Are your lesson plans more about teaching or learning? This post delves into the transformative power of cognitive science in shaping effective schemes of work, ensuring knowledge retention, and fostering curriculum consistency.
A scheme of work, a medium-term curriculum planning document, outlines what, when, and how to teach. However, not all schemes are equal. Some resemble extensive checklists or PowerPoint presentations, heavy on content but light on cognitive design. On the other hand, some serve as roadmaps, guiding the sequence of knowledge acquisition, skill development, and opportunities for knowledge retrieval.
Today’s effective schemes of work are grounded in learning science. They don’t just list topics; they clarify key concepts, break content into digestible chunks, predict potential misconceptions, and provide space for revision and retrieval.
The goal is not to micro-manage every classroom moment but to provide a structured framework for memory and mastery. When informed by cognitive science, schemes of work help teachers incorporate the principles of encoding, storing, and retrieving knowledge. These schemes are not static; they evolve through teaching, reflection, and adaptation.
During training sessions, I often use a visual metaphor to illustrate how experts teach beginners: it’s not just what’s taught, but how it’s demonstrated step by step.
I share an old planning document to demonstrate that the crucial thinking is often done upfront—not extensively, but purposefully. Not every detail needs to be documented, and schemes of work are built over time, not in a single afternoon meeting. Each academic year, the content is tweaked to accommodate evolving technologies, student needs, and insights from the classroom.
For instance, a lesson might aim to teach students about the difference between frame and shell structures through a competitive, hands-on activity using newspaper, tape, and tennis balls, with the goal of building the highest freestanding tower. Another version could be designing a bridge across a specific span, built to hold a small weight.
In a single lesson, students transition from understanding to applying structural principles—triangulation, base design, problem-solving, and evaluation—all tied to memory processes: encode, store, retrieve.
This lesson serves as an excellent model for how schemes of work can be both memorable and manageable. It incorporates built-in retrieval, feedback loops, and physical demonstration of abstract concepts, fostering knowledge retention while keeping students engaged and active in the learning process.
When constructing schemes of work, consider three memory-informed steps:
1. Anchor everything around: encode, store, retrieve.
2. Leverage principles from cognitive psychology such as retrieval practice, spaced learning, and interleaving to transform curriculum planning. These principles help reduce forgetting, combat overload, and deepen understanding.
3. Like a spider’s web, schemes of work need anchor points (core knowledge), structured strands (schema), and space for repair (misconceptions). Over time, they grow stronger and more detailed.
In conclusion, by integrating cognitive science principles into our schemes of work, we can move beyond merely managing our teaching and start fostering lasting learning experiences that put students at the center of the educational journey.
