MODELS OF TEACHING

METHODS

COMPILED BY
Tushti Sharma
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page no.

INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………. 2

OVERVIEW OF THE TEACHING MODELS …………………………… 3

DESCRIBING THE MODELS ……………………………………………... 5

THE INDUCTIVE THINKING MODEL…………………………………… 8

THE CONCEPT ATTAINMENT MODEL ……………………………….. 15

ADVANCE ORGANIZERS MODEL ………………………………………… 20

ROLE PLAYING MODEL ………………………………………………….. 26

CYBERNETIC’S MODEL …………………………………………………… 33

CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY …………………………………………….` 38

BIBLIOGRAPHY . …………………………………………….……………… 45

INTRODUCTION

Approaches are learning theories which will be applied when delivering subject
matter. Methods are a set of teachers’ systemic action to reach learning objectives in
a limited time frame; it includes procedures based on approaches. Techniques are the
manipulation of the method to optimize learning, for example, exercises in class
pertaining to a subject matter. A teacher, therefore, is free to construct a teaching

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method based on an approach. The relationship between approaches, methods and
techniques delivers model. Models will explicate teaching methods and strategies,
which are in turn based on teaching approaches (Kamaruddin, 1993).

Teaching models prescribe tested steps and procedures to effectively generate desired
outcomes. The number of emerging models and the ones that have emerged is
uncountable. Each emerging new model either explores a new approach or attempts
a modification of the conventional ones as to cater the uniqueness of individuals.
Most importantly, any teaching model should optimize learning experiences to the
needs of each learner by carefully exploring the learning problems and offering
tailored assistance.

OVERVIEW OF THE TEACHING MODELS

(1) INDUCTIVE THINKING

The ability to create concepts is generally regarded as one of the basic thinking skills.
The model presented here is from the work of Hilda Taba names for concepts; and to
explore ways of becoming more skillful at discovering and organizing information and
at creating and testing hypotheses describing relationships among sets of data. The
model has been used in a wide variety of curriculum areas and with students of all
ages.

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(2) CONCEPT ATTAINMENT
This model, built around the studies of thinking conducted by Bruner, Goodnow, and
Austin (1967). It is designed to help students learn concepts for organizing
information and to help them become more effective at learning concepts. It includes
an efficient method for presenting organized information from a wide range of areas
of study to students of every stage of development.

(3) ADVANCE ORGANIZERS

During the last twenty years this model, formulated by David Ausubel (1963), has
become one of the most researched in the information-processing family. It is
designed to provide students with a cognitive structure for comprehending material
presented through lectures, readings, and other media. It has been employed with
almost every conceivable content and with students of every age. It can be easily
combined with other models-for example, when presentations are mixed with
inductive activity.

(4) ROLE PLAYING

Designed by Fannie and George Shaftel (1984) specifically to help students study
their social values and reflect on them, role playing also helps students collect and
organize information about social issues, develop empathy with others, and attempt
to improve their social skills. The model asks students to "act out" conflicts, to learn
to take the roles of others, and to observe social behavior. With appropriate
adaptation, role playing can be used with students of all ages.

(5) CYBERNETICS
Two approaches to training have been developed from the cybernetic group of
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behavior theorists. One is a theory-to-practice model and the other is simulation.
The former mixes information about a skill with demonstrations, practice, feedback,
and coaching until the skill is mastered. For example, if an arithmetic skill is the
objective, it is explained and demonstrated, practice is given with corrective feedback,
and the student is asked to apply it with coaching from peers or the instructor.
Simulations are constructed from descriptions of real-life situations. A less-than-real-
life environment is created for the instructional station. Sometimes the renditions are
quite elaborate (for example, flight and space flight simulators). The student engages
in activity to achieve the goal of the simulation (to get the aircraft off the ground, or
to redevelop an urban area), and has to deal with realistic factors until the goal is
mastered.

(6) CONSTRUCTIVIST MODEL

Bruner's constructivist theory is based upon the study of cognition. A major theme in
this theory is that "learning is an active process in which learners construct new
ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge" (Kearsely 1994b).
Cognitive structures are used to provide meaning and organization to experiences
and allows the individual to go beyond the information given.

DESCRIBING THE MODELS

Each model has of four concepts: syntax, social system, principles of reaction, and
support system. These descriptions are the operational heart of each model: They tell
us what activities should occur and, when appropriate, in what sequence. The four
concepts used to describe the operations of the model itself (syntax, social system,
principles of reaction, and support system) as a way of communicating the basic
procedures involved in implementing any instructional model.

SYNTAX

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The syntax or phasing of the model describes the model in action-for example, as we
use it. How do we begin? What would happen next? We describe syntax in terms of
sequences of activities we call phases; each model has a distinct flow of phases. For
example, one model begins with a presentation to the learner of a concept called an
advance organizer, which the leader presents to the student verbally, in either written
oral form. In the second phase, data are presented to the learner. He or she reads
them, watches a film, or is exposed to the data in some other way. This phase is
followed by another in which the learner is helped to relate the material to the
organizing concept.

In a different model, the first phase of a typical activity includes data collection by
the student. The second phase involves organization of the data under concepts the
student forms himself or herself, and the third, a comparison of the concepts
developed with those developed by other people. As shown in Table 1, these two
models have very different structures or sets of phases, even though the same type of
concept might emerge from both models, and they were in fact designed for
somewhat different purposes. The first was designed to encourage mastery of
material, and the second, to teach students inductive thinking processes. Comparing
the phasing of the two models in Table 1 reveals the practical differences between
them. An inductive strategy has different activities and a different sequence than a
deductive one.

