A conversation with Seneca Learning Chief Scientist Dr Flavia Belham

For my first in conversation with I will be speaking to Seneca Learning Chief Scientist Dr Flavia Belham.

Follow @FlaviaBelhamPhD

Could you describe your background and involvement with Seneca Learning?

I am originally from Brazil, where I was a Science teacher. In 2014, I moved to London to do a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL. Since graduating, I have been working as Chief Scientist at Seneca Learning. I’ve had several roles at Seneca, from helping to develop our methodology to visiting schools around the country to provide CPD training. More recently, I have been focusing my time on managing our Brazil project and running virtual teachmeets and conferences for UK teachers.

For those that have not heard of Seneca Learning why should they use it with their students? How does cognitive science fit into Seneca’s development?

Seneca is a free online learning platform providing resources for more than 3.5 million students and teachers. Our content goes from primary to A-Levels and it’s all exam specific and written by amazing teachers – like yourself, Tom! Every single tool we have for teachers is free. The main idea is that teachers can set up classes and use Seneca to set assignments. Then, with our automated marking and statistical analyses, we help teachers identify and reduce learning gaps.

Our methodology is entirely based on cognitive science. The main principles we follow are spaced and interleaved practice, dual-coding and retrieval practice.

Which features are you most proud of on Seneca Learning?

There isn’t a specific feature… I am proud of the fact that everything we do is based on science and evidence. That’s really cool! The methodology we use, the algorithm my colleagues developed, the way we present and test information, it’s all based on research. That’s why it works so well! You can read our first paper published based on our RCT here.

How can Seneca Learning be used to its full advantage in closing knowledge gaps from September post lockdown?

Identifying knowledge gaps can be a huge task, but we can always use data to help us. For example, using the data collected during the lockdown from students’ online work can provide us with information about each pupil’s knowledge gaps. Our Seneca courses provide several “end of topic” quizzes that can also help with that. And, of course, all the data is stored and presented to teachers on the teacher platform. Once we have the information, we can differentiate the work we do with each student. Actually, Seneca is just about to launch a Smart Homework feature, so teachers can reassign particular topics to each student, based on their individual knowledge gaps identified by our algorithm. Another thing that Seneca is providing now is our SLT Enhanced analytics package, to help headteachers and HoDs to have more information about their schools.

How many current users do you have? Have you noticed any patterns as to who is using the platform and when they are using it?

The last time I checked there were 3.75 million students, nearly 200,000 teachers and about 40,000 parents signed up. Since lockdown started, these numbers have been changing very quickly though so it can be hard to keep up! I’m just glad we’re offering a product that has been so useful to so many people during this challenging time.

In terms of who is using the platform, we’ve seen more and more KS3 and A Level teachers using our content. Our content team have invested a lot of time in adding even more content for these age groups, including standardised assessments and exam-style questions, and it’s great to see teachers are enjoying this new content.

Usage is quite evenly spread across normal school hours with most activity happening just before lunch. It’s nice to see that students have been taking it easy in the evenings and relaxing with their families.

I have recently seen Seneca are offering an SLT Enhanced analytical package. How does that compare, improve and differ from the current analytical package?

The analytics in the platform gives great insights on a class-by-class basis. We’re working hard on adding extra features to make this data even more useful, such as adding multiple teachers to a class and providing a way of comparing data across classes. The SLT Enhanced Analytics package goes one step further by providing insights into usage across the whole school, including usage split by age group, by subject and by course.

To make this package as useful as possible for members of SLT, we’re also throwing in some bonus elements! These include early access to our free Virtual CPD Conferences and TeachMeets, personalised Seneca pages for all the courses taught in your school, and general extra support for students, teachers and parents.

It’s important to mention that, like all the analytics in the platform, this is completely free!

Would you be able to explain how the new smart feature homework will work?

