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Insights, tips, and resources for parents, teachers, and learners on their educational journey.
Flashcards are one of the most popular revision tools, but using them badly can create the illusion of learning. Julian explores how to make them work harder.
Julian Dance
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After nearly twenty years in the classroom, I've become fascinated by a simple question: why do some students develop deep understanding while others struggle despite working hard? Looking back at a career's worth of books on teaching, cognitive science and misconceptions, I realised they were all helping me explore the same challenge.
A simple hand-drawn comic about Argon and Lithium turned a chemistry tutoring session into an engaging learning experience. This article explores how drawing, storytelling, and dual coding theory can help students better understand and retain complex concepts.
Drawing isn’t just a study technique - it’s a powerful cognitive process. Backed by Dual Coding Theory and the Drawing Effect, sketching helps students encode, organise, and retain knowledge. When combined with instant feedback, it becomes one of the most effective learning strategies available.
Most edtech platforms test children. SideCog diagnoses how they think. Here is why that difference matters, and how it closes the gaps that compound year after year.
Practical work is central to science teaching, but experiments alone don’t guarantee understanding. Julian explores what research says about effective science learning.
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Thinking depends on what you already know. When pupils have secure knowledge stored in long-term memory, their working memory is freed to reason, solve problems, and make connections. This is why knowing more stuff doesn’t limit thinking - it enables it.