Some physics educators might be interested in the post ""Re: Quality
Research in Literacy and Science Education: International
Perspectives and Gold Standards" [Hake (2010)]. The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: Stimulated by a physicist's request for information on
"Quality Research in Literacy and Science Education: International
Perspectives and Gold Standards" [Shelley, Yore, & Hand, eds. (2009a)
- hereafter "SYH]", I mined the internet for information on the
SYH's: I - editors; II - contents, subject & author indices; III -
theme; IV - treatment of Randomized Control Trials; and V -
allusions to Physics Education Research. The resultant information,
relayed in this post, may be of interest to some discussion-list
subscribers.
Most of the contributors to SYH are skeptical of the U.S. Dept. of
Education's enthronement of Randomized Control Trials (RCT's) as the
'Gold Standard' of education research, *consistent* with the views of
most evaluation experts.
On the other hand, the authors contributing to SYH appear to be
either dismissive or oblivious of physics education research,
*inconsistent* with the generally positive opinions of most observers.
For example, Millar and Osborne (2009) make the following erroneous
claims (paraphrasing): "No standard or commonly agreed outcome
measures exist for any major topic. Published assessment tools such
as the 'Force Concept Inventory' have not been subjected to the kind
of rigorous scrutiny of factorial structure and content validity that
would be standard practice for measures of attainment or learning
outcome in other subject areas."
Despite SYH's cavalier dismissal of physics education research, I
think some discussion-list subscribers might consider scanning a
begged, borrowed, or stolen copy of SYH, before paying Springer's
piratical $215 <http://tinyurl.com/y8n9pe9> for a personal copy.
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Millar, R. & J. Osborne. 2009. "Research and Practice: A Complex
Relationship?" Chapter 3, pages 41-62, of Shelley et al. (2009a).
Surprisingly, the Google book preview of Shelley et al. (2009a) at
<http://tinyurl.com/yddphh3> contains ALL of pages 41-62. To access
this, click repeatedly on the ">" at the top of the first page to go
to page vi and then click on chapter 3.