Act of Teaching

Chapter 8: Four More Instructional Alternatives: Cooperative Learning, Discovery

Learning, Constructivism, and Direct Instruction
What is Cooperative Learning?
-Formerly called student-team learning, is the term used to describe instructional procedures
whereby learners work together in small groups and are rewarded for their collective
accomplishments.
Purpose and Characteristics of Cooperative Learning
-Encourages learners to work together for both the common and individual good.
Key Characteristics and or Attributes of Cooperative Learning
- All for one, one for all
- (1) the way groups or teams are made up; (2) the kinds of tasks they do; (3)the groups rules of
behavior; and (4) their motivation and rewards system.
Heterogeneity is promoted for at least three reasons:
1. Cooperative learning is based partly on the humanistic school of thought about learning.
2. SO that each member will have an equal opportunity to learn, since Talent is about
equally distributed to each group.
3. It is being fostered because students with lower abilities are more likely to improve their
achievement in mixed groups than in heterogeneous groups.
-A second way to cooperative learning can be characterized is by the kinds of tasks teachers
typically assign to the teams.
-Third, cooperative learning is characterized by rules of behavior required of team members:
individual responsibility and accountability to oneself and the team, support and encouragement
of team members, peer helping and tutoring, and cooperation.
-Finally, it is characterized by a unique system of rewards.
Some Variations on the Theme of Cooperative Learning
a. Student Teams, Achievement Division (STAD)- student teams must master some content,
usually presented by the teacher, perhaps new vocabulary. Students work in teams to
ensure that all members can perform well on an upcoming vocabulary quiz.
b. Teams, Games, Tournaments (TGT)- The procedure for TGT follows STAD except that,
instead of an individual quiz being given, the teams compete against one another. Thus,
the TGT procedure is teacher presentation, teamwork, team-versus-team competition,
scoring, and team reward.
c. Team-Assisted Individualization and Team-Accelerated Instruction (TAI)- TAI combines
the notions of cooperative learning and individually paced instruction. The latter means
that students do not stay together academically, but instead learn or move through the
material they are to master at their own pace.
d. Jigsaw- a jigsaw group of students is given an assignment or puzzle to solve.
Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC)
CIRC is mainly used to teach reading and composition. In the typical CIRC procedure, the
teacher sets a lesson in some specific area of reading or composition.
Good Leaders of Cooperative Learning
-require teachers to be responsible for presenting information, creating suitable groups,
monitoring individual and group progress, convening and teaching small groups of learners,
devising and maintaining progress records, and providing rewards.
Discovery Learning: Figuring Things Out of Yourself
What is Discovery Learning?
-Discovery or Inquiry learning refers to learning that takes place when students are asked to find
out or figure out something for themselves.
Purposes and Characteristics of Discovery Learning
Teachers use discovery learning to accomplish three educational purposes:
1. They want learners to know how to think and find things out for themselves.
2. Users of discovery learning want learners to see for themselves how knowledge is
obtained.
3. These teachers want learners to use their higher-order thinking skills. They want them to
analyze, synthesize, and evaluate.
Characteristics
1. The role of the teacher is not to impart knowledge but rather to create classroom
experiences in which learners engage in order to discover knowledge.
2. As learners engage in inquiry, the teacher encourages them to think deeply.
3. Learners accept the challenge of finding something out for themselves rather than having
the teacher give them an answer. They feel empowered.
4. Learners operate at high cognitive levels as teachers asks questions such as, What do you
think? How can we find out, etc.?
Good Facilitators of Discovery Learning
-To use discovery learning effectively, you must believe in its purposes.
-To get learners to find out how knowledge is constructed.
-To get learners to develop their higher-order or critical thinking skills
-To be a good practitioner, you need certain qualities
Constructivist Teaching and learning: Problem Solving under Teacher Guidance
What is Constructivism?
-Constructivism is a way of teaching and learning that intends to maximize student
understanding.
-Situated within meaningful learning in the cognitive school of thought.
-Defined various teaching that emphasizes the active role of the learner in building
understanding and making send of information.
Purpose and Characteristics of Constructivism
-To help students to acquire information in ways that make that information readily understood
and usable.
Ideas:
a. Active Learning (when students are directly involved in finding something out for
themselves) is preferable to passive learning (when students are recipients of information
presented by a teacher).
b. Learners take place best in communities of learners, that is , group or social situations.
c. Learners should engage in authentic and situated activities, that is, the task they face
should be real problems versus hypothetical ones: concrete rather than abstract.
d. Learners should relate new information to that which they already have (called bridging).
Direct Instruction: Teaching in the Most Efficient and Effective Way
What is Direct Instruction?
Direct Instruction is a variation on the theme of teacher presentations in that it is teacher-
dominated and directed.
Purpose and Characteristics of Direct Instruction
-Top help students learn basic academic content such as reading, mathematics, and so forth, in
the most efficient, straightforward way.
Key characteristics of this way of teaching: teacher centrality or domination, task orientation,
positive expectations, student cooperation, and accountability, nonnegative affect, and
established structure.
a. Teacher centrality- means that teachers exert strong direction and control over what is to
be learned and how.
b. Task orientation- means that the primary task is academic learning of basics such as
reading and math.
c. Positive expectations- indicates that teachers expect each child to be successful, and are
deeply concerned about the progress of the child.
d. Student cooperation and accountability- means that students are help accountable for
their academic work and, furthermore, they are expected to assist one another and to
share materials.
e. Nonnegative affect- means teacher ensure learners feel psychologically safe and secure-
that is, not threatened.
f. Established structure- refers to the fact that teachers establish class rules and insist they
are followed.
Examples of Direct Instruction Programs
There are five examples of DI Programs. The first three are based upon studies of what
teachers- who are able to bring about significant learning- do in their classrooms. The last
two examples are based upon putting practice what is known about learning.
1. Basic Practice Model- This follows four steps: lesson introduction, lesson development,
guided or structured practice of what is to be learned, and independent practice.
2. Explicit Teaching- has six phases of instructional activity: review and check homework,
present new content/skills, guide students practice, provide feedback and correctives,
move to independent practice, and conduct weekly and monthly reviews.
3. Active Teaching- results from observations of effective mathematics teachers. It has five
instructional phases: opening, development, independent work, homework, and continued
review.
The Mastery Teaching Program
-Not Mastery Learning (which can be seen in chapter 4)
-has three major phases: input, modeling, and checking for understanding.
Input- teacher provide children with knowledge or skill through lecture or another means
of presentation
Modeling- teacher shows an example of what is expected as the end product of their work
Checking for understanding- teacher determines if the children got it.
A Mastery Teaching lesson plan contains there seven parts:
1. Objectives- what students should know and be able to do
2. Standards- level performance, expected of learners.
3. Anticipatory set- hook that will be used to grab learner attention.
4. Teaching (input, or what the teacher will do to facilitate learning; modelling of what
will be the acceptable student end product, and checking for understanding)
5. Guided practice and Monitoring- to find out if learning is taking place at the mastery-
standards level.
Cruickshank, Donald R., Deborah Bainer. Jenkins, and Kim K. Metcalf. The Act
of Teaching. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print. (p.259-302)