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Elaboration: Explaining the Why & How (Workshop)

Elaboration means getting students to explain how and why things work, and to connect new ideas to what they already know. Asking and answering why deepens understanding far more than memorizing facts in isolation.

Key takeaway

Having students explain how and why, and connect new ideas to what they know, builds deeper, more durable understanding than memorizing facts in isolation.

Format
PLC / team meeting
Length
45 minutes
Group size
Any (works 4-40)
Who can run it
Any teacher-leader
You will need
Slides (5)Printed handoutContent students memorize shallowlyA timer
Aligned to
Learning Forward: Rigorous ContentInTASC 8: Instructional StrategiesLearning science: elaboration
Share / assign

Why it works

Elaboration, especially elaborative interrogation (asking and answering how and why) and connecting new material to prior knowledge, is one of the well-supported learning strategies in cognitive science. It works because explaining and connecting forces deeper processing and builds richer mental models, which improves understanding and transfer compared to shallow memorization.

The research: The Learning Scientists on elaboration; research on elaborative interrogation.

The run-of-show

Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.

    The core activity: build elaboration into one lesson

    Teachers leave with how/why questions and connection prompts for one lesson.

    Ask why and howMemorizing a fact is shallow; explaining why it is true and how it connects is deep. Build explanation and connection into the lesson.

    Facilitator notes

    Restating is not elaboratingHaving students repeat a definition is not elaboration. Push them to explain why and how, and to connect it to what they know.

    Adapt it

    Participant handout

    One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

    K12 Academics · Professional Learning

    Elaboration: explain the why and how

    <b>Go deep:</b> students explain how and why and connect new ideas to what they already know.

    1. Content students memorize shallowly:
    2. My how and why questions:
    3. How students connect it to prior knowledge:
    4. How students explain in their own words:
    5. Where I combine it with retrieval:

    Make it stick

    Explain and connect:

    Common questions

    What exactly is elaboration?
    Getting students to explain how and why, and to link new ideas to what they already know, rather than just restating or memorizing.
    How do I build it in?
    Ask why is this true and how does this connect to what we learned, routinely, and have students explain in their own words, not just recall.
    Isn't this just asking questions?
    It is a specific kind: pressing for explanation and connection, which forces the deeper processing that builds understanding.

    Go deeper

    Build it into a bigger day

    Workshop
    Retrieval Practice
    Workshop
    Concrete Examples
    Workshop
    Metacognition & Study Skills