East Versus West: Differences in Learning

UCLA Professor Jim Stigler talks about the observations he made as a graduate student at University of Michigan while comparing American against Japanese classrooms. Apparently, in the US, a student struggling with a lesson implies lack of ability while in Japan, struggling is seen as an opportunity. In a Japanese classroom, it is clear that academic success is not so much about what a student knows but more about a willingness on the part of a student to work and struggle to learn. It is not about intelligence, but more about motivation. Japanese classrooms focus therefore on effort. It teaches the students that the process is important. It is the most important lesson in life, persistence in the face of challenges, profoundly affecting behavior. One vivid comparison involved giving a class of first grade students a problem impossible to solve. Inside the American classroom, students gave up within half a minute saying that they have not seen such a problem before while inside the Japanese classroom, students continued to work on the problem until the one-hour period was over.

There are certainly advantages and disadvantages between the two different cultural views of learning. Japanese students do well in science and math but American students are more individualistic and creative. There is perhaps a middle path that reaps the benefits from the two culturally different approaches. Of course, a middle path that combines the shortcomings of both approaches is likewise possible, one that destroys creativity and at the same time, does not encourage perseverance. This a serious question that one must ask especially with DepEd's K to 12. In an abandonment of "rote learning", are we sacrificing the lessons of perseverance and practice? The reason why Americans have been comparing their schools against those of the Japanese is to see why Japanese students outperform American students in math and the sciences. It is a quest for the reason behind an "Eastern advantage". The Philippines, although it is in Asia, does not have this "advantage". It must therefore look at what it has lost in its culture.

To learn more about Stigler's work, please listen to National Public Radio's Alix Spiegel,

Struggle For Smarts? How Eastern And Western Cultures Tackle Learning : NPR

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/11/12/164793058/struggle-for-smarts-how-eastern-and-western-cultures-tackle-learning

For the most part in American culture, intellectual struggle in school children is seen as an indicator of weakness, while in Eastern cultures it is not only tolerated, it is often used to measure emotional strength.

Stevenson and Lee have also provided extensive comparisons between Eastern and Western schools in the following monograph:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1166090

In this monograph, they also noted the following:

Although more emphasis was generally given to effort than to ability as a basis for achievement, the relative strength of the belief in the importance of these factors differed among American, Chinese, and Japanese mothers. Relative to the Chinese and Japanese mothers, the American mothers placed greater emphasis on ability; Chinese and Japanese mothers placed greater emphasis on effort as an explanation for achievement.  

When parents believe that success in school depends on ability in contrast to effort, they are less likely to foster participation in activities related to academic achievement that would elicit strong effort toward learning on the part of their children, such as doing homework, attending after-school classes, and receiving tutoring. American parents, in fact, did not use these activities with great frequency as means for improving their children's scholastic performance, even though they were willing to provide such supplemental activities for their children in sports, music, and art. Mothers who emphasize the importance of ability may ask if such activities are useful for children of low ability and may accept the poor performance of their children. If the child has high ability, the mother may question whether such activities are needed. A greater emphasis on ability appears to be related, therefore, to American children's lower accomplishments in elementary school.

Health Care and Basic Education

Almost twenty years ago, a paper appeared in the journal Public Choice that cites the inevitable challenges of providing services such as health care and basic  education:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w394372168713921/

There are indeed striking characteristics that both health care and basic education share. For one, universal education, and child and maternal health care are among the Millennium Goals of the United Nations. Second, as pointed out by Baumol's article, these services are quite distinct from other human enterprises, such as building automobiles. Production lines designed to perform precisely each step in making cars can be made. There is room for custom-made automobiles, but for the purposes of general production, uniform lines can surely take advantage of advances in technology to lower costs of production and increase efficiency. Health care and education do not quite easily lend to these innovations. Each patient requires individualized attention and whether this is accepted or not, education is more about learning than teaching, making basic education as personal as health care. Both basic education and health care have a strong influence on a society's well-being. For these services to benefit society, these must be of high quality. A health care program or a public school that is failing can even do harm to society.

There are differences between health care and education. With regard to evidence-based research, health care is miles ahead of education. Reforms in education continue to be implemented without supporting data and studies remain poorly designed, without proper controls. On the other hand, the practice of medicine has been faithful to clinical trials and data. Health care, however, does not do well in terms of equal access. A public option, for example, in the richest country in the world, the United States, does not exist. But public schools still do.

The question that Baumol asks in the article is: Should these services remain in the public sector or should they be privatized? Current situations perhaps can answer this question. Health care is privatized in so many places. Excellent health care is available, but surely, not for everyone. Similarly, there are excellent schools that are both private and exclusive. These schools are, of course, not for every child. Privatization always tends to provide excellence first before access. Thus, there is that tempting conclusion that if quality is desired, one should privatize. To take the other option, that is, to continue with the public sector or government to provide or run these services, is then equated to low quality and inefficiency. Finland shows clearly that this is not the case. There are no private schools in Finland. Finland emphasizes equality and yet, Finland is in the top in terms of quality basic education. Excellence therefore can come with equality. When basic education is not seen as a vehicle to get ahead in life, better learning outcomes are achieved. Providing health care and basic education, without doubt, are different from making automobiles. The health and education of the members of the society are comparable to security, peace and order. I do not think societies have ever explored on a large scale the privatization of its police force or firefighters. I wonder why....

