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Introduction - Presentation - Externalize the Invisible

Learning from What Cognitive Researchers Do

There are many possible connections between research and practice.

• Obvious connection - theory derived from research or applications evaluated through research suggest specific classroom applications.

I think it can be argued that another very helpful connection might occur because of rigorous methodologies researchers use.

Researchers must operationalize the crucial variables they study. They must explain how they will measure, count, score, etc. Practioners can get away with fuzzy or vague ways to explaining behavior.

Consider this exchange:

Why is my son doing so poorly in your class? 
Well, I think your son is lazy.

If I am the parent, what has the teacher told me? I suppose I know the teacher feels the student has the necessary ability but is not working hard enough.

A researcher could not get away with this kind of statement, e.g., "I study the relationship between laziness and student performance. I have found that differences in laziness account for 25% of the variability in performance."

A teacher might immediately say - "It appears laziness is pretty important. I should not tolerate laziness."

What do you think the immediate reaction of another researcher interested in this area of study would be?

I read many blogs related to education and probably the thing that annoys me the most are those "visionaries" who attract an audience based on attractive sounding generalities. A core value of those who take a research-based perspective on practice (in this case the practice of education) is that at some point ideas must be translated into tangible practices (what educators and students do) and success/failure must be determined based on some tangible product (what is available as data/evidence). For me, it is fine to function on a theoretical level for a period of time, but at some point it is essential to operationalize the proposed process and identify related observable/measurable outcomes.

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