Table 1 Phasing In Two Models

PHASE ONE PHASE TWO PHASE THREE

MODEL 1 Presentation of concept Presentation of data Relating data to

MODEL 2 Presentation of data Development of Identification and

categories by naming of concepts
students

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THE SOCIAL SYSTEM

The social system describes student and teacher roles and relationships and the kind
of norms that are encouraged. The leadership roles of the teacher vary greatly from
model to model. In some models the teacher is a reflector or a facilitator of group
activity, in others a counselor of individuals, and in others a taskmaster. In some
models the teacher is the center of activity, the source of information, and the
organizer and pacer of the situation (high structure). Some models distribute activity
equally between teacher and student (moderate structure), whereas others place the
student at the center, encouraging a great deal of social and intellectual
independence (low structure). One way to describe a model of teaching, then, is in
terms of the degree of structure in the learning environment. As roles, relationships,
norms, and activities become less externally imposed and more within the students'
control, the social system becomes less structured. As we see, some models are
inherently more structured than others. However, the structure of all models can be
varied greatly to adapt to the skill personality of the students.

PRINCIPLES OF REACTION

Principles of reaction tell the teacher how to regard the learner and how
to respond to what the learner does. In some models the teacher overtly tries to
shape behavior by rewarding certain student activities and maintaining a neutral
stance toward others. In other models, such as those designed to develop creativity,
the teacher tries to maintain a non-evaluative, equal stance so that the learner
becomes self-directing. Principles of reaction provide the teacher with rules of thumb
by which to tune in to the student and select model-appropriate responses to what
the student does.

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SUPPORT SYSTEM

This concept is to describe not the model itself so much as the supporting conditions
necessary for its existence. What are the additional requirements of the model beyond
the usual human skills and capacities and technical facilities? For example, the
laboratory model may require a trained leader; the Nondirective Model may require
an exceedingly patient, supportive personality. Suppose a model postulates that
students should teach themselves, and that the roles of teachers should be limited to
consultation and facilitation. What support is necessary? Certainly a classroom filled
only with textbooks would be limiting and prescriptive. Rather, support in the form of
books, films, self-instructional systems, and travel arrangements are necessary, or
the model will be empty. A few examples of the use of the model are given-usually in
classroom settings. The examples are not exhaustive, but are selected to make real
some of the possibilities.

THE INDUCTIVE THINKING MODEL

Inductive reasoning is a branch of logic. In a valid inductive argument, the

conclusion is believed to be true on the basis of modifying, rejecting and accepting

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hypotheses. One of the influential constructivist’s curriculum developers, Hilda Taba,
believes that students make generalizations only after data are organized and
exemplified (Hannah, n.d.). She believes that students can be led toward making
generalizations through concept development and concept attainment strategies, and
describes generalizing hypothesis actively as a higher order of thinking. Hilda Taba
(in Hannah, n.d.) further utilizes three main assumptions in developing her teaching
model.
1.Thinking can be taught.
2.Thinking is an active transaction between the individual and data.
3.Processes of thought evolve by a sequence that is “lawful.”

In short, the inductive teaching strategies are powerful tools that can be utilized and
manipulated by teachers in their classes. Since these models cover contents that
range from concept, relationship between concepts to organized bodies of knowledge,
these teaching strategies can be used in pure sciences, social sciences and even art
classes. It focuses on developing students’ self-constructive of the understanding,
critical thinking and active participation in class as well as teacher’s role as an active
guidance.

The focal point of this model is the emphasis on learners’ active involvement in the
classroom activities and learners’ development of critical thinking. One of the
strategies to develop such environment is the utilization of real examples that
represent the content of the lesson plan. Students, then, have to hypothesize on the
theory based on the presented examples. The effectiveness of this model depends on
the active role of the teacher in assisting students to process and hypothesize the
information from the examples and the active role of learners to develop their critical
thinking.
1. CONTENT TYPE

The focus of the Inductive Model is to assist students to build deep understanding of
specific topics or ideas. These specific topics as promoted by the model can be
categorized as follows:
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 Content Types

Concepts Relationships among Concepts

Principles Generalizations Academic Rule

Adopted from Eggen & Kauchak (1996).

1.2 Concepts

Concepts are classes or categories of ideas with common characteristics. Concepts

can be found in various areas of studies, such as language, social sciences, science
and mathematics. As such, the Inductive Model can be utilized in art classes as well
as science classes, as long as the content of the lesson focuses on concepts. An
essential characteristic of concepts is its defining features. Concepts are also best
described through its characteristics, related concepts, examples and definition.
Therefore, the teacher should ensure that the examples provided contain essential
characteristics of the concept; and the success of the lesson depends on how
students are able to identify the characteristics in the examples (Eggen & Kauchak,
1996; Newby, 2003). Examples of concepts are adjective, direct object and
protagonist in language arts, and democracy and social norm in social sciences.

1.3 Relationships among Concepts

To understand or form ideas about concepts, we can also generalize its common
characteristics. This is because concepts possess common patterns among its
characteristics, which we tend to generalize. The broad patterns can be categorized
as principles, generalizations, and academic rules (Eggen & Kauchak, 1996).