Teaching "x = 'why'"

Previously, I shared in this blog the experiences of a Washington Post reporter who went back and spent a year taking high school math. A lot could be learned by returning to the classroom. Having been in a profession offers new perspectives, certainly a new vantage point, to see high school education. These are anecdotes yet useful insights can be drawn from all of these. Another useful immersion has been recently described by Harvey Mudd College professor of mathematics Darryl Yong. Professor Yong spent his recent sabbatical teaching high school math classes in a large urban school district. Yong wrote a wonderful piece describing his experiences as well as his thoughts on this unusual excursion in the Notices magazine of the American Mathematical Society:

http://www.ams.org/notices/201210/rtx121001408p.pdf

The piece illustrates an example of how higher education may be able to help society understand the needs of basic education. For such an immersion to be genuine, it is important that classroom conditions are not altered simply to please a guest lecturer in high school. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of experiencing first hand what it really means to teach elementary or high school. Professor Yong clearly did not receive special treatment as the following excerpt demonstrates:

...As a final illustration of the kinds of frustration that teachers face, here is an excerpt of a letter I received from my school district a few weeks after the end of the school year.

Dear YONG, DARRYL:
Our records show that you have received an overpayment as a result of a change that was processed in June 2010. The total adjusted gross amount  of your overpayment (reduced by any
retirement contribution) is $12,197.66. This letter is intended to advise you of  your options in repaying the identified overpayment.

The letter was not signed by anyone, there was no contact person listed, and there was no phone number to call! The letter seemed to make it impossible to contest the overpayment; it only listed options for repayment and threatened referral to a collections agency if the amount was not repaid....

Seeing the above proves to anyone without any doubt that this immersion was real and what Yong has to say about teaching in high school reflects a genuine scenario. What he describes in his piece is therefore worth our time. His reflections provide a deeper vision of basic education seen through the eyes of a professor in mathematics. And here are the main points, which he appropriately calls lessons, that he raises in his essay:

• Basic education schools are complex. Even this is still an understatement. When schools fail, explanations (or excuses) offered are usually too simplistic, thus, depriving society the complete view to address properly the problems. In the Philippines, the old ten-year curriculum described as congested has been pinpointed as the main culprit in the poor state of basic education. The explanation, however, is more of a justification to go to K to 12, than a sincere and in-depth examination of the situation. These are excuses and are no different from knee-jerk comments made by high school teachers regarding how poor they perceive elementary school education is. As Professor Yong writes, "Simplistic diagnoses are dangerous because they encourage quick fixes. Instead of long-term plans for systemic change, school reform becomes a series of short-lived fads that cause teachers to become jaded by unfulfilled promises of improvement." This explains in part why reform after reform, problems in basic education remain. 
• It helps to have a teacher who has mastery of the subject content but this is no guarantee for high student learning. Yong cites a study made by  Hattie (John Hattie, Visible Learning: A Synthesis of over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement, Routledge, 2009.) that shows that a how a student views himself or herself with regard to the subject counts significantly towards the learning outcome in that domain. If a student begins with a perception of weakness in mathematics, this has serious implications on the student's performance in math. Thus, if student's performance correlates with what we perceive as high quality teaching then effective teaching must be able to address and correct a student's preconception of the subject. Perhaps, this is a major difference between an effective and an ineffective teacher. The following excerpt from Yong illustrates this vividly:

I initially spent a great deal of time thinking of fun or creative lessons that would get students excited. These lessons rarely worked because they were often too complicated or inappropriate for my students’ mathematical development. Instead, I began to design my lessons and accompanying student work so that (1) all of my students could successfully complete the first problem or task independently, and in which (2) the sequence of problems/tasks matched my students’ tolerance for challenge and self-concept. 

This strategy not only increased student learning but also eliminated most of the discipline issues in my class and relieved the pressure of having to develop whiz-bang “fun” lessons every day. 

• There is a great need to understand correctly what the teaching profession entails. No different from the practice of medicine, the teaching profession is an ongoing learning. Only with the realization of the emotional, physical and intellectual demands of teaching, would society understand and begin to truly respect teachers. If society treats its physicians in a similar manner as teachers are currently treated in the Philippines, for example, one could only wonder what will happen to the quality of health care and medical services.
• The last lesson Yong shares is that the "Written curriculum does not matter." What matters is what actually occurs inside the classroom. In this respect, the teacher serves a central role.

Yong's experiences are rich with insights and I invite everyone interested in improving the state of basic education to read his article. 

Scientists, climate change, and the media

by Flor Lacanilao

Climate scientists have been warning about "the risk for big storms and serious flooding in New York" for the past 12 years. Perhaps this warnings -- together with the accurate, timely weather forecasts, and excellent preparation, like early evacuation -- have prevented more deaths, despite the biggest to hit the U.S.  

Death toll is less than 100. Compare that total deaths with those of our much less powerful typhoons -- like the 2009 Ondoy with 280 and the 2011 Sendong, said to be nearly 1,500 -- and the figures will tell you how much work we need to do seriously and capably. 

With the inevitable and increasing destruction from changing climate, like the superstorm, our governments and the public have only to depend on the important role of scientists and media people. Best and worst examples of these are seen in, respectively, developed and underdeveloped countries. 

One role of the scientists is to explain the nature and processes of climate change and related events, like those seen below.

In their job, crucial for the media people is to know first who the scientists are, so they can be effective in informing their readers with useful information. This will help the government and the public to effectively prepare for, and to lessen, the impacts and damage to property and human life.

Three examples are shown below: in an article by a climate scientist and two news reports -- by an international and a local media.  

Kevin Trenberth, who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for which he shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, discusses -- in Super storm Sandy  (Scientist, October 31, 2012) -- the relations between  climate change and the destructive hurricane. Knowing the different key information in these events is important in designing ways of adapting to their impacts.

In the Associated Press release -- Scientists Look At Weather Pattern  (in Manila Bulletin, Nov 1, 2012) -- three reporters name seven distinguished climate scientists, led by Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University. They brief the readers on various aspects of climate change and the superstorm Sandy. Like the preceding science article, useful information on climate change and for adaptation measures is given.

