Students most likely to retain information when instructor has experience and creates interactive learning environment

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Students have a better chance of retaining information presented when the instructor has real-world experience in the specific field and creates an interactive learning environment which encourages group participation, recent studies from high school and college students in Texas and Tennessee recently revealed.

Researchers were able to conclude the effect of teaching on student learning is greater than the effect of factors such as family income or class size. While all groups were found to benefit from effective teachers, the effect of a teacher's background is greater for poor and minority students than their traditionally affluent peers.

Each effect accumulates on a yearly basis, and the extent of an individual's knowledge in subsequent years in directly related to the teaching methods of the teacher that individual worked with in the past.

Students categorized as poor or minority are more likely to learn from a teacher with experience in the subject field than affluent peers

Individual teacher effectiveness is not only dependent on the teacher's background, but also on the demographics and backgrounds of the students. In Tennessee and Texas, teachers were observed in a traditional high school classroom setting of between 20 and 25 students. While administrators sat in and closely watched the teachers, performance of the students on a pop quiz at the end of class was also reviewed.

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In an interactive classroom environment, students who were deemed poor or of minority status had more success on the quiz than affluent of traditionally white individuals.

Although knowledge of the subject field is proven to effect every individual in the class, minority or poor students can perform better academically because of the "stereotype threat." Students might trust and respect someone with who they share a distinct characteristic and who they know has had some form of involvement in the subject field he or she is teaching.

Stereotype threat, which occurs in situations where students perceive a stereotype with regard to their ability to recall information and perform well when their is a clear racial difference between the teacher and class majority, alters the mindset of each individual student.

In a Stanford experiment, students of all races and ethnicities performed similarly when they were not given background information of the teacher. However, after learning the test was pertaining to diagnostic ability and being told they were being taught by a teacher of minority status with "a scientific background teaching a science class," black and hispanic students performed better on the subsequent assessment.

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Dr. Linda Valli, an Education Policy and Leadership professor at the University of Maryland, said it is the responsibility of the instructor to have knowledge of the content being taught and the students sitting in the classroom.

"If teachers don't have an understanding to at least become knowledgeable of the background of their students, they're going to have a hard time having their students be engaged in learning," Valli said. "Learning development programs have been working very hard to educate teachers."

Valli added there both in school and out of school factors that can hinder a student's ability to learn consistently.

Highly effective teachers depend on interactive conversation and consistent group work to convey key concepts to students 

In both public and private schools, the term "high effective teacher" refers to a teacher who has been has been able to produce consistent testing results regardless of student background and creates learning environments where students are able to participate as individuals and part of a group. Such teachers are highly knowledgeable in their specific subject areas and have more success conveying key concepts to students because they have received some form of recognition in the field (college degree, minor or other private sector work).

Most teachers who are deemed "highly effective" encourage their students to work in groups at least twice during a five-day school week and do not rely on lectures exclusively. Instead, they create a conversational environment in which students can ask and answer questions, enabling the students to become the teachers and the "teachers to become the facilitators," Valli said.

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Highly effective teachers create learning environments where students "are active participants as individuals and part of the group." Individual student work, in this context, is valued and displayed and cultivates an "understanding of diversity in the classroom," according to a Kentucky school board statement.

A recent University of California study revealed 87 percent of students who had the teacher deemed to be "highly effective" performed better both on a post-class online quiz and an assessment of retention the following day.

Researchers divided a group of students into two separate classrooms containing instructors who would utilize different teaching styles. One teacher lectured for the allotted time period, which was an hour. Another instructor asked the students specific questions with regard to the topic and split the students into groups in order to create a list of key terms associated with the topic. The students who worked in a collaborative learning environment ultimately performed better on the quiz and assessment.

Dr. Patricia Alexander, an Educational Psychology Specialization professor at the University of Maryland, said a teacher's effectiveness can sometimes be taken out of perspective because there are cases where the ultimate goal of students is not necessarily always to learn.

Students perform best on standardized assessments when instructor uses a balance of lectures and interactive technological activities

Stats courtesy of International Journal of Humanities

An additional study indicates students have the most success on standardized assessments when they are being taught by teachers who do not lecture for more than 20 minutes at one time and have their students utilize some form of technology in the classroom. 67 percent of students scored in the "average range" when taught by individuals who met the distinct criteria. 30.3 percent scored in the "low" range and 2.8 scored in the "high range."

If the lecture, according to the results of the study, does not exceed 17 minutes, students are more likely to retain the specific information presented.

Stats courtesy of Pearson

The implementation of technology is only successful if it is interactive. Students, according to multiple reports, best retain and recall information when they can directly interact with the material using some form of technology.

Students are more likely to perform well on assessments when teachers present information in 15-minute intervals and eliminate distractions

Teachers spend an average of 50 to 90 minutes lecturing in class sessions that last an hour or over two hours, respectively, and those deemed "highly effective" present information to their students in increments of 15 minutes.

Studies indicate if students of any age consistently receive information for more than 15 minutes, they are only likely to retain less than 9 percent of the information presented after the 15 minute increment.

When teachers utilize group work or other activities and do not present new information over a period of time longer than 15 minutes, students have more success on class assignments and assessments related to the material presented.

Dr. Valli said a student's familiarity with a distinct teaching style can significantly affect how each student learns from a new teacher.

A pair of professors at Indiana University indicated current research on human attention and subsequent retention contradicts the evident value of classes based on lectures lasting longer than 15 minutes. The researchers indicated in order to maximize student learning, educators needed to allow a three to five minute "settle down period" that would be proceeded by no fewer than 10 but no more than 18 minutes of lecture-style information sharing.

Results of the study revealed regardless of whether or not the teacher was "highly effective" or the subject matter was interesting to the students, the students would no longer be engaged or focused.

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Throughout the same study, which evaluated college lecture halls, distractions were taken into consideration. Students who, during an interview after class, admitted to losing focus as a result of any form of distraction, performed an average of 34 percent lower on a future exam based exclusively on that lecture's material. When instructor's made a clear verbal attempt to limit distractions, that figure became 12 percent.

New or uncertified teacher status has limited effect on student performance on assessments or recollection of information 

Students who are taught by first-year teachers or teachers who are not yet certified are not at a statistically significant disadvantage, according to multiple studies. As a result, a student taught by a highly effective veteran teacher would not have more success on assessments and be able to more successfully recall information than a student taught by a new or uncertified teacher.

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Similarly, there is a negative association between achievement and the presence of a high proportion of new or uncertified teachers in a given middle or high school.

When researchers analyze student achievement and teacher qualifications, a five year increase in teaching experience did not have a significant impact on student academic performance. The result indicated there is a direct effect about 1 percent of the time.

Taking information and targeting it to specific groups of students results in overall better student comprehension

The most effective teacher's take various different kinds of information, reorganize it and present it in a way only one specific target audience of students will understand it, according to Dr. Alexander.

"You have to be able take knowledge and in a way put it into the experiences of someone else," Alexander said. "The trick is to take exactly what you know and target it to the audience you are dealing with."

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Alexander said based on her research and experiences, a student's understanding of an idea or concept is almost exclusively dependent on an instructor's ability to not only comprehend the material, but also understand the way it can best be taught.

"That all involves how to move around a room or use gestures," Alexander said. "How to use restatements and engage students. Just to have knowledge of the content without the pedagogical knowledge is only half the story. You need both."