Directions:
Imagine you are the principal in a school with a large influx of new teachers who have been prepared to use constructivist teaching strategies and to distrust direct instruction. Your older teachers, on the other hand, are the opposite – they distrust the new constructivist approaches and believe strongly in “traditional teaching.”
Prepare a 20 minute (or longer) discussion/presentation about different theories of teaching and learning, including direct instruction. Include a PowerPoint presentation with recorded audio on the strengths and weaknesses of each of the learning perspectives discussed in this chapter –behavioral, cognitive, and constructivist. Be sure to discuss the situations for which the behavioral approach is best. Give at least one example for each approach. Make sure that during your presentation, you:
Consider the pros and cons of direct instruction
Contrast direct instruction with a constructivist approach to teaching
Examine under what situations each approach is appropriate
Propose and defend a balanced approach to teaching.
This is a wonderful information and cite the author if you are using it in your presentation. Thank you for checking it out.
2. Teaching and Learning
Technical core of all schools
Heart and soul of all educational
organizations
Shapes many of the administrative
decisions that must be made
3. Learning
Learning happens when experience
produces a stable change in someone’s
knowledge or behavior
Involves a change in the individual’s
knowledge or behavior
A complex cognitive process and there is
no one best explanation of learning
4. 3 Theories of Learning
Behavioral Theories of Learning
Cognitive Theories of Learning
Constructivist Theories of Learning
5. Behavioral Learning
B.F. Skinner (1950)
Stress observable changes in behaviors, skills,
and habits
Learning is regular expected responses
Instruction is repetition and reinforcement
6. Behavioral Learning
Behavior is what a person does in a given
situation
Environmental Influences
Antecedents
Consequences
Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (A-B-C)
7. Consequences
Determine whether the behavior will be
repeated
Will either strengthen or weaken the
prosperity of an individual to repeat a
behavior
2 Kinds: Reinforcement and Punishment
8. Reinforcement
Strengthens the behavior that it follows
Increases the frequency or duration of a
given behavior
2 types:
Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
9. Positive Reinforcement
Occurs when a behavior produces a new
stimulus or motivating force
Potential problem for all teachers
Occurs when a consequence strengthens
a behavior by providing the addition of a
stimulus
10. Negative Reinforcement
Occurs when the consequence that
reinforces or strengthens behavior is
obtained by eliminating a stimulus
A behavior is reinforced or strengthened
by removing a negative or aversive
stimulus
11. Punishment
Involves weakening or suppressing
behavior
The effect of decreasing behavior that
defines the consequences as punishment
2 Kinds:
Type I and Type II
12. Punishment
Direct Punishment
Occurs when the appearance of the
stimulus following the behavior suppresses
or weakens the behavior
Removal Punishment
Occurs when a stimulus is removed
13. Antecedents
Provide information about which behaviors
will lead to positive consequences and which
to negative ones
Cueing: providing an antecedent stimulus just
prior to a particular behavior
Prompting: providing an additional cue
following the first cue
14. Behavioral Learning
Pros
Observable
behavior is
observable and
measurable
Easily implemented
Cons
Does not
contribute to
changes in internal
(cognitive,
affective) things
Has limits
15. Cognitive Learning
Piaget
Underscore such internal mental activities as
thinking, remembering, creating, and
problem solving
Learning is recall of stored information
Instruction is grab attention and help store it
16. Knowledge Learning
Five Kinds of Knowledge
General
Domain-Specific
Declarative
Procedural
Self-regulatory
17. Cognitive Learning
Pros
More autonomous
Develops cognitive
abilities and the
potentials of his/her
own
Clarifies process in
language use and
language learning
Cons
Questions how one
can reach beyond
internal
representations
into the reality
Ignores creative
thinking and
consciousness
18. Constructivist Learning
Vygotsky
Interested in how individuals make
meaning of events and activities
Learning is seen as the construction of
knowledge
Instruction is guiding problem solving
19. Constructivist Learning
Students build knowledge based upon
prior knowledge
Learners create the answer as they see it
Teacher guides students in discovering
knowledge on their own
20. Constructivist Learning
Pros
More engaged
Ability to apply
knowledge and
thinking skills
More collaboration
Think more critically
Self-awareness
Cons
Teachers have to
spend more time
getting to know
students
Students not the
best judge of their
own learning
needs
21. Direct Instruction
Explicit teaching
Best when teaching basic skills – clearly
structured knowledge and essential skills
Skills involve tasks that can be taught step
by step and tested by standardized tests
22. Direct Instruction
Pros
Can help students
learn actively, not
passively
Lends itself to higher-
order thinking
Provides student
responsibility
Provides
developmental
learning
Cons
Limited to lower-level
objectives
Based on traditional
teaching methods
Ignores innovative
models
Discourages students’
independent thought
and action
23. Comparing Theories
Direct Instruction Constructivist
Direct Instruction Constructivist Theory
Stress individual work Stress group-based, collaboration
Specific skill-based goals Global goals
Teachers generate set body of
skills
Students generate their own
knowledge though experience
Traditional teacher-directed
methods and materials: lectures,
skill worksheet
Nontraditional materials used to
promote student-driven
explorations and problem-solving
Traditional Assessment Non-Traditional Assessments
Quality of instruction must be
consistent
Increase relevancy
Convergent Thinking Divergent Thinking
24. Balanced Approach to
Teaching
In a balanced approach to literacy
instruction, teachers integrate instruction
with authentic reading and writing and
experiences so that students learn how to
use literacy strategies and skills and have
opportunities to apply what they are
learning.
