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Guesses and Hype Give Way to Data in Study of Education

2 points by tokenadult 13y ago

tokenadult 13y ago
It's good to see some of the first findings out from new, more research-based studies of primary and secondary education in the United States. "The findings could be transformative, researchers say. For example, one conclusion from the new research is that the choice of instructional materials — textbooks, curriculum guides, homework, quizzes — can affect achievement as profoundly as teachers themselves; a poor choice of materials is at least as bad as a terrible teacher, and a good choice can help offset a bad teacher’s deficiencies." The idea that instructional materials are important is intuitive to a lot of homeschooling families who homeschool so that their children can receive more academic challenge. (I know a large support network of such families here in Minnesota, and have online interaction with a national network of such families, who met one another through the Young Scholars program[1] of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.) Certainly, our oldest son far exceeds in mathematics achievement what either of his two parents can provide in mathematics teaching, but we used good programs as homeschooling parents to start him out in his mathematics instruction. We begin with Miquon Math[2], then transition to the Singapore Primary Mathematics series[3], then to a mixture of EPGY online mathematics[4], ALEKS[5], Khan Academy[6], the Art of Problem Solving[7], and other programs. There is probably a lot of "ceiling" above what is currently achieved by instruction in United States K-12 schools that could be more closely approached if only United States schools used better instructional materials. [1] http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/ http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/ [2] http://miquonmath.com/ http://miquonmath.com/ [3] http://www.singaporemath.com/Primary_Mathematics_Stds_Ed_s/134.htm http://www.singaporemath.com/Primary_Mathematics_Stds_Ed_s/1... [4] http://ecae.net/epgy/ http://ecae.net/epgy/ [5] http://www.aleks.com/ http://www.aleks.com/ [6] https://www.khanacademy.org/ https://www.khanacademy.org/ [7] http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/index.php http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/index.php?

2 points by tokenadult 13y ago

It's good to see some of the first findings out from new, more research-based studies of primary and secondary education in the United States. "The findings could be transformative, researchers say. For example, one conclusion from the new research is that the choice of instructional materials — textbooks, curriculum guides, homework, quizzes — can affect achievement as profoundly as teachers themselves; a poor choice of materials is at least as bad as a terrible teacher, and a good choice can help offset a bad teacher’s deficiencies." The idea that instructional materials are important is intuitive to a lot of homeschooling families who homeschool so that their children can receive more academic challenge. (I know a large support network of such families here in Minnesota, and have online interaction with a national network of such families, who met one another through the Young Scholars program[1] of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.) Certainly, our oldest son far exceeds in mathematics achievement what either of his two parents can provide in mathematics teaching, but we used good programs as homeschooling parents to start him out in his mathematics instruction. We begin with Miquon Math[2], then transition to the Singapore Primary Mathematics series[3], then to a mixture of EPGY online mathematics[4], ALEKS[5], Khan Academy[6], the Art of Problem Solving[7], and other programs. There is probably a lot of "ceiling" above what is currently achieved by instruction in United States K-12 schools that could be more closely approached if only United States schools used better instructional materials. [1] http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/ http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/ [2] http://miquonmath.com/ http://miquonmath.com/ [3] http://www.singaporemath.com/Primary_Mathematics_Stds_Ed_s/134.htm http://www.singaporemath.com/Primary_Mathematics_Stds_Ed_s/1... [4] http://ecae.net/epgy/ http://ecae.net/epgy/ [5] http://www.aleks.com/ http://www.aleks.com/ [6] https://www.khanacademy.org/ https://www.khanacademy.org/ [7] http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/index.php http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/index.php?