This article considers possible reasons that research knowledge is not used more extensively in special education practice and suggests issues to be addressed in solving this problem. We contrast research knowledge and practice knowledge and describe factors that moderate the influence of research on practice, in both general and special education. These factors include teacher knowledge and learning, teacher attitudes and beliefs, and context. We conclude by considering various issues and alternatives for reconceptualizing the relationship between research and practice in special education.
An analysis was conducted of the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) research evidence base on the effectiveness of replicable education interventions. Most interventions were found to have little or no support from technically adequate research studies, and intervention effect sizes were of questionable magnitude to meet education policy goals. These findings painted a dim picture of the evidence base on education interventions and indicated a need for new approaches, including a reexamination of federal reliance on experimental impact research as the basis for gauging intervention effectiveness.
This study investigated the effects of computer games on motivation to engage in an academic task subsequent to computer instruction. An instructional computer game was compared with a computer program that operated identically but without game features. The programs were designed to develop a vocabulary skill involving matching negation prefixes to root words. Continuing motivation on this academic task was measured in a noncomputer free-choice activity administered 1 day following the computer instruction. The experimental subjects were students identified by the school as learning disabled and placed in resource rooms or selfcontained classrooms. The game and nongame programs produced equal gains in task skill. The game condition resulted in significantly higher levels of continuing motivation than the nongame condition.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.