Millions Learning: Scaling up Quality Education in Developing Countries Summary Summary Executive the Developing World

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Millions Learning: Scaling up Quality Education in Developing Countries Summary Summary Executive the Developing World MILLIONS LEARNING SCALING UP QUALITY EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Jenny Perlman Robinson and Rebecca Winthrop with Eileen McGivney 1 MILLIONS LEARNING SCALING UP QUALITY EDUCATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Jenny Perlman Robinson and Rebecca Winthrop with Eileen McGivney Table of contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8 FILIPE’S STORY: BRAZIL’S NEW APPROACH TO SCHOOLING IN THE 14 I This report was written by Jenny Perlman Robinson and Rebecca Winthrop with Eileen AMAZON JUNGLE McGivney, along with research support from Jenny Alexander and Priyanka Varma, as well as invaluable assistance over the past few years from the Millions Learning team at the Brookings II ACCELERATED EDUCATION PROGRESS IS URGENTLY NEEDED 20 Institution’s Center for Universal Education, particularly: Lulwah Ayyoub, Mia Blakstad, Zoe Global goals place a premium on learning for all 22 Norris, Priya Shankar, and Samantha Spilka. Where education has failed: The scope and scale of challenges 24 Why focus on learning? 27 Sincere gratitude and appreciation to our Millions Learning consultants who have been equally instrumental in the report: Priscila Cruz, Shushmita Chatterji Dutt, Flavia Goulart, III SCALING SO MILLIONS LEARN: DEFINING A GLOBAL PRIORITY 30 Mayyada Abu Jaber, Haeyeon Jung, Christina Kwauk, Alessia Lefebure, Divya Mansukhani, A focus on scaling 33 Maria May, Jessica Moore, Ainan Nuran, Daniela Petrova, Martin Roeck, Marijke Schouten, Sheikh Islam Tanjeb, Judith-Ann Walker, and Jillian Yoerges. Addressing an evidence gap 33 Defining scaling 35 We are thankful for the guidance and support from our Millions Learning International Methods guiding Millions Learning 39 Advisory Panel Co-Chairs, the Honorable Julia Gillard (The Brookings Institution) and Homi Kharas (The Brookings Institution), and members: Alice Albright (Global Partnership IV FINDINGS: HOW HAS SCALING HAPPENED? 44 for Education), Aaron Benavot (Education for All Global Monitoring Report), Madhav Chavan Scaling success from the margins 46 (Pratham), Larry Cooley (Management Systems International), Claudia Costin (The World Bank Idea adoption and delivery innovation: 50 Group), Elizabeth King (The Brookings Institution), Ruth Levine (The William and Flora Hewlett Two strategies for scaling quality learning from the margins Foundation), Santiago Levy (Inter-American Development Bank), Daniel Low-Beer (World Health Organization), Lu Mai (China Development Research Foundation), Zbigniew Marciniak (University Scaling learning: 14 core ingredients 51 of Warsaw), Shannon May (Bridge International Academies), Dzingai Mutumbuka (Association for the Development of Education in Africa), Vineet Nayar (Sampark Foundation), Tamela Noboa V DESIGN 54 (Discovery Learning Alliance), Liesbet Steer (International Commission on Financing Global 1. Local education needs: Interventions should be designed in response 57 Education Opportunity), and Mark Surman (Mozilla Foundation). to local demand and should ensure the participation of end-users. 2. Cost-effective learning: Cost structures affordable at scale should 64 The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and be incorporated in the design. policy solutions. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that 3. Flexible adaptation: Core elements of effective learning 69 research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations for policymakers and the public. The approaches should be identified and replicated across contexts conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s) while adapting the rest to local circumstances. and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars. 4. Elevating teachers: Community expertise should be leveraged to 72 support and unburden teachers. Support for this publication and research effort was generously provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The MasterCard Foundation. The authors also wish to VI DELIVERY 80 acknowledge the broader programmatic support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the LEGO Foundation, and the Government of Norway. 