Self-referencing in the classroom: The influence of self-cues on children's information processing and retention
Lead Research Organisation:
Abertay University
Department Name: Sch of Social and Health Sciences
Abstract
Children demonstrate learning by encoding and retrieving from memory. Therefore, it is essential that we understand the mechanisms that support memory and hence how we can support learning. The 'self-reference effect' (SRE) has shown that individuals are better at remembering information about themselves than information relating to others. This is particularly effective because it occurs in different contexts. For example, when the information is perceived as self-owned, or when the information is encoded while thinking about self. Most research exploring the extent of the SRE has been conducted in a laboratory setting. To determine the benefits for learning, this project aims to explore the potential uses of self-referencing in the classroom.
The project will explore SREs across an array of literacy processing, numeracy processing and learning tasks. Personalisation in learning, such as including personal hobbies and cartoon characters in materials, has been encouraged as it helps to promote rich encoding. However, this is costly as it requires individualised materials. Self-referencing incurs less cost as the changes are not individual (e.g., using pronouns 'you' or 'I' instead of a character name) yet there is evidence that these changes lead to improvements in learning. For example, in a spelling task, children improved the accuracy of their spelling for new words when they wrote sentences starting with the word 'I' compared to sentences they wrote about another character. They also wrote longer sentences, which indicates that they were more engaged with their learning. In an arithmetic task, self-pronouns included in maths problems (e.g., You have 3 balls. Bob has 2 more balls than You. How many balls does Bob have?") elicited faster and more accurate problem-solving than when the problems were presented entirely in the third person (e.g., "Tom has 5 balls..."). In additional to pronoun changes, another study showed that children learned novel shapes better if the shapes were 'owned' by them during a sorting game. These studies indicate that there is great potential in using self-referencing in the classroom; however, systematic research is necessary to test the efficacy of these manipulations, and their underlying mechanisms.
Three potential mechanisms for the impact of self-referencing on learning have been proposed. First is the self-knowledge framework, which is the most established account of the SRE. Self-knowledge is particularly extensive and accessible relative to other knowledge in memory, so can be used to enrich and organise new information, providing multiple routes to successful retrieval. However, there may also be an important role for attention and this has been explored to a lesser extent, particularly with regards to learning. Self-cues are difficult to ignore, and this may provide a mechanism whereby the children are engaged in the material to be learned for longer intervals. Finally, working memory, a type of short-term memory that encompasses both storage and processing, may also be affected by self-reference cues. For example, when personal pronouns are included in literacy and numeracy tasks, it reduces the number of referents or things to be remembered. This research will test the effect of self-referencing on attentional capacity, working memory load, task engagement ans memory support as a necessary step in the successful translation of self-referencing to the classroom. A further aspect of translation is to test transferability of SRE interventions, comparing the impact of training teachers v. learners. Teacher input will be sought at every stage of experimental design to ensure materials are easily transferable to classroom activities.
Based on the experiments conducted, the project will develop educational resources and a website enabling teachers and parents to implement self-referencing in learning. This will ensure the impact of this project is wide and sustainable in practice.
The project will explore SREs across an array of literacy processing, numeracy processing and learning tasks. Personalisation in learning, such as including personal hobbies and cartoon characters in materials, has been encouraged as it helps to promote rich encoding. However, this is costly as it requires individualised materials. Self-referencing incurs less cost as the changes are not individual (e.g., using pronouns 'you' or 'I' instead of a character name) yet there is evidence that these changes lead to improvements in learning. For example, in a spelling task, children improved the accuracy of their spelling for new words when they wrote sentences starting with the word 'I' compared to sentences they wrote about another character. They also wrote longer sentences, which indicates that they were more engaged with their learning. In an arithmetic task, self-pronouns included in maths problems (e.g., You have 3 balls. Bob has 2 more balls than You. How many balls does Bob have?") elicited faster and more accurate problem-solving than when the problems were presented entirely in the third person (e.g., "Tom has 5 balls..."). In additional to pronoun changes, another study showed that children learned novel shapes better if the shapes were 'owned' by them during a sorting game. These studies indicate that there is great potential in using self-referencing in the classroom; however, systematic research is necessary to test the efficacy of these manipulations, and their underlying mechanisms.
