I’m a Trad… but I wish it was called something else

Education Endowment Foundation discovers small placebo effect (but not for maths)

Greg Ashman takes an Extreme Close-Up look at EEF’s report on “dialogic” teaching and its implications.

Filling the pail

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) have released a report into a three-year randomised controlled trial. Schools were allocated to a control or intervention group and the intervention teachers were provided with the a mentor, time off timetable for training, a number of books to read (I’m sure the authors were pleased about this) and, crucially, a video camera and microphone to record and then review their lessons. The control group received none of these things and carried on as usual.

The result showed that, on a standardised assessment, the intervention group slightly outperformed the control in English (mean of 13.76 vs 13.16, p=0.05, d=0.15) and science (mean of 26.67 vs 26.29, p=0.04, d=0.12) but not in maths where the result was not statistically significant. Note that the English and Science effect sizes were very small.

The most likely explanation for these results is an expectation effect such as the placebo…

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The beautiful simplicity of saying what you believe to be true

Source: The beautiful simplicity of saying what you believe to be true

Confessions of a 21st Century Math Teacher

An honest and critical look at math education from the inside, from the author of “Letters from John Dewey/Letters from Huck Finn” For anyone concerned with what Common Core is bringing about in the name of 21st century math education, STEM education, and “21st century skills, this book is a must-read.

“I am not an outright proponent of the philosophy that ‘If you want something done right, you have to live in the past’, but when it comes to how to teach math there are worse philosophies to embrace,” Barry Garelick explains as he continues from where he left off in his last book (“Letters from John Dewey/Letters from Huck Finn”). He describes his experiences as a long-term substitute teacher at a high school and middle school. He teaches math as he best knows how while schools throughout California make the transition to the Common Core standards. It is the 50th anniversary of key historical events including the JFK assassination and the Beatles’ arrival in the U.S. It is also the 50th anniversary of his first algebra course, the technical and personal memories of which he uses to guide him through the 21st century educational belief system that is infused with Common Core and which surrounds him.

Order it here