Secondary | Centre for the Use of Research & Evidence in Education (CUREE)

Use of Two-Dimensional Pepresentations to aid the Transition from Arithmetic to Algebra

Aim: To investigate the extent to which use of a teaching approach based on the concept of area would help students overcome key difficulties in the transition from arithmetic to algebra.

Debriefing: Pupils' Learning and Teacher Planning

Aim: To investigate what and how pupils learn from debriefed lessons and how teachers plan and support such lessons.

Improving science achievement by raising self-esteem

Aim: To assess whether students' performance in science could be improved by increasing their self-esteem and generating positive support and feedback from their follow students.

Developing student leadership in a networked learning community

Aim: This summary first reports on the pilot work undertaken as ESRC Project Breaking New Ground in the Geography, History and Religious Studies departments at Rivington and Blackrod High Schools with KS4 students. The initial research prepared the way for what has now become a borough-wide student voice movement entitled B.L.A.S.T. (Bolton Listens As Students Talk) under the Networked Learning Community banner. The schools subsequent involvement in this project is also reported.

Effective questioning: stepping-stones to meta-cognition?'

Aim: There were two main, linked, aims of this project. The primary aim was to investigate the role of effective questioning by the teacher in a History class. The second aim explored the usefulness of this meta-cognitive strategy in enhancing higher-order thinking skills in the classroom. These are the skills that characterise higher achievement at Key Stages 3 and 4 (11-16 years of age).

The use of ICT in Music Composing

Aim: To raise awareness of the potential of ICT in music composition by investigating strategies teachers can use to raise pupil performance.

Making the strange familiar: emphasising the role of mathematics across the curriculum

Aim: By working collaboratively with other departments and concentrating on the language and processes used in the teaching and learning process, the Knowledge Network aims to enable learners to better apply their mathematics to unfamiliar situations.

Learning-centred leadership project: A study of middle leadership in 21 secondary schools

Aim: The main aims of the project were: To investigate the nature of effective learning-centred leadership and its contribution to the creation of teaching and learning schools; To analyse and describe the practice of learning-centred leadership and its influence upon aspects of the professional practice of others; To explore school leaders understandings of instructional and interpersonal learning-centred leadership; To examine the processes involved in creating learning and teaching schools in which such leadership can be developed, supported and sustained; To investigate and learn from the

Habitats for teacher research

Aim: The report of the survey of practitioner use of research carried out in England in 2011 by the NTRP.

Students As Researchers: How does being a student researcher affect learning?

Aim: From 1996 the school had tried to establish a Students as Researchers (SaRs) initiative to enable students to investigate, analyse and present student perspectives on aspects of school life and learning. This study records the attempts to evaluate the impact of participating in such research projects on the students learning. The aim of the research was to evaluate the impact of participating in such research projects on the students themselves in terms of: Their attitude to the SaRs initiative; Their social skills; and Their academic skills.