Wednesday, 18 December 2013

How do we improve pupils' analysis skills?

After marking many, many pieces of Business coursework over that last few weeks it is clear to me that there is a huge gap between those who can analyse their findings and those who really can't.

I am always telling pupils that if after reading an answer, I can still ask them why something is the way they have said it is, then they have not gone deep enough with their analysis. 

Training pupils in this seems to be one of the hardest parts of my job. We do practice question after practice question yet are still struggling when it comes to the real thing.

ICT and English Curriculum Workshop

Most of the spelling strategies suggested we already attempt in both ICT and Business.

Examples: 

  • Pronouncing the word as it is spelt.
  • Breaking the word in to syllables.
  • Using words within words to remember them (Don't forget my mate Ron in Environment/Eve in achieve).

New methods that we could try are:

  • Writing a list of similarly spelt words on the board.
  • Using rhymes to jog pupils' memories. (This would require learning the same ones used in English.)