A typical example of a news report on climate-related issue from local media is Reclaiming land seen as measure to deal with climate change  (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Nov 1, 2012). It does not name any scientist or give evidence-based (properly published) information. It cites a government Bureau Director, a Department Secretary, an architect, a government reclamation agency, and the University of the Philippines National Institute of Geological Science (NIGS). 

No scientist is mentioned, although there are 2 or 3 at NIGS, who have contributed useful popular articles, views, and advice on climate-related issues and disasters. Recent active contributor is Dr. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay.

Change of doing things is long over due, for those working and reporting on natural disasters facing our country. Increasing loss of human life and damage to property from climate-related events call for more  determined action -- with the right people in charge (Put right people in charge of science, education  (PDI Oct 20, 2011).

Flor Lacanilao

Retired professor of marine science

University of the Philippines Diliman

While the Philippines Moves to Spiral Approach, Missouri Does the Opposite

School districts in the state of Missouri are changing their science curriculum for Grades 6 to 8. The reform primarily changes science instruction from a spiral approach to a field-focus curriculum. The Philippines, on the other hand, with DepEd's K to 12 goes in the opposite direction. Without debating which direction is the correct one to take, both need to face the challenge of a major transition. Poor implementation of an education reform leads to failure even if the change is the correct prescription. A major part of the implementation is the transition stage, which is crucial for the success of the reform. It is therefore necessary to pay close attention to the transition process as this stage can easily lead to failure if not implemented correctly. Missouri's efforts are assisted by institutions of higher learning within the state. One is Lindenwood University.

The Spellman Clock Tower of Lindenwood University reflecting its view on education

One dissertation from Lindenwood University tackles specifically the transition of Missouri school districts to the new science curriculum: 

http://gradworks.umi.com/3450281.pdf

Abstract 

This investigation examined the transition from a spiral science curriculum to a field-focus science curriculum in middle school. A spiral science curriculum focuses on a small part of each field of science during each middle school year, more of a general science concept. In contrast to that, the base of a field-focus curriculum is that each grade level focuses on a specific field of science, more of a high school like concept. The literature reviewed provides a history of science education, the steps of the change process, and the importance of professional development. The literature review provided a basis for determining trends in the science education. 

The researcher collected a variety of data to understand the process that districts move through to transition to a field-focus science curriculum. Interviews provided information concerning the transition process of three Midwestern school districts that have arranged their curriculum into a field-focus alignment. Teacher surveys of one district supplied the perceptions of the professional development involved during the transition process. The researcher also examined school district student achievement data in the area of science. 

Suggestions made through this investigation focused on the Eight Steps to a Successful Change when implementing a field-focus science curriculum alignment. Following the suggested steps will help a transition go smoother.

This study specifically looks at the New Heart School District in the state of Missouri. The science teachers in this district have agreed to abandon the spiral approach and adopt a field-focus approach to teaching science. The rationale was simple - surrounding school districts that have instituted this reform are doing better in statewide standard exams. The following are among Alwardt's findings regarding the transition New Heart School District undertook:

• Transition is always difficult so it is important that evidence supporting the reform is shared. In this particular case, data supporting the notion that a spiral approach leads only to a superficial treatment of topics and does not prepare students for the the rigor expected in standard tests.
• Communication is vital between supervisors and teachers. These need to be regular so that updates and concerns are immediately addressed.
• All necessary materials required for the new curriculum are promptly provided to all teachers. This effectively alleviates tension and anxiety toward the new curriculum.

As Alwardt emphasizes, "Transitions are inherently difficult for teachers." While trying to adjust to the change, teachers still have the obligation to give the very best instruction to the students. There are no "dress rehearsals". It is therefore very important that teachers during this stage are heard and supported. With these in mind, one can evaluate how DepEd in the Philippines is implementing its K to 12. One should understand and appreciate the crucial role of teachers in education reform.

Inquiry-Based Teaching Practices and Student's Science Achievement

Discovery-based approaches to science education in primary and secondary schools are now widespread across the globe. It is now possible to assess the impact of these programs on learning outcomes. Such exercise may not provide crystal clear cause-effect relationships since proper controls are not present, but a good statistical analysis of current data may still furnish useful correlations. Although discovery-based learning may seem a precise philosophy of education, it is in fact a spectrum of approaches and techniques. There is a range of how much support a student receives in a discovery-based classroom.

Kevin Gee and Kenneth Wong of Brown University have recently published a paper in the International Journal of Education Research in which the performance of students from eight countries (US, Mexico, Japan, Finland, Australia, Canada, Spain and Italy) in the science section of the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has been closely examined in the light of various inquiry-based approaches to science education. The abstract and the first two figures from the paper are posted here with kind permission from the authors.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883035512000365

The above investigation looks at four distinct approaches that have been commonly employed in discovery-based learning:

• Use of models or applications (coded as APPLICATIONS) - explaining what students learn in science inside the classroom relates to the outside world.
• Laboratory (hands-on) activities (coded as HANDS_ON) - doing experiments to explore a concept in science.
• Interaction (coded as INTERACTION) - classroom activities that allow for debate and discussion among the students
• Independent Investigation (coded as INVESTIGATIONS) - students are asked to design their own experiments and test their own ideas.

The results are displayed vividly in the following graphs:

First, only one index positively correlates with science achievement: APPLICATIONS. This is the only approach that seems transferable from one country to the next. This approach requires teachers who can capably highlight the relevance of science to society. For HANDS_ON, three countries, Australia, Mexico and Italy show a negative correlation. Australia differs from the other two with its students scoring above the average of 500. This index, without doubt, requires resources (laboratories and equipment) which probably play as a major factor. The INTERACTION index perhaps demonstrates the risk of students learning the wrong things if students are left to learn from each other. Finally and most importantly, the last graph (PISA 2006 Science Scores versus INVESTIGATIONS index) shows a very significant correlation that exists across all countries in the study. Gee and Wong write in their discussion/conclusion:

...the evidence seems to strongly suggest that students who independently select and carry out such investigations tend to have lowered science achievement....

