Bitesize Research: Using Cognitive Science To Enhance Student Engagement

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s had a great week so far! This week, I was interested in an article from September 2020 from Impact (the publication of the Chartered College of Teaching). This looks at what has been described as the ‘engagement myth’. Objectives:

To explain the importance of cognitive science in conjunction with engagement to ensure pupil learning. Summary:

The article makes several points about the nature of engagement and some misconceptions within learning and the teaching community:

• Engagement is a necessary not a sufficient condition for learning.
• It cautions against some misconceptions around engagement whereby appearing busy suggests learning
• It reinforces Professor Robert Coe’s famous indictment in 2015 about ‘engagement being a poor proxy for learning’ and gives some examples from the US-based Deans of Impact comparing strategies that prioritise engagement, and strategies that prioritise learning based on cognitive science.
• They argue that teachers have been exposed to and socialised to believe that engagement is equivalent to learning and caution that cognitive science is also really important for teachers to consider

How does this impact me and my practice?:

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

• What does engagement mean to you? What does it look like in your classroom? How do I know if the students are engaged?
• How much do I consider cognitive science in my planning? What do I still want to find out?
  

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.