professor jane mellanby university of oxford · 2018-07-18 · education and learning: an...
TRANSCRIPT
Whereresearchmeetstheclassroom:assessingevidenceforchangeinpractice
ProfessorJaneMellanbyUniversityofOxford
Tuesday6thMarch
Where research meets the classroom: assessing evidence for change in
practice
Education and Learning: An evidence-based approach
JaneMellanbyandKatyTheobaldWiley-Blackwell,2014
OxfordGroupforChildren’spotentialDepartmentofExperimentalPsychology,UniversityofOxford
Plan of talk
1. Historicalapproach2. Whatdowemeanbyevidence?3. Memory.Roleoflong-termandshort-term4. Spokenlanguageandreading5. Hiddenpotential?
1.History.• Isthereanythingnew?
IdeaofanationalcurriculumTransferableskillsvknowledgeHowtolearntoreadImportanceofexerciseTeacher-centredvpupil-centred
Different views on role of education
• Reproductionofculture(History,structure,valuesofsociety;culturalachievements).Individualidentity• Transmissionofskills• Provisionofasuitablyqualifiedworkforce
Why look at past Educational systems ?
• AretherecommonfactorsWhatwastaught?Pedagogy:memorialvdocumentaryWhowastaught?
• Generalapplicability?
Plato 427-347 BC
Socrates 470-399BC
Process v content
• AncientGreece.Pre5thcenturyBC.Culture=process 4thcenturyAthens:Philosophersandself-
consciousnessofProcessPLUStransmissionofculture.Making‘leadersofmen’.Harmonyofmindandbody(poetry,music,gymnastics).
Theideaofastandard,anidealpersonandanidealcommunity
Curriculum
AncientGreece.• Age7+:orderlybehaviour,(moralvaluesearlier,athome)reading,writing,playingthelyre,poemsandmusicbyheartandnotetheirmoralinstruction,gymnastics• Teen-age:Trivium–Grammar,rhetoric,dialectic• LateraddedQuadrivium–Arithmetic,geometry,Music,Astronomy• Hencethe7LiberalArts
Curriculum: Medieval England
• MonasticschoolsinmedievalEngland(untildissolution,1541).• ReadingviaLatin(phonics;JohnofSalisbury,1115-1180),PhilosophyandTheologyviarotelearning,vocabularyfromcontext
Curriculum: Germany
• JohnAmosComenius(1592-1670):• Age6-7.3Rsplushistory,geography,morality,thevernacular.• Age12-17Developunderstandingandjudgement.4languages,science,arts,philosophy,maths,dialectic,rhetoric
‘New’ Primary School Curriculum
• Facts• Grammar• Skills:3Rs• Early‘diagnostic’phonicstesting• Teacherstodecidehowtodeliverthefacts
Ancient Chinese curriculum (589-1903)
• Toreplacearistocracywithmeritocracy• Toproduce‘rulebycivilizedbureaucrats• Emphasisonlanguage• FourBooksandFiveClassics.Learntbyrote• Widerangeofclassicalliterature• Composepoemsinstyleofclassics• (Mathematicsofratherlowimportance)
Pedagogy
• AncientGreece:Platonicdialogue(fromSocrates).Questionandanswerwillleadtounderstanding.Pulip+teacher• MedievalEngland:(Monasticschools)Memorialvdocumentaryculture(rotelearning)
VocabularyfromcontextLearningtoread(inLatin):Syntheticphonics–fromletters,tosyllables,towords,tomeaning.JohnofSalisbury,(1115-1180)• PostReformation.Grammarschools.Grammar(LatinandlaterGreek)muchrotelearning,Rhetoric
Rhetoric
1. Collectandorganizerelevantinformation2. Constructanargument3. Decideonstyleofdelivery4. Commitspeechtomemory5. Delivertorelevantaudience
Can we learn from educational systems of the past ? Common factors ?
• Learningbyrotefollowedbyunderstanding• Emphasisonlanguageanditsstructure(Grammar)• Widevocabulary• AccesstoHistory,Politics,Philosophy,Literature• Abilitytore-shapethisinformation• Presentingareasonedargument• Writingpoetry• Importanceofphysicalexercise
Effects of Exercise
“Ifwehaven'tenoughtodo-oo-oo,Wegetthehump—Cameelioushump—Thehumpthatisblackandblue!““Thecureforthisillisnottositstill,Orfrowstwithabookbythefire;Buttotakealargehoeandashovelalso,Anddigtillyougentlyperspire;”Releaseofendorphins
Evidence in Education
• FromResearchtopractice?The‘sowhat?’question• Mediamyths• Neuromyths
frombrainfunction(ratsandhumanimaging)totheclassroom? Brainfunctionandcognition–yes EducationandCognition–yes Educationandbrainfunction–abridgetoofar?
How to examine evidence for what works
• Example:Exerciseimproveslearninginchildren.• Populationstudiese.g.physicallyfitvunfitchildren.
