
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That's a lovely analogy Ruth since every time we recall a memory its structure changes indeed, but it is also quite fragile. How can we then ensure that we do not create misconceptions and do we actually get rid of misconceptions or do we just layer the new knowledge on top of them? Thank you for your contributions. :)
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Thank you Amy for sharing the link and drawing the attention to what learning strategies are actually effective and which they are not. You may find these material useful: https://www.learningscientists.org/downloadable-materials
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Based on the above @JanetBurnett how can you then keep the students motivated and engaged, especially now with the additional COVID restrictions which minimise the positive effects of sharing attention in the classroom?
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I am guessing from your comment that you are teaching teenagers, right? Taking into consideration their heightened sensitivity to social influences and emotional behaviour, they also have a poor capacity to think about the future or consider the consequences of their actions (incl. GCSE choices, A level subject choices, how much time to spend revising when...
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These are such concrete examples to gain insights whether learning and consolidation actually occurred Alejandra, thank you for sharing such clear guidelines. Please feel free to add how can we know that learning happened through observations to support our formative assessments.
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And even better 'practice makes easier' so that we avoid creating a fear of failure. :)
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I think this is why it is so important to view learning as the interaction and simultaneous activation of all three broad learning categories, since the learners much be able to be engaged in the content. Emotions are so intertwined with learning processes. Thank you for reminding us Carol and wishing you all the best working in such challenging environment.
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Great idea for daily review Faye! How do you organise your question e.g. do you have them written down and pick them out randomly from a box or are you using a specific software?
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@تيسيرالطيب Which performance will be more reliable to show you what actually has been consolidated i.e. before the beginning of a new lesson or at the end of the lesson and why?
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That's a valid point Tobin and Amy since it is important to consider each school's reality and circumstances before adopting a strategy as adaptation is very important. For instance, if the children are moving to different classrooms for the language lessons, then until they are settled down, they will only have few minutes left. Based on the same ideas of...
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That's a very good methodology Rebecca, as doing it the next day and in a structure way can allow you to gain insights on what has been consolidated and at the same time you are scaffolding the construction of new knowledge! Now, how can you ensure that your plenaries are also engaging?
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Hi Alma! And how do you perform this thought shower to ensure that the students are indeed making meaningful links with prior knowledge? What guidance and scaffolding do you provide?
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Hi Ding! Based on your experience, when do students perform better, at the end of the day review tasks or on the next day review tasks? Also, which results do you think are more reliable? Many thanks=)
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Hi Yemi and thank you for sharing your practice. As an additional challenge: If you are performing daily review at the beginning of each lesson, how do you also incorporate the concept of a 'hook' when introducing the new material? Thank you=)
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We are happy to hear @SadhanaMadhavan we can draw from our personal learning experiences and hopefully these concepts are meaningful in real classroom contexts too.
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Why do you think @SimonStephens and @CarolSilvera that the online learning cannot replace the face to face discussions? Are the e.g. breakout rooms enough, why or why not? Any ideas and suggestions on how to recreate such learning environment virtually too are definitely more than welcomed.
