I trialled the use of a self-marking Google Forms quiz, to which I had added specific feedback. However, neither may be easily accessible in terms of language or the way in which they are presented. Which words are keywords? Which units are relevant? Which facts are essential? Textbooks give some hints about this by using bold or coloured boxes, and exam board specifications may include definitions. Solution: Provide them with self-marking hinge questions with instant feedback Problem: Students struggle to select the crucial content that needs to go on flashcards. The difference in response may be attributed to the different levels of exam pressure felt, and therefore different willingness to engage in active (rather than passive) revision (Seibert Hanson and Brown, 2019), as well as a mismatch between self-belief and efficacy (Kornell and Son, 2009). Year 10 were more split, with some enthusiastically embracing flashcards and others reluctantly joining in. This qualitative data indicates that the majority of Year 11 students were keen to produce and use flashcards and were grateful for the specific guidance, especially in terms of formatting and the use of quizzes as scaffolding Progressively introducing students to new concepts to suppor. Impact was monitored by noticing instances of students making or using flashcards unprompted and by asking for verbal feedback during lessons and written feedback as part of post-test reflection. These are addressed in the paragraphs below.
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The main issues identified relate to selection of content, organisation of it on the flashcard and how to use the flashcards once made. My starting point for the study was observations made through the years as a secondary school teacher, when I would simply instruct my students to make flashcards without realising that I was making the implicit assumption that they knew how to. Both classes had a range of abilities and achievement.
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This article is intended as a preliminary study into what kind of guidance students need to be given to produce high-quality flashcards and use them effectively, based on qualitative observations during a series of lessons with IGCSE students: a Year 10 boys’ class and two Year 11 classes (one girls, one boys only). Since retrieval practice is an effective study technique (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006), flashcards have the potential to be leveraged for better progress and revision, particularly when compared to the relatively ineffective strategy of re-reading, which many students prefer (Karpicke et al., 2009).
They provide a way for students to learn and self-assess independently, making them particularly helpful for revision – the study of work in preparation for exams. They can be on paper or digital, using web-based platforms, and all obtaining similarly positive results (Sage et al., 2016). When you apply to join, do not forget to answer the question.Cecilia Astolfi, Teacher of Physics, Brentwood School, UKįlashcards are a method of retrieval involving a prompt or question on one side of a card, and a statement or answer on the other side. To become a part of the community of teachers implementing the ISLE approach, please to join the Facebook group “ Exploring and Applying Physics”.
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To implement the ISLE approach, go to Textbook information, Free ISLE Resources and How to implement ISLE on this website and take advantage of all the materials that we have created in the last 20 years. Building a learning community is one of the goals of our work. To help students feel comfortable with the approach, it is important that the classroom becomes a learning community. Eugenia Etkina started this work in 1982 and continued for almost 40 years. While such idea might sound a little crazy, lots and lots of ISLE teachers have been using it for years. To make sure that students’ confidence, motivation and well-being are improved while learning physics, one of the important features of the ISLE approach is encouraging students and creating opportunities for them to improve their work multiple times without punishment for multiple trials.
The combination of these features is applied to every conceptual unit in the ISLE learning system, thus helping the students develop productive representations for qualitative reasoning and for problem solving.
This approach involves students working in groups developing their own ideas by