A Methodology to Validate Educational Experiment Results in a Real Classroom Using ILOs

Educational Research Findings Lose Their Way

Stanovich and Stanovich (2003) argue that educators must use controlled empirical experiment results in their classes. Justice (2006) indicates that there is a strong movement towards evidence-based practice in education and explains that a large amount of literature exists to inform educators about the intervention and prevention approaches to resolve the challenges faced by students with reading difficulties. In support of this argument, Hembenstall (2006) says that teaching is suffering because it does not sufficiently include results of empirical experiment results into educational pedagogies. This view is also supported by Carnine (2000) who notes that education continues to be impervious to research on effective practices after comparing it to fields like medicine. Sabelli and Dede (2000) have noted that decades of funding into technology-enhanced learning researcher did not result in effective improvements in classroom practice.

Stanovich and Stanovich (2003) explain that teachers’ educational know-how comes from three main sources of information. The first is peer reviewed published papers that withstood the scrutiny of peers and survived a filter of reviewers to be published. The second is un-refereed publications where educators exchange information about the best educational approaches they gained through instinct or expertise. The third is when a number of different sources of information deliver the same message as when a published experiment is replicated.

Justice and Fey (2004) express a similar view when researching students with reading difficulties. They explain that assessments and interventions in schools should be based upon an integration of several factors. The first as with Stanovich and Stanovich (2003) is systemic empirical research. The second is described by Stanovich and Stanovich (2003) as un-refereed publications and described here are substantive theoretical knowledge. They also add clinical expertise and child and family preferences, which is specific to their field of implementation.

Therefore, educators have a multitude of sources from which to extract viable educational techniques. Stanovich and Stanovich (2003) encourages teachers to follow a “what works” epistemology to update their teaching approach. In other words, it is the duty of researchers to produce the results of controlled studies and it is the duty of educators to understand these contributions and implement into uncontrolled classroom environments and expect the same results to materialize. The epistemology lays the burden on the educator to test these results and face the possibility of failure while performing their teaching duties.