5. Education alliances: All actors need to work together to achieve a 83 common goal. Brookings recognizes that the value it provides is in its absolute commitment to quality, 6. Learning champions and leaders: As scaling quality learning is 88 independence, and impact. Activities supported by its donors reflect this commitment, and the a political and technical exercise, champions within and outside analysis and recommendations are not determined or influenced by any donation. government and the classroom are crucial. 7. Technological advances: Context-appropriate technologies can 93 LIST OF FIGURES accelerate education progress. Figure 1. A scaling success story: The rapid spread of schooling in 23 8. Windows of opportunity: Effective education approaches are 95 the past 200 years more likely to take root and spread when they align with country Figure 2. The learning crisis: 38% of children not learning basic 25 priorities. literacy and numeracy 9. Better data: Data on learning and scaling play a central role by 98 Figure 3. Reaching universal secondary education: Projected gap 25 motivating informed action at the policy and practice levels. Figure 4. Pathways to scale 36 Figure 5. Case study overview 40 VII FINANCE 102 10. Flexible education financing: Financing should be flexible, 105 Figure 6. Learning Metrics Task Force: Seven domains of learning 42 including to build core operational capacity. Figure 7. Scaling success from the margins 48 11. Long-term education financing: Stable and predictable support is 108 Figure 8. Scaling learning: 14 core ingredients 52 essential. Figure 9. Millions Learning recommendations 131 12. “Middle phase” financing: Financing is required to bridge the 110 critical stage between pilot and broad uptake. LIST OF BOXES Box 1. Pathways for scaling effective approaches 38 VIII ENABLING ENVIRONMENT 114 Box 2. Defining the scope of the study 42 13. Supportive policy environment: Government policy must safeguard 117 Box 3. Lesson Study, Zambia 47 every child’s right to a quality education while remaining open to a Box 4. Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial 50 diversity of ideas and actors to contribute to this common aim. Box 5. Bridge International Academies 58 14. A culture of R&D: Ensuring that more children learn requires a 122 strong ethos of experimentation, collecting learning data, and using Box 6. Fundación Escuela Nueva 59 it for continuous improvement. Box 7. BRAC, Non-Formal Primary Education 60 Box 8. Aflatoun International 61 IX TOWARD THE FUTURE: THE NEED FOR INCLUSIVE AND ADAPTIVE 126 Box 9. Room to Read, Literacy Program 62 EDUCATION ECOSYSTEMS IN A CHANGING WORLD Box 10. Pratham, Read India 67 Action 1: Develop a culture of R&D in education 132 Box 11. Educate! 68 Action 2: Share new ideas through a network of Idea Hubs 133 Box 12. Sesame Workshop, Sesame Street 70 Action 3: Activate talent and expertise outside the classroom 134 Box 13. Teach For All 71 Action 4: Fund the middle phase 135 Box 14. INJAZ, Jordan 74 Action 5: Measure and learn what works through better learning and 136 Box 15. Amazonas State Government’s Media Center 76 scaling data Box 16. Worldreader 86 ENDNOTES 138 Box 17. Government action to create space for scaling quality 121 learning BIBLIOGRAPHY 148 ANNEXES Annex 1. Millions Learning case study selection process 155 Annex 2. 14 Millions Learning case studies 158 Annex 3. Acknowledgments 160 components of the teaching and learning We identified 14 core ingredients, in process—from curriculum, to materials, different combinations depending on to teacher development—have spread the context, contribute to scaling quality Executive across education ecosystems and been learning. Each of these ingredients is adopted by different actors. With the central for scaling effective approaches latter, new education delivery approaches that improve learning. Their importance summary for the most marginalized communities— is frequently reinforced from evidence such as distance learning models or in the broader scaling literature. They alternative education programs—have include essential elements for designing, developed and grown within and across delivering, financing, and enabling countries. scaling of quality education. Around the world, countries are grappling from wide-ranging research on scaling with how to scale quality education and learning, including 14 in-depth case for their children and youth. Quality studies, from Brazil and Honduras, to education is at the center of a nation’s Uganda and Zambia, to Jordan and progress, and it is also enshrined in the India. United Nations Sustainable Development DESIGN Goals, which 193 countries have recently What we found is that from the slums Millions Learning: Scaling up quality education in developing countries in developing up quality education Scaling Learning: Millions committed to support. While the spread of New Delhi to the rainforest in Brazil, Improving learning at scale starts with committed leaders of schooling over the past 150 years is transformational change in children’s planning for scale from the outset. Ingredients necessary to one of the most widely successful “going learning is happening at large scale in do this are: to scale” stories, this expansion too often many places around the world. We found has been met with little mastery of core that successful scaling of quality learning
