Professor Neil Mercer

Position/Status

Professor of Education
Fellow of Hughes Hall

E-mail Address

nmm31@cam.ac.uk

Phone

01223 767592

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) in Psychology, University of Manchester
PhD in Psycholinguistics, University of Leicester
Chartered Psychologist

Membership of Professional Bodies/Associations

European Association for Learning and Instruction
British Psychological Society
International Society for Cultural and Activity Research
United Kingdom Literacy Association
American Educational Research Association

Profile

Neil Mercer is Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge, having previously been Professor of Language and Communications at the Open University where he was also Director of the Centre for Language and Communications and Director of the Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology. A psychologist with a special interest in the role of language in the classroom and the development of children's thinking, he has worked closely with local authorities and teachers in schools. One of the main outcomes has been the teaching approach called Thinking Together, which has been shown to improve children's skills in communicating, learning and reasoning. His research has dealt with education at different levels, from primary school and secondary school to university education, distance education and work-based training. It has included studies of the use of educational technology, with some projects generating and testing new educational software.

Neil Mercer has served as a consultant to British government education agencies, including the DfES, QCA, TTA and Becta, and the outcomes of the Thinking Together research programme have been incorporated into the National Strategies for primary and secondary education. He has been a member of the Research Grants Board of the Economic and Social Research Council, the Executive Committee of the European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction and the international conference organising committee for the International Society for Cultural and Activity Research. He has also been a Link Coordinator for the British Council's international Academic Exchange Programme and has contributed to the ESRC's Joint Research Capacities Building programme.

His research has generated strong links with researchers outside the UK, especially in the Scandinavian countries, Holland, Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Spain, Switzerland, Australia and the USA. He has been a visiting professor at UNED, Mexico and other universities in Latin America, Kansai University in Japan and is currently working with researchers at the University of Utrecht. With colleague Professor Christine Howe, in 2007 he contributed the report Children's Social Development, Peer Interaction and Classroom Learning to The Cambridge Primary Review, a major review of British primary education and relevant research based at Cambridge and directed by Professor Robin Alexander.

A former editor of the journal Learning and Instruction, he is currently editor of the International Journal of Educational Research . He is also a member of the editorial boards of Infancia y Aprendizaje, Language and Education and Reading Research Quarterly.

Research Topics

Teacher-pupil talk in primary and secondary classrooms.
Talk in group-based activity in classrooms.
The development of children's language and thinking skills.
The use of ICT in the teaching of science and maths.
Methods for analysing talk and joint activity.
The development of a sociocultural theory of education.
Spoken language, literacy and ICT.
Collective problem-solving in educational and work settings.
Teaching and learning with new technology.
Teaching and learning in distance education.
The teaching of English as a second language.

Recent and Current Research Projects

Effecting principled improvement in STEM education [epiSTEMe] (2008-2012)

Funded by ESRC. With Prof. Christine Howe, Prof. Ken Ruthven & Dr Keith Taber. The epiSTEMe project is one of several ESRC funded projects designed to address concerns about uptake of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) courses through improving aspects of science and mathematics education at school level. The Cambridge based epiSTEMe project is designed to bring together a range of ideas and approaches well-established in the research literature, and show how they can be adopted in designing effective science and mathematics lessons at lower secondary school level that can engage and interest children in these subjects as well as lead to successful curriculum learning.

Thinking Together
Funded by ESRC, Nuffield Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Trust and others. With Lyn Dawes, Karen Littleton, Rupert Wegerif, Judith Kleine Staarman and several others. A series of school-based projects on the development of children's language and reasoning has been carried out over the last 15 years.

Dialogic Teaching in the Science Classroom (2004-2007)
Funded by ESRC. Co-directed with Prof. Phil Scott, (Leeds), with Jaume Ametller (Leeds) and Judith Kleine Staarman (Cambridge).
This project has examined the incidence, nature and functions of teacher-student dialogue in science education in upper primary and lower secondary classrooms. More information is available at
http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre

Interactive Whiteboards as Pedagogic Tools in Primary Schools (2005-6)
Funded by ESRC. With Julia Gillen and Karen Littleton (Open University), Judith Kleine Staarman (Cambridge) and Alison Twiner (OU)
This project is about the impact of interactive whiteboards on teaching in primary schools. More information is available at
http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre

Interactive Whiteboards and Collaborative Pupil Learning in Primary Science. (2007-2009) Funded by ESRC. With Ruth Kershner, Judith Kleine Staarman and Paul Warwick (all at Cambridge)
This is an investigation of how primary school children use the interactive whiteboard to support their collaborative activity in the classroom. More information is available at
http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre

Principal Publications

Selected Books

Mercer, N. & Littleton, K. (2007) Dialogue and the Development of Children's Thinking: a sociocultural approach. London: Routledge.

