On Thursday 11 December, parents
were invited ‘back to school’ to find out some tips on how to help their sons
and daughters revise for important examinations. Mr Ebbage, Head of Psychology,
organised the evening which aimed to provide some background research and
practical advice of how students can revise most effectively.
Mr Ebbage was joined by some guest
speakers from LVS Ascot. Ben Stephenson is Head of Psychology at LVS, a
lecturer in Sports Psychology at Reading University and ran his own sports
psychology consultancy company (through which he still offers some one-on-one mentoring)
before getting in to teaching. James Paterson is a Psychology teacher at LVS
and competes in the World Memory Championships. He is set to be featured in
Memory Slam on Watch TV on Tuesday 16 December, which covers the UK Schools
Memory Championships.
Mr
Ebbage kicked off proceedings by explaining to parents what has already been
happening at school in relation to revision. This includes looking at appropriate,
balanced revision timetables and websites to assist learning techniques. He
then moved on to explain how recent research (Dunlosky et al., 2013) states
that ‘spaced learning’ is the most effective method rather than large blocks of
multiple hours. He finally explained the models of memory and how these
highlight the importance of attention (not working with the TV on!) and the
difference between auditory and visual information.
Mr
Paterson then explored the practical approach to using memory techniques to
assist in the learning process. He showed how mind maps are effective in
reducing information to the bare essentials by using the example of showing
only Shrek’s ear and the audience were then able to identity it as the
character. This demonstrates that only a small piece of information is needed
to lead us to a greater amount of information.
Visual
memory is great too. He displayed this by asking audience members to create a
mental image related to the ‘best film’ Oscar winners of this century. Techniques
included using Argos catalogues to remember Argo (2012) and Mr Ebbage speaking to
recall The King’s Speech (2010).
The
evening was rounded off by Mr Stephenson talking about the mental preparation
for exams using his knowledge from sports psychology. He spoke about having a
positive mental attitude, not ruminating and parents not pushing too much in
asking how the exams are going – it makes things worse apparently!
The
night was well received by parents and was given some glowing reviews:
- “I feel better able to help my son with
his revision now…”
- “We thought the practical aspects that you and
the other speakers laid out were so helpful. At this stage it really helps if
you're all in it together.”
- “Thank you for organising last night, I thought
it was a great session. I particularly liked the reinforcement about
little and often and mindmaps.”
We would like to thank our guest speakers from LVS Ascot for providing their expertise on the
evening. Mr Ebbage's presentation slides can be downloaded here.