Three potential mechanisms for the impact of self-referencing on learning have been proposed. First is the self-knowledge framework, which is the most established account of the SRE. Self-knowledge is particularly extensive and accessible relative to other knowledge in memory, so can be used to enrich and organise new information, providing multiple routes to successful retrieval. However, there may also be an important role for attention and this has been explored to a lesser extent, particularly with regards to learning. Self-cues are difficult to ignore, and this may provide a mechanism whereby the children are engaged in the material to be learned for longer intervals. Finally, working memory, a type of short-term memory that encompasses both storage and processing, may also be affected by self-reference cues. For example, when personal pronouns are included in literacy and numeracy tasks, it reduces the number of referents or things to be remembered. This research will test the effect of self-referencing on attentional capacity, working memory load, task engagement ans memory support as a necessary step in the successful translation of self-referencing to the classroom. A further aspect of translation is to test transferability of SRE interventions, comparing the impact of training teachers v. learners. Teacher input will be sought at every stage of experimental design to ensure materials are easily transferable to classroom activities.
Based on the experiments conducted, the project will develop educational resources and a website enabling teachers and parents to implement self-referencing in learning. This will ensure the impact of this project is wide and sustainable in practice.
Planned Impact
The project tests the educational applications of self-referencing, so has impact at the centre throughout. We have incorporated consulation, participation in outreach and resource dissemination to the following stakeholders:
A) EDUCATORS
Focus Groups. We will consult with focus groups of educational practitioners at key stages from the beginning of the project, gauging how our experimental materials align with current teaching resources and practices. We will make use of the PI and CIs' current network of primary teachers, as well as social media networks.
CPD for teachers. We will offer free CPD workshops to schools in as many local authorities as we can reach. The usefulness and impact of these sessions on teachers' understanding and practice will be monitored through immediate and follow-up questionnaires.
Educational resources. We will build a set of literacy, numeracy and learning resources (i.e., worksheets and guides) for teachers to download and use in their own classrooms. These resources will be freely available from our dedicated website (described below), and also on professional platforms (e.g., the Times Educational Supplement website).
Educational articles and talks. Articles will be submitted to professional magazines including the Times Educational Supplement, as well as the Scottish Government's Education newsletter Engage for Education. Conference dissemination will also be achieved through participation in a national teaching conference (e.g., the Scottish Learning Festival, attended annually by 4,500 education professionals).
Higher Education talks. While our research focuses on children, it is also of relevance to those teaching in Higher education. The research team (PI, CIs) will therefore also disseminate the effectiveness of self-referential learning at internal HE events (e.g., Abertay's Teaching and Learning Enhancement Conference) and research seminars delivered at other HE institutions.
B) WIDER COMMUNITY
Website. A website dedicated to the project will provide information about research linking self-referencing to learning, underlying mechanisms, and ideas for application. This will include a section for downloadable resource for teachers, information for parents, a feedback section to monitor impact, training workshop details, and publications where appropriate, and contact details for the research team. Links will be advertise through university networks and social media. Once the project ends, SC will be responsible for promoting and regularly updating the website to ensure the resource has longevity.
Public engagement events. The research team will engage in a number of broad public engagement activities, particularly science festivals and non-academic publications. The PI and CIs will receive media training within their own institutions, and the External Relations team at Abertay University will support, publicise and raise accessibility of findings emerging from the project.
White paper. We will prepare a White paper on the benefits of self-referencing. This will be issued to Scottish Executive ministers who have an education brief, to increase awareness of the potential impact of self-referencing its potential relevance to policy. (For example, the current Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is written entirely in the first person, something we would recommend but which, according to the Chair of the CfE committee [personal communication], is entirely serendipitous.)