Of course! This is one of the biggest features we’ve ever made so I’m super excited about it! So, Smart Homework lets you automatically reset specific parts of assignments based on how students did the first time around. A common example would be if 4 students in a class of 20 didn’t quite manage to finish off the last couple of sections by the due date, you’d want them to have another go at getting these done. Or maybe you want to make sure everyone has reached a certain score so you could reset sections to students where they got less than 70%.

I can see this feature being a massive help come September time when identifying and addressing learning gaps will be the name of the game. This has the potential to pile up the workload for teachers as they look to put together plans that are as personalised as possible. With the data that we have and how we are now able to use it, Smart Homework should make it much easier to get everyone back up to speed as quickly and effectively as possible.

A big thanks must go to Nesta and their EdTech Innovation Fund for helping make this happen.

What has the response been to the premium version of Seneca compared to the ‘free’ version? What is the major difference between the two?

The most important thing to mention here is that Seneca will always be completely free for teachers! All of the new features I’ve mentioned will be available for free forever! From the student’s perspective, all of our classic exam board-specific courses are still free and we keep adding more and more content to these, including standardised assessments, diagnostic misconceptions and exam-style questions. The main difference is access to even more of this content, some completely new course types and two extra learning modes. We have over 800 Premium courses across the age groups with loads of Exam-Style Courses being a highlight. Other course types include Hardest Questions, 7-9 Premium Knowledge, 4-5 Booster and some fun ones we like to call HyperFlashcards and HyperLearning! One of the Premium learning modes uses spaced repetition principles to plot optimal routes for students through their courses and the other lets students revisit just those questions they have previously got wrong to make sure they have them mastered!

I am also personally impressed with quality of communication from Seneca especially in response to questions on its features. What suggestions from users are you currently working on?

That is great to hear, we are always looking to find new ways to connect and share with our community of teachers, so it’s great to hear that you think we’re doing well on this front! We’ve actually been spending a lot of time creating subject-specific communities over on Facebook for talking about features as well as sharing useful resources.

I know I’ve already said Smart Homework is the best thing since sliced bread but what we have some things in the pipeline that could push it close! They are a bit less flashy but have been requested loads and will help make everything even easier. The first is being able to invite other teachers to a class, which will be great for Heads of Department and SLT in particular. After that, we’ll be looking at how we can better integrate with Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams starting with supporting Single Sign-On and then we’ll see what our teacher community would like us to work on next! We are actually running free CPD sessions about Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams. 300 teachers attended our first one so this seems like really useful for lots of teachers – all certified! We’ll be running more in late August/early September to help teachers get right back into the swing of things! And our conferences will also be back in September. They will be listed on Eventbrite.

You can find more of my blogs on Seneca here:

Seneca Learning: The Start of the Journey…..

Seneca Learning – classroom based Inquiry: The Questionnaire

Top Ten Reasons why Seneca Learning is awesome.

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Top 10 principles of having a difficult conversation

Having difficult conversations is a something a leader does on a regular basis. This could be with a colleague, student or parent.

This is a checklist that may help you have these conversations which you can easily shy away from.

What is the purpose?		What do you want to achieve with the conversation? Have you got data and evidence? You must have a purpose so make sure you are prepared
Plan it out.		Plan out how you want the conversation to go. Use the evidence you have collated to help form this plan.
Right place, right time		If this conversation is with a parent, I also check with them it is an appropriate time to speak. Likewise for colleagues, make sure you have enough time for the conversation and will not have to much of an impact on what they will do next.
Listen		Say what you have to say, but listen to what they are saying. Write notes if needed.
Be empathic not sympathetic		Empathy is understanding and connecting with another’s feelings. It is all about listening not trying to put a silver lining on an issue.
Aim for win-win		You want to come out knowing both parties are happy and can work towards a positive outcome.
Be direct		Know what you want to say and say it. Follow your plan, it is the only way to get the win win outcome you want.
Review		Go back through the main key action points and check everyone is happy with it as a record of what has been covered?
Action		Do what you said you would do within the agreed time frame
Follow Up		Make sure you get a chance to go over the action points and how they have resolved.

