How do attitudes and beliefs about assessment affect teaching and learning in your school? This document is intended to help school and district leaders understand these dynamics. While it is not designed for use as a step-by-step toolkit to support evaluation, this document does provide a foundation for leaders to learn more about their school or…

Educational practice does not, for the most part, rely on research findings. Instead, there's a preference for relying on our intuitions about what's best for learning. But relying on intuition may be a bad idea for teachers and learners alike. This accessible guide helps teachers to integrate effective, research-backed strategies for learning…

Evidence suggests the use of 'metacognitive strategies' -- which get pupils to think about their own learning -- can be worth the equivalent of an additional +7 months' progress when used well. However, while the potential impact of these approaches is very high, particularly for disadvantaged pupils, less is known about how to apply them…

This guidance report focuses on the teaching of mathematics to pupils in Key Stages 2 and 3. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive guide to mathematics teaching. We have made recommendations where there are research findings that schools can use to make a significant difference to pupils' learning, and have focused on the questions that…

This article reports on how elementary school teachers teach strategies to help pupils learn and remember. Tips for using the research findings in the classroom are offered. (MT)

When a student asks a question, he invites learning and teaching. This article analyzes student questions and then uses that analysis to propose a pedagogical plan for responding to questions. (MT)

This book addresses an important and seldom addressed issue: learning. Not teaching, not performance, not "work": this book really is about learning, what makes learning effective and how it may be promoted in classrooms. The authors take the context of the classroom seriously, not only because of its effects on teachers and pupils, but because…

Defines a nonsimulation game as a game dealing with a mathematical or scientific topic which is superior to the typical simulation in that it provides an optimal mix of competition and cooperation. Describes two variations of Allen's 1969 Equations nonsimulation game, which may be used to teach various statistical concepts. (JDH)

States that the teaching of logit regression analysis is much neglected in statistics courses within sociology. Claims that logit regression allows the researcher to evaluate the impact of a set of predictor variables on a dichotomous dependent variable without the problems associated with discriminant analysis, weighted least squares regression,…

Shows how an introductory social science statistics course can improve the treatment of regression assumptions, the problem of outliers, and the important idea that some outliers have greater influence than others through the use of Anscombe's now classic 1973 example and Cook's (1977; 1979) extension of the idea of influence. (JDH)

Transfer of learning from drills to real games is a complex process, depending on similarities between the components of stimulus and response. Designing drills to more closely reflect game skills and differentiating scoring during games to reward the use of new skills can improve playing performance. (MT)

Notes the drawbacks of the artificial separation of content and method in most undergraduate, sociology department, course offerings. Reports on the development and operation of a local research center as a means of melding content and method. (JDH)

Describes how the lost letter technique, a research ploy involving leaving stamped, addressed letters in public locations and seeing if people will mail them, may be used to introduce students to experimental method in sociological research. Students manipulated letter location, size, and address in order to judge different effects such variations…

Examines research on the principal ways people learn the location of places. Considers the traditional methods of teaching place location geography. Proposes alternative teaching methods which reflect the research findings. States that these alternative methods utilize mental and physical involvement in the process, purposeful exploration,…

It is argued in this book that postsecondary instructors have to improve their performance in the classroom not only by achieving a better understanding of how teachers teach, but also of how learners learn. Most postsecondary teachers are well trained in their disciplines, but few have received formal training in how to teach or have acquired an…