During Summer 1 we undertook an initial trial into Generative Learning. This was a chance for staff to dip their toes in the water and see how well the three chosen areas of Summarising, Mapping and Imagining played out. The research on Generative Learning at Primary is patchy or based upon soft data: as I explained to staff “let’s throw this at the wall and see what sticks”.

Well, a lot stuck to the wall.

Great success, way beyond staff predictions (and my hopes), were had in all three areas. Summarising and Mapping had the biggest impact, chiefly as these were least used approaches or utilising concepts or tools not seen before. I had suspected that children would loose engagement after the initial wonder had passed yet Summarising and Mapping show staying power.

Summarising

A few different approaches to Summarising were trialed (and have been explained in past blog posts). An unstructured “condensing” method for Guided Reading (read a page, turn it into 5 lines) was good with confident readers but showed less utility with less able or younger readers.

Cornell Notes proved to be a roaring success with all year groups reporting improved engagement, longer engagement and better recall when deployed in “knowledge rich subjects”. For reference, these are Geography, History, Science and Religion & Worldviews.

Phase 2 trial

For the second phase of our Generative Learning trials I have planned for us to focus on using Cornell Notes for Summarising. We will revisit Mapping and Imagining in Autumn 1 and Autumn 2 respectively.

In their feedback, staff found that Conrell Notes were:

+ Great for knowledge learning – once the children were trained how to use the format.

+ Increased levels of engagement and for much longer periods of time.

+ Self differentiating*

However, Cornell Notes were:

- Not suitable for all ages in current format.

- *LPAP writers struggled with spacing or the cognitive load of keeping notes organised within a given structure.

To overcome this, in consultation with KS1 staff, I develop 6 variations of the Cornell Notes template. These have been structured as a staged approach, with staff encouraged to deploy the templates as needed, mixing and matching designs within a lesson or between different lessons as needed. The templates progress from pictorial recording and early mark making, to heavy scaffold and structured note taking to a full free note taking template.

In the first day of use, staff are reporting good success with the new templates. Year 1 trialed using a template as a A2 who class write. the children were so enthused that they had a go with their own A4 copy and produced lovely writing and pictures to capture their learning on African animals. Examples and explanations of this will be shared in a future blog post