Pedagogy First. Technology Second.

Say It or Show It, Not Both

The strategy, as published

Exactly as it appears on the card

Part of Managing Cognitive Load 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

Reading text aloud while the same text sits on the screen feels thorough. Sweller's redundancy effect says it is the opposite: pupils process the written and spoken versions at once, the two streams compete, and working memory pays for both.

The fix costs nothing. Say it, or show it, and stop doing both at the same time. Explaining is an act of load management, and this is the single easiest load to remove.

What it might look like

One version of it, in a classroom

Mid-explanation, a teacher presses B. The screen goes black, thirty pairs of eyes come up, and the idea gets explained in speech with nothing competing for attention. When the diagram is needed, the screen comes back, and the teacher talks over the image rather than reading beside it.

Try it

A way to begin

Take one slide you will teach this week, delete the sentences and keep the image. Say the deleted words instead. The B key, or W for a white screen, does the same job mid-flow.

What to notice

Reading what happens

  • Where pupils look when the screen is blank against when it is full of text.
  • What the checks for understanding say afterwards. Cleaner explanation should show up as cleaner recall, and if it does not, that is worth knowing too.

Things to think about

Before and while you use it

  • The effect is about simultaneous duplication. Text pupils need to read silently, in their own time, is a different situation and a legitimate one.
  • A blank screen puts the weight on your spoken explanation, which is exactly why this pairs with small steps and the other load principles in the strand.

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

Sweller's cognitive load theory explains the mechanism, and Mayer's multimedia principles map when words and images combine well and when they collide; the strand's further reading covers both. The card’s attribution stands as published: Sweller.

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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