C) ACADEMIA
Impact for academic audiences will be achieved through both conference dissemination (national and international conferences on psychology and education) and journal publication. It is anticipated that four academic papers will result from the project, the first two of which will be large, multi-experiment papers designed to achieve maximum academic impact.
A) EDUCATORS
Focus Groups. We will consult with focus groups of educational practitioners at key stages from the beginning of the project, gauging how our experimental materials align with current teaching resources and practices. We will make use of the PI and CIs' current network of primary teachers, as well as social media networks.
CPD for teachers. We will offer free CPD workshops to schools in as many local authorities as we can reach. The usefulness and impact of these sessions on teachers' understanding and practice will be monitored through immediate and follow-up questionnaires.
Educational resources. We will build a set of literacy, numeracy and learning resources (i.e., worksheets and guides) for teachers to download and use in their own classrooms. These resources will be freely available from our dedicated website (described below), and also on professional platforms (e.g., the Times Educational Supplement website).
Educational articles and talks. Articles will be submitted to professional magazines including the Times Educational Supplement, as well as the Scottish Government's Education newsletter Engage for Education. Conference dissemination will also be achieved through participation in a national teaching conference (e.g., the Scottish Learning Festival, attended annually by 4,500 education professionals).
Higher Education talks. While our research focuses on children, it is also of relevance to those teaching in Higher education. The research team (PI, CIs) will therefore also disseminate the effectiveness of self-referential learning at internal HE events (e.g., Abertay's Teaching and Learning Enhancement Conference) and research seminars delivered at other HE institutions.
B) WIDER COMMUNITY
Website. A website dedicated to the project will provide information about research linking self-referencing to learning, underlying mechanisms, and ideas for application. This will include a section for downloadable resource for teachers, information for parents, a feedback section to monitor impact, training workshop details, and publications where appropriate, and contact details for the research team. Links will be advertise through university networks and social media. Once the project ends, SC will be responsible for promoting and regularly updating the website to ensure the resource has longevity.
Public engagement events. The research team will engage in a number of broad public engagement activities, particularly science festivals and non-academic publications. The PI and CIs will receive media training within their own institutions, and the External Relations team at Abertay University will support, publicise and raise accessibility of findings emerging from the project.
White paper. We will prepare a White paper on the benefits of self-referencing. This will be issued to Scottish Executive ministers who have an education brief, to increase awareness of the potential impact of self-referencing its potential relevance to policy. (For example, the current Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) is written entirely in the first person, something we would recommend but which, according to the Chair of the CfE committee [personal communication], is entirely serendipitous.)
C) ACADEMIA
Impact for academic audiences will be achieved through both conference dissemination (national and international conferences on psychology and education) and journal publication. It is anticipated that four academic papers will result from the project, the first two of which will be large, multi-experiment papers designed to achieve maximum academic impact.
Organisations
Publications
Cunningham SJ
(2024)
Put you in the problem: Effects of self-pronouns on mathematical problem-solving.
in Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)
| Description | This project assessed the effects of self-referential cues (e.g., the personal pronoun 'you') on children's learning and processing. We successfully completed all experimental work on the project within the grant period, piloting our materials and collecting data from seven experimental studies. The studies focused on numeracy processing in word problems, literacy processing in close reading tasks, and the learning of new information. The key findings of the experimental studies by the experimental studies are outlined below, with a summary of the new knowledge generated. a) NUMERACY We have completed a series of experiments assessing the effects of self-cues in children's problem-solving, testing nearly 300 children aged 7-11 years. These experiments have revealed a significant advantage for arithmetic word problems that include a self-referent cue in place of an unknown character name. Specifically, when problems include the pronoun 'you', they tend to elicit faster and more accurate responses. Further, these effects are most pronounced in difficult conditions (e.g., in subtraction rather than addition problems, and when wording is inconsistent rather than consistent with the operation required). These findings suggest that self-referent cues facilitate problem-solving. We followed up these behavioural experiments with an eye-tracking study, monitoring the length of time that gaze was fixated on specific words within the numerical problems. We replicated our previous finding that response times were reduced when problems were self-referent, and were able to use the eye-tracking data to examine which sections of the problem were driving this pattern. Fixation times showed that children spent significantly less time looking at self-pronouns than pronouns referring to another character, and in reading the objects of the problem in the self-referent than other-referent problems. This suggests that the effects of self-referent pronouns arise because self-cues facilitate the processing of relevant information, reducing working memory load in problem-solving. (Additional work conducted in parallel with the project and supervised by the PI and Co-I supported this reasoning, confirming that self-cues increase working memory capacity directly.) b) LITERACY We have completed three experiments testing the effects of self-pronouns on children's processing of text in the context of close reading tasks, testing nearly 200 children aged 9 to 11 years. Across the experiments, we trialled different types of passages and questions, different numbers of characters, and different positions of the self-pronoun, as well as presenting questions with the close reading text present or absent onscreen. Findings have been mixed, with some initial evidence that self-pronouns improved children's engagement, especially when positioned first. However, these effects have not been found consistently across experiments and conditions, suggesting that self-cues are not a reliable method of enhancing performance on close reading literacy tasks. c) LEARNING In a single large learning study, we tested the effects of three encoding conditions on participants' ability to remember new second language vocabulary (Japanese kanji for common nouns), in over 150 children. Participants practised the kanji by drawing them with another person, drawing them with themselves, or including them in a drawing of a relevant autobiographical memory. Participants' memory for the kanji did not differ significantly across conditions. They then watched either a video conveying the educational value of self-referencing or a control video, before learning additional kanji. Free recall data revealed an interaction, with the self-referencing video producing an advantage only for those previously asked to draw themselves without an autobiographical cue. These findings suggest that while self-referencing was not a reliable method of enhancing learning, it has the potential to support memory when scaffolded. Overall, the experimental findings suggest that including self-referent cues has mixed effects in educational contexts. For tasks that have a high working memory load such as numerical problem solving, self-cues can be very effective at enhancing task performance, reducing the processing demands of relevant information. However, for longer forms of processing such as close reading and learning tasks, self-referential cues and strategies did not reliably enhance performance above other techniques without scaffolding. This suggests that self-referencing cues should be applied in education, but only within specific contexts in which they can be used to ease the working memory load of difficult tasks. |
| Exploitation Route | We are taking the project outcomes forward via both academic and non-academic routes: ACADEMIC ROUTES: - We have published a QJEP paper summarising the numeracy findings. A second follow-up paper presenting findings from the eye-tracking study in in the final stages of preparation, as is the associated paper on direct effects of self-cues on working memory capacity (both to be submitted Spring 2024). We are preparing a preprint outlining findings from the literacy experiments, after which we will prepare the findings from the learning and transferability experiment for publication. - We have disseminated findings at conferences including the Experimental Psychology Society, (UK, 2022), Cognitive Developmental Society (USA, 2022), International Convention of Psychological Science (Belgium, 2023), and the BPS Education section meeting (UK, 2023). NON-ACADEMIC ROUTES - Online teacher resources: We have made resource packs available on our website (selflab.co.uk), comprising pupil activity sheets and accompanying teacher booklets. The pupil activity sheets contain fun self-referencing activities covering numeracy, learning and engagement, which are freely available as classroom or homework activities. The teacher booklet provides explanations and links to underpinning research, as well as answer sheets for the pupil activities. Two versions of the resource pack are available, suitable for 6-8 year