 |
|
Learning how to learn for exam success
August 16, 2007It may be the height of the holiday season, but about a million people are about to get life-altering news. On Thursday, 300,000 school and college students will receive their A level results. A week later, another 700,000 will find out how they did in their GCSEs.
And it is not just the students who have a lot riding on these high-stakes exams. For the schools they have attended and the teachers who work in them, poor results can mean bad headlines and professional damage.
But we are now finding out about the factors that make some schools more successful than others. New research carried out by the Economic and Social Research Council's Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP), and being sent to all schools in the UK at the start of next term, will help schools turn into places where students can become independent learners instead of being taught to pass tests and keep exam scores high.
Professor Mary James, deputy director of TLRP and an expert in school examinations and assessment, said: "The government says it wants to put less focus on targets when it assesses how well public services are doing. The work we have done shows that this new emphasis is the right one. A school where everything depends on paper results and performance does not develop children as learners. And teachers who are forced to work in this way cannot become more effective and responsible."
Professor James had led a TLRP project on Learning How to Learn. It worked with 40 schools to see how pupil assessment can help people become more effective learners instead of being a barrier to success.
She says: "Our research showed that many teachers want to help pupils develop their own learning skills. There are big differences in how successfully different teachers manage to develop learners. But teachers who have proper professional development and support can help children to take responsibility for their own learning. These pupils can think about what they are learning and how, and, improving their own learning."
The project is one of 22 described in the new TLRP booklet and DVD, Principles into Practice. All are aimed at improving learning in schools.
Further examples include:
* How can small children gain more from information technology" It turns out that giving them your old mobile might be more use than buying them a computer.
* Children at school usually work on their own or in the whole class. TLRP research has shown that properly-run work in smaller groups can help learning.
* Changing schools can disturb children. But a structured exchange of knowledge between school and home, involving conversations, objects and pictures, can make it much easier and less disruptive.
* What do children really need to know about science" TLRP found out the key facts about modern science and developed successful teaching modules to get them across.
* Pupils have good ideas about their learning. But few schools have systems in place to make the most of their knowledge. TLRP showed how their achievement can be increased by better ways of listening to what they have to say.
Professor James said: "We have now carried out the UK's biggest programme of research into improving schools education. Everything we are saying in Principles into Practice is based on solid evidence."
Economic & Social Research Council
Professor Mary James, deputy director of TLRP and an expert in school examinations and assessment, said: "The government says it wants to put less focus on targets when it assesses how well public services are doing. The work we have done shows that this new emphasis is the right one. A school where everything depends on paper results and performance does not develop children as learners. And teachers who are forced to work in this way cannot become more effective and responsible."
Professor James had led a TLRP project on Learning How to Learn. It worked with 40 schools to see how pupil assessment can help people become more effective learners instead of being a barrier to success.
She says: "Our research showed that many teachers want to help pupils develop their own learning skills. There are big differences in how successfully different teachers manage to develop learners. But teachers who have proper professional development and support can help children to take responsibility for their own learning. These pupils can think about what they are learning and how, and, improving their own learning."
The project is one of 22 described in the new TLRP booklet and DVD, Principles into Practice. All are aimed at improving learning in schools.
Further examples include:
* How can small children gain more from information technology" It turns out that giving them your old mobile might be more use than buying them a computer.
* Children at school usually work on their own or in the whole class. TLRP research has shown that properly-run work in smaller groups can help learning.
* Changing schools can disturb children. But a structured exchange of knowledge between school and home, involving conversations, objects and pictures, can make it much easier and less disruptive.
* What do children really need to know about science" TLRP found out the key facts about modern science and developed successful teaching modules to get them across.
* Pupils have good ideas about their learning. But few schools have systems in place to make the most of their knowledge. TLRP showed how their achievement can be increased by better ways of listening to what they have to say.
Professor James said: "We have now carried out the UK's biggest programme of research into improving schools education. Everything we are saying in Principles into Practice is based on solid evidence."
Economic & Social Research Council
Learning Current Events and Learning News RSSOh, what a feeling!
People who have lost the ability to interpret emotion after a severe brain injury can regain this vital social skill by being re-educated to read body language, facial expressions and voice tone in others, according to a new study.
NRL scientists study cracks in brittle materials
The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is part of an international team of scientists that is learning more about how cracks form in brittle materials.
Memory mission explores new territory in neuroscience
Astrophysicists peer into the far corners of deep space for dark matter, but for neuroscientists at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) exploring the unknown is much closer to home.
Pollution at home lurks unrecognized, instead attributed to large-scale environmental disasters
Although Americans are becoming increasingly aware of toxic chemical exposure from everyday household products like bisphenol A in some baby bottles and lead in some toys, women do not readily connect typical household products with personal chemical exposure and related adverse health effects, according to research from the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Household Exposure to Toxic Chemicals Lurks Unrecognized, Researchers Find
Although Americans are becoming increasingly aware of toxic chemical exposure from everyday household products like bisphenol A in some baby bottles and lead in some toys, women do not readily connect typical household products with personal chemical exposure and related adverse health effects.