Dawes, L. , English, J., Holmwood, R. Giles, G. & Mercer, N. (2005) Thinking Together in Geography. Stevenage: Badger Publishing.

Dawes, L., Mercer, N,, and Wegerif, R. (2004, second edition) Thinking Together: a programme of activities for developing speaking, listening and thinking skills. Birmingham; Imaginative Minds Ltd.

Goodman, S. Maybin, J., Lillis, T. & Mercer, N. (2003) Language, Literacy and Education. London: Trentham Books.

Candlin, C.N. & Mercer, N. (2001) (eds) English Language Teaching in its Social Context. London: Routledge.

Mercer, N. (2000) Words and Minds: how we use language to think together. London: Routledge.

Mercer, N. (1995) The Guided Construction of Knowledge: talk amongst teachers and learners. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Maybin, J. & Mercer, N. (1996) (eds) Using English: from conversation to canon. London: Routledge with the Open University.

Mercer, N & Swann, J, (1996) (eds) Learning English: development and diversity. London: Routledge with the Open University.

Mercer, N. & Coll, C. (1994) (eds) Teaching, Learning and Interaction. (Explorations in Socio-cultural studies, vol.3). Madrid: Fundacion Infancia y Aprendizaje.

Mercer, N. (1987) (ed.) Language and Literacy from an Educational Perspective, Vol.2: In School. Milton Keynes, Open University Press.

Mercer, N. (1987) (ed.) Language and Literacy from an Educational Perspective, Vol.1: Language Studies. Milton Keynes, Open University Press.

Edwards, D. and Mercer, N. (1987) Common Knowledge: the development of joint understanding in the classroom, London, Methuen.

Mercer, N. (1981) (ed.) Language in School and Community. London, Edward Arnold.

Journal articles (from 2000)

Mercer, N. (in press) Talk and the development of reasoning and understanding. Human Development, 51, 1.

Mercer, N. (in press) The seeds of time: why classroom dialogue needs a temporal analysis. Journal of the Learning Sciences.

Mercer, N. (2007) Commentary on the Reconciliation of Cognitive and Sociocultural Accounts of Conceptual Change. Educational Psychologist, 42, 1, 75-78.

Gillen, J., Kleine Staarman, J., Littleton, K., Mercer, N. & Twiner, A. (2007) A ''learning revolution''? Investigating pedagogic practice around interactive whiteboards in British primary classrooms. Learning, Media and Technology. 32, 3, 243-256.

Mercer, N. and Sams, C. (2006) Teaching children how to use language to solve maths problems, Language and Education, 20, 6, 507-528.

Littleton, K., Mercer, N., Dawes, L., Wegerif, R., Rowe, D., & Sams, C. (2005). Thinking together at Key Stage 1. Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development, 25, 2, 165-180.

Mercer, N. (2005) Sociocultural discourse analysis: analysing classroom talk as a social mode of thinking. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1, 2, 137-168.

Wegerif, R., Perez, J., Rojas-Drummond, S., Mercer, N., & Velez, M. (2005) Thinking Together in the UK and Mexico: transfer of an educational innovation. Journal of Classroom Interaction, 40, 1, 40-48.

Mercer, N., Littleton, K., Wegerif, R. (2004) Methods for studying the processes of interaction and collaborative activity in computer-based educational activities. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 13, 2, 193-209.

Mercer, N., Dawes, R., Wegerif, R., & Sams, C. (2004) Reasoning as a scientist: ways of helping children to use language to learn science. British Educational Research Journal, 30, 3, 367-385.

Rojas-Drummond, S. & Mercer, N. (2004) Scaffolding the development of effective collaboration and learning, International Journal of Educational Research, 39, 99-111.

Wegerif, R., Littleton, K., Dawes, L., Mercer, N. and Rowe, D. (2004) Widening Access to Educational Opportunities through Teaching Children how to Reason Together. Westminster Studies in Education. 27, 2, 143-157.

Mercer, N., Fernandez, M., Dawes, L., Wegerif, R., & Sams, C. (2003) Talk about texts; using ICT to develop childrenâs oral and literate abilities. Reading, Literacy and Language, 37, 2, 81-89.

