Robert Marzano and John Hattie have both reviewed research into what teaching strategies make the biggest difference to students’ results. While they used different methods and terminology, they agreed on these 8 powerful strategies.
Strategy 1: A Clear Focus for the Lesson
John Hattie highlights how important it is for you (and your students) to be clear about what you want them to learn in each lesson. According to Hattie, teacher clarity is one of the most potent influences on student achievement. Robert Marzano agrees, including lesson goals in his top 5 list of factors that affect how well students do at school.
Hattie states that lesson goals:
- Clearly state what you want your students to learn
- Can focus on surface or deep learning (or both)
- Must be challenging for the students relative to their current mastery of the topic
- May be grouped (i.e. a single lesson may have more than one goal)
- Need to be shared with the students
Marzano also found that posing questions at the start of a lesson is an effective way to focus students: For example:
- How do you add mixed fractions with different denominators? That’s what you must know by the end of this lesson.
- What is the difference between elements and compounds? …
- Why is Persuasive Essay A better than Persuasive Essay B? …
- When (what period) were Egypt’s great pyramids built? …
Hattie suggests using questions a slightly different way:
- What are today’s lesson goals?
- What do I already know that will help me achieve these goals?
- What actions will I need to do to ensure I achieve these goals?
Strategy 2: Offer Overt Instruction
Robert Marzano claims it is important to explicitly teach your students the things they need to learn. His review of research actually revealed it was the most important factor (teacher controlled) affecting students’ success. You need to tell them what they need to know and show them how to do things they must be able to do for themselves.
John Hattie did not review explicit teaching per se, but he did find that Direct Instruction was very effective. Direct Instruction involves explicitly teaching a carefully sequenced curriculum, with built in cumulative practice.
Furthermore, Hattie highlighted the power of giving students worked examples when explaining how to multi-step tasks. Marzano also highlights the importance of giving examples and non-examples (similarities and differences) of the concept you are teaching. For example, when teaching prime numbers it would be useful to highlight 2 as an example, and 9, 15 and 21 as non-examples to avoid confusion with odd numbers.
Marzano also found that you can explicitly teach deeper levels of understanding by using graphic organisers You should use graphic organisers to show how different ideas were related to each other (e.g. steps, cause-effect, hierarchy, lists, comparisons, etc.).
Neither Hattie nor Marzano believes that great teaching is nothing more than standing out the front of the class and imparting knowledge. However, both agree that telling students what they need to know and showing students what they need to be able to do are essential aspects of teaching.
Strategy 3: Get the Students to Engage With the Content
While it is essential to actively teach students what they need to know and be able to do, it is also important to get them to actively engage with the content.
Marzano and Hattie agree that this starts with students actively linking your newly provided information with their prior knowledge of the topic. Students need to engage with the content as soon as they hear it by:
- Adding it to what they already know, or
- Using it to clarify some of the faulty assumptions they currently hold
Your students can then engage with your information in other ways. Hattie talks about the value of getting kids to take notes. Marzano also found there was great value in having your students take notes, and getting them to work with physical manipulatives. Also, he found that the simple act of asking students to recall information that you have just taught them (i.e. asking basic questions) had a substantial impact on how well they mastered the material. All these strategies are useful, but they only allow students to engage with the material at a surface level.
Robert Marzano also found several ways for students to engage with the material in ways that help them deepen their understanding beyond surface knowledge. These include the use of graphic organizers that show how information is connected (e.g. steps, cause-effect, in comparison to, hierarchical classification). It also includes the use of analogies, such as:
- Persuasive devices are to a writer what tools are to a tradie, or
- The Magna Carta offers citizens what a referee offers a game of soccer.
See Marzano’s The Highly Engaged Classroom and Classroom Instruction That Works.
These are practical strategies that exemplify the higher levels of the SOLO taxonomy (an alternative to Bloom) that Hattie also advocates.
Strategy 4: Give Feedback
It is important that you give your students feedback after they engage with any new material. This:
- Highlighting what is right and wrong, or good and bad about their work
- Helping students to see how they can improve
Robert Marzano highlighted that students need to be given feedback while there is still time to improve (i.e. before finishing a topic or assigning a formal assessment task). John Hattie agreed with this but went further, showing that novice or struggling students need immediate feedback, while more experienced students do better when they receive delayed feedback. Hattie also discovered that different types of students need distinct types of feedback (see How to Give Feedback: The Advanced Guide).