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a) Principles
A principle of a concept is any relationship among concepts that can be
accepted as true or valid for all known cases. Principles are mostly found in the
sciences. Examples of principles are:
• Change is inevitable.
• Like magnetic poles repel and unlike poles attract.
• The greater the unbalanced force on an object, the greater its acceleration.

b) Generalizations
Generalizations of a concept are relationships between concepts that describe
patterns that have exceptions. Examples of generalizations are:
• People immigrate for economic reasons.
• A diet high in saturated fat raises a person’s cholesterol level.
• Teachers increase achievement by calling on all students equally.

c) Academic Rules
Academic rules are relationships between concepts arbitrarily derived by
people. Examples of academic rules are:
• A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number and gender.
• In English, an adjective precedes the noun it modifies.
• In rounding off a number, if the last digit is 5 or more, you round up,
and if it is 4 or less, you round down.

2.TABA’S THREE TEACHING STRATEGIES

Taba identifies three inductive thinking tasks and then develops three teaching
strategies to induce those tasks. Each task represents a stage in the inductive
thinking process as Taba describes it.

The first is concept formation (the basic teaching strategy),

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the second is interpretation of data, and
the third is the application of principles.

Concept formation
This stage involves
(1) identifying and enumerating the data that are relevant to a problem;
(2) grouping those items according to some basis of similarity; and
(3) developing categories and labels for the groups.
To engage students in each of these activities, Taba invented teaching moves in the
form of questions. These eliciting questions are matched to particular types of
activities. For example, the question, "What did you see?" might induce the student
to enumerate a list. The question, "What belongs together?" is likely to cause people
to group those things that have been listed. The question, "What would we call these
groups?" would be likely to induce people to develop labels or categories

Interpretation of data
Taba's second teaching strategy (inter- pretation of data) is built around the mental
operations she refers to as inter-preting, inferring, and generalizing

Application of principles
The third cognitive task around which Taba builds a teaching strategy is that of
applying principles to explain new phenomena. This strategy follows the first two; a
unit or course would lead the students from concept-formation activities to activities
requiring interpretation of data, and then to activities requiring application of
principles. At each stage, students would be required to expand their capacities to
handle information, first developing new concepts, then developing new ways of
applying established principles in new situations.

The first phase of the strategy requires students to predict consequences, explain
unfamiliar data, or hypothesize. We might continue our previous example by asking
students, "How would it change the picture if the value of currency were based on
iron ore?" Or the teacher might change the emphasis by asking students for various
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hypotheses about things that might stabilize the international monetary situation as
exemplified by the currencies of the three countries.

In the second phase, students attempt to explain or support the predictions or

hypotheses. For example, if someone feels that a fixed currency rate for all countries
should be established and held for a long time, he or she would attempt to explain
why he or she thought this system would work, and how he or she thought it would
fare with such factors as the relative prosperities or production ratios within the
countries.

In the third phase, students verify these predictions or identify conditions that would
verify the predictions.

3. THE MODEL OF TEACHING

SYNTAX
These three teaching strategies strongly resemble each other. Each is built around a
mental operation: concept formation, interpretation of data, application of
principles or ideas. Thus, the sequence of activities forms the syntax of the teaching
strategies and is presumably accompanied by underlying mental processes. In each
case, the teacher moves the strategy along by means of eliciting questions to guide
the student from one phase of activity into the next, at the appropriate time. In the
case of concept formation strategy, for example, the grouping of data would be
premature if the data had not been identified and enumerated. But to delay too long
before moving to the next phase would be to lose opportunities and interest.
SOCIAL SYSTEM
In all three strategies, the atmosphere of the classroom is cooperative, with a good
deal of pupil activity. Since the teacher is generally the initiator of phases, and the
sequence of the activities is determined in advance, he or she begins in a controlling,
though cooperative, position. However, as the students learn the strategies, they
assume greater control.

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PRINCIPLES OF REACTION
Taba provides the teacher with rather clear guidelines for reacting and responding
within each phase. In matching the eliciting questions or moves to the specific
cognitive tasks within each strategy, the teacher must be sure that the cognitive
tasks occur in optimum order, and also at the right time. As mentioned earlier, the
teacher should not direct a grouping question to a person who has not yet
enumerated or listed, and if the teacher is working with a large group, he or she must
be sure that the enumeration and listing activity is completed and understood by all
before proceeding to the grouping questions. The most prominent moves by the
teachers are questions, and the eliciting questions are modeled after the cognitive
functions. The teacher's primary mental task in the course of the strategies is to
monitor how students are processing information, and then to use appropriate
eliciting questions. The important task for the teacher is to sense the students'
readiness for new experience and new cognitive activity with which to assimilate and
use those experiences.

SUPPORT SYSTEM
These strategies can be used in any curricular area that has large amounts of raw
data that need to be organized. For example, in studying the economic aspects of
various nations, students would need large quantities of data about the economics of
those countries and statistics about world affairs. Then the teacher's iob would be to
help them process the data in increasingly complex ways, and at the same time to
increase the general capacities of their systems for processing data.

Summary Chart Table: Inductlve Thlnking Model

SYNTAX

Strategy One: Strategy Two:

Concept Formation Interpretation of Data
Strategy Three:
Phase One: Enumeration and listing Phase Four : Identifying critical relationships
Application of Principles
Phase Two: Grouping Phase Five: Exploring relationships
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Phase Three: Labeling, categorizing Phase Six: Making inferences
Phase Seven: Predicting consequences, explaining unfamiliar
phenomena, hypothesizing
Phase Eight: Explaining and/or supporting the predictions and
hypotheses
Phase Nine: Verifying the prediction

SOCIAL SYSTEM
The model has high to moderate structure. It is cooperative, but the teacher is initiator
and controller of activities.

PRINCIPLES OF REACTION
Teacher matches eliciting questions to students' level of cognitive actlvity, determines
students' readiness.

