Approaches to Instruction: Introduction

EDU 330: Educational Psychology

Daniel Moos

• Question: Who said the following?

“You want your students to learn? Don’t focus on WHAT your students are learning…focus on HOW are your students are learning.”

• Answer: Me

Approaches to Instruction: IntroductionBehavioral Approach• Academic knowledge and skills are the focus (not social

skills)• Teacher makes instructional decisions• Maintaining positive climate through reinforcement• Three components of direct instruction: Orientation,

Presentation, Structured/Guided/Independent Practice

Cognitive/Constructivism Approach• Rooted in Information Processing• Communicate clear goals and objectives: What you want to

accomplish, why you want to accomplish, and how you are going to assess

• Role of organization and meaningfulness• Support “active learning”• Assumptions consistent with Constructivism (ZPD, discovery

learning, social interaction, real-world)

Approaches to Instruction: IntroductionHumanistic Approach• Focus on “noncognitive” variables (i.e. students’ needs,

emotions, values, and self-perceptions)• Children make choices about their own development• “Teacher as facilitator” (not a “prescriber”)

Social Cognitive Approach• Cooperative learning:

• Group heterogeneity• Group goal and individual accountability• Interaction• Interpersonal skills• Team competition

First Step: Identify Learning Objective•Shoot a basketball with proper form

Second Step: Identify how you are going to structure activity to ensure learning objective is met; use at least one theory•How would a Behaviorist approach be?•How would a Humanistic approach be?•How would a Social approach be?•How would a Constructivist approach be?

Approaches to Instruction: Application to Experiential Activity

Co-teaching: IntroductionWhat is co-teaching?Co-teaching is typically defined as two educational

professionals working together to meet the needs of heterogeneous learners

What are some keys to effective co-teaching?• Planning – Who is going to lead which section? How will

you support each other? The students? Plan, plan, plan!• Disposition – What are your beliefs on: fairness, grading,

behavior management, and philosophy of teaching?• Evaluation – Is this model more effective in meeting the

needs of individual students?

What are some barriers to effective co-teaching?• Time• Grading• Teacher and Student readinessl