Hattie also highlighted that feedback is a two-way street, where student results tell the teacher the degree to which their efforts are working (or not). When teachers see feedback this way, it has an even larger impact on their students’ subsequent results.
Strategy 5: Multiple Exposures
If you want students to internalize new information, you need to expose them to it several times.
When exploring how to enhance students’ vocabulary, Robert Marzano found that it was critical for teachers expose students to the same word multiple times. When each exposure was coupled with an explicit comment about the word and its meaning, students’ vocabulary acquisition doubled.
John Hattie picks up on the significance of multiple exposures by revealing the critical importance of techniques such as rehearsal and review. Put simply, rehearsal means going over material until you can remember it, while review involves going over things you have learnt previously.
He also stresses the merit of giving students time to practice doing the things they have learned to do. When spaced out over time, Hattie found that having students practice things led to a 26 percentile improvement in their marks.
On a more cautious note, Hattie warned that practice without feedback can be dangerous as it leads to students internalizing the wrong things.
Strategy 6: Have Students Apply Their Knowledge
Robert Marzano found that helping students apply their knowledge deepens their understanding.
Knowledge application is a deductive process whereby students apply general principles to specific case studies or problems. Marzano found that teaching students how to think deductively and giving them guided practice in doing so helps them generalize their learning beyond the particular topic or task at hand. Hattie confirmed that deductive processes (i.e. general principle applied to specific situation) is much more effective than inductive teaching (i.e. asking students to discover general principles from observing specific situations).
Knowledge application also involves problem-solving. Robert Marzano’s synthesis of research revealed that problem-solving had a large effect (d = 0.54) on students’ understanding. Marzano believes that problems should require students to apply previously learned knowledge and skills – and Hattie agrees. When problem-solving is used in this way, Hattie found a similar effect size (d = 0.61) to Marzano. However, when a problem is used to stimulate discovery learning, the opposite is true (d = 0.15). Hattie also emphasized the importance of teaching students how to solve problems, e.g. understand the problem → come up with a plan of action → implement the plan → review the results.
Strategy 7: Get Students Working Together
Robert Marzano and John Hattie both agree that getting students to work with each other helps them to achieve better results. The use of cooperative learning groups adds value to whole-class instruction (d = 0.41) and to individual work (d = 0.59-0.78).
They also agree that inter-group competition can increase the effect of cooperative learning even more.
However, neither Marzano nor Hattie believes that cooperative learning should replace whole-class instruction or individual learning activities.
- Hattie highlights how students need you to teach them topic-related facts and skills, so they can make genuine contributions to their group. If students haven’t gained sufficient mastery of the material, they cannot actively participate in cooperative learning tasks.
- Marzano adds that it if students are to master what they are being taught, they also need opportunities for individual practice and feedback.
Finally, Marzano and Hattie agree that cooperative learning is only effective when you:
- Structure it carefully
- Keep groups small
- Teach students how to work in groups
For further information, read Group Work That Works.
Strategy 8: Build Students’ Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy refers to a student’s belief about their ability to successfully complete a task. It is situation specific. For example, a student may feel confident that they can dance well on stage but be insecure about public speaking.
Hattie & Marzano both found that students’ self-efficacy had a substantial impact on their subsequent achievement. Students who believed they would master fractions were more likely to do so, while students who saw themselves as poor readers were less likely to improve their reading.
Marzano’s review of research showed that you can build students’ self-efficacy through praise, and expressing your belief that they can do well. However, to be effective, such praise must:
- Be genuine – i.e. only given when students have made real improvement
- Refer to specific accomplishments related to the task
As Carol Dweck noted, if you praise lavishly and liberally, you end up praising mediocrity, which in turn sends a message that you believe that is all you think they are capable of.
Hattie highlighted the fact that the link between self-efficacy and achievement is reciprocal. That is, achieving genuine success has as much impact on subsequent self-efficacy, as self-efficacy has on subsequent achievement.
John Hattie and Robert Marzano have each conducted significant reviews of what works best in the classroom.
There are some clear differences in their work.
