Teaching and Learning

Introduction to Teaching and Learning The intent of this focus area is to provide research-based information on those practices and policies that lead to good teaching and learning and to provide insight into issues surrounding implementation of these practices and policies. A brief introduction on what we know about good teaching and learning follows.

The focus of school reform has shifted to the school and classroom level. We have learned from experience that improved teaching, which is the key to improved learning, cannot be driven from the top down. Involvement of those most in tune with the needs of students, principals and teachers, is critical to the school improvement process. Along with this understanding of the importance of teachers and principals in the school reform process, has come a steadily-growing research base on effective teaching and learning. The Handbook of Research on Improving Student Achievement has synthesized the knowledge base that exists about effective practices for improving teaching and learning both across and within disciplines. This body of knowledge should help to inform teachers, principals, administrators, and others involved with school reform about the essence of good teaching and learning. Those practices that can be applied across the disciplines from kindergarten through twelfth grade and that show "powerful and consistent effects for students in widely varying circumstances" are highlighted below. Parent Involvement: Schools that encourage parents to foster their children's intellectual development enhance learning. Fostering intellectual development in the home includes "encouragement and discussion of leisure reading; monitoring and critical review of television watching and peer activities; deferral of immediate gratification to accomplish long-term goals; expressions of affection and interest in the child's academic and other progress as a person."   Graded Homework: Student learning is enhanced when students finish homework that teachers grade and give feedback on. "Like a three-legged stool, homework requires a teacher to assign it and provide feedback, a parent to monitor it, and a student to do it. If one leg is weak, the stool may fall down. The role of the teacher in providing feedback­in reinforcing what has been done correctly and in reteaching what has not­ is key to maximizing the positive impact of homework."   Aligned Time on Task: The more students are engaged in learning activities that reflect educational goals, the more they learn. The more students study, the more they learn. However, increased time on task is not enough. Learning activities must be aligned with educational goals. The three components of the curriculum­goals; textbooks, materials and learning activities; and tests and other assessments­should be aligned in content and emphasis.   Direct Teaching: Direct teaching works best when key features are apparent and steps are followed systematically. Direct teaching emphasizes "systematic sequencing of lessons, a presentation of new content and skills, guided student practice, the use of feedback, and independent practice by students."   Advance Organizers: Using students prior knowledge and prior learnings to make connections to new learning increases the depth and breadth of learning. "When teachers explain how new ideas in the current lesson relate to ideas in previous lessons and other prior learning, students can connect the old with the new, which helps them to better remember and understand. Similarly, alerting them to key points to be learned allows them to concentrate their attention on the most crucial parts of the lessons."   Learning Strategies: Teaching students skills that allow them to monitor and manage their own learning leads to increased achievement. "Students with a repertoire of learning strategies can measure their own progress towards explicit goals. When students use these strategies to strengthen their own opportunities for learning, they increase their skills of self-awareness, personal control, and positive self evaluation."   Tutoring: Teaching one student or a small group with similar abilities and needs has yielded large gains in learning. "Peer tutoring (tutoring of slower or younger students by more advanced students) appears to work nearly as well as teacher tutoring; with sustained student practice it might be equal to teacher tutoring in some cases."   Mastery Learning: Careful sequencing, monitoring, and control of the learning process increases the rate at which students achieve. "Pretesting helps teachers determine what should be studied; this allows the teacher to avoid assigning material that has already been mastered or for which the student does not yet have the requisite skills. Ensuring that students achieve mastery of initial steps in the sequence helps ensure that they will make satisfactory progress in subsequent, more advanced steps. Frequent assessment of progress informs teachers and students when additional time and corrective remedies are needed."   Cooperative Learning: Placing students in small carefully-designed instructional teams can help them support and enhance each other's learning. "Not only can cooperative learning increase academic achievement, but it has other virtues. By working in small groups, students learn teamwork, how to give and receive criticism, and how to plan, monitor, and evaluate their individual and joint activities....Nonetheless, researchers do not recommend that cooperative learning take up the whole school day; use of a variety of procedures, rather than cooperative learning alone, is considered to be most productive."   Adaptive Education: Using a variety of instructional techniques to adapt lessons to individual students and small groups enhances learning. "Adaptive instruction is an integrated diagnostic- prescriptive process that combines several preceding practices­tutoring, master and cooperative learning, and instruction in learning strategies­into a classroom management system that tailors instruction to individual and small group needs." Information for this introduction was obtained from the Handbook of Research on Improving Student Achievement, Gordon Cawelti, editor; sponsored by the Alliance for Curriculum Reform; published by Educational Research Service. For more information on this document, please call the Educational Research Service at 703-243-2100.