Relation of teaching and learning approaches to development of students' reasoning skills in primary school (Eurasian region, post-soviet education)

• In Event: Poster session III
  In Poster Session: Poster session 3

Proposal

The proposed poster is intended to present the results of the project which core is the cross-country comparative research (International Research of Students Achievements – IRSA) on relation of the teaching and learning approaches and development of student’s reasoning skills in primary schools of post-soviet region.
IRSA was a part of the 4-year project (aimed to address the knowledge gap on best teaching and learning approaches on development of reasoning skills in countries that still carry Soviet legacy in main approaches to education. The project addresses (via reasoning skills assessment coupled with examining teaching) the issue of outdated systems of teaching and learning that do not prepare the learner for modern social and economic conditions and strives to identify good practices of teaching and learning in the region followed up by distribution of best practices among countries. Building of local education assessment capacity is also a part of the project and serves the purpose to make countries more self-reliant when identifying their own education challenges and priorities and developing relevant education assessments.
Preparing young learners for the future, as well as maximizing their potential to contribute to the nation’s development, calls for the skills development beyond the basics. It seems particularly important for the systems to internalize notions of learner-centered education that enables the development of a repertoire of learner’s competencies, including reasoning skills (as opposed to just memorization of academic material). Given the limited resources of many education systems the research aims to address the need for better understanding of which teaching and learning methods contribute most efficiently to the development of reasoning skills of learners.
Assumption underlying the project design is that by drawing attention of policy makers to the value of reasoning skills, by stimulating discussion and a search for solution in educators professional community, all these being backed up by research data and supplemented by a toolkit for teachers and teacher trainers, the project (and other initiatives) would entail changes in the education system in the direction of quality improvement with an ultimate benefit to the learners and communities. The project is in line with Sustainable Development agenda and also contributes to the contemporary global knowledge on reasoning skills and teaching and learning by providing a case for Eurasia.
Key research activities included: development of an assessment of student reasoning skills, development of methodology to single out best teaching and learning approaches that have relation to the level of reasoning skills in a particular cohort, filed works (data collection and analysis).
The developed methodology of the research is universal. Its methods and tools can be used in other regions and countries that share same historical, economic and cultural legacy.
The research was conducted in frameworks of READ program (joint donor initiative of the Russian Government and the World Bank aimed at strengthening educational assessment in developing countries) in Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia and supported by the government educational bodies.

Authors

• Petr Nezhnov, Moscow City University

• Daria Clarke, Center for International Cooperation in Education Development (CICED)

• Olga Maslenkova, Center for International Cooperation in Education Development