A to Z of Cognitive Science

Using research and making use of evidence from cognitive science to inform education is now becoming a hotly debated topic on platforms such as twitter and more and more educational companies are using the ideas to support students. Educational companies such as Follow @senecalearn  who are soon to hit million subscribers are a front runner in using these techniques and not forgetting the team at Follow @AceThatTest who post engaging videos, educational blog posts and enlightening strategies that teachers can use quickly.

I have compiled an A to Z to help those that a new to this research and of course those old hands who may need a refresher.

A – Ace That Test Follow @AceThatTest from the Learning Scientists. A team of brilliant cognitive psychological scientists who research the science of learning. Their blog posts are a must read for all teachers as well as parents/carers and students alike. They have a vision of sharing scientific research and making more accessible – they have certainly do that. I have been lucky enough to see them present at a teachmeet organised by the Follow @wctsa in 2017 and they completely transformed my thinking around education. The team can also be found on twitter separately – they are all well worth following.

Follow @drsumarackiFollow @pimpmymemoryFollow @psydoccindyFollow @drsilverfox

B – Blake Harvard – The Effortful Educator https://theeffortfuleducator.com/ . Blake is an American teacher however has some very useful blog posts on applying cognitive science to education. Blake can also be found on twitter here ]Follow @effortuleduktr

C – Concrete Examples – One of the famous 6 strategies highlighted by Follow @AceThatTest as a method to help students to study effectively.  Concrete examples are used when we need to understand an abstract idea.

 

D- Dual Coding – using visuals and text simultaneously so the information is encoded into long term memory. I have further blogs on this topic:

• 20 ideas & strategies for Student Led Dual Coding
• 14 Research Papers on Dual Coding

and recommend you follow Follow @olicav on twitter as the dual coding oracle.

E – Efrat Furst – Dr Furst does a fantastic job at communicating and promoting cognitive sciences to education. She teaches out of Harvard University and her research-informed strategies have transformed many a classroom. Follow Efrat on twitter Follow @EfratFurst

F- Flávia S Belham PhD– The chief scientist behind applying cognitive science to education. Sign up to Seneca as a teacher/student/parent HERE and follow Dr Belham on twitter Follow @FlaviaBelhamPhD

Seneca has a great cognitive science course for teachers that I very much recommend. My certificate for this is proudly on the wall of my classroom.

G – Google Scholar. There are lots of ideas in cognitive sciences and you will have your favourite techniques and strategies. Google scholar searches academia for research and if possible gives a link for a free PDF download. It is well worth exploring this. For example “retrieval practice classroom ” gives some excellent results.

H – Henry Roediger III – Professor Roediger researches aspects of human memory, how knowledge is retrieved and how this can be applied to enhance education. His work on the testing effect with Dr Jeffrey Karpicke has changed teaching for the better.

I – Interleaving – one of the 6 effective study strategies for students by the learning scientists. Interleaving is a method of revision that suggests you mix up topics during your revision schedule and is often combined with spaced practice. There has been lots of debate on best to interleave, Mark Enser does well to explain how to embed this into the curriculum planning as interweaving. Follow @EnserMark

J – Journals – Keep education evidence informed by reading. Research schools do a great job of passing on snippets and research however I believe it is important for all teachers to read and improve, we expect students to do it after all. I currently subscribe/read two accessible journals that are written by teachers for teachers. One of which is IMPACT from The Chartered College of Teaching and the other is ResearchEd – I fully recommend them both. Follow @researchEd1Follow @tombennett71Follow @charteredcoll

K – Karpicke, Professor Jeffery Karpicke has researched and written extensively on retrieval based learning, metacognition and cognitive strategies. One of his most ground breaking papers was co authored with Phillip Grimaldi on retrieval based learning. 

Karpicke, J.D. and Grimaldi, P.J., 2012. Retrieval-based learning: A perspective for enhancing meaningful learning. Educational Psychology Review, 24(3), pp.401-418.