25. Balanced Approach to
Teaching
Ongoing assessment
Direct instruction of strategies and skills
Independent reading and writing as well
as guided reading and writing
Sustained silent reading
Shared reading
Reading aloud
Editor's Notes
(2 and 3) The process
The change may be intentional or not, but to qualify as learning the change must occur because of experience as the individual interacts with his or her environment.
The books definition of learning…..
In addition, the book states that learning
(1) Behaviorism perceives the mind as a black box or blank slate.
(2) Cognitivist sees the mind as a computer
(3) Constructivism views the mind as rhizome or an integral part of interconnected ecosystem.
1) Skinner and his followers emphasized the importance of antecedents and consequences in changing behavior
3) Learning is defined as a change in behavior brought about by experience with virtually no concern for the mental or internal process of thinking.
2) Antecedents come before the behavior and consequences come after the behavior
3) As behavior happens, a given consequence transforms into an antecedent for the next ABC sequence. Behavior, then, is altered by changes in antecedents, consequences, or both.
2) The kind and timing of the consequence……
3) Reinforcement strengthens the behavior. Punishment weakens the behavior.
Common meaning is reward, but in learning theory it has a specific connotation.
For example, students who are routinely sent to the principal’s office for misbehaving in class may be getting reinforcement for such behavior. There is probably something about this consequence that is reinforcing for them, even if it doesn’t seem desirable to their teachers. Perhaps the behavior provides needed attention or produces status among fellow students. Behaviorists would argue that repeated misbehavior is being reinforced in some way for that student.
2) Because often teachers unintentionally reinforce misbehavior of students.
Therefore, behavior followed by punishment is less likely to be repeated in similar situations in the future.
3) Type I is direct punishment. Type II is removal punishment.
1b) something is added to suppress behavior . Example: detention, extra work, and lower grades for students
2b) For example, when parents or teachers remove a student’s privileges. They are removing something that is desired.
2) For example, police car sitting under an overpass or simply along the highway provides an instantaneous cue about the consequences of speeding.
3) An example of prompting is providing students with a checklist or a “to do list” when the work in pairs as part of peer tutoring. As the students learn the procedures, the checklist is gradually withdrawn. When the students have learned the procedures, no written or oral prompts are needed because they have learned how to react appropriately to the cue of working in pairs.
1 Pro) We can infer whether changes have been made in student’s understanding from behavioral change.
2 Pro) Such things as positive verbal reinforcement, or that look of “I’m tired of your nonsense” take little time or effort and usually bring about the desired behavior quickly.
1 Con) Some of our most important goals for students learning involve changes in internal (cognitive, affective) things which cannot be directly observed.
2 Con) It has its limits. Michael Shayer and Philip Adey made the observation: “In two studies it was found that no evidence of formal thinking capacity could be found in children under the age of 10, no matter how clever they were.”
G- applies to variety of situations. Foe example general knowledge about how to read or use a computer is useful in many situations
DS- relates to a particular task or subject. For example, knowing there are nine innings in a game is specific to the domain of baseball.
D- says that knowledge can be declared, usually in words, through lectures, books, writing, verbal exchange, mathematical notation, and so on.
P- is knowing how to do something such as divide fractions or overhaul an air conditioner
S-r – knowing when and why to apply declarative and procedural knowledge
1Pro) Students are more engaged because they have more ownership over learning
2Pro) Students gain the ability to apply knowledge and thinking skills in different settings
3Pro) Students work more collaboratively building social and cooperation skills
4Pro)
5Pro) Students become more self-aware through reflection and goal-setting
1) Psychologists have identified this approach to be consistent with behavioral theory that helps improve student learning
2) Skills such as science facts, math computations, reading vocabulary, and grammar rules.
Goals:
Skills:
Assessment:
Quality Assurance and Increase Relevancy
Thinking:
The best approach to teaching reading is a combination of approaches. No single approach is sufficient for any child, nor is any predetermined combination of approaches."
Current education research supports a balanced approached to literacy, one that views reading, writing, speaking and listening as interrelated.
