Blog
Rigor: What do we really mean? And why inquiry sits at the heart of it
Recently, I facilitated a parent session at Jakarta Intercultural School focused on a word we use often… but don’t always stop to define:
Rigor.
As I listened to parents share their thinking, I was reminded how powerful and persistent our assumptions about learning can be.
When Students Understand the Language of Learning: Moving Towards Assessment-Capable Learners
What does it really mean for students to be assessment-capable—and how often do we see it truly happening in classrooms?
Why Real Objects Matter: Curiosity, Questioning, and Wonder as the Starting Point
I had the pleasure of modelling inquiry at the American School of Madrid, where we examined an existing lesson and considered how it might become more inquiry focused. A central shift was the deliberate use of real objects and lived experiences. The shift took us from pictures, screens, and books to real objects that provoked curiosity.
From Learning to Action: Making Transfer Real - Blog 5 of the Leveraging Deep Learning Blog Series
We often talk about "real world learning" but what does that actually look like in the classroom? In Chapter Six of Leveraging Deep Learning, we explore the powerful idea of transfer: students taking what they’ve learned in one context and applying it meaningfully in another. As Dixon and Brown (2012) state, “It is clearly not enough to change teaching strategies to promote transfer; assessment strategies must also change to acknowledge and support transfer of learning.”
Transfer is not just about using knowledge in a different subject. It’s about using understanding to engage with unfamiliar problems, take action, or design solutions. When students transfer learning, they show us what they truly understand.