Eleni Pepona

Eleni Pepona joined The Perse in September 2022 having worked in the maths education sector for more than 15 years. Having worked with students of all ages, from pre-school to Sixth Formers, Eleni has long been fascinated about the inner workings of the learning process, which led her to complete a MA in Education in 2014. Since, Eleni has been keen on researching evidence-based approaches to making learning stick and learning from scientific advances in our understanding of how the brain works.

“Inspired by recent advances in cognitive neuroscience relative to how working memory develops links into long term memory, this research project explored how implementing the instructional techniques of interleaving practice in maths teaching could lead to deeper conceptual understanding and effective development of problem-solving strategies, as well as better long-term retention of topic knowledge. I wondered whether a continual revise-and-extend approach to maths teaching would negate the need for extensive revision prior to a major summative assessment. In 2023-24, I worked with my Year 9 class and designed lesson and homework assignments based on the principles of interleaving practice. As a class, we found that homework assignments routinely revising questions from previous topics offer feedback to both the teacher and the students of their progress to date. They can provide a platform in which topics and concepts are periodically revisited. In this way, students can be ‘exam ready’ at short notice. The practice can have a positive impact to students’ confidence in their skills, not being afraid to give it a go, and promoted a positive outlook towards learning from errors or misconceptions. Both student feedback at the end of this project and student attainment results have confirmed the potential benefits of the practice, which continues as an ongoing research project in 2024-25 with three further maths classes.”