old and 9-11 year old children respectively. We have shared the resource with schools in three local authority areas, and with the Numeracy and Maths education officers at Education Scotland, who will disseminate through their organisation. - Teacher involvement (focus groups and CPD): we are continuing to hold focus groups to review the suitability of our materials for incorporation into classroom materials, and to deliver free CPD training on the use of self-referencing in education. These events are delivering impact from the project, and are continuously improving the quality of the resources we have available to support teachers to put our findings to use in their own classrooms. - Professional presentation: We delivered a presentation on our ESRC research to the British Psychology Society Division of Educational and Child Psychology, with the aim of disseminating findings to practitioners including Educational Psychologists, who can advise teachers on the use of self-referencing with children who have difficulties focusing attention in learning tasks. - Transference findings: following teacher feedback, we modified our final experiment to examine the efficacy of presenting pupils with pre-recorded child-friendly information on the value of self-referencing as a learning technique, to determine whether this produces transference (i.e., spontaneous use of the technique in the children's own learning). This will be an important source of information regarding the use of self-referencing for educators in future. |
| Sectors | Education |
| URL | https://selflab.co.uk/education/ |
| Description | The project is novel in its aim to establish the extent to which self-referencing can support different educational tasks in children, and the results therefore have impact for teachers and educators. We have disseminated findings through both academic route (i.e., journal articles, conference presentations), non-academic publication, and the development of a website hosting resources teachers (see www.seflab.co.uk). The website includes links to resource packs we developed for teachers based on our research, comprising pupil activity sheets and accompanying teacher booklets for different national curriculum stages. The pupil activity sheets contain fun self-referencing activities covering numeracy, learning and engagement, while the teacher booklet provides explanations and links to underpinning research. We have shared this resource with teachers across three local authorities. We have also shared our findings and educational resource pack with Education Scotland, who are interested in further discussions about how our work should influence practice in schools. They have disseminated our resource pack further through their national Numeracy and Maths education officer team, helping to build our influence on professional practice. We have recruited teachers across local authorities for stakeholder focus groups and delivered Continuing Professional Development. We have also collaborated with SSERC to make an online CPD workshop on self-referencing available to teachers across all 32 local authorities in Scotland. Early feedback from these sessions confirmed that our resources have changes teaching practice in the classroom, with 100% of teaching survey respondents confirming they have started using self-referencing activities in the classroom as a result of our information-sharing. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | Changing teachers' practice |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Title | Put you in the problem: Effects of self-pronouns on mathematical problem solving |
| Description | Data from two experiments with 7-11 year old children. The experiments investigated how self pronouns affect mathematical problem solving. The data records accuracy and response times. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The data is associated with the research article: Cunningham, S.J., Ahmed, Z., March, J., Golden, K., Wilks, C., Ross, J., & McLean, J.F. (under review). Put you in the problem: Effects of self-pronouns on mathematical problem solving. |
| URL | https://osf.io/naqz5/ |
| Title | Self-referencing in the Classroom, 2020-2023 (UK Data Service) |
| Description | This data collection comprises seven experimental studies that assesses the effects of self-referential cues (e.g., the personal pronoun 'you') on children's learning and processing. There are three experiments focused on numeracy processing in word problems, three experiments looking at literacy processing in close reading tasks, and a final experiment exploring the learning of new information. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | In the numeracy experiments, we presented 7- to 11-year-old children with arithmetic word problems (e.g., "Eve has 5 apples. Jane has 2 apples more than Eve. How many marbles does Eve have?"), half of which replaced one character name with the self-referent pronoun 'you'. In the first two experiments, we found that when problems included the self-referent pronoun, they tended to elicit faster and more accurate responses from children. Further, these effects were most pronounced in difficult conditions (e.g., in subtraction rather than addition problems, and when wording is inconsistent rather than consistent with the operation required). We followed up these behavioural experiments with an eye-tracking study, monitoring the length of time that gaze was fixated on specific words within the mathematical word problems. Fixation times showed that children spent significantly less time looking at self-referent pronouns than those referring to another person. This suggests that the effects of self-referent pronouns arise because self-cues facilitate the processing of relevant information, reducing working memory load in problem-solving. In the literacy studies, we tested the effects of self-pronouns on text processing in 9- to 11-year-old children, in the context of close reading tasks. Across three experiments, we trialled different types of passages and questions, different numbers of characters, and different positions of the self-pronoun, as well as presenting questions with the close