The Evidence on Teaching

The Effects of Whole Brain Teaching on Student Motivation in Reading and Writing

Stratton AC, Farmer A · 2023

grade Dquasi-experimentindependentunreplicated
Sample
Sample of fourth- to sixth-graders; pre- and post-test design
Population
Grade 4-6 students, United States - in the age band
Design
Recorded as the specimen of the Whole Brain Teaching evidence base, which is the point: a database and ERIC sweep for WBT returns dissertations, teacher-perception case studies and small quasi-experiments, with no randomised trial and no independent standardised achievement outcome. This study is pre-post with a self-report motivation instrument (Elementary School Motivation Scale) and no adequate control, so it cannot distinguish the programme from novelty and attention.
Key findings
Reports that student motivation increased significantly in both reading and writing after implementation of Whole Brain Teaching strategies. No achievement outcome and no control-group contrast capable of attributing the change to the programme.
Genetic confound
Not the operative problem; the operative problems are the absence of a control contrast and a self-report outcome.

Effects

OutcomeMetricValueMeasureTimingVsHorizonClass
Student motivation in reading and writingpre-post changereported significant increaseself-report surveypost-implementationnoneend-of-treatmentnon-cognitive
The Effects of Whole Brain Teaching on Student Motivation in Reading and Writing · The Evidence on Teaching