Before being able to see learning processes and their results through the eyes of the students (Hattie, 2009, 2012), educators and teachers should take a closer look at relevant findings of scientific research on education. Why is it necessary to spend a certain amount of time and effort in studying research when you, as a teacher, are more or less satisfied with the learning outcomes of your students?

In a complex field like education it is always useful to question habits and conventions in the light of newer and newest research findings. Furthermore, as part of the debate on accountability, we have to answer to ourselves as to whether we choose the best possible teaching and learning activities with regard to our individual learners.

The following statements and explanations are a succinct introduction to the main features of scientific research on education. The overall aim of these introductory remarks is to enable teachers in training and in service to appraise research findings. If an educator concludes that a research proposal may work better as usual practices, new strategies as well as whole intervention programs may be tried out. Don't forget that even highly recommended tools must be adapted to your specific teaching and learning context. Nevertheless they still might be revealed as inappropriate, for various reasons.

A CONFERENCE TALK

Sarah and Kate, both ELA high-school teachers, meet just once a year at their state's annual curriculum conference. During the year, they keep in loose email contact, exchanging ideas and sometimes teaching materials. Recently, they participated in the same webinar.