reading text present or absent onscreen. Findings were mixed, with some initial evidence that self-pronouns improved children's engagement, especially when positioned first. However, these effects have not been found consistently across experiments and conditions, suggesting that self-cues are not a reliable method of enhancing performance on close reading literacy tasks. Finally, in our learning study we tested the effects of three encoding conditions on 9- to 11-year-old children's ability to remember new second language vocabulary (Japanese kanji for common nouns). Participants practised the kanji by drawing them with another person, drawing them with themselves, or including them in a drawing of a relevant autobiographical memory. Participants' memory for the kanji did not differ significantly across conditions. They then watched either a video conveying the educational value of self-referencing or a control video, before learning more kanji. Free recall data revealed an interaction, with the self-referencing video producing an advantage only for those previously asked to draw themselves without an autobiographical cue. These findings suggest that while self-referencing was not effective at enhancing learning, it has the potential to support memory when scaffolded. Together, these experiments suggest that including self-referent cues has mixed effects in educational contexts. For tasks that have a high working memory load such as numerical problem solving, self-cues can be very effective at enhancing task performance, reducing the processing demands of relevant information. However, for longer forms of processing such as close reading and learning tasks, self-referential cues and strategies did not reliably enhance performance above other techniques without scaffolding. This suggests that self-referencing cues should be applied in education, but only within specific contexts in which they can be used to ease the working memory load of difficult tasks. |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-856609 |
| Description | Academic research seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Academic research seminar delivered by Dr Josephine Ross to staff at Chester University, in which our research on applying self-cues in education was disseminated. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | CPD delivered in primary schools |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | CPD training on the use of self-processing biases in children's education was delivered to two schools (in Perth and Kinross, and Fife), with educators reporting intention to change their classroom practices as a result. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Creation of lab website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Website launched to promote Self lab research. Introduces ESRC project, provides information about research activities, outputs and opportunities to participate, and provides some resources for teachers. Website host service information does not provide annual unique visitor information but gives rolling 30-day visitor figures, which suggest 50-150 people visit the website per month. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://selflab.co.uk/ |
| Description | Educational articles and teacher activity sheet published by FuturumCareers/SciComm consulting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We published the following article and associated activity sheet for educators in conjunction with FuturumCareers and SciComm Consulting: Cunningham, S. J. (2021). The importance of self-referencing as a learning technique: Teacher CPD. Futurum and Sci-Comm Consulting Ltd, Bristol. Through FuturumCareers' subscription-based newsletter dissemination, our article was delivered to 50,000 schools (a third in the UK, a third in the US and a third in the rest of the world, including South Africa, Canada and New Zealand) and 17,000 individual subscribers (40% UK, 60% international subscribers) The article was also published in the UK's Times Educational Supplement library of resources (https://www.tes.com/resources) and in the United States' Teachers Pay Teachers resource section (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Educational resource: Video explaining self-referencing for children |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | An animated video was created to explain self-referencing to children, and explain why it supports learning. This was shared with all P5, P6 and P7 classes in the schools from which we recruited Exp 6 participants, and was posted on our lab website as a resource for teachers, parents and children. It was also sent my class teachers to the parents of pupils, as an additional learning resource. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Focus group discussions with teachers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A focus group of teachers from Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire was held in June 2020 to help us clarify whether the materials designed for our first experiments were consistent with work done in the classroom by children in the targeted year groups. We refined the difficulty levels of our materials as a result of this discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Focus group discussions with teachers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A focus group of teachers from Aberdeenshire, Stirlingshire and Fife was held in June 2022 to help us to design our final study (Exp 6). This group was used to help ensure our materials were appropriate for the targeted age group, and consistent with the type of work done in the classroom. We also discussed the best methods of testing transferability, in with regards to what would be the most useful method in a genuine school setting. This resulted in some important improvements to our final study design. