Handbook of psychology volume 7 educational psychology

Research Implications 

617

Pintrich and by Wentzel in this volume). Researchers will

seek to more accurately determine the directional and causal

precedence of motivational components on cognition and

learning. This work will link affective, motivational, and

cognitive processes—possibly by integrating prior research

on the effect of emotions on test performance with assess-

ments of self-esteem and self-identity. Debates about the im-

pact of development, experience, and culture will help

expand the ages and places in which we study critical learn-

ing and relationships and the practices and policies that influ-

ence such processes (Pianta & Walsh, 1996).

Finally, with no clear consensus in sight as to what consti-

tutes intelligence or optimal cognitive, problem-solving, or

learning behavior, researchers will continue to contrast and

distinguish the strengths and weaknesses of competing alter-

natives that bridge classical and constructivist information-

processing views. Future work will carry on the century-old

debate that intelligence is not a fixed, genetically based trait,

but rather is strongly affected by environmental influences

that transpire over an individual’s lifetime as well as across

generations (see chapter by Sternberg in this volume on the

Flynn effect). Competing concepts and constructs proposed to

account for important individual differences will be inte-

grated into more comprehensive models that combine social

and cultural contexts with the biological and affective bases of

cognition. Theoretical ties will be strengthened by linking the

literature on cognition, self-regulation, and learning to other

motivational constructs involved in predecision processing

and volition, which is invoked in postdecision processing (see

chapters by Pintrich and by Schunk & Zimmerman in this

volume).

RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS 

The longevity of emerging theories and research domains in

educational psychology will depend largely upon future

empirical documentation that will incorporate new method-

ologies and levels of inquiry.

Expanded Methods of Inquiry

Methodological expansions in the new century will extend

beyond a focus on individuals in decontextualized settings to

include examinations of group learning in situations in which

newly acquired knowledge must be applied and adapted. This

will require descriptions and assessments of interactive and

multidirectional relationships situated in broader social and

cultural contexts. Such inquiry calls for the incorporation of

advanced methodologies and psychometric procedures that

allow for the study of interdependent individual and social

variables during problem solving in natural settings. Data

collection traditions will be blended across anthropology, lin-

guistics, psychology, and education using a variety of obser-

vational, interview, and participant methodologies (see

chapters by Sternberg and by John-Steiner & Mahn in this

volume). Traditional statistical analyses also will be broad-

ened to include more rigorous models of item analysis such

as IRT (Item Response Theory) and path and survival analy-

ses that can capture multiple complex latent and direct rela-

tionships within changing populations.

These advances would not be trivialized by debates about

the value and relevancy of qualitative versus quantitative

methodologies. Instead, future researchers would move be-

yond this debate to discussions of how these two traditions

can coexist and be profitably combined (Levin & Robinson,

1999). Recognition of the contribution of both would lead to

integrated designs that capture qualitative and quantitative at-

tributes. One such approach that permits legitimate general-

ization and prescription is the randomized classroom trial

discussed originally by Levin (1992), elaborated by Levin

and O’Donnell (1999), and further captured by Levin,

O’ Donnell, and Kratochwill (this volume). Also in the past

two decades there has been greater acceptance of rigorous

single-subject and quasi-experimental designs and a growing

recognition of their instructional and evaluative relevance

(Kratochwill & Levin, 1992; Levin & Wampold, 1999;

Neuman & McCormick, 2000).

The push to enhance our understanding of educationally

relevant constructs must be based on robust theory and cred-

ible evidence (see Levin & O’Donnell, 1999; also see chapter

by Levin et al. in this volume). These researchers suggest that

this goal will best be accomplished when we utilize a contin-

uum of methodologies that abide by high standards of inves-

tigative quality and rigor. Expanded investigative repertoires

will include innovations that involve contextually based in-

quiry, individual experimental study, and large-scale experi-

mental implementation designs. A continuum of research

within a domain would embrace and merge findings from

naturalistic and laboratory approaches using longitudinal and

cross-sectional designs and individual and group methods

that take place in a variety of culturally relevant and cultur-

ally distinct contexts.

