Research+blogs

=Research blogs=

13 Oct 14

Research-informed practitioners


I am reliably informed that the ASE leadership wish to develop its members to be research-informed practitioners. As you can imagine, this piece is not about to demolish that view! Indeed, The ASE Guide to Research in Science Education, published only two years ago, might be a good place to start. I would argue that research-informed is a term that does not sit well with me. It sits well with a system that is top-down, where the practitioners (teachers) are expected to be informed about research by experts (researchers) who are imagined to know everything. It is quite different in nursing where the aim is to have research-engaged practitioners and where methods are employed, such as journal clubs, to promote higher order thinking. I have attached three papers from NFER that you may find interesting. One is about celebrating what is good about science education in the UK. The others are concerned with how teachers they surveyed viewed research. So, why are aiming for research-informed, and not research-engaged, or active practitioner researcher? Are we setting sights low on the basis of past experience? Have we insufficient faith in the intellectual capacity of teachers to engage with research or to carry out worthwhile research? ASE could be an Association of lively practitioners sharing their research (yes, quite a few teachers do research into science education) and generating new and progressive theories about high quality science education. I have recently been elected to The Board of the International Organisation for Science and Technology Education (IOSTE) as the representative for NW Europe. For those who do not know, I am still the BERA SIG Science Convenor, despite sometimes being unable to attend the BERA Conference! In IOSTE I am planning a collaborative learning symposium, probably next May in Reading, over two days. More details to come but its format is intended to promote engagement, so no sitting listening to many presentations with 3/4 questions at the end of each one. The format will require authors to present a full paper no less than two weeks in advance on the web site, for delegates to read. The sessions will consist of a short video by the author(s) to remind delegates of the content and give 2/3 suggestions for discussion in relatively small groups. Each group will have a Chair and a Recorder to capture the discussion. The Records will also be placed on the web site, so no interminable feedback sessions! The meeting is intended to be highly interactive. Follow up will be via blogs allocated for each paper for a couple of months. I am planning a hotel venue, starting on Fri evening, and continuing Sat and Sunday morning, and ending with a celebratory lunch on Sunday. Single day attendance will be discouraged but the timing should encourage all practitioners to attend. If we attract many papers, we will have grouped discussion sessions. Publication will be at least on the IOSTE web site, but we could look at a special issue of a journal, too. I am expecting teachers to present papers too, and already have a couple of offers. I hope ASE will wish to be associated with this venture. All it will cost them is help with advertising! It is something for the Research Specialist Group, at least, to consider, and we may well produce some material for PS and SSR, as well as STE.

//**29 Oct 14**//

What is the role of ASE? Is it to have every member engaged with research?
I start this email by reflecting on the weekend I have just spent at a Scientix Conference in Brussels, and the forthcoming RSC General Assembly in Manchester, where I shall be representing The Thames Valley Section. They could not be different. The Scientix Conference had 700 teachers attending from across Europe, completely funded by the European Commission. There was a smorgasbord of Keynotes, brief introductions to an exhibition of European Projects, over 70 short presentations, a fascinating set of posters, and a few roundtables, smoothly organised by the strong Scientix team. Social occasions, including substantial breaks, a Reception, and a super dinner, provided time for collaborative learning. Interestingly, most of the content was physics or engineering-based with a significant minority of life sciences. The teachers were from all sciences, maths and geography, with a smattering of ICT. Only a few attendees were from the UK but eastern Europeans abounded. We had a senior Shell speaker, who cajoled us to link teachers with industry. I asked the only question, what could industrialists learn from teachers, which surprisingly rather floored him. A US astronaut, Amber, regaled us at length with anecdotes of her life story, and of her importance. For me, it was a great conference, and a chance to hear stories from teachers from a wide range of backgrounds, but largely High Schools in a variety of countries. The RSC meeting will be full of professional chemists, with strong talks about how chemists are making invaluable contributions to the world, and some carefully managed 'discussion sessions' on topics related to RSC themes. The dinner will be spectacular and the setting for lots of Awards to be presented by the President. I hope to find space to be able to network to the advantage of my Section activity outside the South East Region. These are the kind of meetings I attend these days to gain some kind of professional development, some of which I feed back into bodies such as the ASE. Does ASE give that kind of input? These days, my interactions with ASE are largely in contributing sessions for members, not least because there is no obvious route for any other kind of activity. The last RSIG meeting was partly devoted to ideas about where RSIG could add to ASE. We were still a little in the dark about how ASE sees its future, and how it might practically move forward. The issue of research engagement for all members was one we grappled with. I intend to spend some time at the Reading Conference finding out what the selective attendees want from the ASE. Some of this will be by direct conversation, and some by just listening in various places. I will provide a briefing to RSIG members on my discoveries, of course. Inevitably, it can not include those who do not attend, the majority of members. What do we do if most members tell us that they want to have specific ideas on teaching, and that action research (or even practitioner research) is anathema to them? What do we do if the editors of SSR, PS and STE are not amenable to more research articles, of any kind? What do we do if the ASE leadership proves to be more interested in non-research input? Trying to sell meat to vegetarians is not a good way to make a living! I do hope to spend more time with 'ordinary' delegates than with 'stalwarts'. At least I may get an anecdotal flavour of the interests of those attending. It may also guide the future thinking of RSIG.


 * //31 Oct 14//**

Effective teaching


The Sutton Trust published the attached article about teaching which was reported today. I have attached it so you can see the real thing. The Daily Mail headlines: 'Why trendy teaching is inefficient and harmful: Report says popular classroom techniques are not supported by research' The Guardian gives: 'Education study finds in favour of traditional teaching styles' The independent: 'Teachers warned that praise can make pupils complacent. Mostly, the media used the article as a support for their traditional stances. Read more: @http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2815147/Why-trendy-teaching-inefficient-harmful-Report-says-popular-classroom-techniques-not-supported-research.html. Trade Unions (NUT. NASUWT, ATL) took the line that teachers had to be left to be professional while a Principal's Union mentioned that Headteachers had always supported evidence-based leadership. BBC comments are paralleled by those in the press, composed largely of cynics and curmudgeons, deniers and disbelievers. Some are clearly teachers, but it is not obvious what many do. There are accusations that there are left-wing education conspiracies, (but not many right wing conspiracies) with accusations of destruction of education or of not educating for the real world liberally sprayed everywhere. Comments are made by a self-selecting group, so we should be very cautious about over-interpreting! Nevertheless, the paper is much more complex than either the sub-editors or journalists admit. We must be ever so careful to take newspaper reports (and even the BBC) at face value and it is better to go to the source. Thoughtful and reflective pieces are often much better than rushed ones. The second attachment refers to learning styles and the various myths that have grown up. This includes brain gym! Some fads are thoroughly virus like, sometimes taking over from intelligence!