When I was younger, I used to struggle with maths. I simply could not get a concept quickly enough, while nearly everyone around me seemed to pick things up straightaway. I would get homework that …| Memory, meaning and motivation
I used to utterly dislike teaching the menstrual cycle. Difficult hormone names, lots of facts to remember, confusing graphs (I mean if you don’t know what you are looking at, how confusing i…| Memory, meaning and motivation
Homework has the power to elevate learning. This is the first line of my book, The Homework Conundum, and I stand by it. When done right, homework is a way for students to take ownership of their l…| Memory, meaning and motivation
Harriet used to love talking about what she learnt at school. She would come home and tell her Mum all about the different states of matter, rivers, and her times tables. As the years have gone on,…| Dr C's Science Classroom
Recently, I heard a teacher say how good they were at building relationships in their classroom. They suggested that their subject (PE) meant they found it easier to do so and that as a result the …| Dr C's Science Classroom
A few years ago, I developed a mantra of sorts to help me be a better teacher. With everything I do, I ask myself this question: ‘have I given my students every resource and tool needed in order to be successful?‘. I believe this has improved my teaching: I have even thought hard about how... Continue Reading →| Dr C's Science Classroom
Consider this scenario: Ms C is having a chat with a colleague, Ms J, about how to best help a student they both teach. They are thinking about the different strategies they can use when Ms J says, ‘Also, they are a visual learner so we need to have lots of diagrams and dual coding... Continue Reading →| Dr C's Science Classroom
Look at these two headlines that were published a day apart in Castelino World: If you look into the research on daytime napping, you will find a number of articles that either support or deride the activity. We see this often: coffee is good for you one day but can cause all sorts of issues... Continue Reading →| Dr C's Science Classroom
Dr C starts the class off with a Do Now task. The questions she poses are mostly the same as the ones on the department powerpoint- someone must have chosen them for a reason, so she leaves them in…| Dr C's Science Classroom
A few years ago, I wrote a post about what I considered to be poor proxies for effective teaching. Today, I would like to add another to that list. Teachers that get the best exam results are the m…| Dr C's Science Classroom
Failure hurts. When you work hard at something, focus on it for a while and then fail to accomplish what you set out to achieve, it can be so disheartening and embarrasing. Mistakes are like failur…| Dr C's Science Classroom
