Research paper

(Slavin) Co-Operative Learning: What Makes Group Work Work?

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Having students work in groups can be enormously beneficial or it can be of little value. So how can teachers ensure they make best use of this classroom tool? One researcher set out to analyse different kinds of co-operative learning approaches reported in research (all experimental studies involving control groups taught using traditional approaches) to find the key to effective learning through group work.

He found two kinds of co-operative learning methods:

 structured team learning (characterised by individual accountability, which means that team success depends on individual learning, and rewards to teams based on the learning progress of their members); and

 informal group learning methods (which are more focused on social dynamics and discussion).

The evidence showed that team rewards and individual accountability were essential elements for enhancing achievement. It isn’t enough to simply tell students to work together; they must have a reason to take one another’s achievement seriously.

(Ross) Disengagement From Education Among 14-16 Year Olds

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http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RR178.pdf
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It is estimated that between one fifth and one third of all young people aged 14-16 are disengaged from education. This has well documented implications for the young person and the wider society, including poor labour market opportunities and the risk of being not in education, employment or training (NEET). Other associated negative outcomes are teenage pregnancy and drug use. Engagement is crucial because of recent legislation raising the participation age for education, first to 17 by the year 2013, and then 18 by 2015.

Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE), the researcher carried out a quantitative analysis of disengagement from education among 14-16 year olds. They identified four different kinds of engagement and explored when as well as why some young people disengaged.

The study will be of interest to teachers, leaders, parents and policy makers wishing to explore the issue of disengagement amongst 14-16 year olds. In particular it will help them consider the factors contributing to disengagement and the strategies which might help to encourage continued engagement in school.

(Powell) Sustaining Pupil Engagement In Literacy Lessons

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Why are children highly motivated and engaged in some classes, but not others? What causes pupils to go off-task? To find out, the researchers of this US study analysed literacy lessons in classes of children aged 5-8 years from 13 primary schools in which there was considerable off-task behaviour.

The researchers found that lack of engagement was not simply a case of poor classroom management and discipline, but a reflection of the way in which literacy was taught. A number of key factors led to low engagement. These included pupils experiencing lack of choice, challenge, control over their own learning, and opportunities to work with other pupils. Off-task behaviour was particularly apparent during lessons in which pupils were expected to conform to certain prescribed procedures and undertake closed tasks. Such lessons also had an adverse effect on pupils’ feelings of success and the teachers’ relationships with their pupils.

(Knippels) Using Fiction To Help Students Form Opinions About The Applications Of Science To Society

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Identifying a moral or social issue and developing and presenting an argument is an important skill that learners are expected to develop in different areas of the curriculum in England. It is, for example, a key part of scientific literacy which enables students to form judgements about the science-based issues which affect their lives.

This study from the Netherlands aimed to test whether fictional film can help students to develop skills in opinion-forming with regard to issues that impact on our day-to-day lives. The particular focus for this study was learning debate issues related to human genetics, such as Huntingdon’s disease, cystic fibrosis, use of stem cells, and therapeutic cloning. The approach described in the study was found to be effective in encouraging year 11 students to develop better strategies for achieving more balanced and better founded opinions and to provide more arguments when explaining their position. Specifically the study findings showed that using clips from fiction films was more effective than using factual news reports, and students involved in both these approaches made greater improvements than a control group of students.

(Helmsley-Brown) How Do Teachers Use Research Findings To Improve Their Professional Practice?

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Research in medicine regularly makes new and better treatments and procedures available to patients.  What would you think if you were only ever offered the same treatments your doctor learned about on qualifying 20 years ago?

In a controversial speech in the1990s, David Hargreaves highlighted the way that medical professionals use research findings to inform the decisions that they make about treatment for their patients, in order to make sure they give the most appropriate care, with the greatest likelihood of success. He argued that the same was not true in schools and challenged education professionals to think about why there did not seem to be the same approach in schools to using research.

In order to explore these issues further the study looked at the following four key areas:

·         how did local authority officers, heads and teachers use research findings for school improvement?

(Harrison) How Can Evidence-Based CPD Programmes Improve the Professional Development Of Science Teachers?

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This study explored the impact of science CPD programmes. The programmes were designed to help science teachers experiment and reflect on how they could develop and integrate new ideas they encountered into their classroom practice.

The specially designed CPD also involved teachers in collecting, analysing and reflecting on portfolios of evidence arising from their work in classrooms.

The researchers found that the CPD programmes in general and constructing the portfolios in particular provided opportunities for teacher reflection and learning. The CPD programmes were linked to marked effects on the teachers’ practice, but initially the teachers found the approach difficult to implement.

This study will help teachers with an interest in CPD and in Science to explore some of the key ingredients and processes of effective CPD, including the importance of providing strong support in the initial phases.

(Gainsburg) Real-World Connections In Secondary Mathematics Teaching

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While the mathematics education community has placed a great deal of emphasis on the need to connect mathematics in the classroom to the real world, there is evidence that in practice this happens infrequently. Research shows that teachers often:

 regard issues around behaviour and learners’ poor reading skills as obstacles to discovery learning

 have difficulties in recognising the mathematics that arises in the workplace, and

 only introduce real world connections in a cursory way rather than as an integral part of the curriculum materials and activities.

However, while there is a consensus in the findings of researchers investigating this topic, the actual volume of research is rather sparse.

The author of this study conducted a survey of 62 secondary mathematics teachers to find out about whether and how they used real-world connections in mathematics lessons. The author then explored the findings from these interviews by observing teachers making real-world connections in the classroom and comparing the outcomes from the survey with the observations.

(Clark) What Impact Does Socio-Economic Status Have On Children's Reading?

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Children from low socio-economic backgrounds have a range of barriers to overcome to become proficient readers. This UK study investigates how socio-economic status influences children’s engagement with and enjoyment of reading. Over 8,000 pupils aged between 12-17 years were involved in this study into their reading.

The study found that pupils who received free school meals (used in the study as an indicator of low socio-economic status) held more negative attitudes towards reading, rated themselves as less confident readers, and gained less enjoyment from reading than their peers. Pupils also reported having fewer books at home, more limited access to educational materials (books, computers, magazines), and receiving low levels of encouragement from parents to read.

(Broaders) How Can Gesturing Help In Teaching And Learning

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People routinely gesture with their hands when they talk, and these gestures often convey additional information not found in their speech. This study investigated the impact on teaching and learning when 8-9-year-olds used hand gestures to solve maths problems

The authors wanted to know if gesturing would bring out implicit knowledge during problem solving; that is the knowledge that can be observed in pupils’ behaviour but which they cannot not express verbally or explain.

As a result of a two-part experiment, involving over 170 children, the researchers found that telling children to gesture while explaining their solutions to novel maths problems can be beneficial in two ways. Firstly, some of the children were able to identify new and correct problem-solving strategies. Secondly, gesturing made the children more receptive to teachers’ instructions on how to solve the problems, thus leading to learning.

The researchers’ results and conclusions about problem solving will be interesting to all school practitioners particularly those involved with SEN children.

(Avramidis) What In Practice Does Inclusion Mean?

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Government policy in the UK supports the principle that children with SEN should, where possible, be educated in mainstream schools. The paper summarised here examines an LEA-identified ‘excellent’ inclusive school to see what ‘inclusivity’ is taken to mean. It also looks at who and what inclusivity covers, what constraints may bound it, whether it is effective, and whether such research can act as a blueprint for other schools.