Create a free account on the Circle platform if you haven't already to view the recording.

Designing the ‘Desirably Difficult’ Classroom

Designing the ‘Desirably Difficult’ classroom. The counter-intuitive techniques evidence suggests we should be using but, without purposeful intent, probably won’t.

Drawing from and extending on Bjork’s ‘Desirable Difficulties’, this talk looks at the establishment of a classroom environment that embraces the uncomfortable – from counter-intuitive but highly effective teaching techniques to the promotion of successful, but ever so uncomfortable, learning habits.

Getting away from intuition, old habits and comfortable to evidence-based, purposeful, and uncomfortable, Bjork's 1994 paper brought to our attention the value in prioritising certain comparatively difficult learning strategies over others that are more cognitively comfortable. This talk will examine these so called 'desirable difficulties’ but will also explore those teaching techniques that are counter-intuitive (therefore ‘difficult’) but highly effective.

This talk draws chiefly on Bjork's 1994 paper that brought desirable difficulties to the teaching table, but it also taps into associated research around explicit teaching, classroom noise, cognitive processes (how learning happens), attentional and motivational studies and questioning techniques, to name a few.

Peter Sherwin

Peter Sherwin is a teacher of mathematics with 28 years teaching experience in Australia and the UK. This professional journey has provided opportunities to run boarding and sporting programmes, but with his focus firmly back on classroom teaching, Peter has committed wholeheartedly to an evidence informed approach.