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May 18, 2010

Is education research all dreck

Daniel Willingham:

Sharon Begley, science editor at Newsweek, doesn't have anything nice to say about education research. In a recent article, she refers to it as "second-class science" and "so flimsy as to be a national scandal."

I agree that there is a problem, but I don't think she's diagnosed it correctly.

There is a lot of excellent research in education. I spend most of my time reading basic scientific work and trying to understand what it means for classrooms and for policy, and much of what I draw on is education research.

There is, however, also a good deal of dreck.

There is a certain amount of poor science in other fields as well. Go to the psychology section of a large book store and you'll see plenty of nonsense. Books with crazy suggestions on dieting, love, self-actualization, and so on.

The difference between psychology and education is that psychology, as a field, is more vigilant in its self-regulation, particularly through its professional societies.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 18, 2010 2:13 AM
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