iste in action

Joseph South introduces our new Research Connections column.

New column empowers educators with research-based insights

By Joseph South

ISTE Chief Learning Officer

In this issue of Empowered Learner, we’re introducing a new column called Research Connections. The purpose of Research Connections is to provide readers with practical, relevant classroom strategies and approaches that are research-based.

On the surface, this may sound really straightforward. And in a way it is. Why wouldn’t we connect classrooms to educational researchers and researchers to classrooms? Both can benefit.

Educators benefit from learning about approaches that have been studied and verified to be effective. Researchers benefit by learning from and studying the innovative approaches that educators are developing every day in their classrooms, and in understanding the context and constraints of their day-to-day work.

This can spark new ideas for researchers to study, which, in turn, can benefit yet more educators.

Surprisingly, these kinds of collaborations are less abundant than they should be. More often, researchers conduct a small study in a controlled environment and publish it in a peer-reviewed academic journal, never to be seen by the vast majority of educators.

And educators often rely primarily on what they learned in their own university experience (whether that was one year ago or 20) or what they experienced in their early years in the classroom.

Without context and the latest research in mind, it can be hard to know which of the myriad frameworks, best practices, initiatives and snappy-sounding approaches that are constantly appearing in teachers’ inboxes, social media streams and professional learning experiences are truly effective.

That’s where this new column can bridge the gap. In each quarterly issue, the column will introduce recent research and share: • New insights from the research. • The principle behind it. • Classroom applications and examples. • Potential limitations. • Key takeaways for educators. • Remaining questions.

We hope that Research Connections can help point us in a new direction, one that respects the knowledge and skills of classroom teachers while also embracing the latest advances in our collective understanding of how students learn best.

We promise to keep it practical. We promise to keep it relevant. We promise to base it in real science. And we hope you can use it to discover new insights that support you on your journey as an empowered educator, learner and leader.

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