SYNTHESES OF EDUCATIONAL

PRODUCTIVITY RESEARCH

BARRY J. FRASER,* HERBERT J. WALBERG ’ WAYNE W. WELCH$ AND

JOHN A. HATIIE~

*CurtinUniversity of Technology, Perth 6001, Australia

tCollege of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60680, U.S.A.

$College of Education, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455. U.S.A.

§Department of Education, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, 6009, Australia

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 THE NEED FOR EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY RESEARCH 147

Educational Productivity 147
Education: A Declining Industry? 148
Research Approach - _ 149
A Model of Educational Productivitv 150
Applied Research Orientation and kesearch Synthesis 151
Overview of Other Chapters 153

CHAPTER 2 SYNTHESES OF RESEARCH ON FACTORS INFLUENCING LEARNING 155

Introduction 155
Methods of Research 155
Results for Specific Effects 156
Autonomou; Learning or Open Education 161
Discussion of Overall Findings 163
Caveats and Conclusions - 164

CHAPTER 3 CONTEXTUAL AND TRANSACTIONAL INFLUENCES

ON SCIENCE OUTCOMES 165
The Domain of Science Education 165
Syntheses of Science Education Research 166
Contextual Factors 167
Transactional Factors 173
Outcomes 178
Discussion of Fmdings 182
Concluding Remarks 185

CHAPTER 4 IDENTIFYING THE SALIENT FACETS OF A MODEL OF STUDENT LEARNING:

A SYNTHESIS OF META-ANALYSES 187
Major Issues in Models of Student Learning 188
A Synthesis of Models I91
An Assessment of the Influence of the Various Factors in the Model 193
Synthesis of the Meta-Analyses 206
Concluding Comments 210
145