Text Complexity – Notes and Relections

Motivation is a very powerful factor. The following factors impact motivation positively:
1. Relevance
2. Choice
3. Success
4. Collaboration
5. Thematic units

Avoid these 5 practices because they have a negative effect:
1. Nonrelevance
2. Excessive control
3. Difficult lessons
4. Frequent individual work
5. Disconnected units

Two other factors that teachers have a high degree of control over are: curricular organisation and social interactions. The first helps ground relevance by establishing purpose in lessons, design of units and choice within investigations are important. “To propel learning forward we need students to engage in incrementally more demanding (but not impossible) tasks – in the company of others who are learning and with expert guidance close at hand when the group gets stuck.”
Goal setting is another dimension that can impact strongly on learning. Teachers can promote deliberate practice through goal setting with students when they link goal-setting activities back to the established purposes. Goal setting should be a regular part of the instructional design process.

“Thinking about one’s thinking is essential for pairing the known with the unknown and us a critical factor in distinguishing a novice from an expert.

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