This textbook brings together findings from global research on teaching and learning, with an emphasis on secondary and higher education. The book is unique in that the content is selected in an original way and its presentation reflects the most recent research evidence related to understanding. The book covers and presents themes that are based tightly on worldwide research evidence, scrupulously avoiding opinion or any dependence on the personal experience of the authors. The book starts by reflecting on educational research itself. The four chapters that follow relate the story of the research that shows how all humans learn and the variations within that framework. These chapters offer a tight framework that underpins much of the rest of the text. The next four chapters look at the way school curricula are organised and how the performance of learners can be assessed. They summarise the research evidence related to thinking skills and consider the importance of practical teaching. This is followed by two chapters that draw from the extensive social psychology research on attitude development as it applies in education, and then by two chapters that summarise the research related to major issues of controversy: the performativity agenda and the issue of quality. One chapter looks at the place of statistics in education. The next two chapters look at the evidence that can support or undermine many typical education beliefs, or myths and mirages. Finally, the last chapter brings it all together and looks into the future, pointing to some areas where future research is likely to be helpful, based on current knowledge.
Author(s): Norman Reid, Asma Amanat Ali
Series: Springer Texts in Education
Publisher: Springer International
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 496
City: Cham
Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Authors
1 Introduction
1.1 The Nature of Research
1.2 Educational Research
1.3 What is Research?
1.4 The Purpose of the Book
1.5 Educational Decision-Taking
1.6 Types of Educational Research
1.7 Two Problem Words: Theory and Hypothesis
References
2 How Do Students Learn?
2.1 Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909)
2.2 Jean Piaget (1896–1980)
2.3 Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (1896–1934)