OR• Interventionstudy.Baselinemeasuresfollowedbycomparinginterventiongroupwithnointervention
AND/OR• Longitudinalstudy
What to look out for
• Sizeofsample• Representativeornot• Statisticalsignificanceof‘effect’.Cutoffp=0.05(i.e.only5%chancecouldhaveoccurredbychance).• Inlargesamples,askwhetherasigeffectMATTERS• Matchingofgroups:
gender,age,previouseducation,spokenlanguagelevel,SES,EALornot,…….• Evenwithinterventioncannotprovedirectionofcausality
How would you do a RCT ? Randomized controlled trial: The ‘gold standard’
• Bigsample• Randomlyallocatetointerventionornot• HaveaTLCcontrolgroupaswellas‘waitinglist’• Measureoutcomee.g.memory• Compare3groupsonallmeasures• Hopetheymatchonallirrelevantmeasures(orstatisticallyaccountfordifferences)
Many problems with ‘scientific’ approach in education research • Needtohavecontrols(passiveandalsoTLCcontrols)• BUTcanyoudodifferentthingswithdifferentclassesinthesameschool?Ethics?• Needlotsofschoolstoget‘nested’design• OurstudyofteachingLatin• Longitudinalstudiesbesetbyproblemswithturnoverofchildrenandteachers
Exercise example 1. Population study (Chaddock et al, 2010)
• Childrenaged9-10years.• 42selectedtobehighorlowfitonbasisofVO2max• MatchedonIQ,ADHDrating.SEShigherinfitgroup• 9%higher‘relationalmemory’infitgroup• Couldrelatetoincreasedhippocampalfunction
Exercise example 2: Intervention study (Chaddock-Heyman et al, 2013)
• Childrenaged8-9years• Selection:32(only24included)• 14withexerciseintervention.• Exercise:1hr/day,5days/weekfor9months.• Control:noextraexercise• Matchedfor:SES,VO2max,BMI,IQ,age(moremalesincontrolgroup)• Changes,pre-topost:VO2max,cognitivecontrolimprovedINBOTHGROUPS,fMRIshowedchangeinactivityinfrontalcortexinintervention
The role of memory in education
Role of memory in Education
• Nopointinteachingifforgotten• Long-termmemory:foracquisitionofskillsandknowledge• Workingmemory:forproblem-solving• Workingmemoryneedsinteractionwithlong-termmemoryforsuccessfulproblem-solving
Classification of learning and long-term memory Non-declarative:Non-associativelearning(e.g.habituation)Classicalconditioning,operantconditioningSkillsandhabitsPrimingCategorizationDeclarative:SemanticEpisodicWhatrelevancetoeducation?
What is knowledge ?
1. Implicit/proceduralknowledge=skill2. Explicit/declarative:
a.Semanticinformation:facts,vocabulary,structures/categories
b.Episodicinformation autobiographical:what,where,when
Acquiring knowledge
Rotelearning‘Surfacelearningapproach’MuchrepetitionneededNotnecessarilybad!BecomesautomaticCanbeusedcreatively
Frameworks(schemata)forcomplexknowledgeNewknowledgeneedstobebuiltintoexistingframeworksThisis‘deeplearningapproach’Teachers’roleinhelpingstudenttoconstructinitialframeworks
Acquisition of skills (implicit, non-declarative, automatic)
1. Declarative2. Knowledgecompilationstage;transitionfromdeclarativeto
procedural.Practicepracticepractice3. Proceduralstage;furthertuningandspeedingup:BECOMES
AUTOMATIC.Morepractice4. Canbeusedwithoutputtingloadonworkingmemorycapacity
Schema-dependent learning (Van Kesteren et al, 2014) • StudentsofBiology((n=19)orEducation(n=12)• Learnsentenceswithfactualcontentineithereducationorbiology• Day1:20biologyand20educationquestionsforpre-test• Learned200sentencesinthescanner,halfbiology,halfeducation• Day2.Answered200retrievalquestions
Schema-dependent learning
Results• Congruencyeffect:Schema-related–50.4%correct;unrelated–34.2%correct(andnotdifferentfromchance)• mPFCmoreinvolvedincongruentencoding;hippocampalregion,moreinnon-congruent.• Schema-relatedmPFCeffectrelatedtoperformanceinexamslater
Short-term(STM)/working memory(WM)
• Definition• WMinvolvedinproblem-solvingandinacquiringmuchnewknowledge• WMrelatedtofluidintelligence(g)(butisnotidentical)• STMandWMhaveLIMITEDCAPACITY• Capacityincreasesduringdevelopment
What affects WM ?
