researchED Dublin presentations
This is for anyone coming to researchED Dublin on September 24th. I’m afraid it sold out months ago, so if you don’t have a ticket, this might be torture … just look at all those goodies. The two keynotes are at the top, and then all other presentations in alphabetical order, rather than in the timetable that will be released later. There will be some seriously difficult choices to be made.
OPENING KEYNOTE
Dr Barbara Oakley
Effective Teaching and Learning: Practical Insights from Neuroscience
In this presentation, you will:
• See what the patterns of expertise look like in the brain, and learn how to build those patterns more quickly and with less frustration.
• Learn why it’s perfectly normal to not understand something difficult the first time it's encountered.
• Discover simple tools to tackle procrastination. (You might be surprised to learn that even just thinking about something you don’t like causes your brain to experience pain.)
• Learn the surprising advantages of having a bad memory and sometimes being a slower learner.
CLOSING KEYNOTE
Paul A. Kirschner
How Teaching Happens.
Teaching is often counterintuitive. While teaching is highly contextual, it's based on non-contextual basics such that teachers can apply those basics in an arena of chaos. And finally, good teachers know what to do when they don't know what to do! In his latest book, Paul (along with Carl Hendrick and Jim Heal) discuss 30 seminal works on teaching and teacher effectiveness. Paul will give the attendees a taste of a few of those works
Neil Almond
Let’s Tork Abowt Speling
This session will seek to demystify the issue of spelling of the English language in the classroom. It will look at the roots of the English language, why it is that an alphabet is used to represent the sound of speech, why English orthography is so complex and how we can teach spelling effectively. This session is designed for primary and secondary colleagues.
Annie Asgard
Refugee/Seekers of Asylum Education in Ireland - Funds of Knowledge and a Strengths Based Approach
The increase in linguistic, cultural and ethnic diversity in the school-going population in Ireland over the last several decades has largely focused on English language acquisition and viewed multilingual students from a deficit model. There was huge diversity in Ireland prior to spring 2022 and the Ukrainian crisis has further highlighted the need for our educational system to modernise our approach.
Kate Barry
Explicit Teaching in the English Classroom
This session will look at five strategies for teaching English using an explicit direct instruction approach. May also be relevant to other subject areas.
Oliver Caviglioli
Organise Ideas
Organisation used to be viewed as a lowly secretarial skill. Since the work of cognitive scientists, Fiorella & Mayer, organising ideas is now understood to be at the centre of the learning process. This session will expand on this and show you how it works in action.
Dr Eamon Costello
Open science and access to research for teachers: some potentials and some problems.
In this presentation the concept of Open Science will be introduced as a broad movement or set of principles aimed at making science better, fairer and more accessible. More specifically this session will attempt to tease out whether open science can help promote and foster better understanding of research that is relevant and useful to teachers. It aims to promote discussion and debate about how we can foster research literacies among teachers to improve educational environments and student outcomes.
Olivia Derwin
Video based learning (VBL) and YouTube - is it worth it?
Teacher-produced instructional videos have gained in prominence in recent years and with the launch of the new Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027, VBL is worth considering. Creating instructional videos can impact student learning but can also lack the desired impact. This talk will discuss what educational research posits as the important considerations when producing instructional videos. The use of YouTube as a hosting platform and how channel generated analytics can influence every aspect of the instructional video. This talk will also outline the lessons that I have learned from producing my own videos (Biology Bugbears), the practicalities of video and the impact on teaching and all learning and how the practice should develop.
Jerome Devitt
A Report from the Trenches: Lessons for Teachers.
This session on ‘Lessons for teachers from the introduction of a new Leaving Certificate subject – Politics & Society’ examines the experiences of teachers involved in the first waves of delivering the new LC subject. It presents data gathered from an investigation conducted to assess the personal, professional, academic, emotional, and practical impact of being at (what then seemed like) the cutting edge of Irish education. It places teachers, rather than pupils, at the centre of the discourse and offers some tentative suggestions as we head into a phase of widespread Leaving Cert reform.
Anna Gillinder
Responsive curriculum leadership
There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that high quality responsive professional development has a clear impact on both teacher job satisfaction and student outcomes. This session will explore the importance of subject-specific CPD and the need for curriculum leaders to use developmental and diagnostic quality assurance processes which inform CPD for their team. Anna will examine the complexity of triangulating department needs with whole school priorities and will share practical planning methods to support this process.
Dr Liam Guilfoyle
FoSTERing Research Engagement: How some schools are supporting their teachers to engage with and in research.
The FoSTER Project (Frameworks of School-support for Teachers’ Engagement with/in Research) sought to explore a range of ways in schools across Ireland and the UK are already supporting research engagement. Using a cross-national survey to identify a range of positive practices, seven case study schools were selected to more deeply understand the ways in which different practices were embedded in school life. This presentation presents preliminary findings and questions for consideration in policy and practice.