26 percent of sleepless children become overweight
Between the ages of six months and six years old, close to 90 percent of children have at least one sleep-related problem. Among the most common issues are night terrors, teeth-grinding and bed-wetting.
The smart way to study
Combine the aphorisms that "practice makes perfect" and "timing is everything" into one and you might get something resembling findings published in this month's issue of Psychological Science.
Microarray analysis improves prenatal diagnosis
A "chip" or array that can quickly detect disorders such as Down syndrome or other diseases associated with chromosomal abnormalities proved an effective tool in prenatal diagnosis in a series of 300 cases at Baylor College of Medicine, said researchers in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Prenatal Diagnosis.
Novel imaging technique reveals brain abnormalities that may play key role in ADHD
A study published today in the online advance edition of The American Journal of Psychiatry for the first time reveals shape differences in the brains of children with ADHD, which could help pinpoint the specific neural circuits involved in the disorder.
Exercise increases brain growth factor and receptors, prevents stem cell drop in middle age
A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells.
More Learning Current Events and Learning News Articles
 | Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware (Pragmatic Programmers) by Andy Hunt Together we'll journey together through bits of cognitive and neuroscience, learning and behavioral theory. You'll discover some surprising aspects of how our brains work, and see how you can beat the system to improve your own learning and thinking skills. In this book you'll learn how to: Use the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition to become more expert Leverage the architecture of the... |
 | Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work (Book & CD-ROM) by Richard Dufour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, Thomas Many Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work helps educators close the knowing-doing gap as they transform their schools into professional learning communities (PLCs). This handbook is a guide for action that will: · Help educators develop a common vocabulary and consistent understanding of key PLC concepts. · Present a compelling argument that the... |
 | He Loves Me! Learning to Live In the Father's Affection by Wayne Jacobsen Do you find yourself picking through circumstances like children plucking daisy petals attempting to figure out whether or not God loves you? If you find yourself least certain of his love in those critical moments when you most need to trust him, there is hope for you. Where? At the one event in human history that forever secured your place in the Father s hear--the cross where Jesus... |
 | Learning to See: Value Stream Mapping to Add Value and Eliminate MUDA by Mike Rother, John Shook When John Shook worked at Toyota he noticed that the senior experts on the Toyota Production System often drew simple maps when on the shop floor. These maps showed the current physical flow of a product family and the information flow for that product family as they wound through a complex facility making many... |
 | The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by Josh Waitzkin Josh Waitzkin knows what it means to be at the top of his game. A public figure since winning his first National Chess Championship at the age of nine, Waitzkin was catapulted into a media whirlwind as a teenager when his father's book Searching for Bobby Fischer was made into a major motion picture. After dominating the scholastic chess world for ten years, Waitzkin expanded his horizons, taking... |
 | Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning (Information Science and Statistics) by Christopher M. Bishop The dramatic growth in practical applications for machine learning over the last ten years has been accompanied by many important developments in the underlying algorithms and techniques. For example, Bayesian methods have grown from a specialist niche to become mainstream, while graphical models have emerged as a general framework for describing and applying probabilistic techniques. The... |
 | Learning To Slow Down & Pay Attention: A Book for Kids About Adhd by Kathleen G. Nadeau, Ellen B. Dixon, Charles Beyl In this new, third edition of Learning to Slow Down and Pay Attention, the authors have made a number of changes to reflect changes in understanding of ADHD and in our approach to its treatment. For example, in response to growing research on the safety and efficacy of stimulant medication in treating ADHD, we explain more to the child about medication and how it works. Another important change... |
 | Learning Perl, 5th Edition by Randal Schwartz, Tom Phoenix, brian d foy Learning Perl, popularly known as "the Llama," is the book most programmers rely on to get started with Perl. The bestselling Perl tutorial since it was first published in 1993, this new fifth edition covers recent changes to the language up to Perl 5.10. This book reflects the combined experience of its authors, who have taught Perl at Stonehenge Consulting since 1991. Years of classroom testing... |
 | Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement by Richard Dufour, Robert Eaker Professional Learning Communities at Work presents research-based recommendations drawn from the best practices found today in schools nationwide for continuously improving school performance. Coming from the perspectives of both a distinguished dean of education and one of America s most widely acclaimed practitioners, this resource provides specific, practical, how-to information about... |
 | Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide by Rich Shupe, Zevan Rosser Product Description In this book, authors Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser share the knowledge they've gained from their years as multimedia developers/designers and teachers. Learning ActionScript 3.0 gives you a solid foundation in the language of Flash and demonstrates how you can use it for practical, everyday projects. The authors do more than just give you a collection of sample scripts.... |
| © 2008 BrightSurf.com |