Education & Training
Reframing understanding as a phase transition
When understanding comes to us, it can come suddenly. As we finally see how the different parts of a problem fall into place, it can bring about feelings of satisfaction, and perhaps even frustration that we did not discern the seemingly obvious solution beforehand. In their research, Dipl.-Phil. Elena Popova and Professor Valentin Popov at Technische Universität Berlin argue that […]
Matching market design: Improving student experience in college admissions in China
How do students access higher education in China? Through the largest centralised matching market in the world, explains Prof Yan Chen. Yet we know very little about how this matching works. Could the design of higher education choice systems across the world be improved by examining the change from immediate acceptance (IA) to the parallel mechanism (PA) in Sichuan Province, […]
Peer observation and review improves university science teaching
STEM subjects in higher education are often taught by staff who have little or no formal training in how to teach. The Peer Observation and Review of Teaching (PORT) program provides a means for university academics to improve their teaching through feedback from their peers. Helen Georgiou and co-workers from the University of Sydney have investigated the effectiveness of the […]
Expansive learning within a teachers’ community of ongoing learners
Good teachers are the critical element in improving education for children everywhere but especially for children in high poverty schools. However, urban schools serving children of poverty rarely attract and retain well-prepared teachers and they seldom provide their teachers with the kinds of support that would improve teaching and learning in their classrooms. To address this need, Professor Frances O’Connell […]
How joyful dialogic reading jumpstarts early learning
The role of family engagement in children’s early learning is crucial to their future educational prospects. Alice Letvin and Carolyn Saper, who are based in Chicago, USA, developed the ReadAskChat dialogic reading app for families with babies, toddlers, and prereaders. The ReadAskChat app includes a library of short, content-rich stories and prompts for adult readers to stimulate brain-building “serve-and-return” conversations. […]
You are your most important teacher (and what to do about it)
Dr Robert Hahn, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University, Atlanta, describes how learning is an internal dialogue, as we continuously build on the knowledge we already possess in our minds. His synthesis of research shows that your most important teacher is actually yourself. He argues that the classroom that recognises that we can learn how […]
Learning to lead: Can group reflection help train school leaders?
With greater student diversity, stricter standards, and school staff and funding in flux, the task of school leadership has become increasingly complex. School leaders require training to help them coach and manage teachers through this troublesome terrain. Against this backdrop, Dr Ellen Daniëls, researcher at the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute in Belgium, investigates group reflective learning as a tool […]
Oral anticancer therapy: Improving safety, empowering patients
The ability of patients to administer potentially toxic oral anticancer medications by themselves in the comfort of their homes allows freedom and control of their treatment away from a hospital setting but does come with some risks. Audrey Chouinard and team from Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal assessed the success of group education sessions to educate and empower patients […]
How do I choose? Teachers making sense of pedagogical responsibility
Doctoral candidates Grace A. Chen and Samantha A. Marshall, and Dr Ilana S. Horn, Professor of Mathematics Education, from the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University Peabody College, are investigating how teachers make sense of their pedagogical responsibility. During the course of their research, they record a conversation among teachers triggered by the question ‘for what?’ they teach […]
Investigating teachers’ psychological and physiological stress
Professor Dr Alexander Wettstein, Head of the Social Interaction in Educational Settings Research Programme at the University of Teacher Education Bern, is leading an investigation into teachers’ psychobiological stress in social interactions aiming to prevent stress among teachers. His research also examines how aggressive student behaviour and challenging classroom settings can trigger psychological and physiological stress reactions in teachers. The […]