Research Hub
Use these research resources to search for and evaluate evidence-informed teaching and learning approaches to guide your Teaching Sprints.
Retrieval Practice & Spaced Review
Bringing information to mind plays a critical role in boosting learning over the long term, so how do we use this to our students’ advantage in the classroom? Explore how embedding routine, zero-stakes testing can consolidate students’ learning of the knowledge that matters most.
Retrieval Practice Guide (RetrievalPractice.org)
The Learning Scientists - Retrieval practice resources
The Learning Scientists - Spaced review resources
SLRC PEN #4 Spacing-Out Practice Enhances Memory
How to use retrieval practice to improve learning
How to use spaced review to improve learning
Retrieval practice and transfer of learning
How to implement retrieval-based learning in early childhood education
10 techniques for retrieval practice
What makes distributed practice effective? Cognitive Psychology, 61, 228-247
Retrieval Practice: The Most Powerful Learning Strategy You’re Not Using
Feedback & Formative Assessment
Assessing student progress and providing feedback on the go is a nuanced but integral part of a teacher’s work. Explore the best available evidence on effective formative assessment strategies and high-impact teacher-to-student feedback.
Teacher Feedback to Improve Pupil Learning
EEF Teaching Feedback to Improvement Student Learning (Guidance report, 2021)
AERO Formative Assessment (Tried and tested resource)
How to Think about Assessment by Dylan Wiliam
The Four Pillars of Assessment (Evidence Based Education)
What makes great assessment? (Evidence Based Education)
Formative Assessment for Remote Teaching: Students Take the Lead
Getting more of what we want and less of what we don’t
Effective Feedback Practices (AITSL)
The Secret of Effective Feedback by Dylan Wiliam
Keeping learning on track: Formative assessment and the regulation of learning
Developing the theory of formative assessment
Ensuring students respond to feedback: Responsive Teaching 2019 update
Learning Intentions & Success Criteria
In order to track and monitor their progress, it is helpful for students to build up a picture of what success will “look like” in any given task. Explore the latest thinking on how to best clarify learning intentions and develop success criteria at ranging levels of proficiency.
Using success criteria (AITSL)
Learning Intentions and Success Criteria (AITSL)
Learning goals and success criteria (Department of Education and Communities)
Focus on Learning: Learning Intentions & Success Criteria Workshop Booklet (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment)
Learning Intentions and Success Criteria: learners’ and teachers’ views by H.Crichton & A. McDaid
Formative assessment and self regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice by D. Nicola & D. Macfarlane-Dick
Effective Instruction (Rosenshine’s Principles)
Loved by teachers around the world, Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction provide neat, punchy descriptions of effective, responsive teaching practice. Explore this range of resources, readings and responses to the Principles – these are the perfect materials for a sequence of Teaching Sprints focused on explicit instruction in the classroom.
Exploring Barak Rosenshine’s seminal Principles of Instruction
Rosenshine Masterclass Captured. Free CPD by Tom Sherrington
Poster from Tom Sherrington & Oliver Caviglioli
Rosenshine’s Principles: 10 FAQs
Principles of Instruction: Research-based strategies that all teachers should know. By Barak Rosenshine (American Educator, Spring 2012)
Rosenshine’s Principles in Action by Tom Sherrington (Book for purchase)
Cognitive Load Theory & Dual Coding
Cognitive Load Theory provides a helpful framework for teachers to carefully consider the limitations of working memory – leading researcher Dylan Wiliam once described it as “the single most important thing for teachers to know”. Drawing on the resources below, explore Cognitive Load Theory, its relevance for teachers and the implications for classroom practice.