L – Long Term Memory – After we have encoded and consolidated information in the long term memory our ultimate aim would be to retrieve it.

M – Metacognition and Self Regulation  -a cost effective way of raising standards across your school. The Education Endowment Foundation have produced this guidance report to help support teachers in embedding metacognition. Lots of research is being done on metacognition and it is well worth thinking about how you can embed into your pedagogy.

N – Neuroscience – Neuroscience is the study of the brain and cognition is about acquiring knowledge and developing understanding.  There is a great blog here by Follow @DrSilverFox  

Follow @PaulHowardJone1  has a nice video here

O – Online Platforms –Seneca Learning has been developed using cognitive science and is a platform that many students across the country are enjoying and benefiting from. I have blogged about Seneca here.

• Seneca Learning – classroom based Inquiry: The Questionnaire
• Seneca Learning: The Start of the Journey…..

Plickers is a brilliant and free quizzing tool in which you can collect in data from retrieval quizzes.

P – Pooja K. Agarwal – Dr Agarwal is an assistant professor at Berklee College of Music teaching psychological sciences. She is also the founder of retrievalpractice.org collaborating with Henry L .Roediger III. Pooja has a great insight into cognitive science and retrieval and can be found on twitter Follow @PoojaAgarwal and Follow @RetrieveLearn

Q – Questions / Elaboration –Elaboration is one of six strategies named by the learning scientists in order to help students to study effectively. Elaboration is adding detail to what you know by questioning yourself. Why has this happened? How has this happened?

R – Retrieval Practice – another of the 6 strategies named by the Learning Scientists.The testing effect has long been researched and the simple conclusion is the more  you self test and quiz the better you will do. This should be done over a period of time (see spaced practice) and is the opposite to cramming and just reading material. I have written further blogs on retrieval practice and ideas of how to implement strategies here.

• 10 ways to embed retrieval practice into your lessons!
• 10 Research Papers on Retrieval Practice.
• 10 strategies to involve parents in retrieval practice
• 20 Ideas for student led retrieval practice

S – Spaced Practice- another of the 6 strategies named by the Learning Scientists. This is the opposite to cramming. I have created a few resources for my students to use.

• A question a day physics revision
• Revision timetable set out for students

Good flashcard revision will not only support spaced practice but also retrieval.

 

 

 

T- Teachers & Twitter – on the front applying and testing these strategies need to be in the A to Z. Twitter is full of educators that are passionate in the application of research informed learning, some of which are mentioned in this A to Z. Twitter really is the best CPD out there and if you want ideas to implement a strategy, twitter is a supportive environment for you to ask the questions. #cogscisci is a great place to start

U- Untested and Unproven theories  (Neuromyths and Neurononsense)– Brain Gym/VAK learning styles/ left and right side of the brain misconceptions – you name them and education has  –Dan Willingham has a brilliant and is active on twitter. See here a collection of articles that Dan has written which really are a must read for any teacher. Follow @DTWillingham

V – Volume keep it low. There is lots of conversation at the minute around if student talk is productive. Should students work bu collaborating in groups? is this effective? This is another great blog by Mark Enser “what does learning sound like?” and others from Follow @oldandrewuk “noise” and Follow @mrsjw93 “The power of silence“

W – Working memory – working memory is the short term memory that is utilised when we are manipulating data of some kind. Once finished with it is either forgotten or encoded to the long term memory.

X – X-Amples from Rosenshine Principles of Instruction. Another must read for all teachers nicely summed up by Follow @teacherhead in this blog and the research article by Barak Rosenshine 

Y – Years – how long facts will stay in your long term memory if you apply the strategies (hopefully…well that is the idea anyway)

Z – Zest and Zig Zag– From the zest of discovery and knowledge many teachers are now changing direction – zig zagging – in how they approach teaching and learning and their application of cognitive science in lessons.