SUPPORT SYSTEM
Students need raw data to organize and analyze.

THE CONCEPT ATTAINMENT MODEL

This model is closely linked to the Inductive Model. The Concept Attainment Model
also suggests that learners construct their own comprehension of the lesson. This
model is designed to help students reinforce their understanding of concepts and
practice hypothesis testing. However, if Inductive Model solely rely on the positive
examples that represent the concept, this model utilizes both the examples and non-
examples to illustrate the concepts. Since hypothesis testing is particularly common
to describe scientific method; therefore, it is useful in the sciences. This model is
designed to lead students to a concept by asking them to compare and contrast

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examples (called exemplars) that contain the characteristics (called attributes) of the
concept with examples that do not contain those attributes.

1. ELEMENTS OF CONCEPTS
A concept has four elements:
(1) A name;
(2) Examples;
(3) Attributes (essential and nonessential); and
(4) Attribute values.
Understanding a concept means knowing all of its elements.

The name is the term given to a category. Fruit, dog, government, ghetto are all
names given to a class of experiences, objects, configurations, or processes. Although
the items commonly grouped together in a single category may differ from one
another in certain respects (dogs, for example, vary greatly), the common features
cause them to be referred to by the same general term. Often we teach ideas that
students already know intuitively without knowing the name itself. For instance,
young children often put pictures of fruit together for the reason that they are "all
things you can eat." They are using one characteristic to describe the concept instead
of the name or label. If students know a concept, however, they can easily learn the
name for it, and their verbal expressions will be more articulate.
The second element, examples, refers to instances of the concept. Part of knowing a
concept is recognizing positive instances of it and also distinguishing closely related
but negative examples. The positive exemplars have something in common in the
work they do in the sentence. The negative exemplars do different work.

The third and fourth elements of a concept are attributes and attribute value.
Essential attributes are the common features or characteristics that cause us to
place examples in the same category. Exemplars contain nonessential attributes as
well. Although in the supermarket we often see a sign with the price per pound
beside each type of fruit, we know that this sign does not play a role in distinguishing
fruit from other foods or objects. We can refer to cost as a nonessential attribute of
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fruit as it appears in the market. Most concepts have attributes that are often
associated with them, but are not essential to them (women's tennis socks, for
example, frequently have tassels). Again, part of knowing a concept is distinguishing
its essential attributes from its nonessential ones.

2. THE MODEL OF TEACHING

SYNTAX
Phase one involves presenting data to the learner. Each unit of data is a separate
example or non example of the concept. The units are presented in pairs. The data
may be events, people, objects, stories, pictures, or any other discriminable units.
The learners are informed that there is one idea that all the positive examples have in
common; their task is to develop a hypothesis about the nature of the concept. The
instances are presented in a prearranged order and are labeled "yes" or "no."
Learners are asked to compare and justify the attributes of the different examples.
(The teacher or students may want to maintain a record of the attributes.) Finally,
they are asked to name their concepts and state the rules or definitions of the
concepts according to their essential attributes. (Their hypotheses are not confirmed
until the next phase; students may not know the names of some concepts but the
names can be provided hen the concepts are confirmed.)

In phase two, the students test their attainment of the concept, first by correctly
identifying additional unlabeled examples of the concept and then by generating their
own examples. After this the teacher (and students) confirm or disconfirm their
original hypotheses, revising their choice of concepts or attributes as necessary.

In phase three, students begin to analyze the strategies by which they attain
concepts. As we have indicated, some learners initially try broad constructs and
gradually narrow the field; others begin with more discrete constructs. The learners
can describe their patterns: whether they focused on attributes or concepts, whether
they did so one at a time or several at once, and what happened when their
hypotheses were not confirmed.
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The phases of the Concept Attainment Model are outlined in Table

Summary Table : Syntax of the Concept Attainment Model

PHASE ONE: PHASE TWO:

PRESENTATION OF DATA AND TESTING ATTAINMENT OF
IDENTIFICATION OF CONCEPT THE CONCEPT
Teacher presents labeled examples Students Identify additional
Student's compare attributes in positive and unlabeled examples as yes or no.
negative examples. Teacher confirms hypotheses
Students generate and test hypotheses names concept, and restates
Students state a definition according to the Definitions according to
essential attributes. essential attributes.
Students generate examples

PHASE THREE:
ANALYSIS OF THINKING STRATEGIES
Students describe thoughts.
Students discuss role of hypotheses and
attributes.
Students discuss type and number of
hypotheses.

SOCIAL SYSTEM
Prior to teaching with the Concept Attainment Model, the teacher chooses the
concept, selects and organizes the material into positive and negative examples, and
sequences the examples. Most instructional materials, especially textbooks, are not
designed in a way that corresponds to the nature of concept learning as described by
educational psychologists. In most cases teachers will have to prepare examples,
extract ideas and materials from texts and other sources, and design them in such a
way that the attributes are clear and that there are, indeed, both positive and
negative examples of the concept. When using the Concept Attainment Model, the
teacher acts as a recorder, keeping track of the hypotheses (concepts)as they are
mentioned and of the attributes. The teacher also supplies additional examples as

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needed. The three major functions of the teacher during concept-attainment activity
are to record, prompt (cue), and present additional data. In the initial stages of
concept attainment, it is helpful for the examples to be very structured. However,
cooperative learning procedures can also be used successfully .

