Instructional Strategies Flashcards
What is the central tenant of Constructivism?
Individuals are active agents in constructing their own knowledge during the course of interaction with the environment. Thinking is an active process whereby people organize their perceptions of the world.
What are the two goals of Constructivist teaching?
- Encourage knowledge formation
- Encourage metacognitive processes for judging, organizing, and acquiring information
In Constructivist teaching, what is emphasized?
- Personal interest
- Background knowledge
- Active learning
- An emphasis on personal meaning
- Critical thinking
What are the two types of Constructivism?
- Cognitive constructivism: Piaget; emphasis on the internal, individual construction of knowledge (endogenous)
- Social constructivism: Vygotsky; emphasis on social & cultural impact upon knowledge formation (dialectical)
What are central concepts in Piaget’s cognitive constructivism?
- Organization
o Scheme: Patterns of behavior or thinking that children and adults use in dealing with objects in the world. These become increasingly complex. - Adaptation
o Assimilation: Interpreting new experiences in relation to existing schemes
o Accommodation: Modifying existing schemes to fit new situations
What is the Zone of Proximal Development?
Part of Vygotsky’s social constructivism; “The distance between the actual developmental level (as determined by independent problem solving) and the level of potential development (as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers).”
What is scaffolding?
Assistance that allows individuals to complete tasks they are not able to complete independently. Linked with scaffolding, in which individuals can solve problems with help that they could not solve independently.
What is Direct Instruction?
Teacher-directed instruction where the teacher acts as an expert or organizer; emphasizes schema activation and scaffolding, with little role of peers. Well-suited to unfamiliar domains or low achievers. Associated with Ausubel.
What is Cooperative Learning?
Peer-mediated or apprenticeship model, where the teacher acts as a mentor or collaborative. Emphasis on scaffolding, cooperative groups, zone of prox. development, and self-regulation, as well as student-directed learning and social learning. Well-suited to mixed ability, modeling, groups. Associated with Vygotsky.
What is Discovery Learning?
Guided instruction where the teacher acts as a facilitator. Emphasizes hands-on learning, inductive learning, scaffolding, as well as creativity. Mixed role of peers, and well-suited to high interest/ability students, and high achievers.
What kind of content or skills is well-suited to Direct Instruction?
Content or skills that…
- Have a specific set of identifiable operations or procedures
- Can be illustrated with a large and varied number of examples
- Can be developed through practice
What are the four phases of Direct Instructions?
- Introduction and review: Homework review, overview and purpose, motivation
- Presentation: Concrete examples, modeling, many questions, check understanding
- Guided practice: Scaffolding, monitoring, interaction
- Independent practice: Monitoring, automaticity, homework
What are some tips for improving Direct Instruction?
- Ask questions that promote active rather than passive thinking
- Bring in anything to increase attention/interest (e.g. props, guest speaker, visuals, multimedia)
- Probe often and observe wait time
- Exude energy and express personal interest
- Give many concrete examples
- Be creative; don’t lecture from text!
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Discovery Learning?
Advantages: - Arouses curiosity - Encourages independent problem solving - Encourages the development of critical thinking skills Disadvantages: - Requires special materials - Extensive preparation - Frustration - Typically not effective for low-ability students
What defines Cooperative Learning?
- Positive interdependence
- Individual accountability
- Structures activities
- Team goals/rewards
- A focus on higher-order thinking after presentation of basic information
