Emma Näslund-Hadley

The Pedagogy of Science and Environment: Experimental Evidence from Peru

In todays knowledge-based societies, understanding basic scientific concepts and the capacity to structure and solve scientific questions is more critical than ever. Accordingly, in this article we test an innovative methodology for teaching science and environment in public primary schools where traditional (teacher-centred) teaching was replaced with student-centred activities using LEGO kits. We document positive and significant improvements of 0.18 standard deviations in standardised test scores. Such positive results are mainly concentrated within boys that were located above the median of baseline academic performance.

Tailoring Instruction to Improve Mathematics Skills in Preschools : A Randomized Evaluation

Previous research suggests that tailoring instruction to each student needs can produce significant learning gains. However, few programs have successfully implemented this approach in practice. In this paper, we present the results of a randomized evaluation of a program that uses an individualized scaffolding approach during regular school hours to teach the basic elements of numbers and shapes to preschoolers using a sample of 107 preschool centers and almost 3,000 children in Peru. The program improves Math outcomes among all children (by 0.10 standard deviations) and has stronger impacts for students in the lower quintiles of the distribution of outcomes and for students with teachers with university degrees. The effect in the areas that were implemented in a more intense way persists even one year after the program ended. Interestingly, we find no evidence of effects that are different across gender, language-spoken at home, and proxies for SES, contrasting with results from previous research that suggest that effects of Math programs are biased along gender and socioeconomic lines.

Teacher-Led Math Inquiry: A Cluster Randomized Trial in Belize

Teacher professional development and in-class mentors were used to support structured inquiry with math manipulatives. Twenty-four primary schools (n = 6,628 students) were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups as an experimental field trial to examine the effectiveness of this instructional approach in a scaled-up application in Belize for the duration of a school year. Implementation fidelity measures were collected permitting evaluation of two separate multilevel models: intention-to-treat and test-of-treatment. Both quantitative and qualitative evidence suggest students within this culture respond well to this relatively simple and inexpensive intervention that departs from traditional, expository math instruction in many developing countries. Policy implications are discussed that supported nationwide rollout of the intervention.

Targeted Remedial Education: Experimental Evidence from Peru

An outstanding challenge in education is improving learning among low-achieving students. We present results from the first randomized experiment of an inquiry-based remedial science-education program for low-performing elementary students in the setting of a developing country. At 48 low-income public elementary schools in Lima, Peru and surrounding areas, third-grade students scoring in the bottom half of their science classes were selected at random to receive up to 16 remedial sessions of 90 minutes each during the school year. Control-group compliance with assignment (no extra tutoring) was close to perfect. Treatment-group compliance was roughly 40 percent, or five to six remedial sessions—a 4 to 5 percent increase in total science instruction time over the school year. Despite the low-intensity treatment, students assigned to the remedial sessions scored 0.12 standard deviations higher on a science endline test. But all improvements were concentrated among boys, for whom gains were 0.22 standard deviations. Remedial education does not produce within-student spillovers to math, or spillovers on other students.