VISIBLE LEARNING

One of the most influential research works currently in the field of teaching and learning
is that carried out by John Hattie , from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, who
for fifteen years carried out research based on 800 meta-analyses that have assumed a
total of 50,000 studies and a sample of 80,000 students. As we will see later, the
conclusions reached by Hattie seem to us to be of special interest and applicable to CLIL:

Among the conclusions reached by Hattie (2006, 2011) we will highlight the following:

 The most influential aspect in learning is feedback , both that which the teacher
offers to the student and that which the teacher receives from the student. In the
first case, we must distinguish between feedback and praise, the latter has little
value if it is not associated with the work that has been done. Feedback is more
influential than written feedback and must be individualized . On the other hand,
the feedback that the teacher receives is very valuable as we will comment later.

 The teacher-student relationship also has a great impact. The development of a

warm socio-emotional climate in the classroom, the promotion of effort and the
involvement of all students requires that the teacher enters the class with certain
ideas about the possibilities of progress and the relationship with the students.

 Another of the most influential aspects is the application of the approach called
“Mastery Learning” which presupposes that all students are capable of meeting
the success criteria if the appropriate learning conditions are met. Namely: high
level of cooperation between colleagues; targeted teacher feedback that is both
frequent, diagnostic, and individualized; allow flexibility in the time the student
needs to achieve the objectives.

 Challenge is another of the central ingredients of effective learning. The key is to

propose a challenge of appropriate difficulty for the student . So it shouldn't be so
difficult that the goal seems unattainable, which kills students' motivation, and the
same thing happens if it is too easy.

 The expectations that the student has of himself and those that the teacher has
are decisive in improvement and success.

 The most important thing is not the content knowledge that the teacher has of his
subject but rather that he be a good evaluator of his own process so that he asks
himself and looks for solutions to the problems he has, using different
approaches: "assess your impact." For this, the feedback they receive about their
 performance, both explicit from the students and the effect it has on learning, is of
utmost importance.

Before planning a lesson, the teacher should know what the students know and
can do.

Expert teachers should set challenging goals and not simply ask them to do their
best . They should also invite students to get involved in challenges and achieving
objectives. To achieve this, it is best to communicate and share with students what
objectives are sought and what needs to be done to achieve them.

On the other hand, they create a climate in the classroom where error is welcome.

Expert teachers believe that all students can meet the success criteria. This
expectation implies believing that intelligence is changeable and not fixed, and
that it develops further with exercise . This is related to the concepts of “fixed
mindset” and “growth mindset” (Dweck 2006).

Expert teachers meet frequently with other colleagues to discuss evidence of

progress and how to improve and vary their performance taking into account what
is not being achieved. That is, in the light of visible learning.

The teacher is an agent of change , whose actions must have an impact.

John Hattie's theory is based on the assumption that practically all strategies work to
learn. Of course, there are some that work better than others. To understand its
effectiveness, Hattie has defined a model that identifies the impact on learning of a total
of 150 factors. Based on this, it has created a measurement system that establishes that
any contribution, starting with a score of 0.4, implies a real improvement in the students'
achievements.
Hattie proposes the following as the conceptual bases of visible learning:

Visible Teaching and Learning

Visible teaching and learning happen when the goal is clear. When the challenge is posed
appropriately. When both student and teacher (each in their own way) try to determine at
what level the objective is achieved. When a practice directed towards achieving the
objectives occurs.
We are talking about teachers seeing how learning is done through the eyes of the
students and that students understand teaching as something fundamental to improve
their learning.
The greatest effects on student learning occur when teachers become apprentices of their
own teaching, and when students become their own teachers (they better develop their
qualities of self-analysis, self-assessment, self-assessment, and self-teaching). ).

What teachers do matters

Above all, those who make an effort to make learning visible matter: that is, to intervene
when they see that learning is not taking place. Intervene in a calculated and meaningful
way. To promote learning through achievable, shared, specific and challenging objectives.
Promoting different teaching strategies that are located on the surface or in the deepest
part of learning.
Teaching and learning are visible in the classes of successful teachers and students.
Teaching and learning are visible in the passion applied by students and teachers when
success takes place in teaching and learning, and teaching and learning requires a lot of
skills and knowledge from both.
To do this, the teacher must know when learning happens. Learn from experience and by
experimenting. Learn to follow up, ask for and give feedback; and knowing how to offer
alternative learning strategies when others do not work.

Change of mentality of teachers

For Hattie, change and improvement lies in the teachers. Not in what they do but in what
they think about what they do. That is, in their motivation. Motivated teachers, taking
advantage of strategies that work best, generate an impact on their students' learning,
which is what leads to success.
This definition of visible teaching places teachers in a role as agents of change, as directors
of learning, not as mere disseminators of concepts who aspire for learning to take place
through the curriculum or subjects.
A fundamental element in the case of visible teaching is that teachers assume that their
role in the classroom is that of permanent evaluators of the learning process (and that
should be the objective of tests and exams).
They must constantly monitor what works and what does not work in class. And they must
take advantage of this evidence to act on their students' learning plans through
appropriate and effective actions that ensure that students achieve their objectives.
It is essential that teachers understand that evaluating the effect of their actions on the
students' learning process is their main task. The presence of teachers has to inspire. And
it has to be a dynamic inspiration that fits various contexts. It is what generates impact.
Motivated and impactful teachers can lead large groups of students to achieve good
results.
In summary, teachers must assume and internalize a new mental framework that makes
visible learning work and that is structured in ten messages:

1. I am an evaluator.
2. I am an agent of change.
3. I'm talking about learning (not teaching).
4. Exams are feedback.
5. I motivate students with dialogues (not monologues).
6. I like challenges.
7. Motivate through positive relationships.
8. I use the language of learning.
9. I understand learning as hard work.
10. I collaborate and I make people collaborate.

