Items to Share: 30 March 2014

Education Focus

• The research-practice paradox | Pragmatic Education “Nearly everything suggested in education can claim to be ‘evidence-based’ because, in research, nearly everything works!
The trick is to ask the next question: “how well does it work relative to everything else?”
 When we ask this one we find that the debate is dominated by methods which work, but only have a tiny effect. While much more effective things, like ‘linking to prior knowledge’ are little used.”

• Gaming it [Sam Shepherd] 'I’m doing an online training course on data protection. It’s moodle based, and consists of stages to work through before a moodle quiz, successful completion of which produces a certificate which ticks off that I have done my bit of training, and I am fully data protectioned up. I discover, through geekiness, that you don’t actually have to work through the stages, and can go straight to the quiz, which I open in another window, then complete using a combination of current knowledge and simply checking back through the power of skimming, scanning and the browser “find” function. Sorted.'  

• Reading Circles Get Students to Do the Reading | Faculty Focus 'In my course, the required reading is intensive and extensive. Students must read multiple texts that range across disciplines, genres, history, and culture. The goal of this interdisciplinary course is improvement of critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. My students, like many others, live complicated lives. Add to that the fact that many are not particularly good readers or people who like to read, and the result is students arriving in class not having done the reading. When that happens, the teacher becomes the best student in the room. She talks about the text while students dutifully listen—or appear to listen.'

• What we still don't know about what works in education [Stephen Gorard (Durham)] 'Education is one of the largest academic research enterprises in England, and yet in over 50 years, research into education has failed to find useful answers to many of the most basic questions about how we teach children. The department of education, which recently published a proposed set of research priorities for schooling in England, is attempting to close the evidence gap. While this is a welcome endeavour, it raises questions about how far politicians should set the academic agenda...'

• The future of educational research | Webs of Substance Excellent and considered critique of meta-analysis as a method of evaluating educational interventions.

• Explainer: what makes Chinese maths lessons so good? [theconversation.com] '...most classrooms have few concrete teaching materials for maths lessons. The cultural traditions of Chinese maths education lead people to believe that routine practice is the most efficient way to learn. This continues today. And as a result, schools in Shanghai have scored highly in recent years on international tests of maths ability.

Other Business

• The Chomsky School of Language Infographic | e-Learning Infographics 'Noam Chomsky is a lot of things: cognitive scientist, philosopher, political activist and one of the fathers of modern linguistics, just to name a few. He has written more than 100 books and given lectures all over the world on topics ranging from syntax to failed states. The Chomsky School of Language Infographic presents some of his most well-known theories on language acquisition as if he were presenting them himself.'

• On Kahnemann [Edge.org] 'Daniel Kahneman turned 80 on March 5th and [we] noted the occasion with a reprisal of a number of his contributions to our pages. [...] At that time, [...] Richard Thaler, suggested that Edge follow up the birthday announcement by doing what it does best, asking Edgies who work in fields including, but not limited to, psychology, cognitive science, behavioral economics, law, medicine, a question. [...]—"How has Kahneman's work influenced your own? What step did it make possible?"....' 

• The Future of Self-Improvement, Part I: Grit Is More Important Than Talent - 99U 'In the late ’60s, Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel performed a now-iconic experiment called the Marshmallow Test, which analyzed the ability of four year olds to exhibit “delayed gratification.” Here’s what happened: Each child was brought into the room and sat down at a table with a delicious treat on it (maybe a marshmallow, maybe a donut). The scientists told the children that they could have a treat now, or, if they waited 15 minutes, they could have two treats.'  [And some notes from a session I did on Saturday on Emotional Aspects of Learning and Teaching which alludes to this and associated issues.]