For decades, the notion of teachers engaging in research has been discussed and carried out under the heuristics and methodologies of action research (Manfra, 2019; Pine, 2009). A typical action research project might involve an individual teacher studying the effectiveness of a specific instructional strategy like having students preview content…

One associate editor's perspective on classroom experiment articles is detailed in this article. The associate editor provides recommendations for manuscripts for the Instruction (those that describe new classroom experiments) and Research (those reporting studies into the efficacy of classroom experiments as a pedagogical tool) Sections of…

Within the framework of cognitive learning theories, instructional design manipulations have primarily been investigated under tightly controlled laboratory conditions. We carried out two experiments, where the first experiment was conducted in a restricted system-paced setting and is therefore in line with the majority of empirical studies in the…

As the nation witnesses a distinct decline in civic engagement among young adults, political science instructors across the nation face the formidable task of engaging students in lower-level, general education courses outside students' primary domain of interest. The research presented here seeks to understand if visually enhanced lecture…

Analogous thinking has been commonly discussed as being an inherent and distinguishing characteristic of human cognition (e.g., Gentner, 2010; Goldstone, Day, & Son, 2010; Holyoak, in press; Rittle-Johnson & Star, in press). Gentner (2003) has argued that as part of the human cognitive toolbox, comparison accompanied by the relational language to…

Describes an experiment in which the achievement of a high school class graded on a pass-no pass system was found to be equal to that of a close receiving traditional letter grades. (SP)

The problem of spurious significance in multivariate exploratory research is discussed. When a very large number of statistical tests are performed, many tests will be significant on the basis of chance alone. To counter this problem, the use of two sign tests to analyze sets of results has been suggested; the chance expectation [CE test] assesses…

A number of potential threats to internal validity in true experiments are discussed. Programmatic research efforts proceeding from established correlational findings to experiments employing random assignment are described and used as referents in discussions of validity considerations. The collection of observational data is recommended for use…

Language teachers with little or no experience in conducting research are guided through the process of deciding what kind of classroom research to undertake, and how to organize and implement it. In question-and-answer format, four types of research are defined and explained separately: action, survey, correlational, and experimental studies. For…

An experiment tested the efficacy of "discovery learning" in a school setting. Fifty-two bright children ages one to seven were randomly divided into two groups: a discovery learning, non-directed group and a guided learning, teacher-directed group. After both groups had spent eight months using an individualized "talking…

The Education Voucher Demonstration, begun in Alum Rock in 1972, is a large-scale social intervention with a wide range of social, political, economic, and educational objectives. This document is one of three such papers describing the educational aspects of the demonstration program which involved six public schools, 22 "mini-school"…

"Excessive" noise outburst behavior of 24 second graders was effectively controlled under automated stimulus conditions. A voice operated relay transmitted signals to an automated combination light display and outburst time/total running time meters; under 2 conditions, the light display functioned first as a primary, then as a secondary…