The take home message from this study is that learning in science benefits from teaching within the context of world issues, current events, and everyday lives, but as other educators in the field have forewarned, a purely discovery-based approach which does not provide adequate support or guidance may do harm to science education.

A Practice That Increases Student's Engagement Without High Costs

When learning resources are quite limited, there are practices that can be employed to enhance student's participation in lecture-based classroom. To help students keep their attention during the instruction, previously prepared notes with missing items can be given to students. These notes follow the flow of the lecture but are incomplete. Students are then required to fill in the blanks as the lecture progresses. In this fashion, the student maintains specific goals throughout the lecture. The guided notes serve basically as a list of questions to which students must respond, and the answers or the missing pieces are in the lecture. Moira Konrad, Laurice M. Joseph and Elisha Eveleigh of Ohio State University have performed an analysis of how effective guided notes are in enhancing student learning:

https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/education_and_treatment_of_children/v032/32.3.konrad.html

Guided notes basically achieve two goals. First, it provides students with a good template for taking notes. By seeing concrete examples of notes, students are more likely to develop good note-taking skills. Second, by enhancing a student's engagement and attention during lecture, guided notes enhance learning outcomes. The above study pertains specifically to upper elementary and secondary schools. And as the above authors cite:

Guided notes are a low-cost and efficient way to help teachers promote active engagement during their lectures. Heward (in Guided notes: Improving the effectiveness of your lectures. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University Partnership Grant for Improving the Quality of Education for Students with Disabilities, 2001) recommends the following steps for creating guided notes. First, teachers should create an outline of the lecture to be presented to students, focusing on the most salient concepts that students need to master. This outline can be created using presentation software (e.g., Power-Point) or overhead transparencies, which the teacher will use to guide the lecture. Next, teachers should create a handout for the students, strategically omitting important information from the outline, leaving blanks for students to fill in as they listen to the lecture. Though students should not need to write lengthy responses, an adequate number of blanks must be distributed throughout the handout to encourage active attending and engagement. Also, there should enough space at each blank so students can record all information provided during the lecture....

Lectures will be part of instruction for many more years to come. Guided notes are simple additions that can make these lectures more effective.

What Does Science Tell Us About Teaching Kids to Think?

This is the same title of an article that came out in The Atlantic early this month. It was written by University of Virginia psychology professor Daniel Willingham. The article was in fact a response to another piece entitled "The Writing Revolution" by Peg Tyre in The Atlantic that talked about a school in Staten Island called New Dorp:

For years, nothing seemed capable of turning around New Dorp High School’s dismal performance—not firing bad teachers, not flashy education technology, not after-school programs. So, faced with closure, the school’s principal went all-in on a very specific curriculum reform, placing an overwhelming focus on teaching the basics of analytic writing, every day, in virtually every class. What followed was an extraordinary blossoming of student potential, across nearly every subject—one that has made New Dorp a model for educational reform.

Willingham then writes:

The history of education is littered with flavor-of-the-month interventions, many of which began at a model school, but that, once implemented elsewhere, flopped. Dejected educators then begin scouting for the next "big thing." 

There is, but implementing it correctly is no small matter.In this instance, a heavy emphasis on writing seemed to make kids better writers, better readers, and perhaps, better thinkers. What does published research say? Is there any reason to expect that a writing curriculum, if implemented in other schools, would bring the same benefits?

Asking the above questions is very important. These are the questions that any Department of Education must ask before embarking on any large-scale reform. And the answers lie in performing well-controlled experiments and publishing the results in a peer-reviewed journal so that experts could evaluate the work. If the questions have been addressed before by others, then a careful examination of published studies can be useful. Willinghan then points us to an article published in the Journal of Educational Psychology to gain further insights on how teaching students how to write could improve learning:

Downloaded from http://psycnet.apa.org/psycarticles/2012-18075-001.pdf

To understand the above paper, it is important to know what effect size (ES) means. In this particular work, ES measures the effect of a particular intervention on the performance of the students. For example, the average score of students who were exposed to the additional teaching component is compared to those who did not receive the treatment. This difference is then compared against the standard deviation of either population. An ES close to 1 indicates a highly significant effect. It means that students who have received a particular intervention are scoring one standard deviation higher than students who have not. One standard deviation in grading is usually the separation between "average" and "above average". An ES of 1 essentially means that the intervention brings the student's performance from mediocre to the top 20%. With these statistical analyses of previous studies, it then becomes possible to zero in on the interventions that have significant effect on student learning. The authors of the above paper are then able to make the following recommendations:

• Teach students strategies for planning, drafting, or revising different types of text (ES=1.02)
• Teach students procedures for regulating the writing strategies they are taught (ES=0.50)
• Teach students how to form images and be more creative (ES=0.70)
• Teach students how different types of text are structured and formed (ES=0.59) 
• Teach students spelling, handwriting, and keyboarding (ES=0.55)
• Develop instructional arrangements where children work together to plan, draft, revise, and edit their papers (ES=0.89)
• Set clear and specific goals for what students are to accomplish when writing (ES=0.76)
• Engage students in activities that help them gather and organize ideas for their papers before they write a first draft (ES=0.54)
• Assess students’ writing and progress learning to write (ES=0.42)
• Make it possible for students to use word processing as a primary tool for writing (ES=0.47)
• Increase how much students write (ES=0.30)
• Implement a comprehensive writing program (ES=0.42)

Still, the authors add the following cautionary statement:

Just because a writing practice was effective in multiple research studies does not guarantee that it will be effective in all other situations. Rarely, if ever, is there a perfect match between the conditions under which the writing practice was implemented in the research studies and the conditions in which it was subsequently put to use in classrooms. Even if there was a good match, the safest course of action is for teachers implementing the writing practice to monitor its effects to be sure it works in their classrooms with their students.

