Neil Mercer is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge. [1]
Mercer grew up in Cockermouth in Cumbria, where he went to Cockermouth Grammar School before studying psychology at the University of Manchester. He has a PhD in psycholinguistics from the University of Leicester. [2] His research explores the role of dialogue in education and the development of children's reasoning. [2]
He is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge, where he is also Director of the study Centre Oracy Cambridge and a Life Fellow of the college Hughes Hall. [2] [3] Prior to moving to the University of Cambridge, he was Director of the Open University's Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technologies (CREET). [2] and a member of the Centre for Language and Communications. He was previously co-editor of the journal Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, [4] editor of the journal Learning and Instruction [5] and the International Journal of Educational Research.
Mercer has emphasised the use of language to "inter-think" and build "common knowledge" – shared understandings and perspectives to work together, particularly in classrooms. [6] From Common Knowledge [6] onwards his work has been explicitly Vygotskian in nature, fitting into a wider sociocultural and dialogic learning focus in education. (See e.g. [7] ) However, in contrast to Lev Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, Mercer proposes we consider the 'Intermental Development Zone' [8] – the space that language creates which allows peers to interact and develop their reasoning together, in the absence of a guiding teacher. This work is cited as important in development of understanding of language for learning. [9]
Mercer's key interest is in the quality of talk and its impact on educational outcomes, including talk in the home [10] for example, arguing that "'social interaction and collaborative activity' in class can provide 'valuable opportunities' for learning" [11] and that classroom talk should be oriented around co-operation rather than competitiveness, to encourage exploratory talk rather than disputational [11] where the former focuses on explaining ideas, listening to others, and the building of mutual understanding and the latter on a lack of constructive argument which is characterised by disagreement with little explanation. [12] Research exploring this typology and its third component – cumulative talk, in which ideas are shared but not built upon or critically analysed – has found "evidence of the link between the development of children's communication skills and improvements in their critical thinking.", [13] leading to the suggestion that there should be more focus on these skills in classrooms, and commensurately teacher education programs, [14] [15] including in the context of computer use. [16] [17] This approach has been termed (and researched under the banner of) "Thinking Together". [18] This approach has been used internationally particularly in Mexico (see e.g. [19] ) and recently Chile. [20] Mercer's research into the educationally salient components of discourse has been grounded in 'sociocultural discourse analysis' – a theory to which he has contributed. [21] Sociocultural discourse analysis focuses on what language is used to do, and in Mercer's work, how it is used to share meaning, create common knowledge, [6] and interthink. [21]
Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in intelligence, cognitive development, affect, motivation, self-regulation, and self-concept, as well as their role in learning. The field of educational psychology relies heavily on quantitative methods, including testing and measurement, to enhance educational activities related to instructional design, classroom management, and assessment, which serve to facilitate learning processes in various educational settings across the lifespan.
Learning theory describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a world view, is acquired or changed and knowledge and skills retained.
Social constructivism is a sociological theory of knowledge according to which human development is socially situated and knowledge is constructed through interaction with others.
Jerome Seymour Bruner was an American psychologist who made significant contributions to human cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology. Bruner was a senior research fellow at the New York University School of Law. He received a BA in 1937 from Duke University and a PhD from Harvard University in 1941. He taught and did research at Harvard University, the University of Oxford, and New York University. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Bruner as the 28th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning, which tends to facilitate more efficient learning than teacher-centered learning. This learning process promotes a deeper level of learning than many other common teaching strategies.
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is defined as any human communication that occurs through the use of two or more electronic devices. While the term has traditionally referred to those communications that occur via computer-mediated formats, it has also been applied to other forms of text-based interaction such as text messaging. Research on CMC focuses largely on the social effects of different computer-supported communication technologies. Many recent studies involve Internet-based social networking supported by social software.
Pedagogy, most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as an academic discipline, is the study of how knowledge and skills are imparted in an educational context, and it considers the interactions that take place during learning. Both the theory and practice of pedagogy vary greatly as they reflect different social, political, and cultural contexts.
The Reggio Emilia approach is an educational philosophy and pedagogy focused on preschool and primary education. This approach is a student-centered and constructivist self-guided curriculum that uses self-directed, experiential learning in relationship-driven environments. The programme is based on the principles of respect, responsibility and community through exploration, discovery and play.
Philosophy for Children, sometimes abbreviated to P4C, is a movement that aims to teach reasoning and argumentative skills to children. There are also related methods sometimes called "Philosophy for Young People" or "Philosophy for Kids". Often the hope is that this will be a key influential move towards a more democratic form of democracy. However, there is also a long tradition within higher education of developing alternative methods for teaching philosophy both in schools and colleges.
The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is a concept in educational psychology. It represents the distance between what a learner is capable of doing unsupported, and what they can only do supported. It is the range where they are capable only with support from someone with more knowledge or expertise, the degree to which children can rapidly develop under social guidance, as compared to alone. The concept was introduced, but not fully developed, by psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) during the last three years of his life. Vygotsky argued that a child gets involved in a dialogue with the "more knowledgeable other" such as a peer or an adult and gradually, through social interaction and sense-making, develops the ability to solve problems independently and do certain tasks without help. Following Vygotsky, some educators believe that the role of education is to give children experiences that are within their zones of proximal development, thereby encouraging and advancing their individual learning such as skills and strategies.
Dialogic learning is learning that takes place through dialogue. It is typically the result of egalitarian dialogue; in other words, the consequence of a dialogue in which different people provide arguments based on validity claims and not on power claims.
A significant construct in language learning research, identity is defined as "how a person understands his or her relationship to the world, how that relationship is structured across time and space, and how the person understands possibilities for the future". Recognizing language as a social practice, identity highlights how language constructs and is constructed by a variety of relationships. Because of the diverse positions from which language learners can participate in social life, identity is theorized as multiple, subject to change, and a site of struggle.
A dialogue journal is an ongoing written interaction between two people to exchange experiences, ideas, knowledge or reflections. It is used most often in education as a means of sustained written interaction between students and teachers at all education levels. It can be used to promote second language learning and learning in all areas.
Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge is the School of Education at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It was established in 2001. It is part of the school of humanities and social sciences at the University of Cambridge.
The Third Space is a postcolonial sociolinguistic theory of identity and community realized through language. It is attributed to Homi K. Bhabha. Third Space Theory explains the uniqueness of each person, actor or context as a "hybrid". See Edward W. Soja for a conceptualization of the term within the social sciences and from a critical urban theory perspective.
Robin Alexander is a British educationist and academic known particularly for championing the cause of primary education, for his leadership of the Cambridge Primary Review, and for his research and writing on education policy, culture, curriculum, pedagogy, dialogic teaching and comparative and international education. He is currently Fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge and Professor of Education Emeritus at the University of Warwick. In 2011 he was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences and chaired its Education Section 2018-21.
Martin Nystrand is an American composition and education theorist. He is Louise Durham Mead Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Professor Emeritus of Education at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
Rupert Wegerif is a professor of education at the University of Cambridge in England.
Sara Hennessy is a British scholar. As of 2022, she is a Professor of Teacher Development and Pedagogical Innovation in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge. Hennessy has worked in the field of EdTech for over three decades, focusing particularly on professional development, teacher inquiry, and interactive pedagogy, including in sub-Saharan Africa. She is a Research Director of EdTech Hub, a multi-million-pound 8-year program funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Erna Beth Seecamp Yackel was an American college professor and math educator. She was a member of the faculty at Purdue University Northwest from 1984 to 2004.
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