A few examples would serve to highlight how these

advances have been incorporated in contemporary work. Ex-

perimental methodologies complemented by descriptive or

correlation methods and ethnographic approaches have pro-

vided rich understandings about the complexities of literacy

instruction (Florio-Ruane & McVee, 2000; Juel, 1988) and

other teaching and classroom processes (see chapter by

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Future Perspectives in Educational Psychology

Pressley et al. in this volume). Integrated approaches have

been reflected heavily in the study of literacy and mathemat-

ics development and instruction (see chapters by Lehrer &

Lesh and by Pressley in this volume). One example is a

longitudinal ethnographic study of family communication

and subsequent language and literacy development (Hart &

Risley, 1995) in 42 families of emergent readers in preschool

who were observed in a variety of settings over 2 years. An-

other is a year-long nationally conducted observational study

of expert versus typical teachers who were selected based on

administrator nomination, parent ratings, and student out-

comes (Pressley, Allington, Wharton-McDonald, Block, &

Morrow, 2001). Key findings associated with these combined

methodologies have contributed to the design of innovative

instructional strategies that are currently under empirical in-

vestigation, using randomized classroom designs to assess

the strategies’ impact on teacher communication and student

performance (see chapter by Pressley et al. in this volume).

Quasi-experimental methodologies also have contributed to

broader, more ecological validations of ongoing classroom

instructional strategies (Brown, Pressley, Van Meter, &

Schuder, 1996). Future attempts to combine methodologies

will lead to further insight about the holistic contexts that

improve student learning.

In the technology field, Goldman-Segall and Maxwell

(this volume) review how formal experimental methods that

stress quantifiable enhancements for learning have been bal-

anced with more descriptive, introspective studies of learn-

ers’ perceptions and ongoing decision-making strategies.

These researchers point to new technological advances that

stress community sharing and learning and the need to em-

ploy anthropological observation and participatory tech-

niques to answer very different sets of questions from within

the learning environment rather than studying it from without

(Wenger, 1998). Indeed, researchers exploring new techno-

logical learning domains have been at the forefront of such

expanded methodologies that allow for dense and realistic ex-

planations and descriptions (Salomon, Perkins, & Globerson,

1991) in combination with more conventional scientific,

experimental approaches that isolate independent variables to

determine causality and generalizability across settings.

Finally, Goelman and colleagues (this volume) discuss

how play has been studied across a number of disciplines, in-

cluding biology, linguistics, sociology, anthropology, art, lit-

erature, and psychology, using an array of naturalistic and

experimental methodologies (see chapter by Goelman et al.

in this volume). Such an interdisciplinary focus has strongly

augmented our comprehension of this key learning process

and has led to important advances in early childhood theory,

research, and practice. Expanded investigative repertoires

that lead to complimentary efforts can greatly enhance our

understanding and contribute to more valid recommenda-

tions for addressing critical educational issues in the future.

Advances in Assessment

Theory-driven assessment strategies that capture complex

interrelationships and processes have led to a wider array

of measurement alternatives within and across studies.

McCormick (this volume) points to progress in the assess-

ment of metacognition through measures taken before, dur-

ing, and after task performance (e.g., Feelings of Knowing,

Test Readiness, and Test Judgment measures). She encour-

ages future researchers to overcome the limits and criticisms

raised against subjective reflection judgments of ongoing

monitoring in order to develop broader metacognitive assess-

ments. Such recommendations have also been forwarded

across the domain of self-regulatory and motivational assess-

ment. Mayer and Pintrich (this volume) recommend more

precise appraisals of cognitive mental representations by

merging cognitive laboratory tasks with metacognitive and

motivational outcomes.

Assessment innovations will lead to greater integration

and combinations of physiological measurement to tap ele-

mentary cognitive information processing and affective be-

havioral reactions. For example, comprehensive assessments

of physical reactions (heart rate), brain functioning (blood

flow), and cognitive behavioral reactions (visual scanning,

verbal responses during problem solving) might be recorded

during instruction and learning. Traditional intellectual test-

ing would be pooled with an array of other assessments that

might vary depending on whether a given problem requires

analytical, creative, or practical thinking abilities (see chapter

by Sternberg in this volume). Pintrich (this volume) predicts

that the discovery of links between motivation and cognition

will occur through combinations of lab and naturalistic stud-

ies that track basic motivational processes in addition to

cognitive and metacognitive processing.

A variety of new measures and approaches to measurement

have been developed in many of the areas reviewed. In the

early childhood and literacy field, advances have included in-

creased use of play-based procedures and the development of

reliable early assessments of innate abilities and aptitudes like

those currently used to study infants’ audition and phonologi-

cal awareness (see chapters by Goelman et al.; by Lehrer &

Lesh; and by Pressley in this volume). In the future, such as-

sessments will help establish how early literacy, numeracy,

communication, and artistic or musical skills emerge and are

reflected in children’s primary learning and living environ-

ments. This will require extended observations in home and

Research Implications 

619

school settings and will also require the use of dynamic

assessment methods. Dynamic assessments and design

experiments—in which students receive guided adult feed-

back as they are exposed to a variety of task demands,

instructional strategies, and learning contexts—are critical for

discovering the effects of scaffolded, transactional instruction

(see chapters by John-Steiner & Mahn; by Lehrer & Lesh; and

by Pressley in this volume). Such methods will help establish

parameters of performance malleability and will lead to more

valid instructional recommendations. Finally, Reschly (this

volume) discusses a number of contemporary and future diag-

nostic challenges facing the field of school psychology, in-

cluding a push towards direct versus standardized measures of

educational and behavioral skills in relevant domains.

