Toward an ecological science of teaching.

Abstract

The need for a primary emphasis on teaching is a necessary, and as yet unfulfilled, goal of psychological science. We argue that an ecological model focused specifically upon understanding and optimizing teaching practice must incorporate the necessary complexity inherent to the teaching and learning process. To do so, we must expand our scope beyond the simple exploration of main effects under controlled conditions to the exploration of dynamic interactions, including the identification of boundary conditions, and the assessment of potential side-effects across relevant variables and contexts. To do so, foci on internal and external validity must be re-balanced in a manner more productive for practical inferences and applications. With an eye on educational practice, we point out that statistically insignificant results, under certain circumstances, can yield very useful strategies for teaching. Therefore, researchers interested in practical applications for teachers should be encouraged to use active control groups in their studies when feasible. We also argue that practical significance must include context-relevant information, for example, a ratio between the degree to which the findings can be used in context without upsetting other learning objectives and the amount of benefit given the costs (both time and energy) of the intervention, as an essential component to evaluating the potential utility of teaching research. Thus, statistically significant results must be weighed with respect to both effect-size and the practicality of implementation by teachers in authentic educational contexts before being considered a candidate for use in the classroom. Public Significance StatementWe have a Science of Learning. Why don't we have a Science of Teaching? While Psychological Science has a great deal to offer with respect to the nature and characteristics of the learner, we argue that it can do better to inform and impact educational practice. We articulate the need and parameters for an ecological Science of Teaching to point and design findings from Psychological Science toward usable knowledge for teaching.

Navigating ‘the bumpy road’ from research to practice: Improving the impact of research on spatial reasoning practice with young children

“…Researchers need to do the of ensuring their research has 'practical significance' (Daniel & De Bruyckere, 2021) with findings reported in terms of practicality of implementation as well as strength of findings (statistical significance). Biesta (2010) points out, this is a question of research epistemology as well as research reporting.…”

The Science of Microteaching and Learning: An Exploratory Study

“…Results demonstrate the complexity of teaching and its irreducibility to a set of prescriptive behaviors. They also suggest that a process-based context-specific analysis of online microteaching can provide a "bridging" tool for researchers and practitioners to address fundamental questions about teaching and so develop a "science of teaching".Understanding teaching has been described as a necessary and unfulfilled goal of psychological science (Daniel & De Bruyckere, 2021), but it presents theoretical and methodological challenges. Firstly, a teacher continuously and creatively recombines elements from a vast array of practices and possibilities, generating a multitude of potentially unique teaching behaviors.…”

“…Understanding teaching has been described as a necessary and unfulfilled goal of psychological science (Daniel & De Bruyckere, 2021), but it presents theoretical and methodological challenges. Firstly, a teacher continuously and creatively recombines elements from a vast array of practices and possibilities, generating a multitude of potentially unique teaching behaviors.…”

“…A second issue is appropriately balancing internal/external validity (Daniel & De Bruyckere, 2021). Researchers may improve internal validity by constraining the learning situation, thus reducing variance due to extraneous variables of no direct interest.…”

Teaching psychology.

“…Many of the authors in this issue address important, high-level teaching concerns that are not necessarily tied to a specific course or curricular issue. In their article “Towards an Ecological Science of Teaching,” David Daniel of James Madison University and Pedro De Bruyckere of Artevelde University suggest that researchers examining the effectiveness of different teaching techniques must transcend an understanding of main effects and use more nuanced and complex methods to reflect real-world learning conditions (Daniel & De Bruyckere, 2021). At times, statistical significance may be an artifactual (i.e., deceptive) goal; Daniel and De Bruyckere note that under certain ecological conditions, a nonstatistically significant outcome might result in a meaningful and authentic change in student learning outcomes.…”