Posts tagged 2023
How Knowledge Powers Comprehension and Reading Success
How Knowledge Powers Comprehension and Reading Success

Nelson Primary Video, November 12, 2025, with Nathaniel Swain

Join Dr Nathaniel Swain for a focused session that spotlights the importance of building and reinforcing rich content knowledge for reading comprehension success. This practical and engaging session will guide teachers and leaders through a discussion of the situation model of comprehension, and demonstrate how knowledge and vocabulary underpins much of the comprehension processes we use want students to master.

Participants will explore how to build and utilise logical and coherent sequences of content-rich texts drawing on evidence and research. By the end of this session, participants will:

1. Understand the critical role of background knowledge and vocabulary in successful comprehension.

2. Recognise how content-rich text sequences can support the situation model of comprehension.

3. Identify practical ways to design and teach with content-rich sequences of text that strengthen students’ reading outcomes.

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The science of learning: debunking the myths and misconceptions
The science of learning: debunking the myths and misconceptions

Victorian Academy of Teaching and Learning, November 11, 2025, with KEndra Parker

In this first episode of a 2-part podcast, Academy Leadership Excellence Division Director, Kendra Parker is joined by Dr. Nathaniel Swain, a teacher, instructional coach and author of Harnessing the Science of Learning. Together, they delve into the evidence around the science of learning, by exploring some of the myths and misconceptions currently circulating about this approach.

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Improvement with Dr Nathaniel Swain
Improvement with Dr Nathaniel Swain

Teacher Takeaway Podcast, Season 5, Episode 31, November 8, 2025, with James Gray, Aaron Johnston and Rebecca West

This episode explores how schools can drive effective, sustainable improvement by applying key principles from the science of learning.

Key points covered

  • Why a clear, school-wide vision for improvement matters and how to build it.

  • The importance of aligning curriculum, pedagogy, and routines across classrooms.

  • How cognitive science (e.g., cognitive load, retrieval, spacing) can strengthen teaching and learning.

  • Practical strategies schools can adopt to embed evidence-informed practice.

  • Common implementation challenges and how leaders can support teachers through change.

  • Examples of how schools have successfully used science-of-learning approaches to lift student outcomes.

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Why Prose Reading Matters More than Ever
Why Prose Reading Matters More than Ever

Nelson Primary Video, November 6, 2025, with Nathaniel Swain

Join Dr Nathaniel Swain for a focused session that explores the critical role of reading prose texts—such as fiction and non-fiction chapter books—in developing deep comprehension, inferential thinking, and knowledge acquisition. By the end of this session, participants will:

1. Understand why prose texts are crucial for fluency and exposure to complex language.

2. Identify how reading prose contributes to comprehension, vocabulary, and deep reading.

3. Take away practical strategies for embedding prose reading into everyday classroom practice.

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Supporting teachers in implementing the Science of Learning
Supporting teachers in implementing the Science of Learning

Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Episode 21, September 10, 2023, with Brendan Lee

Listen to this live coaching workshop on implementing the science of learning with Dr. Nathaniel Swain and Brendan Lee.

In this session, you will hear from real teachers discussing their real-world challenges in implementing the science of learning. Dr Nathaniel Swain and Brendan Lee then guide the teachers and school leaders through some possible solutions, taking an evidence-informed approach. First, you hear from Ainsley from Mary Mede Catholic College in Victoria who has started to implement a number of evidence-supported strategies and programs but has hit a bit of a plateau. Then you will hear from Sarah and Iona from St. Andrews in Cairns who are right at the start of their science of learning journey.

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Fluency Instructional Routines
Fluency Instructional Routines

Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast, Episode 154, July 14, 2023, with Melissa and Lori

What if you could unlock the secrets to fluency instruction in literacy, and transform your students into confident and skilled readers? Join us as we delve into this crucial topic with Nathaniel Swain, Senior Lecturer at La Trobe University in Australia, who shares his expertise on the three components of fluency: speed, accuracy, and prosody.

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Nathaniel Swain on Writing to Learn
Nathaniel Swain on Writing to Learn

Education Research Room, Episode #076, March 15, 2023, with Ollie Lovell

…This is a wide ranging discussion that moves from what makes good writing, to The Writing Revolution, to the Write to Learn resources that Nathaniel has created with the Brandon Park Primary team. We also have a bit of fun playing around with literacy and hopefully model within this podcast the kind of fun that can be had by students too, in this space. It was a real pleasure to have Nathaniel on and I can’t wait to see the impact that Nathaniel continues to have in the coming years and decades in his new role as a teacher educator, in addition to through his wide variety of other exciting projects in the education space…

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Whole Class Teaching Lifts All Learners
Whole Class Teaching Lifts All Learners

Dystinct Mazagine, Issue 14, March 2023 by Nathaniel Swain

Dr Nathaniel Swain reflects on how and why his preferred method of supporting struggling learners in classrooms has shifted from individual learning intervention and differentiated groups to robust whole class instruction at tier 1 that allows struggling learners to realise their academic potential through repeated exposure to more of the same excellent quality instruction as their peers.

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On the way out of the Educational Zeitgeist
On the way out of the Educational Zeitgeist

Progressively Incorrect, Season 2, Episode 20, January 30, 2023, with Zach Groshell, PhD

In this episode of Progressively Incorrect, I chat with Dr. Nathaniel Swain about the work he is doing with teachers and middle leaders to ensure that all students receive instruction that is informed by the science of learning.

This is one of those episodes that is jammed packed full of insights and interesting tidbits, including what Dr. Swain describes as the biological imperative we have as humans to learn from others. Instead of falling for the romance that is having students discover or teach themselves the bulk of the material, Dr. Swain talks about the need for teachers to, well, teach the material, and to teach it explicitly and efficiently using principles and findings from cognitive science. As someone who is thoroughly fascinated with the innovations coming out of international education systems, you will also hear me pick Dr. Swain’s brain about the progress being made in Australia to implement evidence-informed instruction and explicit teaching.

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Science of Learning, Reading and Writing Masterclass 3
Science of Learning, Reading and Writing Masterclass 3

Lifelong Literacy, August/September, 2022

“In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.”

Abraham Maslow

On six consecutive occasions , six powerful agents of change delivered a 75 minute live talk. Those talks were recorded.

Our first four talks were given by individual speakers, and our last two talks were a collaborative effort by Professor Pamela Snow and Dr Tanya Serry of La Trobe University.

In this online version, you will be able to see all the videos from the live events, you will have all the handouts and you will also be able to participate in quizzes and forums relating to the material.

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