Recommended publications
  • Network Partner Ceos
    Network Partner CEOs ARGENTINA to unlock their full potential through an excellent education. Larisa Oscar Ghillione considers her return to Armenia an opportunity to systemically impact CEO educational outcomes, and to provide an opportunity for outstanding Enseñá por Argentina graduates from Armenia and her diaspora to contribute to significant, meaningful development in their homeland. In February 2009, Oscar Ghillione, along with Prior to launching Teach For Armenia, Larisa had a diverse career a group of young people concerned about in marketing and consulting in the United States, Russia, and Armenia. the state of education in their country, began Larisa graduated with honors from St. Norbert College, with a BA in developing the plan to adapt and implement International Business & Language Area Studies, and received an MA the Teach For America model in Argentina. In March, 2011, with the in Special Education from Arizona State University. Larisa is an avid support of the Teach For All team, Enseñá por Argentina placed its first traveler, occasional recording artist, and a rookie oenology enthusiast. cohort of participants in schools. Oscar holds a degree in Business Administration from the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa. In 2005, he completed his MBA at Universidad AUSTRALIA del CEMA in Buenos Aires. In 2006, he was granted a scholarship by the Melodie Potts Rosevear Fundación Carolina to take a postgraduate course in business in Spain. CEO At present, he is a master’s degree candidate in Educational Policy at the Teach For Australia Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. Oscar has extensive experience in both the private and the social Melodie Potts Rosevear has been involved sectors.
    [Show full text]
  • Scientific Evidence for Effective Teaching of Reading
    Read About It: Scientific Evidence for Effective Teaching of Reading Kerry Hempenstall Edited by Jennifer Buckingham Research Report | March 2016 National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: Creator: Hempenstall, Kerry, author. Title: Read about it : scientific evidence for effective teaching of reading / Kerry Hempenstall ; edited by Jennifer Buckingham. ISBN: 9781922184610? (paperback) Series: CIS research report ; 11. Subjects: Effective teaching. Early childhood education--Research--Australia. Literacy--Research--Australia. Teacher effectiveness. Other Creators/Contributors: Buckingham, Jennifer, editor. Centre for Independent Studies (Australia), issuing body. Dewey Number: 371.10994 Read About It: Scientific Evidence for Effective Teaching of Reading Kerry Hempenstall Edited by Jennifer Buckingham Research Report 11 Related CIS publications Research Report RR9 Jennifer Buckingham and Trisha Jha, One School Does Not Fit All (2016) Policy Magazine Spring Issue Jennifer Buckingham, Kevin Wheldall and Robyn Beaman-Wheldall, ‘Why Jaydon can’t read: The triumph of ideology over evidence in teaching reading’ (2013) Contents Executive Summary ...............................................................................................1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................3 The power of improved instruction ...................................................................4 Effective, evidence-based reading instruction: The five ‘keys’
    [Show full text]
  • Building a World Leading Education System That Is Fair a Collection of Essays from Members of the Fair Education Alliance
