Barbara Tversky (Minds in Motion) discusses the cognitive power of cartoons to explain abstract concepts. In these three images, I … More
Category: learning
Using Visual Explanations Leads to Better Performance
I have been listening to Barbara Tversky’s wonderful new book: Mind in Motion, about the roots of thinking in the … More
Up and Down the Ladder of Abstraction
Yesterday I wrote about the importance of physical, experiential knowlegde of physics: a sense of forces and flow; of motion … More
A Short Booklet on What Research Says About Using Visuals in Teaching
Dear all, I have been thinking hard (and reading a lot) about using visualisations in class. Here is a booklet … More
My ASE Talk January 10th 2019 – How to Teach Problem Solving in Science (with added Bar-Models!)
I have planned the outline of my ASE Annual Conference talk (Thursday 12.00). It may develop a little, but the … More
Learning Intentions
I have been worrying about Learning Intentions for a quarter of a century. Occasionally I discreetly ask someone I trust … More
Why Bar-Model Works #1: Dual Coding
I have been using bar-model incidentally in my year 11 revision groups for a couple of months now. I usually … More
Using Visual Representations to Help Solve Abstract Physics Problems
By year 6, pupils are skilled mathematical problem solvers. They can solve multi-step questions involving abstract concepts. This sounds like … More
But where is the cognitive science and the knowledge?
I’ve just received an email from TES advertising a book they are publishing titled: tes guide to STEM.I was hoping … More
A Residue of Physics
Six months ago, I was helping English trainees write a knowledge organiser for The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and … More
