Tag: Communication

Are education meta-analyses useful for practitioners?

By Xue Wang, School of Education, Johns Hopkins University

Meta-analyses aim to provide educators with relevant evidence to guide their decisions in practice. However, a new meta-review by Pellegrini and colleagues examined whether education meta-analyses actually use strategies that make findings relevant, applicable, and accessible to practitioners.

The researchers reviewed 103 meta-analyses of school-based academic interventions published between 2021 and 2023, coding for stakeholder engagement in the review process, reporting of study characteristics, and accessibility of findings through effect size metrics and visualizations.

Results revealed limited attention to practitioner needs. Most reviews (83%) did not mention involving stakeholders in the research process. While certain study characteristics were commonly reported—such as grade level (81%) and intervention type (62%)—others important for decision-making were rarely considered. Notably, no reviews reported the cost of materials or teacher training, information essential for educators assessing whether programs fit their contexts.

Regarding accessibility, only six reviews transformed effect sizes into metrics more meaningful for practitioners (such as Cohen’s U3). Forest plots were the most common visualization (56%), despite evidence that non-researchers find them difficult to interpret. About 39% of reviews included no visualizations at all. Only half of the reviews discussed implications for practice.

The authors concluded that while meta-analyses have potential to inform educational practice, researchers need to better engage stakeholders, report characteristics relevant to implementation decisions, and present findings in accessible formats.

Enhancing student collaboration through transactive communication training

By Liu Ziyu; Institute of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, China

Effective communication is a cornerstone of collaborative learning, particularly for middle school students navigating complex social and academic environments. Transactive communication, where students actively engage with peers’ ideas by building upon or refining them, fosters deeper subject understanding and knowledge. Embedding transactive communication training within regular classroom lessons integrates skill-building with subject content, using cooperative learning methods to encourage joint elaboration. Students receive structured guidance through videos, example dialogues, and peer feedback.

In a study involving 594 ninth-grade students across 23 German classrooms, researchers tested a lesson-integrated transactive communication training against a control group trained in presentation skills. Conducted over 2.5 school days, the experimental group practiced transactive statements while engaging with content on sustainable resource use. Pre- and post-tests measured communication behaviors, knowledge acquisition, and collaboration experiences via audio-recorded dyad discussions and questionnaires. Results showed that the training significantly increased transactive statements and positive collaboration experiences, though it did not impact knowledge acquisition or general motivation for group work. These findings suggest that while the training enhances collaborative processes, further research is needed to explore its long-term effects on academic outcomes.

Assumed competence while overlooking unseen information in decision-making

Feifei Wang, The Centre for Information Technology in Education, The University of Hong Kong

People interpret the same information in various ways, often believing their own views are objectively true while dismissing opposing perspectives as ignorant or biased. This can have serious implications for decisionmakers in education and other fields. A recent study examined how people assume they have enough information to make decisions, even when they are missing key details. For example, a driver may impatiently honk at a car waiting at a stop sign, only to discover an unseen mother pushing her stroller across the street. This reveals how mistaken assumptions about having complete information can lead to misunderstandings.

To investigate the “unknown unknowns” in decision-making, (i.e., we don’t know what we don’t know), Gehlbach and colleagues conducted a study of decision-making. Participants (n=1261) read an article about a school threatened by a drying aquifer, faced with the decision to either merge with another school or remain independent. They were randomly assigned to three groups based on the information presented in the article: pro-merge, pro-separate, and a control that received balanced arguments for both options. Subjects were mostly male (59%) and White (71%), with a mean age of 39.8 years and a median education level of three years of college.

Results showed that compared to the control group, the two treatment groups assumed that they had adequate information and were capable of making informed decisions. Their decisions were heavily influenced by the subset of information they received. They also believed that most other people would arrive at similar decisions. This study suggests that in a world of unreliable information, recognizing what information may be missing and approaching decisions with humility and curiosity can help us better understand others’ perspectives before passing judgment.

Putting evidence into practice: a framework for knowledge mobilization

Marta Pellegrini, University of Cagliari, Italy

Producing and making available evidence of effective educational programs is not enough to make it used in practice. Knowledge mobilization should be one of the key research areas to foster greater equity and responsiveness to educators’ needs. A study by Kaitlyn Fitzgerald and Beth Tipton focused on the communication of statistical data by studying how those data should be reported in order to facilitate decision-making based on evidence at school and policy levels.

The authors proposed three main considerations. First, using the expression “the message sent may not be the message received,” they highlight that researchers set norms often not understood by practitioners. To overcome this issue, participatory research methods should be used to set norms.

Second, practitioners and decision-makers are different from each other: they may work in large or small districts with diverse resources and educational backgrounds. The contexts where they work vary considerably based on the community they serve. To overcome this issue, a deep understanding of a community’s needs is necessary.

Finally, knowledge mobilization research needs other disciplines, such as data visualization, to create effective strategies to disseminate evidence.