There have been a lot of discussions in the press and the blogosphere about the USDOE’s “Effectiveess of Reading and Mathematics Software Products” report on a few drill-oriented educational software programs and the findings that their use did not significantly affect test scores. There are many obvious flaws in the study itself, as well as the extrapolation of this research to the use of technology in general. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
This made me wonder though — has the DOE (or other independent third-party) done comparable research studies on the educational effectiveness of textbooks? I am seriously curious about this. If anyone knows of a study like this, please post a comment or email me.
If no one knows of such a study, I’d like to see research on the effectiveness of textbooks in improving student learning, increasing engagement, and developing critical thinking skills. Anyone out there interested in pursuing this?
Just think of the money that could be freed up for other uses if it were scientifically determined that kids in classrooms that used textbooks didn’t score higher on tests.
Effectiveness of textbooks?