An introduction to cognitive load theory (The education hub)
Cognitive Load Theory (NSW Centre for Educational Statistics and Evaluation)
An Introduction to Cognitive Load Theory
Using Load Reduction Instruction (LRI) to boost motivation and engagement
I had an idea in the 1980s and to my surprise, it changed education around the world (exploring key theories – cognitive load theory and constructivism)
Managing Cognitive Load through Effective Presentations (CESE)
SLRC PEN#1. Written text and spoken word don’t mix
SLRC PEN#2. Visual Images and spoken word mix well
SLRC PEN#6. Multitasking impairs memory and learning
The Learning Scientists - dual coding resources
Dual Coding for Teachers by Oliver Caviglioli (Book for purchase)
Metacognition
An important aspect of teaching involves helping students monitor their own thoughts and processes in the classroom; this often involves teaching very specific strategies that students can draw on when facing a hurdle in their learning. Explore the following resources to help you better teach students to monitor, assess and evaluate their own mental processes for learning.
Literacy
Toolkits and practice guides based on evidence-informed approaches to literacy instruction.
General
Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools (Evidence for Learning)
Literacy toolkit (Victorian Department of Education) and User Map
Australian Literacy Progression
Improving Literacy in Key Stage Two (Education Endowment Foundation)
Reading
NSW Education. Effective Reading Instruction in the Early Years
Improving Reading: A Guide for Teachers (CEM, EEF, Durham Univeristy)
How Knowledge Helps (Prof Daniel Willingham)
Reading comprehension requires knowledge - of words and the world
Writing
Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively (What Works Clearinghouse)
Effective Writing Instruction (VIC Literacy Teaching Toolkit)
Numeracy / Mathematics
Toolkits and practice guides based on evidence-informed approaches to mathematics instruction.
Australian Numeracy Progression
Top Draw Teachers
Looking for ideas to help your teaching? Topic areas are: Fractions; Mental computation; Patterns; Reasoning; Statistics; Geometric reasoning.
Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics
Make It Count: Maths and Indigenous Learners
Make It Count is for educators working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners in mathematics education. It is a teaching and learning resource, and a professional learning tool.
Improving Mathematics in Key Stages Two and Three (Education Endowment Foundation)
Improving mathematical problem solving in Grades 4-8 (What Works Clearinghouse)
Scaffolding Numeracy in the Middle Years: Authentic Tasks
Victorian DET Numeracy portal (Victorian State Government)
Victorian DET Maths Teaching Toolkit (Victorian State Government)
Science
Learning: What is it, and how might we catalyse it?
English Learners in STEM Subjects - Transforming Classrooms, Schools and Lives (2018), Consensus Study Report. Free PDF download available.
Science and Engineering for Grades 6-12 - Investigation and Design at the Center (2018). Free PDF download available.
Improving Engagement & Behaviour
Classroom management: Creating and maintaining positive learning environments
Behaviour Management: A Bill Rodgers Top 10
Improving Behaviour in Schools - A Look at the Evidence
Improving behaviour in schools: 6 recommendations in new EEF report
Positive Behavioural Interventions & Supports (PBIS)
NSW Education Positive Behaviour for Learning
Social & Emotional Learning
Summaries of what the research says about effective teaching and the science of learning
What works best: Evidence-based practices to help improve NSW student performance
What makes great teaching (Rob Coe et al)
What makes great pedagogy: Nine claims from research (Chris Husbands and Jo Pearce)
9 things every teacher should know (Dylan Wiliam)
Effective Teaching (James Ko et al)
Victorian DET High Impact Teaching Strategies
The Science of Early Learning - How young children develop agency, numeracy and literacy
The Science of Learning (Deans for Impact)
Six Strategies for Effective Learning: Materials for Teachers and Students (The Learning Scientists)
Resources that summarise and evaluate a broad range of educational research
Evidence for Learning Toolkit (Australia)
Summarises the global evidence base on 34 different approaches to lift learning outcomes in schools. You can view all approaches, see approaches relevant to primary or secondary schools or look at approaches by school management area.
Education Endowment Foundation (UK) Toolkit
An accessible summary of the international evidence on teaching 5-16 year-olds
Education Endowment Foundation (UK) Guidance Reports
Clear and actionable recommendations for teachers on a range of high-priority issues, based on the best available evidence