The 1966 Coleman report found that academic achievement was related to family background in the early years but going to school created greater disparity between black and white Americans. Expectations (of teachers and students) and quality of teaching are a greater predictor of academic success than race.
The hidden curriculum can dictate the potential performance of students. Even unintended messages given to students will affect their learning.
The Pygmalion effect (If you love the statue enough- it will come to life) was demonstrated in 1968 by Rosenthal and Jacobson when they arbitrarily labelled some pupils gifted and informed their teachers. By the end of the year these pupils did better than their peers.
Four factors may be responsible for this
-a warmer verbal and non-verbal environment created by the teacher
-greater input given to the pupils by the teacher
-greater opportunity for pupils to respond
-greater feedback given to the pupil/teacher won’t accept a low quality answer and has a greater expectation of the student.
Again- it seems quality of teaching and expectations of students and teachers are the most powerful force in predicting academic achievement.
VARK- Four learning styles have been described as Visual, Auditory, Read/Write and Kinesthetic. This can be problematic if people are pigeonholed into one style and limit themselves because of that. You can find your strengths and weaknesses and those of your students but it shouldn’t preclude yourself or your students from developing their non dominant learning styles. Rather it should encourage us to try to incorporate all learning styles into our teaching and assessment
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