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8 December 2023

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Learning vs Performance

It is important to distinguish between learning and performance. Learning refers to the long-term acquisition of knowledge and skills that can be retained and applied at a later date. Performance, however, refers to how well one performs a task in the short term.

Studies have shown that significant learning can occur without any noticeable changes in performance. This was demonstrated by research on rats in mazes and has been recognised in learning theories that differentiate between long-term learning changes and temporary performance fluctuations.

Recent studies have also shown that performance gains do not always translate into long-term learning. Conditions that appear to hinder performance, such as spacing out practice, often lead to better long-term retention, while cramming to perform well in a test may result in short-term achievement but not lasting learning. So, studying in spaced-out sessions is better than cramming all at once. Testing yourself is also more effective than simply restudying material, even if it seems harder. It's also helpful to solve a variety of problems instead of repeating the same ones.

Despite the evidence supporting these learning techniques, surveys and studies show that most students are unaware of them. They tend to focus on short-term performance gains rather than long-term knowledge acquisition. The problem is that quick success today often means little for tomorrow.

Experts now explain how differences in learning and performance are due to the strengthening of memory storage versus temporary accessibility. It is important to distinguish between lasting knowledge gains and short-term achievement to implement better methods for flexible and durable learning.

We would love to hear any thoughts you have on CSG’s Learning Matters: learning@csg.school

Maths Student of the Week

Claire 7T - For being brilliant during the recent algebra lessons. Her resilience and work ethics are remarkable. Great work!

Well Done!

AV UK Fundraiser 

Congratulations to year 8 for their incredible support for AV UK, raising an impressive £348.20 through Loud Shirt wearing, sponsorships and a magnificent bake sale. 

Auditory Verbal UK’s mission is to raise expectations for deaf children and provide access to auditory verbal therapy to help young deaf children develop speech.

A special shout out goes to Lily in year 8 who did a fantastic job of raising awareness for this cause and getting the year group behind her, as well as all the parents and children who gave so generously.

 

The Vex Robotics day with STEM club

The day at Queen Elizabeth’s Boys School was a fun experience and I learnt so much about robotics and technology. One of my favourite parts was racing the robots that we built. We worked with QE students who have 11 successful competitive robotics teams. There was a lot of trial and error as we had never built VEX robots, but we were all able to finish and test drive robots at the end of the day. QE Boys has a whole room dedicated to robotics with courses specially designed to race our robots around. We really hope we can have something like that at CSG as there's a shortage of all girl robotics teams. Altogether, I definitely recommend anyone that is interested in technology to participate in STEM club as we’ve had such a great term doing lots of fun things with tech.

Leonie 9M

*STEM CLUB is open to any year 9s and next term we are launching the TeenTech competition*

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Duke of Edinburgh Awards

On Wednesday 29 November we hosted an award evening for the cohort of students who were involved in last year’s Bronze Award scheme.

Parents and students were invited to join us so that we could say a big thank you to everyone. The students who completed the award were given their certificates and badges at the end of the evening as the photo shows.

Before that, we watched a video performance by Paula and heard from her about how the award had helped her achieve even more in music. Ariam spoke about her technical challenges as part of a team entry to a competition. Naomi spoke of the problems faced when choosing a skill which wasn’t strictly allowed, cooking at home under her mum’s overseeing eye and what I insisted on her doing in a bake off in school to validate everything. Mia talked about her physical skill and how having completed it had left her determined never to do that form of exercise again. We shall see.

Finally, we watched one of the videos from last year’s expedition, which was highly appropriate as many of the team in the video were in the hall.

Huge thanks to the parents for supporting the students through a long journey of learning and success.

Huge thanks to the students for persevering with the whole process and being continually nagged by me to get on with it.

And a BIG message to all those who have yet to finish. You also finish and get the reward of knowing you’ve been on a long journey.

Garry Doyland
DofE Coordinator

Jane Eyre Storyboards - Year 9

Ms Smith’s Year 9 class have designed their own storyboards for the first meeting between Jane and Mr Rochester. Here are some standouts by:

  • Rose
  • Isma
  • Freya
  • Sara
  • Avery
  • Emma
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The Pink Day Fundraising total was £5,153.25!

Thank you!

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