Classroom Activity in Math & Social Studies
by
Susan S.
Stodolsky
"Stodolsky has provided a new way of looking at why teachers do what they do without negating, but rather building on, previous research that has dealt with the effects of beliefs, expectations, and thinking on teacher behavior. Her insightful recommendations offer the research community alternative visions of the route classroom study can take."
—Lin Goodwin, Teachers College, Columbia University
"Books of this type are sorely needed to combat the mindless cloning of teachers currently performed in the guise of improving the effectiveness of schools."
—Lorin Anderson, University of South Carolina
This classic text not only provided pioneering analysis of the interrelation between forms of instruction, levels of student involvement, and subject matter. In addition, Stodolsky's intensive observation of fifth-grade math and social studies classes presented a challenge to educational research while providing an exemplary method that could be replicated. The results of her study reveal that subject matter has a profound effect on instructional practice, yet regardless of subject matter, students are more responsive to work requiring higher degrees of intellectual complexity and performance, interactions with peers, and active modes of learning. Stodolsky contradicts the received view of both teaching and learning as uniform and consistent.
1998/216 pp./
paper $27.95/ISBN: 0-9568339-6-8