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Unsurprising Results in Pedagogy

By drorzel on January 26, 2007.

Via Eurekalert, a Florida State press release touting a paper in Science studying techniques used to teach reading. The conclusion won't surprise anyone who has worked in education:

The researchers found that "the efficacy of any particular instructional practice may depend on the skill level of the student. Instructional strategies that help one student may be ineffective when applied to another student with different skills." The trick, then, is to more precisely determine the reading skill level of each child and then find a way to cater the curriculum to each student's individual needs.

Or, as the press release title puts it, "No one strategy is best for teaching reading."

The extension of this to math, physics, cooking, driving, and IQ tests is left as an exercise for the reader.

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education
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Physical Sciences

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The Marines could take any youth no matter how scrofulous and turn out a skilled loyal soldier, or kill him trying. That has been changed, by law. We no longer win wars.