Alistair Hamill
The Meaning Making Classroom: schema building as a means of securing solid understanding with our pupils
We will explore how schema theory can help us plan for secure learning for our pupils. From anticipating and addressing possible misconceptions, to identifying the threshold concepts that can block or unlock understanding, to using questioning to check for understanding as we teach, we will consider how to support our pupils as they develop their understanding. Practical classroom examples will help unpack the important research-informed principles during this session.
Dr Eva Hartell
Comparative judgement in Primary STEM
This session shares experiences from practitioner-based research projects, which have explored comparative judgement as a facilitator for peer feedback in primary STEM education.
Professor Áine Hyland
Senior Cycle Reform in Ireland - Research led or Student led?
This session will discuss recent developments in junior and senior cycle curriculum and assessment in Ireland. It will question the current approach taken by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to the revision of Junior and Leaving Cert subject syllabi (specifications) and will challenge the assertion that the revised syllabus template is in line with international best practice.
Kate Jones
Retrieval Practice: Inside and Outside of the classroom
This session will combine theory and practical ideas for the classroom. Evidence from research and experience from classrooms will be provided to shine a light on how retrieval practice can be effectively embedded across the primary and secondary curriculum to support teaching and enhance learning. Content will be based on my extensive works with schools across the UK and internationally, as well as sharing insights from world-leading experts in the field of human memory.
David Keenhan and Dr Jennifer Keenahan
What can we learn from 200 years of Physics Textbooks?
School textbooks and their usage have evolved over time. Our research looks at Physics textbooks used in schools in Ireland as well as Irish influence on early Physics textbooks. The scope of Physics itself is continually changing, publishing has changed, and the priorities of educators have also changed. In this session we look at how Physics has been represented in textbooks, what has changed and what has not between 1860 and the present day.
Paul A. Kirschner
What has educational psychology ever done for us?
Since the early 1960s (shift from behavioural to cognitive psychology) there's been much good and robust research on how we process information, how our cognitive architecture (our brain) works, and how different approaches to instruction can affect both how we learn and how we teach. When this is positive, learning and teaching become more effective, efficient, and also enjoyable. In this presentation Paul will give a helicopter view of the field and what we've learnt.
Dr Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel
Becoming a Critical Consumer and User of the Science of Learning
Teachers are confronted with a large volume of research findings from the science of learning or other relevant fields. It can be challenging to navigate and keep up-to-date with the discoveries. Additionally, it is not always obvious how research findings may map onto classroom practice. Becoming a critical consumer and user of the science of learning can support making strategic and sensible decisions regarding one’s teaching practice. This talk outlines how to achieve this.
Dáire Lambert
Moving Forward by Looking Back: A teacher’s reflection on becoming more evidence informed
Becoming a more evidence-informed teacher and/or school takes time, practice and a network of like-minded individuals. In this session Dáire reflects on times when he misunderstood the research and how he then misused it in his practice but is now on a path to mastery. Dáire offers insights on how teachers can be supported to keep their professional development moving forward.
Simon Lewis
Undermining the Ethos
With the latest statistics showing that 99.7% of primary school teachers identify as white Irish, Simon will tell his story about his experience of being one of only a handful of teachers from a minoritised background. From having to learn to bless himself in order to keep his job to becoming the only primary principal from an ethnic minority, Simon explores the challenges and practical steps the Irish education system has in welcoming diversity.
Simon Lewis with Annie Asgard & Clinton Wokocha
Being a Minority in the Irish Education System - the lived experience
Join Simon Lewis as he discusses navigating the Irish Education System with Clinton Wokocha and Annie Asgard. In this panel chat, they will cover their own stories of being minoritised in the system, "Colour Blindness" and the challenge of tokenism. They will also delve into the importance of advocacy and explore what more could schools do to aid in diversifying the teaching profession.
Clare Madden
Knowledge, skills and the Junior Cycle curriculum: a classroom teacher’s perspective
It is now ten years since the Framework for Junior Cycle was launched. This talk will focus on research around teaching knowledge and skills, and the intertwined relationship between the two. It will also look at how this research has impacted a classroom teacher’s Junior Cycle curriculum planning, delivery and assessment with a particular emphasis on English and History as subjects.
Dr. Ann Marcus-Quinn and Dr. Tríona Hourigan
Building Accessibility into Digital Content
Ann and Tríona are the two Management Committee members for Ireland for the EU COST Action LEAD ME which aims to help European stakeholders in the field of Media Accessibility to meet legal milestones requested by European legislation. Together, they will present on the 2016 Web Accessibility Directive and the implications of the Directive on the design and development of digital content.