And Willingham ends his article with the following:

And this is why I say that the New Dorp results are likely replicable, but we must pay close attention to what happened there. It's easy to remember only that "they asked the kids to write a lot." But as Tyre describes, they placed an intense emphasis "on teaching the skills that underlie good analytical writing." There was explicit teaching of writing, and the emphasis was on analysis. I would add that this instruction must be paired with substantive content in order to pay dividends in critical thinking. 

To read more articles on how to teach writing visit http://www.theatlantic.com/debates/education:

Downloaded from http://www.theatlantic.com/debates/education

An Example: "Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction"

Formulating a vision for public education can be as easy as forming an opinion. There are anecdotes which seem prolific enough for everyone to grab just to advance an agenda. In medicine, evidence-based research is important before new therapies are introduced. In education, so much more is still desired. Reforms in education can not be taken as sound simply because these have been put forward by so-called expert educators. For instance, here is a recent description by Rep. Angara of DepEd's K to 12 curriculum (Source: Manila Bulletin):

This new curriculum is an innovation in how lessons are taught to each learner. It’s a combined result of decades of DepEd experience, years of painstaking research, and surveys of best practices in the region adapted to the local scenario.

In the United States, there is the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Its mission is as follows:

The mission of the National Education Policy Center is to produce and disseminate high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. We are guided by the belief that the democratic governance of public education is strengthened when policies are based on sound evidence.

To illustrate how the center works, here is a specific example. In November of 2011, the Fordham Institute produced a document entitled, "Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction":

For the full article, visit EdExcellenceMedia
http://www.edexcellence.net/publications/education-reform-for-the-digital-era.html

At first glance, one may get the impression that the document is a scholarly publication. It has 46 footnotes and it comes with seemingly reasonable arguments:

Digital learning has the potential to transform teaching in three primary ways:

• Enabling excellent teachers to reach more students. 

• Attracting and retaining more of these excellent teachers.

• Boosting effectiveness and job options for average teachers.

Who would argue against these? Luis Huerta of Columbia University did. Here is the press release of Huerta's review of the above paper:

BOULDER, CO (April 3, 2012) – The Fordham Institute’s Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction, an advocacy document outlining a vision for how technology might transform the teaching profession, provides little or no empirical research evidence to support its central claim that digital age technologies will improve the education system, according to a new review. 

The report was reviewed for the Think Twice think tank review project by Luis Huerta of Teachers College at Columbia University. The review is published by the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education. 

Huerta writes in his review that the report’s rationale is based on claims that the current education system lacks the capacity to support revolutionary changes needed to unleash the technological innovations of online instruction that will yield increased effectiveness and efficiency. 

The report explains that effective teachers are central to the demands of online instruction and will be even more necessary in the digital age than in the current system. It asserts that the elements that constitute effective teaching can be broken down into discrete skills and then packaged and distributed to a wider group of learners via digital media. 

Harnessing the talents of effective teachers will be critical in both meeting the needs of students and in making teaching a “true profession” (p. 2) through increased specialization and tiered salary structures, the report asserts. 

Huerta notes that while the report addresses an important topic, the empirical research evidence to support its fundamental premise is insufficient and inadequate. Consequently, he concludes, the report amounts to only a vision of what changes might be necessary as the digital revolution comes of age in public education. 

Find Luis Huerta’s review on the NEPC website at:
http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-teachers-digital-age

Thus, in a sentence:

"Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction" provides little or no empirical research evidence to support the claim that digital-age technologies will improve the education system."

Advocacy documents sound and look good. But it takes a lot more for a study or paper to be scholarly. Education reforms must be based not on ideology but on good data. Painstaking research that is good must be published in peer-reviewed journals. Only these research papers have been reviewed by experts. Without  such a review, a research paper is simply an advocacy paper and one must not confuse advocacy with research.

Homework Or No Homework?

It seems a simple question. Yet, addressing it can clearly illustrate the difference between ideology and research. Answering this question adequately pushes the right approach to education reform. Where do we begin? The president of France recently announced his plan to ban homework. An article in the Wall Street Journal states:

François Hollande has a bold new plan to tackle social injustice and inequality in France: ban homework. Introducing his proposals for education reform last week at the Sorbonne, the French president declared that work "must be done in the [school] facility rather than in the home if we want to support the children and re-establish equality." 

The rest of the article did not have kind words to describe the above plan:

Here we begin to wonder: Are the French losing their mind? Fortunately not. More than two-thirds of the country would oppose the ban, according to an Ifop poll, so there's hope that even in the land of égalité there's some recognition that state power cannot equalize everything.

One can browse through the comments on this article as well as recent conservative blogs and the overwhelming harsh remark seems to imply that banning homework as a means to re-establish equality is tantamount to making all children equally dumb. Banning or limiting the amount of homework is not new. It has been suggested as a pedagogical reform even in some schools in the United States. It should be no surprise then that there is research that has been done to address the benefits and harms of homework in schools. The Center for Public Education has compiled results from research on this topic. The following are the general highlights:

• The link between homework and student achievement is far from clear. 
• Homework appears to have more positive effects for certain groups of students:
• Homework may have nonacademic benefits. 
• Too much homework may diminish its effectiveness. 
• The amount of homework completed by students seems to be more positively associated with student achievement than the amount of homework assigned by teachers. 
• After-school programs that provide homework assistance may improve student behavior, motivation, and work habits but not necessarily academic achievement. 
• The effect of parent involvement in homework is unclear. 
• There is little research on connections between specific kinds of homework and student achievement.