Happy to take further suggestions – find me on twitter hereFollow @TJohns85

20 ideas & strategies for Student Led Dual Coding

Dual Coding in very simple terms is combining visuals/graphics with text/verbals. What it is not is having complicated pictures with lots going on next to powerpoint text and detailed drawings next to every sentence. The idea behind Dual Coding is that will reduce any cognitive load rather than put more stress on the working memory. Dual Coding if completed well should enable the memory to encode easier and so you are able to retain information in your long term memory; this in turn can be recalled during retrieval. I have written a few short blogs on retrieval practice here:

• 20 Ideas for student led retrieval practice
• 10 strategies to involve parents in retrieval practice
• 10 Research Papers on Retrieval Practice.

Much of what I have understood from dual coding has come from Follow @olicav and the following research papers:

• 14 Research Papers on Dual Coding

Much of what dual coding is and can be makes sense. I have also thought while teaching that if students are writing notes while you are teaching they may miss content and lack understanding and  I do not let students write notes will watching videos unless we play it twice. I now try not to overload the working memory by putting ‘complicated diagrams/ on presentations next to text as it will divide attention and I do not fill slides with pointless images that are just there to engage the learner. What is important is that the images and visuals are accompanied with text that represents the image.

I have put the following together some ideas of how you could use dual coding in your classroom. Not all of these ideas may work in your setting and will I am sure be more suited to some groups of students than others.

1. Mindmaps

Students often get carried away by mindmaps – either that or never set sail only to write and colour a lovely title. If they do produce a mindmap, more often than not it is information and cognitive overload and loses its purpose. Mindmaps need to be kept simple, so students in the long run are able to self quiz using them. Set students a challenge that all branches need to be a certain colour, they must include diagrams, pictures and sketches and give them a maximum word count.

2. Annotated Diagrams

In science we use lots of diagrams to help explain concepts, ideas and phenomenon. Most if not all diagrams need further labels – but do we as teachers think hard enough as hard enough about how we label as much as what we label.

To reduce cognitive load it is important that labels are labelled within the diagram rather than attached to lines pointing to the correct parts or with labels in a box next to it labelled with a, b, c etc. There is a nice blog here explaining this with a great example by Follow @thelearningoak

3. A to Z

I have created this resource which is free to download from TES which allows for great retrieval as well as dual coding. Students use the letters A to Z to write a keyword or term for the topic of choice and then the students are able to draw or sketch something that represent the keyword.

4.Pictionary

Students write their own or are given a list of keywords. The game can be played various ways students could draw it while other guess it, or one student shows to the word to a group but can not see it themselves. Other groups members then draw it and the student that has the word has to guess what it is. The teacher could also instruct students to draw various concepts on mini white boards as a starter.

5.Story Board

Allow students to create a story board to help explain concepts. Download my template for free here.

6. Comic Strip

Similar to the story board but allow students to create their own comic strips or add text to pre-drawn comics such as these

7.Make it visual

Adding a diagram or two difficult to grasp concepts. I made a resource to support the teaching of GCSE Energy – stores and pathways. Students find this concept difficult to grasp and so I decided on creating this.

8.Put data in tables

Recently I was writing an email to colleagues regarding data entry and half way through I re-read what I had written and found it confusing. It was then, I created a table to put the data in – It took less time, made much more sense but more importantly allowed the information to be encoded a lot quicker. This is one of the reasons why we create tables in science, how else would you be able to organise thousands of data points?

9. Venn Diagrams

Organise data in a visual way – makes learning and reviewing knowledge so much easier. Mitosis Vs Meosis, alkane Vs alkene to fusion to fission

10. Timelines

Timelines are a brilliant strategy to organise dates and times that other wise would take a lot of working memory to manipulate. I have used timelines in science to visually represent the changes to the atomic model and the stages of the big band. History teachers I am sure are already all over this!

11. Infographics

I often create infographics by accident. I start off wanting to create a mind map but end up with an infographic. I see the infographic as a mindmap without the structure, but not lacking structure and information that it can be classed a poster.

