Research can feel far removed from what really happens in most classrooms. Scientists do studies and publish their findings, but teachers don’t always have the time or incentive to read long, dense journal articles. This disconnect between research and practice is often called the “research-practice gap.”
Let’s be real – teachers have a lot on their plates already! Between lesson planning, marking, meetings, and working with students, sitting down to pore over academic journals and research usually falls pretty low on the to-do list.
At the same time, research has so much to offer. Studies estimate that only around 5%-10% of research findings make there way into actual teaching (Monash Q Project). And most teachers struggle to find, interpret, and evaluate quality research on their own. There’s just not enough hours in the day!
AI technology offers new ways to bridge this gap. AI systems possess the capability to scrutinise extensive volumes of academic research, identifying pivotal takeaways and recommendations. These insights can then be transformed into formats that are more accessible to teachers, such as summarised reports, web resources, and training materials.
But what if we could make research more accessible? That’s where exciting new technologies like AI come in! AI has the potential to help bridge the gap between research and practice in some neat ways:
- Summarising research: AI can read studies and boil down the key takeaways into short, easy-to-skim summaries.
- “Talking through” findings: Teachers can have a conversational Q&A with a document they have uploaded into an AI platform to dig into what a study means and how to apply it.
- Creating training: AI can help to turn research into ready-made professional development resources like videos, modules, and quick tips. I’ve been experimenting with 7taps recently.
- Simplifying language: AI can “translate” dense academic writing into plain language so the main ideas are crystal clear. I’ve experimented asking academic texts to be reworded to be in language my students in KS3 can delve into.
- Generating ideas: Teachers can ask an AI about their specific classroom context and I can suggest research-based activities tailored to their students. However, we need to be aware of hallucinations. Best to always fact check.
I’m especially excited about the potential for AI to create customised activities and lesson plans based on evidence-based teaching methods. I’ve been working on prompts grounded in research on techniques like gamification, project-based learning, and portfolio assessment.
The idea is that teachers can enter details about their specific students, class, and learning goals. Then AI can use that context and follow the research based rules in the prompt to generate ideas tailored to their needs.
This saves teachers so much time as they don’t have to become experts in every single approach just to bring research to life. They can focus on the fun, creative parts – adapting activities for their students.
I want to add a quick caveat – while AI prompts can help bridge the research-practice gap, I still think it’s valuable for teachers to engage directly with academic literature and evidence-based practices. At my school, I lead CPD programmes to have teachers explore, discuss, and reflect on research studies.
That said, I’ve found that AI prompts are a fantastic way to make research insights come alive in the classroom. These prompts let teachers quickly try out activities based on proven methods, without having to be an expert in every approach. Plus, reading the guidelines within the prompt can help a teacher grasp the approach more fully.
In fact, we’ve already had great success reworking some of my initial AI-generated prompts collaboratively as a teaching team. One teacher will take a prompt and tweak certain sections based on their classroom experience or prior knowledge of a strategy like problem-based learning.
The goal is to make research insights genuinely accessible and actionable within our schools. For too long, so many important findings from educational studies have remained locked away in academic silos, far removed from real classrooms.
I believe actively creating evidence-based AI prompts is one tangible way we can start bridging the longstanding research-practice divide.
Matthew Wemyss 