From the above, it is evident that benefits of homework are far from being crystal clear. Homework, as with any additional tool to be used by schools for learning, requires a clear objective. What is the real purpose of assigning work to students outside classroom hours? With a stated goal in mind, the next step is to analyze the homework, its content and protocol. Are students supposed to work on their own? Are parents expected to assist their children when they do the homework? The answers to these questions are important as these may inadvertently introduce other factors into education. It is straightforward to demand that parents be involved in the education of their children. But in a society where the majority are poorly educated in the math and the sciences, this demand is completely unreasonable. In a society where there is a huge gap between the privileged and underprivileged, assigning homework can only exacerbate the socio-economic inequalities. This then defeats the purpose of education as a vehicle for social mobility. The following is a recent study, for example, by Marte Renning. These are results from schools in the Netherlands, but the findings could easily apply to other countries.

Downloaded from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027277571000083X#

Seeing this study makes the plan of the French president not look absurd after all. The French president was talking about social inequality and injustice. And if homework amplifies these social inequalities then it is counterproductive against the role of schools as possible social enablers or equalizers. The above study shows how homework affects the learning gap. However, it focuses mainly on how homework affects the "learning" side of education. It does not evaluate how homework can assist the "teaching" side. There are studies on this aspect as well. Below is one example.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/v83465j6p823g053/fulltext.pdf

Part of their conclusions is as follows:

This study shows that to really understand students’ thinking at a deeper and internal level, teachers should grade students’ homework and analyze errors from homework. The most important contribution from this study was that it provided a sample of a new model of grading homework that is feasible and practical for US classroom teachers. This model of grading student homework helps to solve the dilemma in grading homework practice in the US. Considering US teachers do not have sufficient time to grade all students’ homework daily, this study suggests grouping students into three levels of low, middle, and high and selecting one or two students’ homework from each group to grade on a daily basis. In addition, teachers should engage in an error analysis process daily by identifying error patterns and analyzing the possible reasons for the misconception. To have students master the concepts and skills correctly and accurately, teachers must provide feedback immediately by making corrections for errors, which is also a key aspect to improving self-efficacy.

This short excursion through one specific aspect of education illustrates the complexity of how to draw education reforms. And in my opinion, at the end of the day, it is really only the teacher who could correctly answer the question on whether assigning homework is working or not. This is only about homework. Imagine adding two years to basic education. This is certainly a much bigger question yet....

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino decried the “railroaded” passage of House Bill No. 6643 or the K-12 Bill on second reading, saying that the rushed bill contains provisions “not grounded on solid evidence.”

Senior High School - Serious Questions to Ponder

The idea that additional years in high school could help better prepare students for higher education might look advantageous at first. Having the introductory courses in college covered in the senior years may reduce the number of courses a student must take in college. This can translate into savings since college is more costly than high school. In an ideal setting, this may be true. Under real circumstances, however, there are serious questions that need to be asked:

(1) Are there qualified teachers who could teach these advanced courses in high school?
(2) With a lack of uniformity across schools in the Philippines, would the two additional years further increase gaps and competitive disadvantages.

In the United States, high school students often take Advanced Placement courses during the final years of K-12. Several studies that evaluate these programs have been published. There is one book, for example, from Harvard Education press, that compiles the results of a conference held in 2007 attended by leading educators addressing the question on whether Advanced Placement courses are beneficial or not:

Image downloaded from Harvard Education Press
http://www.hepg.org/hep/book/120/AP

Commenting on this book, Scott Jaschik of Inside HigherEd writes the following:

Claims that the program helps students graduate on time or save money are found generally to have no validity. And research in the book suggests that many of the efforts to push the program into more schools -- a push that has been financed with many millions in state and federal funds -- may be paying for poorly-prepared students to fail courses they shouldn’t be taking in the first place. And the research suggests that not only is the money being misspent, but that the push may be skewing the decisions of low-income high schools that make adjustments to bring the program in -- while being unable to afford improvements in other programs.

John T. Tierney, a former college professor and high school teacher, recently wrote an article in The Atlantic ("AP Classes Are a Scam"). With the anticipated recruitment by the Philippines DepEd of college professors to teach in the proposed additional years in high school, Tierney's thoughts are worth our attention. In this article, he enumerated the reasons why he is not in favor of advanced placement courses:

• AP courses are not, in fact, remotely equivalent to the college-level courses they are said to approximate. 

• The traditional monetary argument for AP courses -- that they can enable an ambitious and hardworking student to avoid a semester or even a year of college tuition through the early accumulation of credits -- often no longer holds. 

• The scourge of AP courses has spread into more and more high schools across the country, and the number of students taking these courses is growing by leaps and bounds. Studies show that increasing numbers of the students who take them are marginal at best, resulting in growing failure rates on the exams. 

• Despite the rapidly growing enrollments in AP courses, large percentages of minority students are essentially left out of the AP game. 

• The AP program imposes "substantial opportunity costs" on non-AP students in the form of what a school gives up in order to offer AP courses, which often enjoy smaller class sizes and some of the better teachers. 

• To me, the most serious count against Advanced Placement courses is that the AP curriculum leads to rigid stultification -- a kind of mindless genuflection to a prescribed plan of study that squelches creativity and free inquiry. 

These are all insightful comments that warrant a pause among those who are currently planning what the additional years in high school in the Philippines ought to be. The "substantial opportunity costs" is one important example. With limited resources (in this case, not just classrooms, but more importantly, better teachers), is it really wiser to put these into the additional years instead of trying to improve the quality of the first ten years of elementary and high school education? The second question is the learning gap. With students unable to master the content of the first ten years, would not adding two more years simply waste their time and cause greater failure?

Thus, while we wait for the final two years of high school in the Philippines to be drawn, the following words of Tierney at the beginning of his article are worth our attention:

"Fraudulent schemes come in all shapes and sizes. To work, they typically wear a patina of respectability. That's the case with Advanced Placement courses, one of the great frauds currently perpetrated on American high-school students."