- They use different terminology to each other
- Marzano uses more isolated strategies, while Hattie combines strategies into broader approaches
- Marzano’s findings are based heavily on teacher-designed assessments, while Hattie’s findings make more use of standardized tests
However, as you can see, there is significant agreement between Robert Marzano and John Hattie when it comes to what works best in the classroom.
Who Is Robert Marzano?
Robert Marzano conducts educational research, and is the co-founder of Marzano Research.
Robert Marzano has authored many books worth reading, and compiled a seminal meta-analysis on the effectiveness of various instructional strategies entitled, A Theory-Based Meta-Analysis of Research on Instruction
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Who Is John Hattie?
John Hattie is a professor at the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education. He is also chair of the board for the Australian Institute for Teaching & School Leadership.
John Hattie has reviewed over 800 meta-analysis of research studies exploring the degree to which various factors affect student achievement. It is the most extensive review ever taken.
So helpful! Many thanks for this excellent summary.
My pleasure Tina
Thanks Shaun. I’ve read many amazing articles regarding Hatties work, it’s nice to have the comparison with other researchers, like Marzano. A terrific summary, very clear.
Thanks Tina
i agree !
Another brilliant article. I am going to review this term’s work and make changes so i can implement their ideas.
With a greater emphasis being placed evidence/research-based education, your articles are just what I need to help my team of teachers become better practitioners in the classroom.
Hi Stephanie
I’m glad you find them useful
🙂
Shaun
Thanks Shaun! Another interesting article. Will be using this as a discussion starter in teacher planning meetings
Hi Renee
I hope they go well 🙂
Shaun
Thank you Shaun for providing an excellent summary. Always appreciate your articles – they encourage us all to pursue excellence in our teaching.
I’m glad – have a great week
I would love to receive the newsletter but the links do not seem to be functioning for me. KIndly assist!
Hi Irene
I just went to add you but the system said you were already a member. I assume you worked it out, if not let me know.
Cheers
Shaun
Hi Shaun
Fantastic link b/w Marzano and Hattie, perhaps some of my staff will be convinced that I’m leading them on a journey about improving student learning and outcomes …..I’ll share this with them….
Thanks, love your work
Lil
Hi Shaun,
A very interesting article.
Hattie’s work shows the direction standardized tests (which generally measure rote, factual recall) are pushing education: more direct instruction (teacher-centered, lecture), less problem-based learning and authentic, motivating learning contexts.
The problem is, there is more to learning and schooling than rote memorization. Problem-based learning (PBL), for example according to Hattie, only has a 0.15 effect. And it’s true, PBL, isn’t better than traditional instruction when measuring short-term, rote learning. However, if you look at other measures, like transfer, like conceptual understanding, like engagement and motivation and empathy and the like, you see much greater effect sizes. (See IJPBL journal for some meta-analyses)
Hi Doug
I certainly agree that students need more than rote memorization, and having read his work extensively I don’t believe Hattie does either. Standardised assessments do not necessarily equate to only testing recall. Any well-constructed assessment can also assess conceptual understanding, application and strategy use.
What I found interesting, is that Marzano, who used predominantly teacher-crafted assessment found many of the same things.
I’ve also read the research underpinning John’s PBL findings. Note both Hattie and Marzano agree that you need to get your students applying what they have learnt (generalized) into many contexts and problem scenarios. What they argue against with PBL is:
All that said, we are interested in publishing any research-based information – not just Hattie’s and Marzano’s. Can you supply the details for any of the meta-analyses you mentioned for us to review.
Cheers
Shaun
G’day Shaun
Great to hear that you are still at the coal face of Educational Leadership. These strategies are the very practice teachers applied 40, 30, and maybe 25 years ago before all the ‘academics’ started playing with teaching and learning best practice and screwing it up. Andy
Hi Andy
Thanks – wonderful to hear from you again.
Cheers
Shaun
Found this article EXTREMELY helpful and have shared it with several of my google+ communities. Thanks!
My pleasure
A great report to use with my staff.
The article reaffirms what quality teaching and learning consists of. Although many of the mediums through which learning occurs (i.e., technology), the basic principles that constitute a quality educational experience have remained for years. These principles not only apply to general population students, but diverse learning populations as well.
Are you aware of efforts that have been made to make policy makers aware of the research you so succinctly report on? In America? Ideas or suggestions of how to do so? Can you cite a few specific examples of studies that show improvement in student learning as result of using the strategies Hattie and Marzano espouse? Any with “value added” involved?