PRINCIPLES OF REACTION
During the flow of the lesson the teacher needs to be supportive of the students'
hypotheses-emphasizing, however, that they are hypothetical in nature-and to create
a dialogue in which students test their hypotheses against each others'. In the later
phases of the model, the teacher must turn the students' attention toward analysis of
their concepts and their thinking strategies, again being very supportive. The teacher
should encourage analysis of the merits of various strategies rather than attempt to
seek the one best strategy for all people in all situations.

SUPPORT SYSTEM
Concept attainment lessons require that positive and negative exemplars be
presented to the students. It should be stressed that the students' job in concept
attainment is not to invent new concepts, but to attain the ones need to be known
beforehand and the attributes visible. When students are presented with an example,
they describe its characteristics (attributes), which can then be recorded that have
previously been selected by the teacher. Hence, the data sources
Summary Table : The Concept Attainment Model

SOCIAL SYSTEM
The model has moderate structure. Teacher controls action, but it may develop Into free
dialogue within phase. Student interaction encouraged. Relatively structured with
students assuming more initiative for inductive process as they gain more experience
with the model (other Concept Attainment Models are ower In structure).

PRINCIPLES OF REACTION
1. Give support but emphasize hypothetical nature of discussion.
2. Help students balance one hypothesis against another.
3. Focus attention on specific features of examples.
4. Assist students In discussing and evaluating their thinking strategies.

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 SUPPORT SYSTEM
Support consists of carefully selected and organized materials and data in the form of
discrete units to serve as examples. As students become more sophisticated, they can
share in making data units, just as in phase two they generate examples

ADVANCE ORGANIZERS MODEL

David Ausubel is an unusual educational theorist. First, he directly addresses the

goal of learning subject matter. Second, he advocates the improvement of
presentational methods of teaching (lectures and reading) at a time when other
educational theorists and social critics are challenging the validity of these methods
and finding fault with the "passiveness" of expository learning. In contrast to those
who advocate discovery methods of teaching, "open education," and experience-based
learning, Ausubel stands unabashedly for the mastery of academic material.

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Ausubel is also one of the few educational psychologists to address himself
simultaneously to learning, teaching, and curriculum. His theory of meaningful
verbal learning deals with three concerns:
(1) How knowledge (curriculum content) is organized;
(2) How the mind works to process new information (learning); and
(3) How teachers can apply these ideas about curriculum and learning when they
present new material to students (instruction).

Meaningful learning is intellectually linked to what we have learned previously. We

must be able to transform this new knowledge and to apply it creatively in novel
situations. Rote learning, in contrast, typically lacks conceptual and critical
approaches to the information we acquire. It usually does not prepare us to
transform this knowledge or to apply it in new contexts. Furthermore, material
learned by rote is highly subject to forgetting. According to Ausubel, whether or not
material is meaningful depends on the learner and on the material not on the method
of presentation. A meaningful learning set implies that the learner must be ready to
comprehend and relate what is being presented, rather than to memorize it verbatim.

THE MODEL OF TEACHING

The model of teaching developed here is based on Ausubel's ideas about subject
matter, cognitive structure, active reception learning, and advance organizers.

SYNTAX
The Advance Organizer Model has three phases of activity.
Phase one is the presentation of the advance organizer,
Phase two is the presentation of the learning task or learning material, &
Phase three is the strengthening of cognitive organization. Phase three tests the
relationship of the learning material to existing ideas to bring about an active
learning process.

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A summary of the syntax appears in Table.

The activities are designed to increase the clarity and stability of the new learning
material so that fewer ideas are lost, confused with one another, or left vague. The
students should operate on the material as they receive it by relating the new
learning material to personal experience and to their existing cognitive structure, and
by taking a critical stance toward knowledge.

Phase one consists of three activities:

• clarifying the aims of the lesson,
• presenting the advance organizer, and
• prompting awareness of relevant knowledge.
Clarifying the aims of the lesson is one way to obtain students' attention and to
orient them to their learning goals, both of which are necessary to facilitate
meaningful learning. (Clarifying aims is also useful to the teacher in planning a
lesson.) As mentioned earlier, the organizer is not just a brief, simple statement; it is
an idea in itself and, like the learning material, must be explored intellectually. It
must also be distinguished from introductory comments, which are useful to the
lesson but are not advance organizers. For instance, when we teach, many of us
begin our instruction by asking students to recall what we did last week or last year
or by telling them what we are going to do tomorrow. In this way, we give them a
context or orientation for our presentation. None of the just described techniques are
advance organizers. However, all of them are part of a well-organized presentation,
and some of them reflect principles that are central to Ausubel's theory of meaningful
verbal learning and are part of the model of teaching.

The actual organizer, however, is built around the major concepts and/or
propositions of a discipline or area of study.

First, the organizer has to be constructed so that the learner can perceive it for what
it is-an idea distinct from and more inclusive than the material in the learning task
itself. The chief feature of an organizer is thus that it is at a higher level of
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abstraction and generality than the learning material itself. This higher level of
abstraction is what distinguishes organizers from introductory overviews, which are
written (or spoken) at the same level of abstraction as the learning material because
they are, in fact, previews of the learning material.

Second, whether the organizer is expository or comparative, the essentia1 features of

the concept or proposition must be pointed out and carefully explained. (Definitional
statements do not always point out the essential features of the term being defined.)
Thus, the teacher and students must explore the organizer as well as the learning
task. To us, this means citing the essential features, explaining them, and providing
examples. The presentation of an organizer need not be lengthy, but it must be
perceived (the learner must be aware of it), clearly understood, and continually
related to the material it is organizing. This means the learner must already be
familiar with the language and ideas in the organizer.

