Learning  

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Australasian Mercy Secondary School Association (AMSSA) Conference in Perth, where we heard from many experts in wellbeing, faith and learning, as well as sharing ideas with colleagues from other Mercy Schools. 

One speaker of note who was of great interest to me, was Dr Mark Williams.  He spoke on the neuroscience of learning and how to optimise cognitive function. 

I would like to share one of his insights about multitasking.  Dr Williams said that we are not multitasking, we are ‘task switching’ and if we try to do so, it will take us 25-30% longer to do both tasks together,  than if we did one task, then the other.  Many of us will experience this in our daily work where we might be distracted by an email coming through or with our phone.  More significantly, he stated that if we have a phone or device nearby and it captures our attention, this deletes what was in our working memory of what was immediately preceding the interruption, and every time we have an alert from our device, we lose 90 seconds of our time and focus.  At Academy, we are minimising distractions with our no phone policy, but it is a good reminder for our students to make sure email notifications are turned off in class too, and that when studying at home, to turn off our notifications on all our devices or remove devices altogether. 

The teaching staff at Academy continue to engage in professional development regarding the neuroscience of learning, cognitive load theory and strategies to promote student learning, and we are sharing these with students.  Over the last few weeks, Year 10 and Year 11 teachers have been sharing with students strategies to prepare for their upcoming exams.  I hope revision is going well for these students.  

During exam time, students are likely to feel heightened levels of stress and this can present in different ways.  Therefore, we remind you, and students, that a certain level of stress is usual and, in fact,  as it can help performance under assessment conditions, can be beneficial. 

Here are some tips to help students cope with the pressures of assessment and navigating the exam period: 

• Sleep is important; students should prioritise sleep over trying to stay up late to study
• Maintain healthy habits; eat healthily, drink water and exercise regularly
• Schedule breaks in between study
• Practise mindfulness activities such as breathing exercises, colouring, exercise or meditation.  Students should endeavour to practise these techniques when they are not under pressure too, so that they can rely on them when necessary

Good luck to all Year 10 and 11 students for their upcoming exams and also to Unit 3 & 4 students with the General Achievement Test (GAT) on Tuesday, 17 June.  A reminder that while there is no need to prepare for the GAT, students should try their best and take it seriously.  Also, every student completing a Unit 3 &4 study should complete the GAT as this also assesses whether students meet the literacy and numeracy standard. 

Ms Lucy Neil

Deputy Principal - Learning & Teaching