2.4 Some Implications
2.5 David Ausubel (1918–2008)
2.6 Jerome Bruner (1915–2016)
2.7 Robert Gagné (1916–2002)
2.8 Bringing in All Together
2.9 Alex H. Johnstone (1930–2017)
2.10 More About Piaget and Vygotsky
2.11 More About Ausubel and Bruner
2.12 More About Robert Gagné
References
3 A World of Information
3.1 What is Information Overload?
3.2 Memory Components
3.3 From Psychology to Education
3.4 A Model of Information Flow
3.5 The Perception Filter
3.6 The Working Memory
3.7 The Long-Term Memory
3.8 Learning
3.9 Interim Summary
3.10 Sensory Memory (Perception Filter)
3.11 The Long Term Memory
3.12 Summary
References
4 Why Are Concepts Difficult?
4.1 Difficulties
4.2 Information Load and Difficulties
4.3 The Central Role of Working Memory
4.4 More About Working Memory
4.5 Reducing the Working Memory Limitations
4.6 Working Memory and Test Performance
4.7 A Summary
4.8 Chunking
4.9 Further Aspects of Working Memory
4.10 Components of the Working Memory
4.11 Special Needs
References
5 Learner Characteristics
5.1 Folk Lore and Evidence
5.2 Variations Within a Common Framework
5.3 Working Memory Capacity
5.4 The Convergency-Divergency Characteristics
5.5 Field Dependency
5.6 Visual-Spatial Skills
5.7 Convergency and Divergency
5.8 More About Field Dependency
5.9 The Visual-Spatial
5.10 Information Processing and Learner Characteristics
5.11 Towards a Summary
References
6 Models of the Curriculum
6.1 Why Education?
6.2 Developing Education
6.3 Developing Subject Curricula
6.4 The Learner at the Centre
6.5 Curriculum Design
6.6 Summary
6.7 The Applications-Led Curriculum
6.8 The Overall Curriculum Structure
6.9 More About Modes of Thinking
6.10 More About Bloom’s Taxonomy
6.11 Emotional Development
6.12 Developing Skills
6.13 Education and Economics
6.14 Curriculum Design
6.15 Attitudes and Skills
6.16 Assessment
6.17 Summary
References
7 School Subjects and the Curriculum
7.1 The Purpose of Education
7.2 School Subjects
7.3 The Concept of Literacy
7.4 Scientific Literacy
7.5 Computer Literacy
7.6 Summary
References
8 Assessment Principles
8.1 Determining Success for Our Learners
8.2 What is Educational Assessment
8.3 Assessment, Teaching and Learning
8.4 Nature of Assessment
8.5 Purposes of Assessment
8.6 Some Key Questions
8.7 Functions of Assessment
8.8 More on What to Assess
8.9 Assessment Literacy
8.10 Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains
8.11 Words of Warning
8.12 For Whom Do We Assess
8.13 Sources of Error in National Examinations
8.14 Assessment Jargon
8.15 Validity and Reliability
8.16 Criterion-Referenced and Norm-Referenced Assessment
8.17 Bringing It Together
References
9 Assessment Practicalities
9.1 Assessment Quality
9.2 Methods of Assessment
9.3 Objective Assessment Formats
9.4 A Summary: Multiple Choice and Partial Knowledge Multiple Choice
9.4.1 Advantages
9.4.2 Disadvantages
9.5 Some Practical Aspects
9.6 Structural Communication Grids
9.7 A Summary: Structural Communication Grids
9.7.1 Advantages
9.7.2 Disadvantages
9.8 Written Examinations: Question Formats
9.9 Assessing Skills
9.10 Duly Performed Assessment
9.11 Some Conclusions
9.12 Gathering Ideas to Generate Quality Questions
9.13 From Questions to Examination Papers
9.14 Constructing an Examination Paper
9.14.1 Step One
9.14.2 Step Two
9.14.3 Step Three
9.14.4 Overall
9.15 Analysing the Structure of the Paper
9.16 National Examinations
9.17 Getting the Marking Right
9.18 Examination Specifications
9.19 End Piece
References
10 Thinking Skills
10.1 Education for Life?
10.2 Types of Thinking
10.3 Thinking is Good Thing!
10.4 A Way Forward
10.5 Scientific Thinking
10.6 Systems Thinking
10.7 Creative Thinking
10.8 Critical Thinking
10.9 More About Critical Thinking
10.10 Assessing Critical Thinking
10.11 Findings from Assessment
References
11 Beliefs and Attitudes
11.1 History of Attitudes
11.2 The Concept of Attitudes
11.3 Attitudes are Everywhere
11.4 Attitudes: Knowledge, Feelings and Behaviour
11.5 Attitudes and Behaviour
11.6 Measuring Attitudes
11.7 From Attitudes Towards Motivation
11.8 Bringing It Together
11.9 More About Thurstone
11.10 More About the Work of Charles Osgood
11.11 Examples of the Semantic Differential
11.12 Comparing Approaches
11.13 Rating Questions
11.14 The Situational Set Question
11.15 Designing an Attitude Survey
11.16 Summary
References
12 The Development of Attitudes
12.1 Measuring Attitudes
12.2 Handling Survey Data
12.3 Handling Interview Data
12.4 Handling the Observation of Behaviour
12.5 What Research Studies Have Revealed
12.6 What Allows Attitudes to Develop?
12.7 Consistency and Inconsistency
12.8 Dissonance—The Key
12.9 Mental Interaction
12.10 The Importance of Attitudes
12.11 More About the Nature of Attitudes
12.12 More About Measurement Problems
12.13 More About Dissonance
12.14 More About Practical Ways Forward
References
13 Practical Teaching
13.1 Three Teaching Approaches
13.2 Lecturing—Teaching as Telling
13.3 Practical Work—Teaching as Doing
13.4 Goals for Laboratory Work
13.5 A Way Forward
13.6 Wider Practical Skills
13.7 Group Work—Teaching as Teamwork
13.8 Summary
References
14 Intelligence, Ability and Performance
14.1 History of Intelligence
14.2 Motives
14.3 The Work of Godfrey Thomson
14.4 The Evidence
14.5 High Stakes Testing
14.6 Some Conclusions
14.7 More from Alfred Binet
14.8 More from Robert Sternberg
14.9 More from Howard Gardner
14.10 More from Gordon Stobart
14.11 More About High Stakes Testing
14.12 Further Problems
14.13 The GERM Concept
14.14 The Road to Success?
References
15 Developing Quality Education
15.1 Quality in the Workplace
15.2 What Is Quality?
15.3 What Are We Measuring?
15.4 Why Measure Quality?
15.5 What Is Good Teaching?
15.6 Issues of Training
15.7 Development of Teachers
15.8 More About Teacher Evaluation
15.9 Focus on Students
15.10 Examples of World Approaches to Quality Assurance
15.11 The World Picture
15.12 Summary
References
16 Making Sense of Statistics
16.1 Statistical Literacy
16.2 Popularity and Difficulty
16.3 Spreadsheets
16.4 Meaning from Marks
16.5 The World of Probability
16.6 Further Uses of Statistics
16.7 The Way Ahead
16.8 Teaching Statistics
16.9 More About Statistical Relationships
16.10 Statistical Comparisons
16.11 More About Statistics
16.12 Standardisation of Marks
16.13 More About Questionnaires
16.14 Summary
References
17 Myths and Mirages
17.1 Educational Myths: A Growing Problem
17.2 The Concept of Constructivism
17.3 Student Centred Learning
17.4 Problem Solving
References
18 More Myths and Mirages
18.1 Learning Styles
18.2 New Technologies
18.3 Motivation
18.4 Use of Questionnaires
References
19 Educational Futures
19.1 Overview
19.2 Theme 1: Key Messages About Learning Processes
19.3 Towards a Research Agenda
19.4 Theme 2: Key Messages About Goals and Assessment
19.5 Towards a Research Agenda
19.6 Theme 3: Key Messages About Skills and Attitudes
19.7 Towards a Research Agenda
19.8 Theme 4: Key Messages About Educational Myths
19.9 Theme 5: Key Messages About Educational Research
19.10 Tomorrow’s Research
19.11 Endpiece
Reference
Appendix
References
Index
