What do we mean by evidence-informed teaching?
"Evidence-informed" doesn't mean chasing every new idea from education blogs. It means:
- Taking reliable findings from research on learning, especially in Maths, Science and related disciplines.
- Combining that with professional judgement and experience.
- Checking what actually works for our students, in our context.
At LMSC, evidence-informed teaching is about using approaches that are more likely to help students remember, understand and apply what they learn -- and dropping strategies that don't make a real difference.
Research
Evidence from educational research and cognitive science
Professional Judgement
Expertise and experience of our teaching team
Local Impact
What works for our students in our context
Our core evidence-informed principles
Across subjects, you'll see the same set of principles in action:
Clear, explicit instruction
Teachers explain new ideas in small steps, model worked examples and check understanding frequently, instead of leaving students to guess.
Spacing and retrieval practice
We revisit key ideas over time and use short quizzes to bring knowledge back to mind, strengthening long-term memory.
Guided practice before independence
Students practise new skills with scaffolding first, then move gradually towards independent problem-solving.
High-quality feedback
Feedback focuses on specific strengths, misconceptions and next steps, not just marks and grades.
Formative assessment that actually informs teaching
Low-stakes assessments help teachers decide when to move on, when to slow down and where to re-teach.
Metacognition and self-regulation
We teach students how to plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning, not just what to remember.
What evidence-informed teaching looks like in the classroom
In practice, evidence-informed teaching at LMSC means lessons with a clear, purposeful structure.
Activate prior knowledge
- •A short retrieval quiz or 'Do Now' question.
- •Connecting today's topic to what students have already studied.
Explicit teaching and modelling
- •Teacher explains the new concept in clear language.
- •Worked examples are written out step by step, with thinking made visible.
Guided practice
- •Students attempt questions with support -- prompts, part-completed examples, or teacher checking in live.
Independent practice
- •Students tackle exam-style or applied questions on their own.
- •Teacher circulates (in person) or monitors responses (online) and gives quick feedback.
Check for understanding and close
- •Key questions to ensure core ideas have landed.
- •A quick summary of what was learned and what comes next.
Evidence-informed strategies in STEM subjects
STEM subjects benefit especially from approaches that reduce cognitive load and build durable understanding.
Dual coding and clear representations
Using diagrams, graphs and visual models alongside verbal explanation -- not decorative pictures, but representations that genuinely support understanding.
Worked example → completion → independent questions
Teachers model a full example, then ask students to complete part-worked examples before moving to independent problems.
Deliberate practice, not mindless repetition
Question sets are chosen to highlight patterns, contrasts and common misconceptions, not just to fill time.
Interleaving topics
Where appropriate, we mix questions from different areas (e.g. algebra and graphs) so students learn to choose methods, not just repeat the last example.
Exam technique embedded early
We don't leave exam practice to the final term; students see exam-style questions early and often, within a supportive environment.
Using assessment and data to refine teaching
Evidence-informed teaching is not just about what we do, but how we check whether it works.
Teach
Deliver evidence-informed lessons
Assess
Regular low-stakes assessments
Analyse
Identify patterns and gaps
Adjust
Refine teaching strategies
At LMSC, we:
- Run regular low-stakes assessments (quizzes, exit tickets, mini tests).
- Use mock exams and larger assessments to spot trends over time.
- Analyse results to identify common misconceptions across a class or year group.
- Adjust teaching sequences, revision plans and interventions based on what we find.
