By doing this, you’ll be able to:
- Reduce the cognitive load for students
- Increase students’ enthusiasm for the subject and willingness to try
- Boost their understanding and, ultimately, their success.
You’ll know from teaching – as well as from your own learning history – which topics within maths and physics are most complex. So, what can you do to make these topics more accessible to students?
Resources created by our Scholar alumni
We recently asked FTS Scholars who have already completed the programme to contribute their best pieces of advice on how to tackle topics in maths and physics that students often find challenging. These virtual presentations are part of a new ‘Teaching Complex Topics’ series being shared with our current Scholars.
We are incredibly proud that our Scholar alumni were eager to take part in this series and share their teaching expertise. You can access a playlist of these Scholar-produced presentations here.
Top tips for teaching complex topics
Here are five top tips to consider when approaching your teaching strategy:
1) Dual coding
This is a traditional teaching strategy that utilises both visual and audio instruction to more effectively teach complex topics. When using dual coding effectively, you combine several delivery methods including speaking about the topic verbally, modelling it live on the board, or using video modelling from online resources.
This approach can be particularly useful for teachers who are less confident in a specific topic or may be teaching it for the first time. This process can then be repeated before allowing practice time and live feedback.
2) Spend more time introducing a topic
Teaching complex topics often begins with introducing the topic to build a thorough foundation, before moving on and applying these foundational principles further. Though it can be tempting to move onto the application phase, make sure you spend as much time as your class needs to grasp the fundamentals. This will also help increase a student’s buy-in to their own learning.
3) Repetition, repetition, repetition
Use repetition of topics and the effective use of starters in your lessons to both recap and recall knowledge time and again. This will help to reduce cognitive load and reinforce the fundamental principles which will be mandatory for a deeper understanding of the topic.
4) Make it relevant
Where possible, try to link what you’re teaching to real-life situations or jobs. By making the topic at hand relevant to something tangible – especially for intangible concepts – this helps you show students why they are learning something. Again, this will reinforce a student’s buy-in to their own learning.
5) Be willing to change it up
Some teaching techniques for complex topics may work for one student group, but others may not. So be open to the possibility that your current way of delivering complex topics may need to change or be adapted. Discuss ways of teaching with your colleagues – especially those who may have taught your class previously, to determine what will help your students learn best.