    Building a World Leading Education System that is Fair A collection of essays from members of the Fair Education Alliance Foreword by Sir Richard Lambert Founding Corporate Supporter & Lead Sponsors: OUR VISION The Fair Education Alliance is working towards a world where our education system is fair – where children’s educational success is not limited by their socio-economic background. This is a world where disadvantage no longer determines literacy and numeracy rates at primary school, GCSE attainment at secondary school, the emotional wellbeing and resilience of young people, participation in further education or employment based training and university graduation. OUR MISSION To use our collective voice and influence to create change by helping a wide range of stakeholders to close the gap between the most disadvantaged children and their wealthier peers. Acknowledgements: Sir Richard Lambert, FEA Chair Dame Julia Cleverdon, FEA Vice Chair Lewis Iwu, FEA Director & Commissioning Editor Alex Turner, FEA Coordinator Claire Read, Save the Children Dr Catherine Knowles, Achievement for All Harriet McCann, National Literacy Trust Brett Wigdortz, Teach First Jess Tanner and Miranda Dobson, Family Links Katy Neep, Business in the Community Mary Curnock Cook, UCAS The views and recommendations expressed within these essays do not necessarily reflect the view of the FEA membership as a whole. Contents Foreword by Sir Richard Lambert ........................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • As a Dispositif: Towards a Critical Ontology of Policy and Power
    "Tea~h First" as a Dispositif: Towards a critical ontology of policy and power Patrick L.J. Bailey veL Institute of Education, London PhD Thesis June 2015 . 1 Declaration I, Patrick Bailey, hereby declare that, except where explicit attribution is made, the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. Word Count 99,854 words Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the proper acknowledgement of the author. 2 Abstract This thesis is a study of power. More specifically, it is a study of some of the myriad forms and operations of power which animate and condition the present, and which can be observed in the governing of education policy. A material post-structural approach to policy sociology is developed and then deployed in exploring the ontology of the education state and the teacher. The thesis puts to work the 'methods' and 'sensibilities' of Foucauldian genealogy and critical ethnography, and in doing so attends to some of the history of power and its insinuations in the governing and administering of education. Drawing on Michel Foucault's methodological and analytical concept of the dispositif, education policy is conceptualised as an historical and contingent formation of material objects, discourses and practices - a policy dispositij. At the same time, dispositifis applied as an analytical device for investigating the 'micro-physics' and 'immanence' of power, or the different ways in which power operates in minute and molecular ways in individual and heterogeneous encounters. Dispositifis also applied as a critical tool for exposing the ways in which the present is conditioned and fabricated within, and by, multiple forces of enablement and constraint.
    [Show full text]
  • The Effectiveness of Using Discovery Learning Method in Teaching Writing Skill Viewed from the Students' Creativity
    THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING DISCOVERY LEARNING METHOD IN TEACHING WRITING SKILL VIEWED FROM THE STUDENTS’ CREATIVITY (An Experimental Study at the Tenth Grade Students of SMAN 1 Durenan Trenggalek in the Academic Year of 2014/2015) Thesis Written to Fulfill One of the Requirements to Obtain the Graduate Degree in English Education Written by: Ringgi Candraning Prawerti S 891302037 ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT GRADUATE SCHOOL SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY SURAKARTA 2014 i APPROVAL THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING DISCOVERY LEARNING METHOD IN TEACHING WRITING SKILL VIEWED FROM THE STUDENTS’ CREATIVITY (An Experimental Study at the Tenth Grade Students of SMAN 1 Durenan Trenggalek in the Academic Year of 2014/2015) By RINGGI CANDRANING PRAWERTI S891302037 This Thesis has been approved by the consultants of English Education Department Graduate School of Teachers’ Training and Education Faculty of Sebelas Maret University Surakarta in 2014, First consultant, Second consultant, Dr. Ngadiso, M. Pd. Dra. Diah Kristina, M. A, Ph. D NIP. 19621231 198803 1 009 NIP. 19590505 198601 2 001 Approved by The Head of English Education Department Graduate School of Teachers’ Training and Education Faculty of Sebelas Maret University Dr. Abdul Asib, M. Pd NIP. 19520307 198003 1 005 ii LEGITIMATION FROM THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING DISCOVERY LEARNING METHOD IN TEACHING WRITING SKILL VIEWED FROM THE STUDENTS’ CREATIVITYM By RINGGI CANDRANING PRAWERTI S891302037 This Thesis has been examined by the Board of Thesis Examiners of English Education Department of Teachers Training and Education Faculty of Graduate School of Sebelas Maret University Surakarta on ….., …… Board of Examiners Chairperson : Dr. Abdul Asib, M.