Advances in technology have increasingly added to our

repertoire of alternative assessments for gathering compre-

hensive learning-based observations (also discussed later in

this chapter). Many newly emerging computer environments

require fresh ways to judge how children develop, process,

and represent their thinking. The recent advent of structured

conferencing and online multimedia sharing allows for rene-

gotiated and interlinked information use and reuse during

dynamic collaborations. Currently this innovation is used in

several ongoing research projects to connect multiple class-

rooms across the world. See discussions of the National

Geographic Kids Network (NGKNet) project, in which thou-

sands of students collaborate on data collection and research

of local and global significance (i.e., acid rain; Feldman,

Konold, & Coulter, 2000, cited in the chapter by Goldman-

Segall & Maxwell in this volume). These new environments

that take advantage of technology to enable collaboration

may be the wave of the future for studying both the effects of

and effects with technology (see chapter by Goldman-Segall

& Maxwell in this volume). Such innovations will necessitate

new assessment methodologies, such as longitudinal digital

ethnographies of children’s thinking that can allow one to ex-

amine individual and collaborative learning processes and re-

lations (see chapter by Goldman-Segall & Maxwell in this

volume). Future studies of computer environments also

would move beyond examinations of behavior and cognition

to consider the emotional and relational support required and

affected by such learning environments. In fact, the affective

capacity and impact of computers are the main focus of an

ongoing project pioneered by Rosalind Picard (1997) at MIT

(cited in the chapter by Goldman-Segall & Maxwell in this

volume).

In the future, educational psychologists will continue to

forge and evaluate comprehensive methods to assess an array

of learning, behavioral, affective, motivational, and interper-

sonal outcomes. Immediate and long-term indexes of perfor-

mance will include some combination of physiological re-

sponses, psychometric testing, introspective and third-party

interviews, direct observation, contextual manipulation, and

dynamic instruction of key processes expected to affect

learning and development.

Authentic Outcomes and Developmental Considerations 

Across many of the domains reviewed here, there was a com-

mon call for the replication of key findings using authentic

tasks in authentic contexts. To move beyond fixed notions of

abilities, researchers expect that newer psychometric tests

will be designed to capture both typical, real-world perfor-

mance and maximal, conventional performance (see chapter

by Sternberg in this volume); this would involve measures of

idiosyncratic and alternative intellectual skills that more ade-

quately capture indexes of out-of-school success. Skills re-

lated to schooling would be supplemented with those needed

for successful functioning within families, work, and commu-

nity settings. Such assessments will allow for the exploration

of interpersonal problem-solving and intellectual behavior

during ongoing, practical life endeavors or simulations.

Sternberg (this volume) also predicts that future intellectual

assessments will be relatively independent of current psycho-

metrically defined intelligence tests as they begin to provide

more comprehensive evaluations of contemporary constructs.

Replication and extensions of research with authentic tasks

are essential for educational and curriculum improvements.

Researchers have begun to generalize and investigate key

findings within relevant curriculum domains. Information-

processing and metacognitive researchers in particular have

studied theoretical applications through instructional pro-

grams in mathematics, writing, and reading. Students taught

using empirically derived instruction evidence significantly

improved performance over those students taught through

more traditional methods (especially see the chapters by

Lehrer & Lesh; by Mayer; and by McCormick in this volume).

There was a call for advances in the early identification of

children with exceptional needs or talents (see chapters by

Olszewski-Kubilius; by Siegel; and by Walker & Gresham in

this volume). Difficulties associated with assessing younger

children and the limitations of traditional and standardized

intelligence measures will be overcome by an array of di-

verse procedures. Reschly (this volume) discusses the push

toward new conceptual definitions and classification criteria

for educationally funded disabilities that rely on noncategor-

ical criteria, especially for specific learning disabilities (also

see chapter by Siegel in this volume). Developmental assess-

ment in the future will more accurately capture both synchro-

nous and asynchronous development patterns and recognize

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Future Perspectives in Educational Psychology

idiosyncratic progressions of development across tasks, set-

tings, and persons (see chapter by Goelman et al. in this vol-

ume). Such approaches are critical to identify giftedness and

learning disabilities because restricted testing in one domain

often compromises early identification (see chapters by

Olszewski-Kubilius and by Siegel in this volume).

