Evidence-based teaching: a simple view of “science”

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the insistent claims by advocates of evidence-based teaching that it is a rigorous scientific approach. The paper questions the view that randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses are the only truly scientific methods in educational research. It suggests these claims are often based on a rhetorical appeal which relies on too simple a notion of “science”. Exploring the tacit assumptions behind “evidence-based teaching”, the paper identifies an empiricist and reductionist philosophy of science, and a failure to recognise the complexity of education and pedagogy. Following a discussion of large-scale syntheses of evidence (Hattie’s Visible Learning; the Education Endowment Foundation’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit), it examines in detail one strand of the latter concerning sports participation, which is used to illustrate flaws in procedures and the failure to take seriously the need for causal explanations.     

The effect of foil on paddling efficiency in a short surfboard

Surfboard volume and shape affect human performance while riding waves, but little is known regarding the impact of these variables on paddling, where surfers spend a majority of their time. The purpose of this study was to determine whether changing the foil (fore/aft thickness profile) of a short surfboard will alter paddling mechanics and efficiency if surfers are allowed to self-select their prone position. Twenty recreational surfers paddled three different surfboards in a freshwater swim flume while measurements of drag force, board motion, body position, heart rate, and oxygen use were acquired. All boards shared the same volume (31 L) and gross dimensions (172.7 cm long × 50.8 cm wide × 6 cm thick), but the geometric center was placed in a different location along the fore/aft axis of each board. Surfers were blinded to the volume and shape of each board. Results indicated that surfers positioned their center of mass further forward in response to a more nose-heavy board and further aft in response to a more tail-heavy board (22.04 ± 6.34 mm difference in position between boards, p = 0.008). This self-selected positioning yielded no statistical difference in drag force, board angle and accelerations, heart rate, or oxygen use across the three boards. These data suggest that when surfboard volume and gross dimensions are fixed, foil has little effect on the efficiency of paddling a short surfboard in recreational athletes.     

在线学习中活动感知对社会性技能、社群归属感和学习满意度的影响

本研究目的在于探讨增强性的活动感知与网上学习的社会性互动本质之间的关系及其相互影响。作为一个基于设计的研究项目,我们已建立了对网路学习之社会性因素的深入了解,且开发了一个背景感知活动通知系统以支持活动感知,用于提升学习者网上学习的社会性技能。本研究通过问卷调查的方法收集资料,主要针对六门使用活动感知支持系统的网上学习课程,学生对其自身网上学习经验的认知。研究结果显示,学生获取活动讯息的途径、他们对活动讯息有效性的认知,对他们网上学习的社会性技能、社群归属感、以及学习满意度有正向的影响。此外,学生的网上社会性技能的组成要素也以不同的方式影响着他们的网上社群归属感和学习满意度,例如,学生对同伴与教师存在的感知以及分享个人资料的舒适度,影响着他们对社群归属感的认知;学生对教师存在的认识和社群归属感,也影响他们的学习满意度。     

Beating the Odds: Exploring the 90/90/90 Phenomenon

This article presents a case study of one high performing high poverty campus serving students of color in South Central Texas. The researchers utilized the criteria for 90/90/90 schools established by Douglas Reeves (2004 Reeves, D. 2004. Accountability in action: A blueprint for learning organizations, Englewood, CA: Advanced Learning Press.  [Google Scholar]). In order to meet these criteria, schools had to have the following characteristics: 90% or more of the student body had to be non-Anglo, 90% or more of the students had to qualify for free or reduced lunch, and achievement testing was mastered at rates of 90% or greater. Researchers conducted an initial examination of every public school within a 16,631 square mile area utilizing these criteria. The results yielded 15 schools that met this standard at least once between the years 2006–2010. Only one school met the criteria in each of these years. Panel interviews, focus groups, site visits, and individual follow up interviews were conducted to glean information on the characteristics of this high performing campus, the results of which are presented herein.     

Maturity-associated variation in sport-specific skills of youth soccer players aged 13 – 15 years

The aim of this study was to estimate the contribution of experience, body size and maturity status to variation in sport-specific skills of adolescent soccer players. The participants were 69 players aged 13.2?–?15.1 years from three clubs that competed in the highest division for their age group. Height and body mass were measured and stage of pubic hair development was assessed at clinical examination. Years of experience in football was obtained at interview. Six football skill tests were administered: ball control with the body, ball control with the head, dribbling with a pass, dribbling speed, shooting accuracy and passing accuracy. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to estimate the relative contributions of age, stage of sexual maturity, height, body mass and years of formal training in soccer to the six skill tests. Age, experience, body size and stage of puberty contributed significantly but in different combinations to the variance in four of the six skill tests: dribbling with a pass (21%; age, stage of maturity), ball control with the head (14%; stage of maturity, height, body height × body mass interaction), ball control with the body (13%; stage of maturity, years of training) and shooting accuracy (8%; stage of maturity, height; borderline significance, P?=?0.06). There were no significant predictors for the tests of dribbling speed and passing accuracy. In conclusion, age, experience, body size and stage of puberty contributed relatively little to variation in performance in four of the six soccer-specific skill tests in adolescent footballers aged 13?–?15 years.     

Improving engagement: the use of ‘Authentic self-and peer-assessment for learning’ to enhance the student learning experience

Innovative assessment practices have the potential to shift the way universities function. By focusing on well-designed assessment tasks, where students are expected to work collegially and are actively involved in self- and peer-assessment, the opportunity to engage students in the assessment process is realised. This article contends that students are significantly and detrimentally disengaged from the assessment process as a result of traditional assessments that do not address key issues of learning. Notable issues that arose from observations and questioning of students indicated that vast proportions of students were not proofreading their own work were not collaborating on tasks; had not been involved in the development of assessment tasks; and that students had insufficient skills in relation to their ability to evaluate their own efforts. These facts led the author to conceptualise new models of assessment focusing on authentic learning and the authentic assessment of that learning through self- and peer-assessment. Authentic assessment for sustainable learning (AASL) and Authentic self-and peer-assessment for learning (ASPAL) were trialled with approximately 300 undergraduate education students at the University of Notre Dame Australia. This article explains the conceptual development of the models and provides justification for their implementation.