Finally, to develop an integrative cognitive structure, it is especially important to

prompt awareness of the learner's prior knowledge and experiences that might be
relevant to this learning task and organizer.

Following the presentation of the advance organizer in phase one, phase two presents
the learning material (learning task) in the form of lectures, discussions, films,
experiments, or reading. Two procedures are important here. The first is to maintain
students' attention. Another task is to make the organization of the learning material
explicit to the students so that they have an overall sense of direction. Related to this
is the need to make the logical order of the material explicit throughout the
presentation so that students can see how the ideas relate to each other. The
purpose of phase three is to anchor the new learning material in the student's
existing cognitive structure-that is, to strengthen the student's cognitive
organization.

23
Ausubel identifies four activities:
(1) Promoting integrative reconciliation;
(2) Promoting active reception learning;
(3) Eliciting a critical approach to subject matter; and
(4) Clarification.

There are several ways to facilitate reconciliation of the new material with the existing
cognitive structure. The teacher can:
(1) Remind students of the ideas (the larger picture);
(2) Ask for a summary of the major attributes of the new learning material;
(3) Repeat precise definitions;
(4) Ask for differences between aspects of the material; and
(5) Ask students to describe how the learning material supports the concept or
proposition that is being used as a subsumer.

Active learning can be promoted by:

(1) Asking students to describe how the new material relates to a single aspect of
their existing knowledge;
(2) Asking students for additional examples of the concept or propositions in the
learning material;
(3) Asking students to verbalize the essence of the material, using their own
terminology and frame of reference;
(4) Asking students to examine the material from alternative points of view; and
(5) Relating the material to contradictory material, experience, or knowledge.

SOCIAL SYSTEM
In this model the teacher retains control of the intellectual structure, as it is
continually necessary to relate the learning material to the organizers and to help
students differentiate new material from previously learned material. In phase three,
however, the learning situation is ideally much more interactive, with students
initiating many questions and comments. The successful acquisition of the material
24
will depend on the learners' desire to integrate it with prior knowledge, on their
critical faculties, and on the teacher's presentation and organization of the material.

PRINCIPLES OF REACTION
The teacher's solicited or unsolicited responses to the learners' reactions will be
guided by the purpose of clarifying the meaning of the new learning material
differentiating it from and reconciling it with existing knowledge making it personally
relevant to the students, and helping to promote a critical approach to knowledge.
Ideally, students will initiate their own questions in response to their own drives for
meaning.

SUPPORT SYSTEM
Well-organized material is the critical support requirement of this model. The
effectiveness of the advance organizer depends on an integral and appropriate
relationship between the conceptual organizer and the content. This model provides
guidelines for building (or reorganizing) instructional materials.

Summary Chart: Advance Organizer Model

SYNTAX

Phase One:
Presentation of Advance Organizer

25
 Clarify aims of the lesson.
Present organizer:
Identify defining attributes.
Give examples.
Provide context.
Repeat.
Prompt awareness of learner's relevant knowledge and
experience.

Phase Two:
Presentation of Learning Task or Material
Present material.
Malntaln attention.
Make organization explicit.
Make logical order of learning material explicit.

Phase Three:
Strengthening Cognitive Organization
Use principles of integrative reconciliation.
Promote active reception learning.
Elicit critical approach to subject matter.
Clarify

ROLE PLAYING MODEL

In role playing, students explore human-relations problems by enacting problem

situations and then discussing the enactments. Together, students can explore
feelings, attitudes, values, and problem-solving strategies. Several individuals have
experimented with role playing, and their treatments of the strategy are remarkably
similar. This version was formulated by Fannie and George Shaftel (1967).

Role playing as a model of teaching has roots in both the personal and social
dimensions of education. It attempts to help individual’s find personal meaning

26
within their social worlds and to resolve personal dilemmas with the work together in
analyzing social situations, especially interpersonal problems, and in developing
decent and democratic ways of coping with these situations. Role playing is placed in
the social family of models because the social group plays such an indispensable part
in human development and because of the unique opportunity that role playing offers
for resolving interpersonal and social dilemmas.

On its simplest level, role playing is dealing with problems through action; a problem
is delineated, acted out, and discussed. Some students are role players; others
observe. A person puts himself or herself in the position of another person and then
tries to interact with others who are also playing roles. As empathy, sympathy, anger,
and affection are all generated during the interaction, role playing, if done well,
becomes a part of life. This emotional content, as well as the words and the actions,
become part of the later analysis. When the acting out is finished, even the observers
are involved enough to want to know why each person reached his or her decision,
what the sources of resistance were, and whether there were other ways this
situation could have been approached. The essence of role playing is the involvement
of participants and observers in a real problem situation and the desire for resolution
and understanding that this involvement engenders.

The role playing process provides a live sample of human behavior that serves as a
vehicle for students to:
(1) Explore their feelings;
(2) Gain insights into their attitudes, values, and perceptions;
(3) Develop their problem-solving skills and attitudes; and
(4) Explore subject matter in varied ways.

The Shaftel’s version of role playing emphasizes the intellectual content as much as
the emotional content; analysis and discussion of the enactment are as important as
the role playing itself. We, as educators, are concerned that students recognize and
understand their feelings and see how their feelings influence their behavior.
27
THE MODEL OF TEACHING

SYNTAX
The benefits of role playing depend on the quality of the enactment and especially on
the analysis that follows. They depend also on the students' perceptions of the role as
similar to real-life situations.