It is wonderful to find discussion/evidence of what actually works to improve achievement instead of just vapid theories. It’s also very helpful to see what DOESN”T work exposed as Hattie does in his ranking of influences on student learning. We need much more of that kind of exposure.
Thanks so much.
Pat
Hi Pat
Here is a sampling of the underlying research
Focus
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tea.3660200505/abstract
https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Correlation_Between_Teacher_Clarity.html?id=kT-8tgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Handbook_of_motivation_at_school.html?id=Zh5QAAAAYAAJ
https://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?q=burns+2004+empirical+analysis&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ved=0CBkQgQMwAGoVChMIwf7mj8noxwIVRFumCh3rpQ03
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065260106380021
Goals related to Value Added Assessment
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/247522350_Value-Added_Models_of_Assessment_Implications_for_Motivation_and_Accountability
Overt Instruction
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/239029212_From_conversation_to_composition_The_role_of_instruction_in_a_developmental_process
http://bul.sagepub.com/content/89/642/24.short
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=LGVHAAAAMAAJ&q=handbook+of+research+on+teaching&dq=handbook+of+research+on+teaching&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAGoVChMIzIuL-tnoxwIVBWOmCh0bdwFD
http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED413575
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/EducationalPracticesSeriesPdf/prac03e.pdf
http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_198604_rosenshine.pdf
Engagement
http://rer.sagepub.com/content/56/1/72.abstract
http://aer.sagepub.com/content/19/4/559.full.pdf
http://www.mlrg.org/proc3pdfs/Vazquez_Meta-analysis.pdf
http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/abstract21/
http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED258533
Feedback
http://rer.sagepub.com/content/61/2/213.abstract
Multiple Exposures
https://www.gwern.net/docs/spacedrepetition/1988-lee.pdf
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~antonvillado/courses/09a_psyc630001/Donovan%20&%20Radosevich%20(1999)%20JAP.pdf
Application
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tea.1013/
Working Together
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0218879020220110?journalCode=cape20#.Ve-LXhGqqko
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed077p116?journalCode=jceda8
https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Handbook_of_Research_on_Learning_and_Ins.html?id=cCD_thHjuxEC&redir_esc=y
Self-Efficacy
http://www.unco.edu/cebs/psychology/kevinpugh/motivation_project/resources/bandura93.pdf
http://rer.sagepub.com/content/52/1/123.full.pdf
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/264402744_The_Relationship_Between_Self-Efficacy_and_Performance_A_Meta-Analysis
http://rer.sagepub.com/content/64/4/479.full.pdf
Cheers
Shaun
This is so clear and helpful. I will be sharing it with others in my district.
Reading Hattie is fascinating, but the language of academics can be challenging even for us teachers. You have made it so much simpler for us.
Shaun,
May I reprint this blog post – giving credit to you of course – on my blog??
If yes I will – if no – I will not!
Thanks for your consideration.
ML
No problems Mike – just link back 🙂
Absolutely! Thank you for the permission and for the great articles and research.
ML
Hi there
This is great thanks. What if any are there agreed or differences on behaviour management between Hattie and Marzano? Thanks in advance.
Great post. I find that although many high schools say they are using Marzano they seem to select a few elements that are less likely to contradict the child-centred methods they favour and are less likely to use many of the other very useful strategies. I think we have a long way to go before the grip on constructivism is loosened.
Very interesting article and comments. Could I just provide a note of caution. Every instructional situation is different (I have taught every grade from Kindergarten to Year 12, in isolated, rural, regional and metropolitan schools). We, as teachers need to analyse every class we have. Not all classes require the same organisation and/or teaching strategies. My concern is that the effect of particular teaching/learning strategies will vary significantly from class to class and student to student. Too many teachers do not vary teaching style. They use a “one size fits all” approach. The research quoted is valuable. Teachers need to adapt these findings to multiple situations.
Great ideas based on research. Thank you for sharing.
Hi. Good read! Thanks! I don’t suppose you’ve done or will do a comparison between a hattue and Sharratt?
Entrance Tickets – Question posted on board (students writing thoughts,reflections)
Essence – Summaries of a lecture (students write 32 refine to 16 within group)