media & events

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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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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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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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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Teacher Takeaway Podcast, Season 3, Episode 15, June 3, 2023, with Aaron Johnston and Rebecca West

In Season 3 | Episode 15 | We will be unpacking and discussing: How do teachers implement a structured literacy approach in the upper grades?

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Teacher Takeaway Podcast, Season 3, Episode 8, March 19, 2023, with Aaron Johnston and Vigors

In Season 3 | Episode 8 | We will be unpacking and discussing: How do we incorporate pedagogy that reflects the Science of Learning?

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