meta

Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement
$47.95
This book is needed by any parent with a child in school. Hattie makes it known that education is driven by fads and ideology not empirical research. This is the book everyone needs who wishes to distinguish practices that are extremely likely to produce positive results from those that do not. YOU need TO BUY this BOOK, if you read this far.
Hattie concludes this tour de force with "Project Follow Through" which clearly demonstrated what worked, the result was education decision makers decided to throw increasingly large amounts of money into practices they would like to have work. You guessed it those practices still do not work.

[effect sizes from "Visible Learning" by Hattie : the hinge effect value of 0.40 or greater indicates an intervention is likely to bring success]

Seattle's current math direction is centered on:
a. Inquiry based teaching (0.31)
b. Problem based learning (0.15)
c. Differentiated Instruction (no empirical evidence)

Consider the effective practices Seattle chooses not to use:
a. Project Follow Through's recommendation for Direct Instruction (0.59).
b. Problem Solving teaching (0.61),
c. Mastery Learning (0.58), and
d. Worked Examples (0.57).

These four innovations are not only effective but could be easily combined into a deliverable package. Instead Seattle chooses to buy expensive to deliver programs that do not work.

Seattle blunders on and your school and district is likely to do the same.
Medicine went from an immature profession to one based on evidence because the clients demanded it.
These days the immature profession of education appears headed to being an infantile profession. Only with lots of pressure will it become a mature profession.

page 254:
A major area in education research should be why we continue to believe many claims about "what works best " when there is no evidence for these claims. .......

The likelihood of the claims in this book (Visible Learning) having a major effect will depend more on whether schools can turn, as did much of medicine, to evidence based claims.

page 257:
There is a preference for the teaching method that fits the latest ideology and rarely are these methods assessed by evidence.

BUY THIS BOOK .. or continue being hoodwinked by pseudo-experts. Then, at least you will be able to write coherent letters of protest.

Introduction to Meta-Analysis (Statistics in Practice)
$70.00
Introduction to Meta-Analysis (Statistics in Practice)
The book Introduction to Meta-Analysis by Dr. Borenstein, is great book. This may be surprising for a statistic book, but the authors make the process of conducting a meta-analysis very understandable. They have all the formulas, will indexed, in a logical order and explain where the formulas came from. They then work simple examples that are easy to follow. The book gets into more meat in the meta regression area and further clarifies how to leverage the meta-analysis to understand subgroups. I also bought the software Comprehensive Meta-analysis that goes with the book. I plan to buy Dr. Borenstein's next book, which I assume is more advanced.

Meta-Forms: Logic in Shapes
$19.95
This game has been a pleasant challenge from the first time I opened the box. While the puzzles get progressively harder, the clues are constantly changing and the game never runs out of steam. This game is perfect to keep your mind busy during the summer months and a great coffee table addition. The rules are very easy to learn making it simple for younger children to catch on, yet still challenging enough to keep adults on their toes and coming back for more. I highly recommend this game for people of all ages.

Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis: A Step-by-Step Approach (Applied Social Research Methods)
$37.95
Providing researchers with a practical and accessible advice, the Fourth Edition of the lauded Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis offers thoroughly updated information. Author Harris M. Cooper draws in more than 30 years of experience to show readers how to conduct a comprehensive synthesis of past research.

Key Updates of the Fourth Edition?Presents an updated version of Cooper¡Çs easy-to-follow seven-step research synthesis processHighlights the critical questions to ask about synthesis methodology at each step and the identification of ¡Èbest practices¡ÉContains two new chapters giving expanded treatments of gathering information from studies and interpreting the evidence from a research synthesis Provides completely updated material on techniques for searching the literature with an emphasis on new technologies and the Internet?Includes a discussion of recent advances and issues in meta-analysis statistical techniquesOffers new standards for reporting meta-analyses results Incorporates new research syntheses drawn from the fields of education, social/developmental psychology, and health throughout the bookThe book is written in plain language with numerous examples. Each chapter concludes with exercises for use as class projects. Readers who are engaged in their first research synthesis will find ample guidance to help them through the process. Experienced research synthesists will find lucid discussions of complex problems.