James Maxwell
Our Journey with Research - a school leader's perspective on embedding research deeply into school culture
James will give an honest account of one school's journey towards becoming research-informed. He will talk about the starting points, the marginal gains over time, what has worked in terms of enhancing pedagogical discourse amongst staff, the importance of an organic approach to implementation and the challenges and opportunities faced. He will discuss the partnerships forged in the pursuit of an evidence-based approach, and how a focus on research is impacting on pupils’ learning experiences.
James McCoy
Lessons for Leadership for Successful Professional Development in Schools.
Do you want to know what really works in terms of providing professional development for staff? This session presents 7 clear Lessons for Leadership for the success of professional development, based on a thorough and robust systematic review of the research literature. The lessons presented will be of interest to those who occupy both middle and senior leadership roles and who are keen to provide the most effective professional development opportunities for staff.
Dr Jennifer McMahon
Evidence informed teaching: Developing an ecosystem to support teacher research
Teachers are at the forefront of a movement to narrow the gap between educational evidence and practice. This session explores teacher perceptions of the barriers and facilitators to research as well as reporting on teacher perceptions of a pilot digital badge to support teachers to integrate evidence into their everyday practice.
Paul Nugent
Getting Students to Ask the Right Questions-The QFT Framework
There has been a lot of emphasis on teacher questioning, but the skill of students asking questions is essential — yet often overlooked. It allows students to think critically, become more confident and become life-long learners. Developed by the non-profit Right Question Institute, the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) is a structured method for generating and improving students’ questions. It distils sophisticated forms of divergent, convergent, and metacognitive thinking into a deceptively simple, accessible, and reproducible technique. It is currently used by 300,000 teachers worldwide. This workshop will introduce the QFT framework that facilitates students to collaboratively develop and prioritise their questions through a well thought out process. Paul recently received training in QFT at Harvard University.
Dr Brendan O’Sullivan
Lessons from my mathematics teaching practice: evidence-based research
For anyone trying to navigate their way through research, the initial steps can feel both daunting and overwhelming. I will look at a number of key introductory areas like the science of memory, cognitive load theory, metacognition and discuss how they have influenced my maths teaching. Issues like retaining information, improving problem solving and addressing misconceptions will be examined. Examples from my maths classes will be used to illustrate how this research can be used by anyone.
Emma Regan
Why set up a Professional Learning Community?
As teachers, we want to continually improve our practice. An efficient and enjoyable way to do this is to set up a professional learning community (PLC). This enables us to access support, pool our knowledge and push one another to grow and develop. In this session, I will discuss my experience of establishing PLCs and offer advice on how you can do the same.
Mark Roberts
'Must Do Better!' How to Teach Boys to Accept your Feedback
For decades, schools have grappled with significant barriers to male academic success: a lack of motivation, poor attitudes to learning and a reluctance to edit, re-draft and improve work. In this talk, we'll consider the research on teacher feedback, the classic feedback mistakes and how to boost boys' motivation to improve. Providing practical suggestions to help busy classroom teachers tackle ‘The Boy Question’, this is an essential session for all primary and secondary teachers.
Professor Vic Simms
What can cognitive psychology tell us about learning mathematics (and what do we still not know)?
In this session I will explore the current evidence from cognitive psychology research that informs us about the challenges of learning mathematics in the early years and primary school. I will focus on our research teams’ best evidence reviews (funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the Education Endowment Foundation) and highlight what we still need to find out about how children learn about mathematics!
Claire Stoneman
Epiphenomena: Why school leaders are paying attention to the wrong things and what we can do about it
School leaders often have little time to examine things with what Maryanne Wolf calls a 'quiet eye'. Claire will explore some of the ways in which our eyes are drawn to epiphenomena – things which accompany but do not cause an event. She will argue that there is a glut of epiphenomena in education at present which may be hindering rather than causing school improvement. Claire will offer some ways forward to help school leaders attend to our schools with more awareness and rationality, so we can think more effectively, and make better decisions.
Sonia Thompson
Berger's An Ethic of Excellence in Action
In this session, Sonia will unpick some of Ron Berger's strategies, models and metaphors, as exemplified in my new book, Berger's An Ethic of Excellence in Action. She will examine how evidence-informed practice can underpin and support the implementation of his 'Toolboxes of Excellence', within any school setting and across any phase.
The HUH project on curriculum development
John Tomsett
John Tomsett and Mary Myatt have spent the last 18 months pursuing their HUH curriculum project. Here, John will give you the headlines on what they have found out about how to develop your curriculum, both primary and secondary, where he and Mary are heading next and why on earth the project is called HUH!"
Jennifer Webb
Teaching writing across the curriculum
This session will explore the how and the why of teaching writing, building on foundational knowledge of grammar and vocabulary in a way which is meaningful and supports the needs of subjects. The session will share a range of highly practical strategies for the classroom, plus literacy approaches and questions for school leaders.