    [Show full text]
  • Disrupting the Habitus? Media Representations and Participant Experience of Teach First: an Exploratory Case Study in Wales
    This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Teachers and Teaching on [5 Feb 2018], available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/ 10.1080/13540602.2018.1435526 Disrupting the Habitus? Media representations and participant experience of Teach First: an exploratory case study in Wales. Alex Southern Faculty of Education and Communities, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Cardiff, Wales The Registry King Edward VII Avenue Cardiff CF10 3NS [email protected] 029 2037 5055 This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Teachers and Teaching on [5 Feb 2018], available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/ 10.1080/13540602.2018.1435526 Disrupting the Habitus? Media representations and participant experience of Teach First: an exploratory case study in Wales. Abstract Teach First is a schools-based route into teaching, where graduates are able to train while employed by ‘disadvantaged’ schools. Established in 2002, the charity works in partnership with teacher training providers around England and Wales. The first Teach First Cymru cohort began in 2013, at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD). Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, this paper will discuss the potential impact of Teach First Cymru on the teaching habitus, through public and personal articulations of the profession, set within the context of critical debate surrounding the programme. In order to do so, the paper will explore media representations of Teach First and data generated from focus groups and interviews with Teach First Cymru participants and trainees on the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) at the same university.
    [Show full text]
  • Crossing Boundaries: Transforming Stemeducation
    PROJECT KALEIDOSCOPE Advancing What Works in STEM Education NETWORK FOR ACADEMIC RENEWAL CONFERENCE CROSSING BOUNDARIES: TRANSFORMING STEM EDUCATION Westin Seattle | Seattle, Washington November 12-14, 2015 Dear Colleagues, The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) welcome you to the Network for Academic Renewal conference Crossing Boundaries: Transforming STEM Education. Over the next few days, we invite you to join with colleagues to examine strategies and practices for addressing the national imperative to produce more competitively trained, liberally educated STEM graduates and ensuring a scientifically literate citizenry. Crossing Boundaries provides an opportunity to share and discuss the kinds of integrative, inclusive, and engaging approaches to teaching and learning that all students need to address the pervasive and multifaceted issues of contemporary life. From public health; to climate change; to water, food, and personal security in the midst of geopolitical instability, the program encourages us to collaborate across disciplines, among all campus sectors, and with community and business partners to truly engage students with real-world issues from multiple perspectives. Scott Page, Leonid Hurwicz Collegiate Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science and Economics at the University of Michigan will set the context for the conference by analyzing the ways in which diversity contributes to—indeed is essential for—a high-quality learning environment. Erika Camacho, Associate
    [Show full text]
  • Discovery Learning and Discovery Teaching David Hammer Version of Record First Published: 14 Dec 2009
    This article was downloaded by: [SDSU San Diego State University] On: 08 August 2012, At: 09:46 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Cognition and Instruction Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hcgi20 Discovery Learning and Discovery Teaching David Hammer Version of record first published: 14 Dec 2009 To cite this article: David Hammer (1997): Discovery Learning and Discovery Teaching, Cognition and Instruction, 15:4, 485-529 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci1504_2 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this
    [Show full text]
  • Experiences in Self-Determined Learning
    Lisa Blaschke, Chris Kenyon & Stewart Hase (Eds.) Experiences in Self-determinded Learning Copyright © 2014 Lisa Marie Blaschke, Chris Kenyon and Stewart Hase All rights reserved. ISBN: 1502785307 ISBN-13: 978-1502785305 DEDICATION To all the children throughout the world who deserve the best education All proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to educating children in Africa through Buy1 Give1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to all the contributors who freely gave of their time, effort and knowledge to enable this book Thanks to Amanda Nelson for the cover design A note on spelling: Contributors to this book come from several different countries and use different versions of the English language. The original spelling of a contributor’s work has been unchanged in order to retain the integrity of the work. CONTENTS Biographies ........................................................................ 6 Introduction ...................................................................... 10 The Basics ........................................................................ 14 1 An Introduction to Self-determined Learning (Heutagogy) ............................................................... 15 2 Heutagogy and Systems Thinking: A Perfect Marriage for Conducting Learning Experiences ....... 31 The Learners ..................................................................... 41 3 Embracing Opportunities for Self-directed Learning in Formal Learning Environments .............. 42 4 Moving Students Forward in the PAH Continuum: Maximizing