Coaching Teachers

"Implementing a new curriculum requires strong leadership at the school level. The success of a school depends a lot on the principal. A significant fraction of public schools in the Philippines currently do not have a principal or a head teacher. This clearly needs to be addressed first before any reform in curriculum is initiated. Otherwise, a new curriculum has no hope of being implemented successfully."

-"First Things First: A Commentary on K+12" 

What happens exactly inside the classroom depends largely on the teacher. There are several factors that influence learning. True enough, there are factors outside the control of a teacher but there are still ways by which a teacher can direct learning both inside and outside the classroom. Teachers.net believes that a teacher can still make a huge difference. Its mission statement is as follows:

At Teachers.Net, we recognize that education is a fundamental factor in an individual's prosperity, happiness, contribution to society, and impact on the future. Teachers.Net recognizes the vital role teachers play in education and the betterment of our culture. We also appreciate that teachers are rarely recognized or compensated adequately for their contribution and dedication. 

In support of the calling, Teachers.Net was founded on four principles:

• To allow our teacher-users to contribute the content and direct site development  

• To utilize the Internet to harness the collective intellect and wisdom of the worldwide teaching community

• To minimize costs to the greatest extent possible through automation, and 

• To never charge teachers for using our resources

One recent article by Harry and Rosemary Wong from this website deals with instructional coaching:

Downloaded from http://teachers.net/wong/OCT12/

The article begins with reminding us of the work of Jacob Kounin. The following are taken from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Classroom_Management_Theorists_and_Theories/Jacob_Kounin:

These are the main theories and history of Jacob Kounin.

I. "With-it-ness"

The teacher is responsible for inhibiting poor behavior. The teacher can maintain this strategy by making eye contact to all students at all times. The teacher should know each student on a personal basis (i.e. name, interests, strength, weaknesses, etc.)The teacher can use other non-verbal techniques to show students that they are alert and care about the well-being of all students. The teacher may also want to make a respectable suggestion to inform the student that their behavior is unacceptable. The teacher should have communicated to all students the expectations and can have these displayed so everyone can be "with-it".

II. Overlapping

The teacher can have procedures that will allow the teacher to be effective when two situations occur at the same time. For example, if a student is done with an assessment or an assignment early have something for them to do such as moving on to another assignment, reading a book, or a quiet enrichment exercise. While the early-finishers are staying busy the teacher is allowed to move around the room to answer question or assist struggling students. Another example, if the teacher is in the middle of a lecture and a student enters the room the teacher should make eye contact with the student, have an area for the student to turn in work, and continue with the lesson. Once the students are doing their work the teacher can go to the tardy student and tell them what they missed or answer any questions from the homework assigned the night before.

III. Momentum

The teacher should make lectures short to allow students to group together and move around to gain more knowledge of the content. The teacher should make sure that these exercises remain short so students do not get bored. A teacher can keep a timer and assign roles to students to keep the students moving and on a time deadline. If students are struggling the teacher can reflect on what they can do to make the lesson more meaningful and easier to understand for their students.

IV. Smoothness

The teacher can have students make hand gestures that will tell the teacher whether the student has a comment or question concerning the lesson. This technique allows the teacher to have an idea of which students may cause an unwanted tangent and which students may have a good question that could pertain to utilizing the time effectively. When placing students in group-work the teacher can walk around facilitating and listening to discussions of other students. The teacher can then intervene or take the group to a different track if the teacher feels it is necessary.

V. Group Focus

The teacher can implement this strategy with several techniques:

A. Encourage Accountability: Make students aware that they will be graded for their participation and contributions to the group. 

B. The teacher can have a canister of popsicle sticks that have each students name on them. The teacher can pick the popsicle stick at random to keep students on track and out of their seats with anticipation for question/answer time, board problems, etc. 

C. The students can facilitate a discussion. Once they have finished a task they can turn to each other or they could pair up with those who are already done and compare answers.

In order for implementation to be effective the teacher must be well organized, communicate their expectations to their students, and hold them responsible for their actions to encourage motivation and attention.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In other words, Kounin believes that the behavior of a teacher is one important factor that determines student's learning. From this perspective it is straightforward to see how important it is for a teacher to be aware of what he or she does that may significantly influence learning inside the classroom. David Ginsburg, whose work is the subject of the Teachers.Net article states:

“School leaders and teachers must always examine how their actions or inactions may be creating barriers or creating enhancements to learning. My work is practical. What matters most is what happens in the classroom. I show them how they can be effective and successful and that is what my coaching is all about."

Coaching is different from mentoring. And to elucidate this clearly, a specific example is given by Harry and Rosemary Wong. The example is the story of Emily McGinley, a second grade teacher in Philadelphia. 

Teacher Actions (Cause)	Student Reactions (Effect)	Solutions
Emily provided directions orally only and passed out materials before assessing whether students understood the directions.	Students played with materials and did not begin the activity until the teacher restated directions to them at their seats.	Provide directions visually in addition to orally; assess students' understanding of directions before passing out materials.
Emily spent extended time assisting a few students without ever assessing or assisting other students.	Some students raised their hands for several minutes, while others socialized.	Assign students to collaborative groups with the expectation that they ask each other for help before asking the teacher for help.
Emily failed to let students know what to do if they finished the activity early.	Students who finished early disrupted those who were still working on the activity.	Include in directions for each activity a constructive activity for students to move on to after they finish the first activity.

This example illustrates the philosophy of looking at what happens inside a classroom as a cause-effect pairs of events. The behavior of the teacher, what a teacher does is regarded as the cause, and what students do are taken as the effect. The solutions offered by the coach are then direct responses on how a teacher may change his or her strategy to get a better outcome. 

