Supporting Teachers New and
'Old' to Psychology
Objectives
• By the end of the session you will be able to:
• Understand how to use active teaching and learning
strategies
• Understand how the strategies demonstrate impact on
the learning of students
• See how to use AfL to teach an outstanding psychology
lesson
• See how you can support or be supported
Active learning strategies
• What are they?
• Why do them?
• Metacognitive benefits
• Some examples- PALS, think-pair-share,
jigsaw
Why active learning?
• Students who are taught using active
learning develop better higher level
thinking skills than those who are taught
using only lecture based instruction.
• Richmond & Kindelberger Hagan (2011)
PALS
• Lin Norton – Professor Emeritus Liverpool
Hope University
• Psychology Applied Learning Scenarios
(PALS) are an adaptation of problembased learning using hypothetical case
studies that represent situations which
professional psychologists typically face.
PALS
Problem-based learning represents a
shift away from more traditional teaching
methods to a perspective that focuses on
students’ learning.
(Boud & Feletti 1999).
What is the pedagogical justification for the
use of PALS?
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Active learning
Metacognition
Constructive alignment
Constructivist learning
PALS
• Problem based learning such as PALS,
encourages students to think deeply about
information and to develop a shared
knowledge through the presentation of
each student’s perspective
(Guenther and Miller 2011).
PALS
• PALS provide students with the scope to
apply their own knowledge to a
contextualised problem (Norton 2004)
• They make reflective judgements leading
to an in-depth understanding of
psychology can be applied to real life
PALS activity
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co7BW
WoF-5I
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Where’s the psychology – discuss
How could you tackle this?
How will you answer the question?
How would you know when you have
answered the question?
Jigsaw technique
• Jigsaw technique involves each student
being given a unique and vital part of
information that must be put together
within a collaborative group for any of the
students to understand the whole story.
• (Perkins and Tagler 2011)
Jigsaw technique
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Aims
Procedure
Findings
Conclusions
Criticisms
• Each person has sheet 1, 2 or 3 with details of the
Dement and Kleitman study
• Expert, discuss, teach
Jigsaw technique
• You have two minutes to read and become
‘expert’ in your area of the study
• You now have one minute to discuss and
rehearse the material with the person who has
the same topic area
• You have a further three minutes to teach the
others in the group the information in which you
have become an ‘expert’.
Jigsaw technique
• This means that the student takes the role
of the ‘‘expert’’ rather than the teacher
• They must add to the group’s learning
• The teacher becomes an assistant to the
students’ understanding, evaluation, and
synthesis of material
Jigsaw technique
• Student engagement required for jigsaw
tasks has been shown to play an important
role in the acquisition of critical thinking
skills and the development of problem
solving skills
Jigsaw technique benefits
• Cooperative learning promotes
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Meta-cognitive thought
A willingness to take on difficult tasks
Persistence in working on task and
Transfer of learning from one task to
another through social construction
Think-Pair-Share
• Using AfL to plan an outstanding lesson
• Use of Think-Pair-Share
• Get a copy at
• David Weston @informed_edu49s
AfL
• AfL clarifies learning objectives
• involves self and peer-assessment
• questioning and
• feedback
AfL
• Learning goals – students need to know
there are learning objectives and are clear
about what they are trying to learn
• Should include what a good learning
outcome will ‘look like’ and how this
relates to subject standards.
AfL
• Lessons must be planned to meet learning
objectives and appropriate tasks then
identified.
• If formative assessment is to be effective
therefore, it would imply that assessment
incidents also need to be planned
AfL
• Assessment incidents should be focused
on small group tasks
• Provide evidence of student’s progress to
date and
• Scaffold the learning of the group as they
collaborate to complete the activity
AfL
• Is constructive alignment achieved?
• To maintain student focus, the teacher
should relate the tasks to the learning
objectives and outcomes throughout the
lesson.
AfL
• Tasks provide opportunities for learner
self-assessment and peer-review
• Teacher assessment is enhanced by the
use of questions to provoke thinking.
• Questioning is planned, targeted and
progressive
• Extend ‘wait time’
AfL
• Feedback
• Are your students only interested in
grades?
• Do you believe that your feedback is more
useful than the students do?
• Does your feedback match learning
criteria and challenge improvement?
Mentoring
• Think-pair-share
• What is the most useful way of supporting
a teacher?
• What makes a good teacher mentor?
OFSTED good mentoring
• Emphasis on class management
• Phased programme to support teaching
and assessment
• Observations, feedback and guidance
• Regular meetings
• Opportunities given to experience good
practice
• Be a critical friend