    [Show full text]
  • Enhancing Students' Motivation and Problem Solving Skills in Mathematics Using Guided Discovery Learning
    Universal Journal of Educational Research 8(12): 6783-6789, 2020 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.081244 Enhancing Students' Motivation and Problem Solving Skills in Mathematics Using Guided Discovery Learning Tanti Diyah Rahmawati1, Dwi Sulisworo2,*, Erwin Prasetyo3 1Department of Mathematics Education, IKIP Muhammadiyah Maumere, Sikka, Indonesia 2Department of Physics Education, Ahmad Dahlan University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 3Department of Physics Education, IKIP Muhammadiyah Maumere, Sikka, Indonesia Received August 13, 2020; Revised August 17, 2020; Accepted November 12, 2020 Cite This Paper in the following Citation Styles (a): [1] Tanti Diyah Rahmawati, Dwi Sulisworo, Erwin Prasetyo , "Enhancing Students' Motivation and Problem Solving Skills in Mathematics Using Guided Discovery Learning," Universal Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 8, No. 12, pp. 6783 - 6789, 2020. DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.081244. (b): Tanti Diyah Rahmawati, Dwi Sulisworo, Erwin Prasetyo (2020). Enhancing Students' Motivation and Problem Solving Skills in Mathematics Using Guided Discovery Learning. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(12), 6783 - 6789. DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.081244. Copyright©2020 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract Guided discovery learning is one of the Ability, Mathematics, Guided Discovery, Learning learning models that focus on students. This model is one Strategy, Learning Environment, Learning Innovation, of the recommended models for implementing the 2013 Learning Satisfaction Curriculum as a foundation for education reform in Indonesia. It's just that the internalization of teachers in the learning models that focus on students still needs to be improved.
    [Show full text]
  • Inquiry-Based Learning Literature Review
    INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING LITERATURE REVIEW Inquiry-Based Learning: A Review of the Research Literature Dr. Sharon Friesen Galileo Educational Network, University of Calgary David Scott University of Calgary Paper prepared for the Alberta Ministry of Education June 2013 INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING LITERATURE REVIEW 2 Introduction A growing body of research suggests that models of education designed to meet the needs of the industrial past are inadequate for the myriad challenges and opportunities facing 21st century students (Alberta Education, 2010; Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008; Friesen & Jardine, 2009; Perkins, 2009). New educational environments require different ways of designing learning experiences for students as well as new approaches to teaching and assessment. The call for educational reform away from passive transmission-based learning and the imparting of discrete skills and processes is not new. Institutions of education around the world are reconsidering some of their most deeply-held assumptions about how they conceptualize learning and to what end education should be directed. This shift in thinking has been prominent in Alberta. Subject-specific programs of study and the Ministry of Education’s Inspiring Education (2010) document to guide education in Alberta to 2030 call for a vision of education that will prepare young people for the shifting economic, technological, and socio-political realities of the 21st century. Through fostering intellectual engagement, an entrepreneurial spirit, and the dispositions of ethical citizenship, the vision for education outlined in the Inspiring Education document advocates that students develop competencies through a process of inquiry and discovery. Students would collaborate to create new knowledge while also learning how to “think critically and creatively, and how to make discoveries—through inquiry, reflection, exploration, experimentation, and trial and error” (Alberta Education, 2010, p.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dramatic Impact of Explicit Instruction on Learning to Read in A
    PSSXXX10.1177/0956797620968790Rastle et al.The Dramatic Impact of Explicit Instruction 968790research-article2021 ASSOCIATION FOR Research Article PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Psychological Science 1 –14 The Dramatic Impact of Explicit © The Author(s) 2021 Instruction on Learning to Read Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions in a New Writing System DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620968790 10.1177/0956797620968790 www.psychologicalscience.org/PS Kathleen Rastle1 , Clare Lally1 , Matthew H. Davis2 , and J. S. H. Taylor3 1Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London; 2MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge; and 3Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London Abstract There is profound and long-standing debate over the role of explicit instruction in reading acquisition. In this research, we investigated the impact of teaching regularities in the writing system explicitly rather than relying on learners to discover these regularities through text experience alone. Over 10 days, 48 adults learned to read novel words printed in two artificial writing systems. One group learned spelling-to-sound and spelling-to-meaning regularities solely through experience with the novel words, whereas the other group received a brief session of explicit instruction on these regularities before training commenced. Results showed that virtually all participants who received instruction performed at ceiling on tests that probed generalization of underlying regularities. In contrast,
    [Show full text]