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Cognitive
Acceleration Through Technology Education |
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School: The Ridgeway School,
Swindon |
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Fellow: Tracey France |
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Email: tracey.france@btinternet.com |
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Final report: |
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Introduction |
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At the start of my fellowship
year my research and implementation of Cognitive
Acceleration Techniques in Technology Education,
CATE, was already well established. The main
focus of the research was to find out the
following: |
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Would such an intervention
improve the general information processing
capability of the student? |
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Would such an intervention improve
the technology capability of the student?
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Would such an intervention allow for
transfer into other areas of the school
curriculum? |
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Over the past year it has been
one of my main focuses to work towards some
answers to these questions although the GCSE
results of the experimental and control groups
in 2003 will provide more concrete evidence. |
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The other areas of my work
have been to disseminate good practice, to
continue with training and development of
staff in the team, and to identify the best
way forward with CATE next year. |
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Outline Of CATE
Progress 2001-2002 |
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In June 2001 I organised
and delivered a one-day conference to 20 teachers
and advisers who had expressed an interest
in CATE. I put together a programme for the
day that included strategies for implementing
a successful CATE programme in schools, the
successes experienced so far, and the future
areas for development. This also included
a presentation by Tony Hamaker and John Backwell
both of who have had considerable experience
in this area. As a result of this conference
several teachers contacted me for further
advice and the opportunity to come and watch
me teach CATE. One teacher was particularly
eager to discuss how well CATE complemented
the KS3 TLF strategy that they were piloting
at that time. During this time I also made
contact with Gina White who is a Design &
Technology Advisor for Wirral. She had recently
presented at a national conference on the
subject of ‘Thinking Skills’ and
‘Accelerated Learning’. She shared
her research findings with me and I was able
to give her information on CATE. |
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The autumn term started
with a rolling training progamme for 5 new
staff in the team. This is one area that needs
constant management in order for the intervention
to be a success. In addition, the staff who
are trained needed time, and the opportunity
to discuss the progress of CATE. With 16 staff
delivering the lessons with a 6 week turn
around of groups into new material areas there
needs to be close supervision and clear communication
between the teachers. It has become very evident
that clear leadership is needed to ensure
the smooth running of CATE and that close
moderation and evaluation is undertaken at
frequent intervals. During this time Tony
Hamaker also carried out training and observation
of staff teaching. It was also essential that
I had the support of the new headteacher so
it was necessary to meet with her to discuss
CATE and its place at The Ridgeway School. |
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By Christmas Tony and I
had met on two occasions to assimilate data
from the year 9 SATs, teacher levels, and
teacher summative assessment of pupils. We
planned an article for the DATA journal and
discussed other findings from other schools
who had more recently piloted some of the
materials. One of the other main areas of
development at that time was the potential
publication of CATE materials by Nigel Blagg,
Somerset Thinking Skills. In order for this
to proceed it was necessary to review some
of the materials with Tony and to ensure the
continuation of the bridging recording that
was implemented at the start of the term.
The bridging identification will be used to
inform teachers as to how the activities can
be more closely linked within specific material
areas. It also takes the form of a self-evaluation
and self-reflection exercise within the lesson
for both pupils and teachers. |
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Results and Future
Developments |
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One of the most interesting
and positive outcomes of my research into
this area has been the information fed back
to me from the other pilot schools. Their
findings match our own observations although
some of the schools have a very different
cohort of pupils. The findings are: |
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pupils develop learning
skills |
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pupils improve their ability to speak
and listen in lessons |
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pupils have improved self-esteem
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pupils improve their behaviour, they
co-operate and respect other opinions
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pupils improve their ability to think,
they become less impulsive |
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less able pupils showed the capacity
to orally communicate high levels of
thinking |
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teachers enhanced their classroom
skills by using the underpinning strategies
in all lessons |
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there has been a significant improvement
in the learning culture within the team
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The results of the testing
suggest that there has been some cognitive
gain for the experimental group but we will
not know the true effects until August 2003.
A detailed report of all the testing and evaluation
that has taken place is due to be published
in the DATA journal. |
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After holding two recent
review meetings with the CATE teachers our
next step is to make the activities more integral
to our subject specific schemes of work. We
are hoping to secure some time to allow us
to rewrite the activities with more of a focus
on the specific topics which will not be taking
away time from teaching the essential knowledge,
skills and understanding at Key Stage 3. This
is a difficult task and will require input
from Tony Hamaker to ensure we retain the
high order thinking and reasoning skills that
are challenged in the current intervention
lessons. |
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Due to budget shortfalls this
coming academic year no money has been assigned
to further our work on CATE. However, with
the implementation of the Key Stage 3 Teaching
and Learning Strategy I am intending on securing
funding for the continuation of the development
of CATE. |
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In March 2002 I passed the
criteria for Advanced Skills Teacher and my
main focus will be to disseminate the good
practice I have learnt as a teacher and leader
of CATE. |
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May I take this opportunity
to thank the GTEP programme directors for
supporting me with this project. The year
has provided me with the opportunity to further
my work and has given me the chance to share
best practice with like-minded colleagues. |
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