Classroom instruction that works : research-based strategies for increasing student achievement

What works in education? How do we know? How can teachers find out? How can educational research find its way into the classroom? How can we apply it to help our individual students? Questions like these arise in most schools, and busy educators often don't have time to find the answers. Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock have examined decades of research findings to distill the results into nine broad teaching strategies that have positive effects on student learning: * Identifying similarities and differences. * Summarizing and note taking. * Reinforcing effort and providing recognition. * Homework and practice. * Nonlinguistic representations. * Cooperative learning. * Setting objectives and providing feedback. * Generating and testing hypotheses. * Questions, cues, and advance organizers. This list is not new. But what is surprising is finding out what a big difference it makes, for example, when students learn how to take good notes, work in groups, and use graphic organizers. The authors provide statistical effect sizes and show how these translate into percentile gains for students, for each strategy. And each chapter presents extended classroom examples of teachers and students in action; models of successful instruction; and many "frames," rubrics, organizers, and charts to help teachers plan and implement the strategies. This book provides information on what works in education, how teachers can find what works, how educational research can find its way into classrooms, and how teachers can apply it to help individual students. Data come from a meta-analysis of research studies on instructional strategies that could be used by K-12 teachers. Nine research-based teaching strategies that have a positive effect on student learning are examined: identifying similarities and differences; summarizing and note taking; reinforcing effort and providing recognition; homework and practice; nonlinguistic representations; cooperative learning; setting objectives and providing feedback; generating and testing hypotheses; and questions, cues, and advance organizers. For each strategy, the book provides statistical effect sizes and shows how they translate into percentile gains for students. Each chapter presents extended classroom examples of teachers and students in action; models of successful instruction; and a variety of frames, rubrics, organizers, and charts to help teachers plan and implement the strategies. After describing the strategies, the book examines specific applications (teaching specific types of knowledge and using the nine categories in instructional planning). An appendix presents a conversion table for effect size/percentile gain. (Contains approximately 290 references.) (SM) Applying the Research on Instruction: An Idea Whose Time Has Come......Page 8 Identifying Similarities and Differences......Page 20 Summarizing and Notetaking......Page 36 Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition......Page 56 Homework and Practice......Page 67 Nonlinguistic Representations......Page 79 Cooperative Learning......Page 91 Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback......Page 99 Generating and Testing Hypotheses......Page 110 Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers......Page 118 Teaching Specific Types of Knowledge......Page 130 Using the Nine Categories in Instructional Planning......Page 153 Afterword......Page 163 Appendix......Page 166 References......Page 168 Index......Page 181 About the Authors......Page 184 Applying The Research On Instruction -- Research-based Strategies -- Identifying Similarities And Differences -- Summarizing And Note Taking -- Reinforcing Effort And Providing Recognition -- Homework And Practice -- Nonlinguistic Representations -- Cooperative Learning -- Setting Objectives And Providing Feedback -- Generating And Testing Hypotheses -- Cues, Questions, And Advance Organizers -- Specific Applications -- Teaching Specific Types Of Knowledge -- Using The Nine Categories In Instructional Planning. Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering, Jane E. Pollock. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 161-173) And Index. Describes nine different teaching strategies which have been proven to have positive effects on student learning and explains how those strategies can be incorporated into the classroom