The Shaftel’s suggest that the role playing activity consist of nine steps:
(1) Warm up the group;
(2) Select participants;
(3) Set the stage;
(4) Prepare observers;
(5) Enact;
(6) Discuss and evaluate;
(7) Re-enact;
(8) Discuss and evaluate; and
(9) Share experiences and generalize.

Each of these steps or phases has a specific purpose that contributes to the richness
and focus of the learning activity. Together, they ensure that a line of thinking is
pursued throughout the complex of activities, that students are prepared in their
roles that goals for the role play are identified, and that the discussion afterwards is
not simply a collection of diffuse reactions, though these are important too.

In Phase one,
WARM UP THE GROUP, involves introducing students to a problem so that they
recognize it as an area with which everyone needs to learn to deal. The warm-up can
begin for example, by identifying a problem within the group. The second part of the
28
warm up is to express the problem vividly through examples. These may come from
student descriptions of imaginary or real situations that express the problem, or from
situations selected by the teacher and illustrated by a film, television show, or
problem story. The last part of the warm up is to ask questions that make the
children think about and predict the outcome of the story.

In Phase two,
SELECT PARTICIPANTS, the children and the teacher describe the various
characters-what they are like, how they feel, and what they might do. The children
are then asked to volunteer to role play; they may even ask to play a particular role.
The Shaftel’s caution us against assigning a role to a child who has been suggested
for it, because the person making the suggestion may be stereotyping the child or
putting him or her in an awkward situation. A person must want to play a role.

In Phase three,
SET THE STAGE, the role players outline the scene but do not prepare any specific
dialogue. They simply sketch the setting and perhaps one person's line of action. The
teacher may help set the stage by asking the students a few simple questions about
where the enactment is taking place, what it is like, and so on.

In Phase four,
PREPARE THE OBSERVERS, it is important that the observers become actively
involved so that the entire group experiences the enactment and can later analyze the
play. The Shaftel’s suggest that the teacher involve observers in the role play by
assigning them tasks, such as evaluating the realism of the role playing, commenting
on the effectiveness and the sequences of the role players' behavior, and defining the
feelings and ways of thinking of the persons being portrayed. The observers should
determine what the role players are trying to accomplish, what actions the role
players took that were helpful or not helpful, and what alternative experiences might
have been enacted. Or they can watch one particular role to define the feelings of that
person. The observers should understand that there will be more than one enactment
29
in most cases, and if they would have acted out a certain role in a different way, they
may have a chance to do so.

At Phase five,
ENACT, the players assume the roles and "live" the situation spontaneously,
responding realistically to one another. The role playing is not expected to be a
smooth dramatization, nor is it expected that each role player will always know how
to respond. This uncertainty is part of life, as well as part of feeling the role. A person
may have a general idea of what to say or do but not be able to enact it when the time
comes. The action now depends on the children and emerges according to what
happens in the situation. This is why the preparatory steps are so important.

In Phase six,
DISCUSS AND EVALUATE, if the problem is an important one than the participants
and the observers are intellectually and emotionally involved, then the discussion will
probably begin spontaneously. At first, the discussion may focus on different
interpretations of the portrayal and on disagreements over how the roles should have
been carried out. More important, however, are the consequences of the action and
the motivations of the actors.

In Phase seven,
RE-ENACT, the re-enactment may take place many times. The students and the
teacher can share new interpretations of roles and decide whether new individuals
should play them. The activity alternates between discussion and acting. As much as
possible, the new enactments should explore new possibilities for causes and effects.
In the discussion that follows the second enactment, phase eight, discuss and
evaluate, students are willing to accept the solution, but the teacher pushes for a
realistic solution by asking whether they think this ending could really happen.

In Phase eight,
DISCUSS AND EVALUATE (as in phase six)
30
Phase nine,
SHARE EXPERIENCES AND GENERALIZE, should not be expected to result
immediately in generalizations about the human-relations aspects of the situation.
Such generalizations require much experience. The teacher should, however, attempt
to shape the discussion so that the children, perhaps after long experience with the
role playing strategy, begin to generalize about approaches to problem situations and
the consequences of those approaches. The more adequate the shaping of the
discussion, the more general will be the conclusions reached, and the closer the
children will come to hypothetical principles of action they can use in their own lives.

THE SOCIAL SYSTEM

The social system in this model is moderately structured. Teachers are responsible,
at least initially, for starting the phases and guiding students through the activities
within each phase; however, the particular content of
the discussions and enactments is determined largely by the students. The teachers'
questions and comments should encourage free and honest expression of ideas and
feelings. Teachers must establish equality and trust between themselves and their
students. They can do this by accepting all suggestions as legitimate and making no
value judgments. In this way, they simply reflect the children's feelings or attitudes.
Even though teachers are chiefly reflective and supportive, they assume direction as
well. They often select the problem to be explored, lead the discussion, choose the
actors, make decisions about when the enactments are to be done, help design the
enactments, and most significant, decide what to probe for and what suggestions to
explore. In essence, the teachers shape the exploration of behavior by the types of
questions they ask and, through questioning,
establish the focus.

PRlNClPLES OF REACTION
We have identified five principles of reaction that are important to this model.
First, teachers should accept student responses and suggestions, especially their
opinions and feelings, in a non evaluative manner.

