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Colin Foster

@colinfoster77

Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics Education at Loughborough University, UK www.foster77.co.uk

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Latest posts by Colin Foster @colinfoster77

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Evaluating the evaluation of psychology in UK universities | BPS Elizabeth Stokoe, Matthew Inglis, Colin Foster, Hugo Lortie-Forgues and Victoria Simms share tales from the Research Excellence Framework.

Evaluating the evaluation of psychology in UK universities…

@lizstokoe.bsky.social @mjinglis.bsky.social @colinfoster77.bsky.social @hugolf.bsky.social @profvicsimms.bsky.social share tales from the Research Excellence Framework.

www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

07.11.2025 13:30 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Confidence Assessment, Calibration, and Gender - International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education This study considers the utility of repeated confidence assessments for improving students’ calibration and investigates whether there are any associations between calibration and gender. Calibration ...

** NEW ** Open Access article with Eletta Rainsford in
@springernature.com found that students' confidence in their answers did not become better calibrated when they received feedback over the course of 9 questions. We found interesting gender effects: doi.org/10.1007/s107...

05.11.2025 15:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Psychology and research assessment in the United Kingdom
Matthew Inglis,Colin Foster,Hugues Lortie-Forgues,Victoria Simms & Elizabeth Stokoe
Abstract
What can we learn about psychology research in the UK, and its perceived quality, from examining manuscripts submitted to the psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience subpanel of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021)? Using a latent Dirichlet allocation topic modelling approach, we identified 33 topics which collectively summarised the content of the journal articles returned to the subpanel. We found that the composition of submissions to the subpanel, in terms of these topics, explained a large proportion of the variance in the quality assessments they received from the expert peer review subpanel. Our model identified topics which were typically associated with receiving higher and lower unit-level quality assessments. In our discussion we pay particular attention to the fate of qualitative research, and discuss possible accounts for why units who returned a large amount of qualitative work tended to receive lower quality assessments than those who did not.

Screenshot of article title, authors, and Abstract Psychology and research assessment in the United Kingdom Matthew Inglis,Colin Foster,Hugues Lortie-Forgues,Victoria Simms & Elizabeth Stokoe Abstract What can we learn about psychology research in the UK, and its perceived quality, from examining manuscripts submitted to the psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience subpanel of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021)? Using a latent Dirichlet allocation topic modelling approach, we identified 33 topics which collectively summarised the content of the journal articles returned to the subpanel. We found that the composition of submissions to the subpanel, in terms of these topics, explained a large proportion of the variance in the quality assessments they received from the expert peer review subpanel. Our model identified topics which were typically associated with receiving higher and lower unit-level quality assessments. In our discussion we pay particular attention to the fate of qualitative research, and discuss possible accounts for why units who returned a large amount of qualitative work tended to receive lower quality assessments than those who did not.

For anyone interested in #psychology, #research assessment and evaluation, how the expert panel rated research submitted to #REF2021 - and especially the fate of #qualitative research - our article in Cogent Psychology is #OpenAccess (link in next post).

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27.10.2025 12:20 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Diagnostic Questions Better results, more confidence, less time

** NEW ** Open Access article with Aidan Stannard in @ssma1901.bsky.social
found that mathematics teachers who practised predicting students' responses to diagnostic questions diagnosticquestions.com improved dramatically in a short time period. doi.org/10.1111/ssm....

06.10.2025 13:21 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Effectiveness of a Cover-Copy-Compare App for Developing Secondary School Students’ Mathematical Procedural Fluency with Straight-Line Graphs - Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technol... Cover-copy-compare (CCC) is a simple, self-managed process that enables students to develop fluency in important facts and procedures through modelling, practice and corrective feedback. CCC has been ...

** NEW ** Open Access article with Jacob Strauss and Tim Jay in the Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education on using the Cover-Copy-Compare technique to develop secondary school students’ mathematical procedural fluency with straight-line graphs. doi.org/10.1007/s423...

05.09.2025 14:50 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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In #mathstoday, inspired by @colinfoster77.bsky.social’s Mathematical Etudes, we’ve been combining mathematical thinking and fluency practice 😁 lots of rich conversations all round. Not bad for the last day of a very long term! 😴

11.04.2025 14:12 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Curriculum Journal | BERA Journal | Wiley Online Library There are increasingly frequent calls for school mathematics curricula to be informed by robust research evidence. One approach to achieving this is designing evidence-informed learning and teaching ...

Great paper by @colinfoster77.bsky.social and colleagues on applying principles of cognitive science in mathematics curriculum design. Not surprised to read that "Research-based design principles derived from sanitised experimental situations can be difficult to implement in specific real instances"

31.01.2025 17:09 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

**NEW** paper from my fabulously talented colleague @bethwoollacott.bsky.social who’s work aims to bring research and practice in the early years closer together

27.01.2025 12:40 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Review of Education | BERA Educational Research Journal | Wiley Online Library For educational research findings to impact educational practice, effective communication is essential. One communication device is a summary that consolidates research literature and presents it in ...

"Effective research communication in education: Early years practitioners' views of research summaries"

In my newest paper, I discuss the importance of understanding how early years practitioners engage with research & what I learnt from speaking to them.πŸ’‘

Free access here: doi.org/10.1002/rev3...

27.01.2025 09:20 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
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Challenges faced by Ukrainian students learning mathematics in UK schools Previous research on how UK schools can meet the needs of refugee students has not focused on Ukrainian refugee students’ learning of mathematics. This group faces specific challenges, simultaneous...

Free open access article published today @tandfresearch.bsky.social about the challenges faced by Ukrainian refugee students learning mathematics in UK schools: doi.org/10.1080/0305... @colinfoster77.bsky.social

20.01.2025 18:14 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

** NEW ** Open Access article in Asian Journal for Mathematics Education on how school students’ mathematical confidence develops across a sequence of low-stakes formative assessments: doi.org/10.1177/2752...

27.11.2024 14:53 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0