Ask a Researcher makes it easy for educators to get trusted, research-based answers to questions about real education challenges.
We collect questions from real educators who are looking for new ways to support students in their classrooms. The answers to those questions, developed in partnership with Usable Knowledge at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, can provide the first steps for using research to improve student learning.
Choice can lead to greater engagement. To maximize the benefits, teachers should offer students a limited number of options.
Understand the context of the student’s disruptions in order to intervene and support positive behavior.
Make individual and group learning visible throughout the learning process
Embed reasoning and reflection into the problem solving process
Bring a sense of wonder to those parts of the curriculum that seem most mundane
Inquiry can be a vehicle for understanding
Build relationships with students to learn more about their math backgrounds; connect math learning to student interests
Think beyond data, provide student-centered teaching and learning
Embrace errors as learning, emphasize reasoning, and relate math to student strengths
Research Map