Five psychological findings every history teacher should know

1. Five psychological findings every history teacher should know Harry Fletcher-Wood

2. Five psychological findings every history teacher should know Harry Fletcher-Wood (fraud)

3. A recent local news story (Hackney Today) • First bullet point here • Second bullet point here • Third bullet point here

4. Preventing dog fouling • First bullet point here • Second bullet point here • Third bullet point here • Waterproof poster • Charges during the day • Glows for ten hours each night

5. Preventing petty ‘theft’ • First bullet point here • Second bullet point here • Third bullet point here • An honesty tea kitty in a university kitchen. • Each week, over the kitty, a different image, unexplained. • Which week saw the highest contributions?

6. Preventing petty ‘theft’ • First bullet point here • Second bullet point here • Third bullet point here • The (scary) eyes have it • Dog fouling is more prevalent in winter (people can’t be seen)

7. The power of psychology • First bullet point here • Second bullet point here • Third bullet point here • What a great way to start a session…

8. A great start (for Hackney, for today) • Except… • The instinctive feelings of revulsion and disgust which you may have felt • Image credit: Rachael Towne

9. Knowledge is power • “To have more, we must produce more. To produce more, we must know more.” • Knowledge (of psychology) is (another kind of) power • Enabling – like history

10. Five findings, some applicationsand some caveats • A (historical) practitioner’s take • May: • Validate; • Increase understanding of; or • Offer a new perspective on… your existing practice • Trying to make it concrete • Image Credit – Digitalbob8

11. 1) Once upon a time… • There was a teacher…

12. 1) But gradually… • He came to realise…

13. 1) Stories are “psychologically privileged” (Willingham) • The mind is "exquisitely tuned to understand & remember stories“ • Easy to comprehend • Interesting • Easy to remember • “One death is a tragedy…

14. 1) Four elements of a good story (Willingham) • Causality • Conflict • Complications • Character Image credit: Tom

15. 1) What are we teaching? • Making room for the story • Building around the story… • Lessons • Units • Schemes Using the 4C’s cf sessions at the conference Lost in Time – When would you want to be stuck? Can you survive the Reformation?

16. 2) Attempting to learn more Swedish • Memrise

17. 2) The Memrise approach • Testing when needed

18. 2) Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve • As soon as you’ve learned it,it’s on the way out

19. 2) Accepting & addressing forgetting • Interleaving (pros & cons) • Repeated card sorts • Repeated testing • Test-revise-test • Changing tests(same material, different test each time)

20. 3) The Illuminati • Killed Michael Jackson • Organised 9/11 • Faked the moon landings • Are feeding delusional history teachers the rot they teach Image credit: Simiapath

21. 3) Flippancy aside • “If it wasn’t for Martin Luther King I’d be a slave right now.” • “Yes, but really, why did Germans hate Jewish people?” • “Why aren’t we studying dinosaurs?” • [Insert your least favourite here] Image Credit: Mark Anderson

22. 3) Confirmation bias • We discount contradicting evidence (and it can strengthen our beliefs) • When told an answer, we assume we know it (discounting differences and stopping listening) • We are unaware we’re doing it Image credit: Brett Jordan

23. 3) Solutions are limited, but how about… • “I’m glad that no one’s fallen into the trap of…” • Limiting ‘air time’ for dissent • Holding out on the ‘answer’ to force through the thinking • Pausing to marshal evidence next lesson Image credit: @jamestheo

24. 4) Social-psychological interventions • For example • At the beginning of the school year, students wrote about values that were important to them. • Increased black students’ grades • Reduced ‘racial achievement gap’ by 40% • Discernible effect on black students’ GPA 2 years later • Enlist students • Stealthy • Recursive • Brief, cheap, effective • Tested through RCTs

25. 4a) Students identify reasons a topic matters Original study • Each month, students wrote how what they had studied in science could be applied in their lives. -> Higher grades for prior poor performers Adaptation • How is the history we have learned useful or relevant to you/to modern life? • Prompts - Think beyond ‘a test’ and give examples.

26. 4b) Students persuade others they can succeed Original study • Read about new students’ fears; write a speech to younger students about how they evaporate. -> Significant effect three years later. Adaptation • Year 9 give advice to next year’s Year 9; Year 13 give advice on coursework prior to second unit.

27. 5) In retrospect, who preferred their colonoscopy?

28. 5) The experiencing self and the remembering self • Two different people… • We remember the peak and the end of our experiences Image Credit: Anders Adermark

29. 5) What effect are you going for? • Coherence – an answer • Intrigue – tune in next week… • Anger/righteous indignation • Determination • Image credit:Migel Sousa

30. 5) What effect are you going for? • Managing tensions: • Avoiding trivialisation • Returning to objectives & moving on • Embedding memories • Managing mood (predictability) • Getting to the deep subject knowledge The Cambridge Conclusions Project

31. What do you make of it…? • Stories • Repeated testing • Confirmation bias • Social-psychological interventions • Peak-end rule • Questions • Ideas • Challenges

32. Thank you • improvingteaching.co.uk • @hfletcherwood • harry.fletcher-wood@teachfirst.org.uk • This draws heavily on: • Daniel Willingham • Daniel Kahneman • Yeager and Wilton • Robert Bjork et all (mostly channelled through David Didau/@learningspy)