Mercer, N, (2002) Diversity and commonality in the analysis of talk. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 11, 2&3, 369-371.

Fernandez, M., Wegerif, R., Mercer, N. and Rojas-Drummond, S. M. (2001). Re-conceptualising scaffolding and the Zone of Proximal Development in the context of symmetrical collaborative learning. Journal of Classroom Interaction. 36, 2, 40-54.

Rojas-Drummond, S., Mercer, N., & Dabrowski, E. (2001) Collaboration, scaffolding and the promotion of problem-solving strategies in Mexican pre-schoolers. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 16, 2, 179-196.

Selwyn, N., Dawes, L. and Mercer, N. (2001) Promoting Mr Chips: teachers and the new technology, Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 3-14.

Chapters in books (from 2000)

Mercer, N., Wegerif, R., Dawes, L., Sams, C. & Fernandez, M. (2007) How computers can help children think together about texts. In C. Kinzer & L. Verhoeven (eds), Interactive Literacy. New York: McGraw Hill.

Mercer, N. & Dawes, L. (2007) Speaking and Listening at Key Stage 2. In T. Cremin & H. Dombey (Eds) Handbook of Primary English in Initial Teacher Education. London: NATE/UKLA.

Mercer, N., Dawes, L., Sams, C. & Fernandez, M. (2007) Computers, literacy and thinking together. In A. Adams and S. Brindley (eds) Teaching Secondary English with ICT. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Mercer, N. (2003) The educational value of dialogic talk in whole class dialogue: New Perspectives on Spoken English in the Classroom: Discussion Papers, pp 73- 76. London: QCA.

Mercer, N. (2002) Developing dialogues. In G. Wells & G. Claxton (Eds) Learning for Life in the 21st Century. Oxford: Blackwell.

Mercer, N. (2001) Spoken Language in the classroom. In R. Mesthrie (ed.) The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics. (Amsterdam: Pergamon).

Mercer, N. & Dawes, L. (2001) Dialogues for teaching and learning. In F. Banks & A. Shelton Mayes (eds) Early Professional Development for Teachers. London: David Fulton.

Mercer, N. (2001) Language as a medium for teaching-and-learning. In C.N. Candlin & N. Mercer (eds) English Language Teaching in its Social Context. London: Routledge.

Wegerif, R. & Mercer, N. (2000) Language for Thinking: a study of children solving reasoning problems together. In H.Cowie & G. van der Aaalsvoort (eds) Social Interaction in Learning and Instruction. Amsterdam: Pergamon.

Mercer, N. (2000) How is language used as a medium for classroom education? In B. Moon, S. Brown and M. Ben-Perez (Eds) The Routledge International Companion to Education. London: Routledge.

Mercer, N, & Gonzalez Estapa, J. (2000) Un perspectiva sociocultural sobre la educacion a distancia. In E. Litwin (Ed.) Nuevas Direcciones en la Educacion a Distancia. Buenos Aires: University of Buenos Aires.

Dawes, Mercer & Wegerif. (2000) Extending talking and reasoning skills using ICT. In M. Leask & J. Meadows (eds) Teaching and Learning with ICT in the Primary School. London: Routledge. (pp. 39-64).

Mercer, N. & Gonzalez Estapa, F. (2000) La educacion a distancia y la creacion del conocimiento compartido. In O. Preti (ed) Educao a Distancia: construido significados. Cuiaba, Brasil: NEAD/UFMT.

Cook, G. & Mercer, N. (2000) From me to you: austerity and profligacy in the language of the Beatles. In I. Inglis (ed.) The Beatles, popular music and society: a thousand voices. London: Macmillan. (pp 87-104).

Other research publications (from 2000)

Howe, C. & Mercer, N. (2007) The Primary Review: Research Survey 2/1b, Children's Social Development, Peer Interaction and Classroom Learning. Cambridge University.

Mercer, N. (2005) Language for thinking. The Literacy Coordinators' File, No. 21, 44- 47. London: pfp publishing.

Mercer, N. (2004). Speaking, listening and thinking together. In the series Teaching Texts: what do leaders need to know about teaching? Nottingham: National College for School Leadership.

Mercer, N. (2002) Helping children think effectively, together and alone. Patoss: the Journal of the Professional Association of Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties, 15, 2, 8-11.

Mercer, N. (2002) The art of interthinking. Teaching Thinking, Spring 2002, Issue 7, 8-11.

Mercer, N. (2001) Why I study Interthinking. The Psychologist, Vol. 14, No.12, 648-649.