• Why Data Matters

    The short answer is that it is too hard to see beyond our own experiences and our interpretations of those experiences to see what is really true.

  • One of the most profound problems facing change in education is that everyone has gone through school and thinks back to his or her good and bad experiences as models for what should or should not be done. These memories form the basis of their opinions and a surprising number of people are unwilling to think that their opinions might be wrong even if shown to be false by good research studies. "Cigarettes won't hurt me. In my family my father and uncle both smoked for over 70 years and just died of old age." "Stomach ulcers are caused by stress." Research studies have overturned these beliefs. To a large degree, these same sorts of prejudices still determine how people think that mathematics should be learned.

  • In the last 20 years, an increasing number of good studies have shown that for most students the traditional approach of "tell and practice" is not a particularly good way to learn either mathematics or science. Children will memorize the rules but be at a loss to know how to use them or when they are applicable. However, the children blame themselves or the teacher—not the teaching method—when they no longer know what to do because learning this way feels so right. There was something concrete to memorize and apply and they did. It is just that the knowledge does not stick, nor is it flexible enough to be used in new situations.

  • How do we know that engagement approaches are better than this method of instruction?

  • Answer: Data, data, data.

  • Research studies are the only way to look beyond one's personal prejudices and opinions. Because our personal experiences are so persuasive we all have a hard time moving beyond them. The data from a whole set of research studies ranging from young children through college-level freshmen demonstrates the essential fragility of this kind of knowledge and the need to learn in other ways. See some of the studies here: http://www.cpm.org/teachers/research.htm.