• Question: One PE scheme of work has a new lesson plan for each session, whilst another suggests you repeat the same session in the week. What do you think? Would it be best for students learning to do same session on Tues/Fri or to repeat Tues/Tues with another games/dance/gym session in between to give pupils more time to reflect on lesson. What about the children who had mastered the skills/game in the first session, (they may do extra outside school), is this a useful exercise for their learning? Thank you Brendan Rouse (Bath)

    Asked by brouse to Jessie, Jo, Liz, Lucy, Paul, Yana on 4 Jan 2018.
    • Photo: Jo Taylor

      Jo Taylor answered on 4 Jan 2018:

      Hi Brendan,
      There is evidence to suggest that information or skills we learn on one day is embedded in memory overnight (or several nights) and that sleep is important for this process. It could therefore be that if you teach students something on Tuesday they will do better at it when you ask them to do the same thing again on Friday, and this repetition could be useful for further embedding the skill/knowledge. There is also evidence that we learn more if we recall the information ourselves, rather than just being told the information again. Therefore, perhaps it might be good in the Friday session to try to get students to try to remember what it was you taught them before you demonstrate it. This could also be beneficial for the better students. Regarding Tues/Tues vs. Tues/Fri I’m not sure, but there is some evidence that new information can interfere with old information, if it hasn’t been properly embedded in memory. So Tues/Fri might be the better option so you can assess how well their knowledge has embedded in memory. I hope that is helpful!

    • Photo: Yana Weinstein

      Yana Weinstein answered on 22 Jan 2018:

      Hi Brendan,

      You hit the nail on the head when you mention the students who had mastered the content. Generally, the ideal gap between two presentations is going to be somewhat related to how well the students had already learned the material. If they had learned it very well the first time, they can stand to have a longer delay before the next presentation. If they still need more help with it, they would benefit with additional presentation of the information sooner. However, it is going to be very difficult (impossible) to match the ideal delay to each student. So, I would say that as long as you are including spaced practice, the exact timing of the repetitions shouldn’t be something you are overly worried about.
      Thanks,
      Yana

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