12. Flashcards

I have blogged about the use of flashcards here:

• 20 Ideas for student led retrieval practice

and I suggest you spend 5 minutes reading this.

13. Double Bubble Thinking Maps

These are a great tool like the venn diagram if you are wanting to compare and contrast ideas. Unlike the venn digram which could be used for 2+ ideas, the double bubble would just be used to explore the similarities and differences between two things.

14. Fishbone Thinking Map

This type of analysis diagram is used when ideas can be quite complex and may cause conflict with one another. It can be seen as  more structured form of a mindmap.

15. Flow Diagrams

If you have lots of ideas that are a sequence of events a flow diagram is a useful way of getting your thoughts on paper in a visual format. I have most commonly used this when I have asked lower attainers to write a method for a scientific experience, they find a flow map easier to understand than just listing instructions.

16. Foldable / Interactive Notebooks

A few years ago I started to create interactive notebooks which I noticed were very popular other in America. The aim of these foldables were that would help support students in getting to grips with concepts and ideas. the resources are far more engaging than just drawing a 2D diagram in an exercise book. These resources can be found here:

17. Visual Methods /Integrated Instruction 

I have always tried before a practice to make sure I have shown students a clear demo, which is left complete and used as a reference point if possible. I will also put written instructions on the board which students can use. It was twitter that pointed me in the direction of Follow @dave2004b his brilliant blog and chemix.org

Reducing cognitive load and adding dual coding to a method can only benefit students.

18. Sketchnoting

Sketchnoting is the art of adding graphics and visuals to notes instead of writing them all in words. The Naked Scientists Follow @NakedScientists have produced some great videos in the past using the art of sketch noting and it is explained very well in this article by Follow @sarah_wright1

19. Tree Maps

I have used tree maps in classification type activities and decision making activities. I have used examples of these in the past when teaching the rock cycle. Does the rock dissolve in acid – if yes go to A if no got B. They can be also used to classify categories such as the classic image of the kingdoms in biology.

20. Cycle Diagrams 

These are created as flow maps however the steps can feed back into each other. They can make complex ideas seem connected. Examples can be like these:

For further reading click here

http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2017/2/5/weekly-digest-45

14 Research Papers on Dual Coding

Kate Jones Follow @87history has a brilliant overview and more links to dual coding which you can find here.

Any more ideas to add – let me know on Twitter.

Follow @TJohns85

OliCav has written this great book. Buy a copy here – click on the book image.

Image Google images: Commons; label for reuse but with thanks to Follow @P_A_Kirschner & Follow @MirjamN

10 strategies to involve parents in retrieval practice

In recent weeks I blogged about how as a teacher I have embedded retrieval practice into my everyday teaching and also how I have urged students to be independent in their own retrieval.

10 Research Papers on Retrieval Practice.

14 Research Papers on Dual Coding

20 Ideas for student led retrieval practice

10 ways to embed retrieval practice into your lessons!

This led on to me think how I could encourage parents to further support students learning. See here for 10 strategies to encourage parents to become more involved.

Provide Question and Answer banks.

Similar to whatFollow @adamboxer1 calls retrieval roulette however this is not classroom based but home based. I have put a series of questions and answers on the school VLE and made the pages to parents so they are able to self quiz students at home.

A question a day

I have provided 5 months worth of worth of questions (however not the answers) which parents and students are able to use. These have been handed out to students and parents in lessons and at parents evening, they are also available on the school VLE and TES.

AQA Physics

AQA Chemistry

A guest blog written by  Follow @rondelle10_b explains it well Hexagon and Monthly Revision Strategies

Knowledge organisers & checklists

I have given students knowledge organisers and topic checklists and have asked parents/carers to involve discussions and questions around these points.

