Week commencing: 28th of October, 2024

The Crafted Conversation

Weekly Crafted Concept

When Teaching Kills Learning

Certain instructional Learning Design methods can inadvertently lead to a lack of learning. Richard E. Clark's (1989) explored the impact of what he termed “mathemathantics” (instructional methods which actually negatively impact learning - the opposite to “mathamagenic”, which means to inspire learning).

In his article, Clark critiques:

• the overemphasis on surface-level skills and shortcuts which produce quick results but often lack conceptual depth

  • Coaches - the training week leading into the opposition methodology/game model alone and not conceptualising within your own game model and philosophy

  • Teachers - teaching solely to the exam

• instructional design which is too open and broad an assumes a level of prior knowledge which does not exist in novices

• instructional design which is too formulaic and structured, limiting the ability of those with existing knowledge and schemata (memory trace)

• MOST IMPORTANT: that each of the above Learning Design choices are domain specific (relevant for each taught/coached aspect), and you know best what your learners/athletes need…

  • …assuming you have taken Learning Critique into account and have a working knowledge of what your learners/athletes actually know…?

Clark argued that teaching focused solely on rote procedures—such as memorising formulas or rehearsing specific steps—fails to equip learners with the ability to understand and apply knowledge meaningfully and more flexibly.

We therefore need to differentiate instructional approaches for beginners versus experts. For beginners, effective instructional design emphasises modelling and worked examples, which guide them through structured examples to help understand core concepts and foundational skills and strategic movement patterns, game models. This approach provides a scaffolded learning experience that reduces cognitive load (the amount a learner or athlete is required to hold in their limited working memory), enabling learners/athletes to absorb essential principles before being challenged with more complex tasks.

In contrast, instructional design for experts should offer more abstract and open-ended tasks that allow them to draw upon their prior knowledge and experience. Experts benefit less from worked examples and benefit more from tasks that invite exploration, encourage problem-solving, and require the transfer of existing knowledge/schemata to novel situations. These open designs stimulate critical thinking, making experts rely on existing schemas to solve new problems effectively.

Curious Craft: Application to The Classroom

• Make regular and effective use of Learning Critique to ensure you have a strong working knowledge of your pupils’ level of knowledge and ability to apply it, then:

  • scaffold with modelled and worked examples, procedures and structure for beginner level knowledge

  • create task orientations which are more open and allow for flexibility in the application of existing schema for more nuanced and expert levels of knowledge

• DO NOT ASSUME that these observations are universal: they absolutely will change with different learning material/topics for each individual learner

• Try and “chunk” your learners into categories for effective differentiation which does not impact teacher workload in instructional design

Curious Craft: Application to The Coach

• Make regular and effective use of Learning Critique to ensure you have a strong working knowledge of your athletes’ level of knowledge and ability to apply it, then:

  • scaffold with modelled and worked examples, procedures and structure for beginner level knowledge (for example a new approach to out of possession patterns when losing possession in the middle third of the pitch)

  • create task orientations which are more open and allow for flexibility in the application of existing schema for more nuanced and expert levels of knowledge (varied and distributed practice to allow for exploration but also opportunities to make observations and feedback)

• Regularly review training footage where possible to observe learning in practice as well as competition

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