24
Annual Report 2017 – 2018
Pillar 3: Extraordinary Teachers
RESEARCHING FOR PROGRESS
CHS Chairs of Teaching and Learning
Supporting our educators to pursue
further research both contributes to
the teaching profession and continues
Crofton House School’s 120 year
history of excellence in education.
During the 2016-2017 school year,
Sophia Hunter and Gail Robinson
became our first Chairs of Teaching and
Learning, engaging in exciting research
that’s already shaping the School.
Phil Stringer, Department Head of
Mathematics in the Senior School,
and Quinn Cumming, Junior
School Physical and Health Education
teacher, are the next Chairs of
Teaching and Learning.
Phil’s PhD investigates the concept
of interleaving as an aid to long-term
memory retention and the application
of this principle to teaching. The aim
is to move beyond a blocked approach
to units of study and rather present
students with mixed problems
throughout the year, requiring them
to recall and apply a range of skills on
an ongoing basis.
one thing. There’s no critical thinking
skills going on. I’m looking for more
problem-solving and critique, the
interleaved approach of ‘I don’t know
what this question requires of me,
but I should be able to do it.’” Phil will
develop, implement and measure the
effect of interleaving on skill retention
over the next three years.
Quinn will be investigating a question
of “grit”. Having observed that some
girls are able to “push through”
difficulty or discomfort while others
tend to give up as soon as they are
confronted with obstacles, she
will look into the reasons for this
behaviour (such as fear of failure or
the pressure to be perfect) as well as
the effect of teaching perseverance on
later education and life.
Quinn aims to use her findings on the
relationship between adolescent girls,
Outdoor Education, grit and its social
context to develop a program within
PHE that empowers girls to become
more resilient using mindset lessons,
physical goals, and time for reflection.
“ Traditiona l math instr uction
focuses on fractions or geometry “I believe that teaching girls to
independently, and just practices that persevere when confronted by
physical challenges, especially in
their middle school years, will help
them to increase their confidence and
resilience in physical activity, and in
turn, their courage to take risks and
try new things in their daily lives.”
“I believe that
teaching girls
to persevere
when confronted
by physical
challenges,
especially in their
middle school
years, will help
them to increase
their confidence
and resilience…”