How do you solve a problem like….checklists

Sign up to Seneca

I have written an article for the school newsletter encouraging all students to sign up to Seneca and for parents to join them. Many parents have said to me in the past “Physics!, I have not done that since school, how can I help him/her” – well now they can. Follow @senecalearn

Seneca Learning – classroom based Inquiry: The Questionnaire

Seneca Learning: The Start of the Journey…..

Accessible Past Papers

With the new 1-9 spec just started we are currently restricted with the amount of past papers however I have told students/parents where to find out papers such as here and here.

Log into Kerboodle 

I have made sure parents/carers are aware of their child’s log on for kerboodle and have encouraged parents to look around the site and support their son/daughter in using it.

Learning scientists blogs

I have given parents a link to the Learning Scientists blogs so they can better understand how to revise and offer effective support.

Encourage parents to design a timetable for students

I have create a revision timetable for AQA Physics however if parents and students can create one  together – even better. See my example here

Make and quiz each other using flashcards

It is becoming well known now that it isn’t the making of the flashcards that is important but the self quizzing using them. I have asked students to quiz parents as well as parents to quiz students.

See this Learning Scientists blog on how to use flashcards  

Follow @acethattest

Self quiz from mindmaps

Once mindmaps are created parents and carers can help supports by quizzing them on them and allowing them recreate them from memory.

See this Retrieval Practice blog

Follow @retrievelearn

If you have any other ideas let me know via Follow @TJohns85

14 Research Papers on Dual Coding

This is part two of a research paper collection following:

10 Research Papers on Retrieval Practice.

I have here 14 papers which may find useful if you are new to “dual coding” or as it seems to be referred to in research “multimedia cognition.” These papers will hopefully give you a understanding in which you will be able to embed the strategy to improve your lessons.

Mayer, R.E. and Anderson, R.B., 1992. The instructive animation: Helping students build connections between words and pictures in multimedia learning. Journal of educational Psychology, 84(4), p.444.

Mayer, R.E. and Moreno, R., 2002. Animation as an aid to multimedia learning. Educational psychology review, 14(1), pp.87-99.

Moreno, R. and Mayer, R.E., 2000. A learner-centered approach to multimedia explanations: Deriving instructional design principles from cognitive theory. Interactive multimedia electronic journal of computer-enhanced learning, 2(2), pp.12-20.

Mayer, R.E., 2005. Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning, 43.

Mayer, R.E. and Moreno, R., 2003. Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational psychologist, 38(1), pp.43-52.

Mayer, R.E., 2008. Applying the science of learning: Evidence-based principles for the design of multimedia instruction. American psychologist, 63(8), p.760.

Mayer, R.E. and Moreno, R., 1998. A cognitive theory of multimedia learning: Implications for design principles. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(2), pp.358-368.

Paivio, A. and Clark, J.M., 2006, September. Dual coding theory and education. In Draft chapter presented at the conference on Pathways to Literacy Achievement for High Poverty Children at The University of Michigan School of Education.

Clark, J.M. and Paivio, A., 1991. Dual coding theory and education. Educational psychology review, 3(3), pp.149-210.

Reed, S.K., 2006. Cognitive architectures for multimedia learning. Educational psychologist, 41(2), pp.87-98.

Najjar, L.J., 1995. Dual coding as a possible explanation for the effects of multimedia on learning. Georgia Institute of Technology.

Simpson, T.J., 1995. Message Into Medium: An Extension of the Dual Coding Hypothesis.

The great Oliver Caviglioli Follow @olicav suggested two great additions to the collection. It fact they should be read first before any of the others.

Larkin, J.H. and Simon, H.A., 1987. Why a diagram is (sometimes) worth ten thousand words. Cognitive science, 11(1), pp.65-100.

Vekiri, I., 2002. What is the value of graphical displays in learning?. Educational psychology review, 14(3), pp.261-312.

Follow me on twitter for more great ideas Follow @TJohns85

Want to use Retrieval Practice more effectively see:

20 Ideas for student led retrieval practice

Mid Topic Retrieval Quizzes to aid metacognition

10 ways to embed retrieval practice into your lessons!