Jargon buster: pedagogical terms

Know your dual coding from your cognitive load theory? Want to encourage evidence-based teaching in your school, but can’t remember your cognitive science? Remind yourself what these key terms in pedagogical theory mean and how to spot them in the classroom.

Last reviewed on 2 May 2025
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Contents
  1. Get to grips with pedagogical terms
  2. Download our cheat sheet
  3. How can I see if these strategies are being used?

Get to grips with pedagogical terms

The concepts in this article are based in cognitive science – understanding how the brain works to understand how we learn. You can use these concepts to improve learning, so pupils are more successful.

However, remember that how useful these concepts are can depend on your classroom context and the subject you're teaching.

Cognitive load theory What does it mean? Our working memory can only hold a certain, small amount of information at once. Teachers should avoid overloading a pupil's working memory to maximise the potential for learning. They should also use strategies like explicit instruction, which makes it easier for the working memory to process information. Why does it work? By avoiding overloading pupils with too much information, pupils