In this example, it is pretty clear what coaching really entails. It requires direct observation of the classroom through the eyes of both teacher and students. This is what school leaders do. A school without a head teacher or a principal cannot provide coaching to its teachers. In team sports and even individual ones, an athlete needs an additional pair of eyes for guidance and assessment. This guidance can not come from a remote air conditioned office far removed from where the action is taking place. 

“Teachers make countless decisions each day that affect children academically, socially, and emotionally,” says David.  “This is why coaches must observe classrooms through the lenses of students.

Politicians Should Think and Debate Like Scientists

Thinking Like Scientists; Encouraging Evidence-based Debate
by Flor Lacanilao

I hasten to say that science is not the only way of knowing things. Through religion, through literature, reflection, meditation, and any number of other approaches, we gain understanding and knowledge of our world. But the most reliable knowledge—that can be applied societally, to an entire community or country—is knowledge that has been tested empirically, that is based on the leveling effect of evidence. Evidence shouldn’t depend on one’s socioeconomic status or one’s political affiliation. Evidence has a democratizing effect that is healthy for our country. It’s the most politically useful way of knowing things. (Rush Holt, Scientist, October 9, 2012)

Two interesting articles about elections, politicians, and scientific thinking appeared in recent issues of the leading journal Nature and science magazine Scientist. They are views of the only physicist in the US Congress, Rush Holt. Whereas they address problems in the most developed country, many in the Philippines will find the discussed subjects relevant and crucial also to the country's persistent problems, ongoing debates, the elusive sustainable growth, and poverty reduction. 

Holt's Nature article ("US election: Politicians should think like scientists") is not freely accessible, but the Scientistarticle on him is copied in full below -- a question & answer interview. He argues that evidence-based, scientific thinking could improve lawmakers’ decisions. Our other government officials, industry leaders, media people & commentators, science administrators, educators, concerned organizations, and graduate faculty will also find his views useful to their work.

Flor Lacanilao

Retired professor of marine science

University of the Phihlippines Dilaiman

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Q&A: Mixing Science and Politics

Scientist

By Beth Marie Mole | October 9, 2012

Politicians could make better decisions if they thought more like scientists, says Rush Holt, the only physicist in Congress.  

In the heat of election season, scientists—and 85 percent of voters are clamoring for candidates to explain their positions on alternative energy sources, climate change policy, and federal funding for research, among other science-related issues. But one scientist-turned-congressman wants more. Representative Rush Holt (D, NJ) doesn’t want politicians to merely think about science, he wants them to think like scientists. In a recent opinion piece in Nature, Holt argued that scientific thinking—based on logic and evidence—could improve lawmakers’ decisions on issues ranging from voting systems to air transportation security. The Scientist spoke with Holt about his thoughts on blending science into politics.

The Scientist: What inspired your opinion that scientific thinking can improve politics?

Rep. Rush Holt: It became apparent to me that my constituents like the fact that I’m a research scientist that decided to go into Congress. And I’ve been asking myself, “Why?” Sometimes people say, “Well, we want somebody who will understand scientific technicalities and languages.” But most of the time I find it’s not that, but rather, people want someone who makes decisions based on evidence. People are really troubled by the idea that politics is driven by ideologies now, and debate is usually just posturing. Science moves away from political spin because it’s tied to evidence. In science, questions are answered provisionally, with the understanding that provisional answers are subject to revision as evidence dictates, which is not very common in a political debate.

TS: How can we incorporate more scientific-thinking into political discussion?

RH:  In the long-term, we should have better science education. And that doesn’t mean training more scientists; it means helping non-scientists think like scientists. The real solution is to get all of the lawyers and business people—anyone who’s elected to Congress—to understand how you compose evidence-based debates and how you learn to refine your understanding of a question based on evidence.

In the short-term, I think we have to turn to scientists. They should be talking about how a person—including a member of Congress—can ask questions in an open-minded way, so that they can be answered based on evidence and subjected to criticism. It won’t be easy, obviously—it’s a tall order—but who better to do that than scientists?

TS: So are you suggesting that more scientists should be involved in politics?

RH: Well, not everyone who thinks like a scientist is a scientist. There are many people who can help broaden the debate and open people’s minds, such as engineers and other technical professionals. But, of course, the twin-prong of my argument is that scientists should be able to think politically and be engaged politically. We certainly need more of that—and people have been saying that for decades.

TS: But couldn’t having more scientists engaged in politics have its downsides, too, such as politicized scientific studies?

RH: Of course, scientists are no less arrogant or pigheaded than other humans are, but the scientific process subjects them to a public review that leads to progress, and that’s what we need.

TS: Do you think a scientific approach is always the best way to think about an issue or policy?

RH: I hasten to say that science is not the only way of knowing things. Through religion, through literature, reflection, meditation, and any number of other approaches, we gain understanding and knowledge of our world. But the most reliable knowledge—that can be applied societally, to an entire community or country—is knowledge that has been tested empirically, that is based on the leveling effect of evidence. Evidence shouldn’t depend on one’s socioeconomic status or one’s political affiliation. Evidence has a democratizing effect that is healthy for our country. It’s the most politically useful way of knowing things.

TS: After more than a decade in Congress, what have you learned about working in politics and what advice would you give to other scientists trying to encourage evidence-based debate?

RH: Trying to balance the competing interests of around 700,000 constituents—which each member of Congress has to do—each constituent with a different idea of how we should be spending our time and our money and what’s important in our society, it’s hard work. This is intellectually harder than physics; psychologically and physically harder, too. But it’s also more important, and more satisfying.

I’m a realist and a pragmatist. I don’t go around dismissing people who think illogically or who are governed by rigid ideology. You have to work with them. But I would also like to work toward the day when we have less rigid ideologies governing the debate in Congress.

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