Bitesize Research: How writing about classroom content impacts achievement

This week, I wanted to share with you a meta-analysis published by the Review of Educational Research in March 2020 by Graham, Kiuhara and MacKay.

Objectives of study: This review looked at how writing about classroom content impacted achievement in Maths, Science and Social Studies. Whether this varied from subject to subject, and whether age, assessment or writing activity type were influencing factors were also examined in this study. It used data from 56 studies, and around 6,000 pupils in years 2-12.

Headline findings: Writing about classroom content has a significantly positive impact on achievement in Maths, Science and Social Studies.

Summary of study: 

• The ages of pupils did not impact the correlation between writing and achievement; it was strongly positive in all age groups.

• The type of writing task (e.g. summarising a text, creating a narrative) did not impact the correlation between writing about classroom content and achievement.

• The type of assessment in each subject also did not impact the correlation. 

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflections questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How am I currently using writing tasks in my lessons? How impactful are they on student learning?

• In what ways can I create written tasks that enable students to better learn classroom content?

• How can I seek best practice with creating written tasks from subject areas such as English or Humanities?

If anyone would like to discuss this further with me - please start the discussion below!