Distinguishing How from What People Learn |
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Classic Education at EduClassics.com describes behavior patterns people use to learn from a learners’ view. Use of these descriptions to plan and instruct lessons can increase contributions of Classic Education in the 21st Century. This page introduces a model from a learners’ view (ALV) of a Madeline C. Hunter plan to scaffold instruction of a lesson.
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INTRODUCTION
This model uses a learners’ view (ALV) to plan a lesson according to seven elements in Madeline C. Hunter’s teacher decision making format. It gives priority to choices of essential behavior patterns that learners use to learn from a lesson. It identifies which of these choices occur in each of the Hunter elements.
A learners’ view (ALV) of planning a lesson uses experimental empirical behavioral research to choose essential behavior patterns learners use to meet the criterion for learning a lesson. It gives priority to what learners do during a lesson.
Madeline C. Hunter described a decision making model for teachers to use when planning lessons. This model indicates how teachers may convert theories of instruction into practice. It gives priority to deciding what teachers do during a lesson to manage a classroom in order to present content of the lesson, not necessarily just learning from the lesson. Hunter uses different definitions from ALV for words such as planning, lessons, understanding, assess, etc.
Together, ALV and Hunter’s teacher decision making model form a hybred format for planning a lesson for instruction. Hunter elements and decision points are in italics. ALV is in BOLD.
Experimental empirical behavioral data are not available to indicate the affect of this hybred or other hybreds with Hunter’s model on learning efficiency.
ELEMENTS TO SCAFFOLD A LESSON
1. (Learning Objective) Select an objective at an appropriate level of difficulty and complexity, as determined through a task analysis, diagnostic testing, and/or congruence with Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy. Answer learners’ two primary questions: What do I have to do? and What will it cost me to do it?
2. (Anticipatory Set) Motivate instruction by focusing the learning task, its importance, or the prior knowledge/experience of the learners. A one sentence introduction to the learning objective is all that’s required. The fewer words spoken and written, the fewer seconds on the clock used for the lesson.
3. State the lesson objective(s) to the students. Stated in elements #1 and #2.
4. (Input) Identify and teach main concepts and skills, emphasizing clear explanations, frequent use of examples and/or diagrams, and invite active student participation. Use redundant cues when describing what learners’ must do to meet criterion for learning the lesson. Include examples and diagrams as redundant cues.
5. Check for understanding by observing and interpreting student reactions (active interest, boredom) and by frequent formative evaluations with immediate feedback. Adjust instruction as needed and reteach if necessary. Use the five (5) generic answers to assess the level of confidence to have in learners meeting criterion for the lesson. Adjust the lesson by inserting redundant cues to fill-in steps to solving the problem that learners missed.
6. Provide guided practice following instruction by having students answer questions, discuss with one another, demonstrate skills, or solve problems. Give immediate feedback and reteach if necessary. Select worksheets and lab tasks to identify level of confidence to have that learners have meet criterion for a lesson. These exercises should rely on fixed and random distributions of the five generic answers to assess the level of confidence.
7. Assign independent practice to solidify skills and knowledge when students have demonstrated understanding. Distribute worksheets for learners to complete and turn in at a fixed time. Use worksheets that have increasing difficulty in problems to solve. Establish difficulty (1) by increasing the specificity of related but vocabulary not included in the lesson for solving a familiar problem; (2) by introducing an unfamiliar problem with familiar vocabulary; or (3) by including both in one worksheet. The first option allows learners to demonstrate their level of achievement (understanding) through the lesson. The second option assess their current capacity to generalize from the lesson to related problems. Option 3 provides an assessment of both achievement and capacity that results from the lesson. All three options will have answered learners two (2) generic questions.
The following questions are adapted from Hunter’s model and can guide you in choosing essential behavior patterns of learners to feature from a learners’ view of a lesson.