Essential Learning Elements (text)

General Instructional Philosophy by Louise Berry June 13, 2008

In my classroom you will see the following philosophies in practice. They include Carroll’s four principles of minimalist instruction, which are:
1) Choose an approach that allows students to be active;
2) Use the procedure in an authentic task;
3) Work on recognizing, preventing, and recovering from student error;
4) Make the students read only enough to get started and know where they need to find other information as they work through the procedure. (Carroll)

Elements according to the Constructivist Approach
http://depts.washington.edu/eproject/constructivist.htm

This approach defines how learners should be able to think or solve problems differently when they are finished, as well as what settings, activities or interactions designers predict will lead to these new abilities.
Note, (in contrast to the behavioral specifications), the salient features of my classroom are:
◊ learners have some opportunity to define for themselves the goals and objectives for the course,
◊ the focus is more on process and interaction, less on what is specifically to be accomplished as a result of the lesson,
◊ outcomes are defined more in terms of a new common perspective rather than particular tasks or actions that individuals will be able to carry out.
◊ learners are assumed to be motivated by a common interest in some problem or issue; therefore, the learning is defined in large part by the context in which it will occur. (McGruff)

Instructional Design
1) Motivate and gain learner’s attention.
Telling a story, showing a short video clip, giving real statistics or numbers can be useful to start the learning. (Gagne)
2) Clearly State the learning objectives
These can be spoken or written. (Gagne)
3) Connect content with prior knowledge.
This helps the learner make relevant cognitions. (Krathwohl)
4) Demonstrate/present/explore new content
Check for student understanding or misconceptions. Presenting can be done using a variety of methods.
“Executive events are those in which the learner gathers the information he desires, collects ideas, practices skills as he works to solve his problem and achieve his goals. These events include reading books, attending lectures, consulting specialists and performing experiments.” (Moore 1973) A video presentation of the steps that could be played and reviewed would enhance the pamphlet. (Moore, Dwyer 1994)
5) Provide practice for students
Activities can be in many forms here including hands on, interactive, problem solving projects. (Hein, 1991)
6) Provide feedback while students are working.
Cognitive psychology has influenced learning theory in five major ways (Schuell, 1986):
◊ the view of learning is an active, constructive process
◊ the presence of high-level processes in learning
◊ the cumulative nature of learning and the corresponding role played by prior knowledge
◊ concern for the way knowledge is represented and organized in memory
◊ concern for analyzing learning tasks and performance in terms of the cognitive processes that are involved.
7) Evaluate acquisition of objectives.
Evaluation can be summative and formative
8) Provide correction and feedback
Here is opportunity for re-teaching, enrichment or re-enforcement.


References

Anderson, L. & Krathwohl, D. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman.

Bloom, Benjamin S. and David R. Krathwohl. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, by a committee of college and university examiners. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. New York: Longman, Green.
Internet places to read more about Bloom’s Taxonomy:
1) http://www.officeport.com/edu/blooms.htm
2) http://www.uct.ac.za/projects/cbe/mcqman/mcqappc.html

Carroll, John B. (1963). Mastery. Retrieved June 3, 2008, from TIP Theories. Web site: http://tip.psychology.org

Hein, George E. (1991). Constructivist Learning Theory. Retrieved Aug. 9, 2007, from Institute for Inquiry. Web site: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/constructivistlearning.html

McGruff, Steven J. Portfolio. Retrieved June 3, 2008 from http://fire.csumb.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=%2Fbin%2Fcommon%2Fcourse.pl%3Fcourse_id%3D_7400_1

Moore, Michael, G. (1973). Journal of Higher Education. Toward a Theory of Independent Learning and Teaching. 44, 12 pg 668.

Moore, David M. & Francis M. Dwyer. (1994). Visual Literacy, A spectrum of visual learning. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications.