Pedagogy First. Technology Second.

Concrete Before Abstract

The strategy, as published

Exactly as it appears on the card

Part of Structuring Explanations in 05 Explanations & Modelling, where it sits alongside its neighbouring strategies, the infographic and the thinking for the whole area.

Why you might use it

The problem it may help with

Abstract ideas are hard to hold when there is nothing to attach them to. Willingham's advice is to anchor new ideas to concrete examples first: make the thing visible, then name it.

Naming first inverts the load. Pupils are asked to store a definition while still hunting for what it refers to.

What it might look like

One version of it, in a classroom

Before the word erosion appears anywhere, a geography teacher plays a short clip of a riverbank collapsing, then shows photographs of the same stretch a year apart. Only once the class has described what they can see does the term arrive to label it.

Try it

A way to begin

For one abstract term in next week's teaching, find the image, clip or object first, and plan to show it before you say the word.

What to notice

Reading what happens

  • Whether pupils reach for the concrete example when they explain the idea back to you.
  • What happens when the abstract term is tested later: does the anchor come back with it?

Things to think about

Before and while you use it

  • The concrete is a bridge, not a destination. The card is explicit: move to the abstract once the concrete is secure, and judging secure is a call only the teacher in the room can make.

Inclusive practice

The lens this connects with

Through the inclusive practice lens, this is one of the approaches that may reduce barriers around:

The wider thinking

Where the evidence sits

Willingham's cognitive science writing for teachers is the source here: understanding is built out of things already understood, which is why the concrete example comes first. The card’s attribution stands as published: Willingham.

The fuller picture, sources included, is in further reading and evidence for Explanations & Modelling.

Keep exploring

Where next?

Back to this strategy in 05 Explanations & Modelling, across to what you're trying to improve, or into all 144 at once.

Want to take this further?

Support is available

Pedagogy First gives you a starting point. If you want support exploring how approaches like this can work across your school, trust or professional learning programme, that work is available.

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