• Stress.Stateanxiety:emotionality+worry.Mathsanxiety.• Concurrenttasksinthesamedomain• Distractions• Tiredness
Working memory and education
• Involvedinmostofcurriculum:e.g.understandingwrittenandspokenlanguage,foreignlanguagetranslation,mathsandscience.• NeedtoprotectWMfrominterferenceintheclassroom(andexamroom)• Canitbeimproved?• IdentifychildrenwithpoorWMandshowthemhowtocompensate• NB.Acquisitionofautomatic/implicitmemorylessaffectedby‘stress’
Teaching implications re WM
• Reducestressinclassrocmandexams• BUTautomaticmemorynotaffectedbystress(henceroleforrotelearning)• Reducedistractions.Noisyclassrooms(lotsofchat)willnotfavourlearningandproblem-solving• Giveinstructionsinsmallbites.Putthemuponboardforinspectionthroughoutthelesson.(Youneedaplainboardaswellasaninteractivewhiteboard)• WM.Iftimeandmoneyavailable,perhapstryKlingbergetctrainingprogrammes
Importance of oral language
Oral Language and Reading
• Interactionbetweenspokenlanguageandreading• Roleofphonologicalawareness• Effectofearlyenvironmentaldeprivationinlanguageacquisition
Implicitacquisitioninearlyyears.EXPOSUREneededUseexplicitteachinginolderchildren
Acquisition of Complex language
• Specificallytheconditionale.g.‘Ifyouhadnotforgottenyourhomework,youwouldnot
havegotadetention’or‘IfHitlerhadnotinvadedPoland,wouldthesecondworldwarhavehappened?’(TypeIII).‘IfIhadthemoney,Iwouldbuyacar’(TypeII)• Relatedinyrs4-6tounderstandingscientificconcepts• Earlyacquisition(year2)relatedtolaterreading(years4-6)andarithmetic• Notallchildrenhaveacquiredcomprehensionofitbyyear9.• Worthtestingcomprehensioninyear7
Hidden potential ?
Regional differences in AAAs at A-level
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Notheast NorthWest yorkshum EMids WMids Eastern GLondon SEast SWest Wales
AAAandapplicantspermillionpopulation
UCASAAA Applicants
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
High Medum Low
%ofcandidatesreceiving3A*or3AsatA-levelrelatedtoareadeprivationlevels
3A*%
Identifying hidden talent
• ‘Fluidintelligence’=reasoningability• Spatialandverbaldomainspartiallyseparable• Highspatialforspatialjobse.g.architect,carpenter,bricklayer,surgeon• Highverbalrelatedtousualacademicoutcomese.g.readingandwriting,GCSEs,Alevels,• IdentifythoseperformingacademicallybelowverbalreasoningpotentialANDthosewhoarerelativelygoodspatially
Verbal Vesparch
Verbal Vesparch - category
Spatial Vesparch - analogy
Spatial Vesparch - category
Underachievement relative to potential
• Identify6-12%ofstudentsinsecondaryschool(dependingonschoolandoncriterionforcut-off)• Problemsidentified:
Phonologicalawareness(hencepoorreadinglevel)Short-termmemoryComplexgrammarBehavioural?
So what ?
• Identificationfirst• Follow-upfor‘diagnosis’ofproblems• Reading‘remediation’–tryanothermethod• TeacherandstudentwaystoovercomeSTMproblem• Teachcomplexgrammar• Tellthestudent?orparents?
Conclusions
• Wecanlearnfrompasteducationalsystems• Neuromyths,educationalmythsandedictsonchangingpracticeneedcarefulexamination.ASKFOREVIDENCE• Aroleforrotelearning• Understandinglong-termandWMroleintheclassroomshouldinformourteachingpractice• Complexlanguageneedstobetaughtforthosewhohavenotacquiredit• AidsforthosewithpoorSTM• Identifyandattemptremediationforthosewhounderachieverelativetopotential
Exercise example 1. Population study (Chaddock et al, 2010)
• Childrenaged9-10years.• 42selectedtobehighorlowfitonbasisofVO2max• MatchedonIQ,ADHDrating.SEShigherinfitgroup• 9%higher‘relationalmemory’infitgroup• Couldrelatetoincreasedhippocampalfunction
Exercise example 2: Intervention study (Chaddock-Heyman et al, 2013)
• Childrenaged8-9years• Selection:32(only24included)• 14withexerciseintervention.• Exercise:1hr/day,5days/weekfor9months.• Control:noextraexercise• Matchedfor:SES,VO2max,BMI,IQ,age(moremalesincontrolgroup)• Changes,pre-topost:VO2max,cognitivecontrolimprovedINBOTHGROUPS,fMRIshowedchangeinactivityinfrontalcortexinintervention
Schema-dependent learning (Van Kesteren et al, 2014) • StudentsofBiology((n=19)orEducation(n=12)• Learnsentenceswithfactualcontentineithereducationorbiology• Day1:20biologyand20educationquestionsforpre-test• Learned200sentencesinthescanner,halfbiology,halfeducation• Day2.Answered200retrievalquestions
Schema-dependent learning
Results• Congruencyeffect:Schema-related–50.4%correct;unrelated–34.2%correct(andnotdifferentfromchance)• mPFCmoreinvolvedincongruentencoding;hippocampalregion,moreinnon-congruent.• Schema-relatedmPFCeffectrelatedtoperformanceinexamslater