Another area of continued research is a focus on develop-

mental foundations and trajectories across the domains re-

viewed here. Researchers increasingly are addressing how

critical competencies are modified or moderated by enduring

characteristics—such as ethnicity, gender, and exceptionality

—and by critical contextual variables. These trends will lead

to future studies of dynamic functional relationships over

extended periods of time—for example, to determine how

motivation and cognition interrelate over time and how per-

sonal characteristics and interpersonal relationships affect

such processes across a variety of settings. Developmental in-

vestigations will help clarify the characteristics of schooling

contexts, including relationships that promote social skills

and learning (see chapters by Koch; by Pianta, Hamre, &

Stuhlman; and by Wentzel in this volume). Furthering our un-

derstanding of developmental mechanisms responsible for al-

tering or harnessing critical contextual and relational

resources (i.e., the influence of parents, teachers, and peers)

will lead to more effective school-based prevention and early

intervention programs (see chapters by McCombs and by

Walker & Gresham in this volume).

Research Synthesis and Integration 

Researchers in the next century will probably address the

complexities of synthesizing and integrating research meth-

ods and findings on a much broader level, which will help

refine our predictions of academic and social performance.

Key constructs within a domain often are studied indepen-

dently within one theoretical paradigm. Self-regulation, for

example, has been represented by distinctly separate lines of

research across operant, information processing, develop-

mental, social-constructivist, and social cognitive theories.

These orientations have led to diverse explanations of self-

regulatory constructs and the reciprocal interactions that

define when and how self-regulation processes are invoked

(see chapter by Schunk & Zimmerman in this volume). In

other cases, completely different constructs and factors are

used to explain an area of study, as in motivation and

metacognition (see chapters by McCormick and by Pintrich

in this volume).

Although enormous knowledge has been gained through

such theoretical autonomy, continued separation may lessen

our ability to discriminate and detect tandem variables not

directly under investigation. Kuhn (1972) suggested that

competing paradigms can produce a divided community of

researchers whose differences in terminology, conceptual

frameworks, and ideas about legitimate questions of inquiry

can hinder rather than foster advances in theory, research,

and practice. Researchers across many of the domains pre-

sented here have called for future integration of theories and

methodologies in order to avoid conducting research simply

to establish settings and conditions that favor one’s own the-

oretical perspective (see chapter by Schunk & Zimmerman in

this volume).

Finding ways to bridge research paradigms might be ac-

complished through the use of consistent variable definitions,

instruments, sample ages, and criterion measures. Not only

would building such connections help reconcile similar con-

cepts labeled differently, but it also would help clarify differ-

ences between concepts labeled with similar terms and lead

to synthesis methodologies that might encourage a closer re-

view of construct dependency (see chapter by Schunk &

Zimmerman in this volume). Domains of research across

reading, writing, and literacy (Adams, Treiman, & Pressley,

1998) and writing, science, and mathematics (see chapter by

Lehrer & Lesh in this volume) have been profitably com-

bined in recent years. Innovative consolidation and integra-

tion will arbitrate and expand our understanding of the

conditions under which various forms of learning and social

experiences affect students’ development and achievement.

For example, play might be simultaneously examined as a

medium through which to study children’s intellectual, cog-

nitive, metacognitive, and self-regulatory behavior; affective

and motivational growth; and interpersonal relationships in

order to discover how children make sense of who they are in

relation to their world and to others.

The next generation of theorists will be more knowledgeable

of cross-domain findings. Collective studies collaboratively de-

signed will constructively combine different theoretical view-

points, resulting in a wider spectrum of criterion and predictor

variables investigated within one study. There also will be an in-

crease in longitudinal investigations using a common frame-

work to compare key variables in learning and development.

Many examples of such synthesis and integration were for-

warded by our authors. An array of individual attributes (e.g.,

gender, ethnicity, temperament), perceptions of relationships,

self-regulatory and motivational constructs, and verbal and

nonverbal communication exchange processes employed in

one study would enhance our understanding of child-teacher

relationships (see chapter by Pianta et al. in this volume). Inte-

grated methodologies would help illuminate how different

personal constructs facilitate or impede various achievement or

motivational outcomes across home and school contexts

(see chapter by Wentzel in this volume) and male and female

populations (see chapter by Koch in this volume). Cooperative