By connecting to the real world of students’ lives, authentic learning enables students to become lifelong learners who contribute to society and the wider world as active and discerning citizens. Authentic learning is central to our work as Catholic educators because it promotes the continual growth and wellbeing of the whole person — spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, socially and physically.
At St Therese’s Catholic Primary School Lakemba, we foster a positive approach to learning that builds on each students’ strengths and encourages them to achieve personal success. An absolute joy of learning and engagement is fundamental to student improvement.
At St Therese’s Catholic Primary School Lakemba, staff have an understanding of Cognitive Load Theory and the practical implementations this has on instruction. “Cognitive load” relates to the amount of information that working memory can hold at one time. John Sweller found that given working memory has a limited capacity, instructional methods should avoid overloading it with additional activities that don’t directly contribute to learning.
Our teacher’s pedagogy is based on Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction which support Direct Instruction and Daily Reviews to ensure that content learned is effectively transferred from their short term to long term memory, resulting in automatic recall.
Ongoing use of data and effective feedback guides teaching decisions. Student voice is encouraged through the use of learning intentions, success criteria and the setting of personal goals.
– Cognitive Load Theory in practice (NSW Department of Education, 2017)
– Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory in Action (Oliver Lovell, 2020)
– Principles of instruction: Research-based strategies that all teachers should know. (Barak Rosenshine, 2012)