Checking for understandingChunking and sequencing
Explicit teaching · Whole-staff professional learning · 40 minutes
Learning intention and success criteria
How checking for understanding and chunking and sequencing work together
Initial reflection point
Students actively respond with an answer in checking for understanding routines throughout each lesson.
One class today. Think: 5 seconds. Fingers in front of your chest.
Checking for understanding of all students
How many ‘spaces’ does working memory hold for most people?
About 4 to 7 spaces
Participation as a social norm
2
heard: hands up
60
seen: everyone responds
“Ensure checks for understanding encourage everyone to think of an answer.”
Student response systems technique guide
“Students should expect to be called on at any time.”
Using effective questioning to build complexity technique guide
Not effective: letting students “opt out of participating by selecting volunteers”
CFU learning module, slide 49
Mechanisms of checking for understanding
Routine
Right level of challenge
Right technique at the right time
Thinking time
CFU learning module, slide 15
Student response systems
Short answers, the same for everyone
Yes/no or 1–4 fingers
A–D, built on a key misconception
Write alone, show together
Pose, pause, select
Then select non-volunteers
Write the four mechanisms of checking for understanding.
30 seconds · hover it face down · show me
Hinge question
A teacher asks, “Does everyone understand?” The class nods. What does the teacher now know?
Think: 5 seconds. Fingers in front of your chest.
Responsive teaching
25 of 28
correct on a hinge question about falling objects
About half
voted correctly on the FITT principle
5 students
made the same sign error on gradient
Round 1: learn Morse code
Dot = 1 unit · Dash = 3 units · Gap within a letter = 1 · Gap between letters = 3 · Gap between words = 7
Round 1: decode this word
20 seconds
on your own
Write it
whiteboard or sticky note
Show me
under your chin
Round 2: one chunk at a time
The building blocks
letters
One symbol, then doubles
Check: gesture vote (1 E · 2 T · 3 I · 4 M)
Say the code aloud (“dash dash”), then: show me.
Round 2: mirror pairs, then decode
Mirror pairs
Check: gesture vote (1 A · 2 N)
Same task as Round 1
20 seconds · write it · show me
Avoid overloading working memory
Round 1 and Round 2: the same word?
MEAT
Round 1: everything at once
Round 2: one chunk at a time
- 1Taught the prerequisite first: the gap between letters
- 2One chunk at a time, simple to complex
- 3A check for understanding after every chunk
- 4Success with each chunk, so motivation stayed up
Turn and talk: what did Round 2 do that Round 1 didn’t?
How many chunks?
Find the gradient of the line through (2, 3) and (6, 11).
- 1What gradient means: rise over run
- 2Which number is x, which is y
- 3Rise: 11 − 3 = 8
- 4Run: 6 − 2 = 4
- 5Subtract in the same order
- 6Divide: 8 ÷ 4 = 2
- 7Interpret a positive gradient
Prerequisites: reading coordinates · subtraction (including negatives) · simplifying fractions · the word “gradient”
Year 8 Geography
“State the air pressure of Sydney.”
“may appear as one instruction”
5 chunks
C&S learning module, slide 38
Identify prerequisite skills and knowledge
The curse of knowledge
Teachers may “overestimate students’ prior knowledge and underestimate the difficulty of new material.”
C&S learning module, slide 16
“Just because the teacher has made the link, this doesn’t mean the students have.”
Making meaningful connections technique guide
Break content down into its smallest components
Chunking and sequencing in the lesson
Identify prerequisite skills and knowledge
Identify key skills and knowledge to be learned
Break the learning into small component parts (chunks)
Sequence chunks to build complexity
Teach each chunk with a distinct check for understanding before moving onto the next chunk
Chunking and sequencing learning module, slide 21
Breaking down content and concepts
Show me: how many chunks?
Then one group shares a prerequisite.
Use the A3 planning template. One per faculty group.
Rehearsal steps and feedback prompts
Did the technique elicit thinking from the whole class?
Was there adequate wait time?
Would the teacher be able to check for understanding from all students with this approach?
CFU learning module, slide 52
Exit ticket
One change. A named class. Within the next week.
Then answer the hinge question and hand your ticket in at the door.
Hinge question: B · to decide whether to move on, re-teach or extend before the next chunk
Timer