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | HE Pedagogical Research Group presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk on self-referencing research presented to academics interested in Pedagogical Research, to disseminate the findings of our research to teaching staff at a university level. Discussed both research design and implications for teaching practices (Abertay University, Dec 2020) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Poster presentation: BeOnline |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presented at international BeOnline conference organised by Gorilla, to disseminate methods of collecting educational data online and share initial findings of numeracy experiments: March, J. Investigating the effect of self-referential cues and working memory on children's maths performance. BeOnline2021, June 2021. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Poster presentation: British Psychological Society (Developmental Section) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation disseminating initial findings of literacy experiments to academic audience: Golden, K., March., J., Wilks, C., McLean, J., Ross, J., & Cunningham, S. J. Investigating the influence of self-referential pronouns on children's close reading performance. BPS Developmental Section Conference. Sept. 2021. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Poster presentation: Cognitive Development Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation disseminating numeracy experimental findings to an academic audience: Golden, K., March, J., Ahmed, Z., McLean, J. Ross, J., & Cunningham, S. J.. Effects of personal pronouns on children's numerical problem solving. Cognitive Development Society Biennial Conference, April 21-23 2022, Madison, WI |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Poster presentation: Society for Research in Child Development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation to disseminate initial numeracy findings at international conference: March, J., Golden, K., Ahmed, Z., McLean, J. & Cunningham, S. J. Investigating the effect of self-referential cues and working memory on children's maths performance. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. April 2021. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Presentation at international symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Symposium on self processing biases at the International Convention of Psychological Science Brussels (Selfish Cognition: The Development and Decline of Self-Processing Biases across the Lifespan), including talk disseminating numeracy bias experiments from current project: Cunningham, S. J. Applying self-reference effects to support learning in middle childhood. International Convention of Psychological Science, Brussels, Belgium. 9th-11th March 2023. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation to educational psychologists |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at British Psychology Society Education Section meeting, delivered to academics, educational psychologists and educators: McLean, J. F. How can "you" help children's performance of maths word problems? BPS Psychology of Education section annual conference, Liverpool, 13th-14th September 2023 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Presentation: British Psychological Society (Developmental section) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Oral presentation disseminating numeracy experimental findings to an academic audience: Ahmed, Z., Mclean, J., March, J., Golden, K., Wilks, C., Ross, J., & Cunningham, S. J. How can 'you' support children's maths word problem solving? (presentation) British Psychology Society Developmental Section conference, Sept 14th-16th 2022, Sheffield |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation: Experimental Psychology Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Oral presentation disseminating preliminary numeracy experimental findings to an academic audience: March, J., Cunningham, S. J., McLean, J., Golden, K., & Ross, J. The influence of self-referential cues and problem consistency on children's maths performance. Meeting of the Experimental Psychology Society, March 30-31st 2022, University of Keele, UK |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Sharing of educational resource pack with schools and educators |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A school leaflet and resource pack was created based on the current project, This was disseminated to interested schools in three local authorities (Dundee, Angus and Inverness), as well as via Education Scotland. The Numeracy and Maths education officers team at Education Scotland are disseminating the resource pack through their organisation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | https://selflab.co.uk/education/ |
| Description | TeachPrimary magazine article |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In July 2020, we published an article outlining the practical benefits of self-referencing in an educational context in TeachPrimary, a magazine and online resource for Primary school teachers: Cunningham, S. J. (2020). Can 'you' boost children's learning and engagement? How to improve educational materials by linking them with yourself. TeachPrimary. https://www.teachwire.net/news/educational-psychology-how-the-word-you-can-improve-childrens-working-memory |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.teachwire.net/news/educational-psychology-how-the-word-you-can-improve-childrens-working... |
| Description | Teacher training workshop delivered via SSERC |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A workshop was created for the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (SSERC), a national organisation set up for the benefit of Scottish education. SSERC is funded by all 32 local authorities in Scotland and provides professional learning courses and resources for teachers across Scotland. Teachers who take part in SSERC workshops are expected to mentor colleagues in their own schools on the techniques their have learned, further increasing the spread of information. According to SSERC records for this academic year, the workshop has been viewed by 137 teachers. Feedback suggested that teachers are changing their behaviour to incorporate self-referencing in the classroom. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022,2023,2024 |
| URL | https://www.sserc.org.uk/ |