THINKING ROUTINE: BRIDGE 3-2-1

Purpose: What type of thinking does it promote?

This strategy asks the student to discover, demonstrate and explain their thoughts, ideas,
questions and initial understandings about a topic and then relate or connect them with
the new thoughts that arise after some intervention.

Application: When and where can it be applied?

This strategy can be useful to apply when students develop understandings over time. It
may be a concept that students already know a lot about in a certain context, but the
proposed instruction proposes focusing learning on a new situation. Or a concept that
students know, but only in an informal way. Every time you obtain new information, you
can build bridges between new ideas and previous knowledge. The focus is more on
understanding and connecting one's own thoughts than on achieving a specific result.

Launch: Some tips to start putting it into practice

This strategy can be used as an introduction, where the student writes his initial ideas
individually on paper. For example, if the topic is "rural population", then students will be
able to write 3 thoughts, 2 questions, and 1 analogy. Then students could read an article,
watch a video or participate in an activity related to “rural population.” Provocative
activities and experiences that push students to think in new directions are best. After the
experience, students complete another 3, 2, 1. Students then share their initial and new
thinking, explaining to their classmates how and why their thinking changed.

Make it clear to students that their initial thought is not judged to be correct or not, it is
just a starting point.

THINKING ROUTINE: I SEE/THINK/WONDER

Purpose: What type of thinking does this strategy promote?

This strategy encourages students to make careful observations and thoughtful

interpretations. It helps stimulate curiosity and establish a basis for inquiry.

Applications: When and where can it be used?

Use this strategy when you want students to think carefully about why something is
observed or occurs in a certain way and is the way it is. Use this strategy at the beginning
of each unit to motivate students' interest or try it with an object that connects to the
topic during the unit of study. Consider using the strategy with an interesting object near
the end of each unit to motivate students to further apply their new learning and ideas.

Launch: Some tips to start using this routine

Invite students to make an observation about an object - it can be an image or a topic -

and what may be happening or what they think about what they observed. Encourage
your students to support their interpretations with reasons and arguments. Invite
students to think about what intrigues them about the object or topic.

The strategy works best when the student responds using all three elements together at
the same time, e.g. "I observe... I think... I wonder..." However, you may experience that
students start using one item at a time, and you have to ask questions to get them to the
next item.

The strategy works well in a group discussion, but in some cases you may want to apply it
individually in writing or have them think for a while before starting to share ideas with
the class. Student responses to the strategy can be written or recorded, so a set of
observations, interpretations and questions can be listed and returned to during the
course.

The Oblivion Curve

One of the first systematic studies carried out regarding forgetting were the memory
experiments of Ebbinghaus (1885), defining what is known as the Forgetting Curve.

To do this, this psychologist decided to study memory by investigating his own memory
capacity. He created 2,300 meaningless syllables (consonant-vowel-consonant, for example
“IFD”) and grouped them into lists. The study consisted of learning lists of 13 syllables that
were repeated until no errors were made on two successive attempts. Subsequently, he
evaluated his retention capacity at intervals between twenty minutes and one month.
The results found showed that forgetting occurred already, even after the shortest intervals,
and that it increased as time passed, much at first, and more slowly later in a logarithmic
function.

Thus, the results of the experiments indicate that after the moment of memorizing the list, the
level of memory dropped drastically in the first moments, and more than half of the material
learned during the first day could fade from consciousness. After this, the material continues
to fade, but the amount that is forgotten in a given time decreases until it reaches a point,
approximately after a week, when no further loss occurs.

To estimate the forgetting rate in each period, the “ savings method ” was used, consisting of
measuring the time it took to relearn the list in each interval, so that the more trials needed to
relearn it, the greater the forgetting.

Ebbinghaus showed that 75% of what was learned was forgotten after just 48 hours. This
conclusion has been supported by other authors such as Bloom in 1981.

From the author's perspective, the loss between the material that is initially learned and that
which is maintained is due to both the passage of time and the non-use of the information.
This is what is known as the Decay Theory , whereby the loss of information is mainly due to
the little use given to the information, so the memory trace left in our body weakens and
fades over time.

Approximate but realistic data according to the forgetting curve:

 one day after having studied and not having reviewed, you can forget 50% of what you
studied
 2 days later, recall will be about 30%
 1 week later, it is easy for the memory not to reach 3%

If the review variable is added to the forgetting curve, a new, totally different graph is
obtained. Thus, according to this new graph, if a review is done the day after studying a
material, 100% of it is remembered again and, what is more important, the forgetting curve is
modified.
The conclusion is obvious, if we want to modify the forgetting curve and achieve more
effective learning we must review but...

What should we review?

It is more useful to review material that is not the same as that used for learning, since this
would be a second learning and not a review. It should be reviewed based on diagrams,
summaries, underlinings, concept maps, etc. that have been made on the topic.

How many times and when do you have to review?

By analyzing the forgetting curve we know that, if the information is not reviewed within 24
hours of learning, approximately half of what was learned will have been forgotten. Therefore,
it is advisable to review the next day and, as a general rule, the more times the better, but at a
minimum:
 a first review within 24 hours of the first learning, which will allow us to recover 100% of
what was learned
 one or two intermediate reviews between days 7 and 15 of the first learning
 a final review prior to the memory test (the exam) in which, and if intermediate reviews
have been carried out, we can achieve a recall rate of 90% of what was initially learned