31
Second, teachers should respond in such a way that they help the students explore
various sides of the problem situation, recognizing and contrasting alternative points
of view.
Third, by reflecting, paraphrasing and summarizing responses the teacher increases
students' awareness of their own views and feelings

THE SUPPORT SYSTEM

The materials for role playing are minimal but important. The major curricular tool is
the problem situation. However, it is sometimes helpful to construct briefing sheets
for each role. These sheets describe the role or the character's feelings. Occasionally,
we also develop forms for the observers that tell them what to look for and give them
a place to write it down. Films, novels, and short stories make excellent sources for
problem situations.
Problem stories or outlines of problem situations are also useful. Problem stories, as
their name implies, are short narratives that describe the setting, circumstances,
actions, and dialogue of a situation. One or more of the characters faces a dilemma in
which a choice must be made oran action taken. The story ends unresolved. Many
resource materials now commercially available include stories or problem stories
whose endings can be omitted or changed. Books by the Shaftels and by Chesler and
Fox each contain a section of problem stories.

Summary Chart: Role Playing Model

32
 SYNTAX
Phase One: Phase Six:
Warm Up the group Discuss and Evaluate
identify or Introduce problem. Review action of role play (events, positions, realism).
Make problem explicit. Discuss major focus.
Interpret problem story, explore Issues. Develop next enactment.
Explain role playing.
Phase Seven:
Phase Two: Reenact
Select Participants Play revised roles; suggest next steps or behavioral alternatives.
Analyze roles.
Select role players. Phase Eight:
Discuss and Evaluate
Phase Three: (As in phase six)
Set the Stage
Set line of action. Phase Nine:
Restate roles. Share Experiences end Generalize
Get inside problem situation. Relate problem situation to real experience and current problems,
Explore general principles ol behavior.
Phase Four
Prepare the Observers
decide what to look for.
Assign observation tasks,

Phase Five:
Enact
Begin role play.
Maintain role play
Break role play.

SOCIAL SYSTEM
The model is moderately structured. The teacher is responsible for initiating the phases and
guiding students through the activities within each phase.
The particular content of the discussions and enactments is determined largely by the students.

PRINCIPLES OF REACTION
Accept all student responses In a non-evaluative manner.
Help students explore various sides of the problem situation and compare alternative views.
increase students' awareness of their own views and feelings by reflecting, paraphrasing, and
summarizing their responses.
Use the concept of role, and emphasize that there are different ways to play a role.
Emphasize that there are alternative ways to resolve a problem.

SUPPORT SYSTEM
Role playing is an experience based model and requires minimal support material out-
side of the initial problem situation.

LEARN THROUGH SIMULATION - CYBERNETIC’S PRINCIPLES

33
Simulations have been used increasingly in education over the last thirty
years, but the Simulation Model did not originate within the field of education.
Rather, it is an application of the principles of cybernetics, a branch of psychology.
Cybernetic psychologists, making an analogy between humans and machines,
conceptualize the learner as a self-regulating feedback system. As a discipline,
cybernetic’ “has been described as the comparative study of the human (or biological)
control mechanism, and electromechanical systems such as computers ” (Smith and
Smith, 1969, p. 202). The central focus is the apparent similarity between the
feedback control mechanisms of electromechanical systems and human systems. "A
feedback control system incorporates three primary functions: it generates movement
of the system toward a target or defined path; it compares the effects of this action
with the true path and detects error; and it utilizes this error signal to redirect the
system (Smith and Smith, 1969, p. 203).

The cybernetic psychologist interprets the human being as a control system that
generates a course of action and then redirects or corrects the action by means of
feedback. This can be a very complicated process-as when the secretary of state
reevaluates foreign policy-or a very simple one-as when we notice that our sailboat is
heading into the wind too much and we ease off on our course just a little. In using
the analogy of mechanical systems as a frame of reference for analyzing human
beings, psychologists came up with the central idea "that performance and learning
must be analyzed in terms of the control relationships between a human operator
and an instrumental situation. That is, learning was understood to be determined by
the nature of the individual, as well as by the design of the learning situation (Smith
and Smith, 1969, p. vii).

All human behavior, according to cybernetic psychology, involves a perceptible

pattern of motion. This includes both covert behavior, such as thinking and symbolic
behavior, and overt behavior. In any given situation, individuals modify their
behavior according to the feedback they receive from the environment. They organize
their movements and their response patterns in relation to this feedback. Thus, their
34
own sensory motor capabilities form the basis of their feedback systems. This ability
to receive feedback constitutes the human system's mechanism for receiving and
sending information.

As human beings develop greater linguistic capability, they are able to use indirect as
well as direct feedback, thereby expanding their control over the physical and social
environment. That is, they are less dependent on the concrete realities of the
environment because they can use its symbolic representations. The essence, then, of
cybernetic psychology is the principle of sense-oriented feedback that is intrinsic to
the individual (one "feels" the effects of one's decisions) and is the basis for self-
corrective choices. Individuals can "feel" the effects of their decisions because the
environment responds in full, rather than simply "You're right" or "Wrong! Try again."
That is, the environmental consequences of their choices are played back to them.
Learning in cybernetic terms is sensorially experiencing the environmental
consequences of one's behavior and engaging in self-corrective behavior. Instruction
in cybernetic terms is designed to create an environment for the learner in which this
full feedback takes place.

SIMULATIONS IN EDUCATION

The application of cybernetic principles to educational procedures is seen most

dramatically and clearly in the development of simulators. A simulator is a training
device that represents reality very closely, but in which the complexity of events can
be controlled. For example, a simulated automobile has been constructed in which
the driver sees a road (by means of a motion picture), has a wheel to turn, a clutch
and a brake to operate, a gear-shift, and all the other devices of a contemporary
automobile. The driver can start this simulated automobile, and when he or she
turns the key he or she hears the noise of a motor running. When the driver presses
the accelerator the noise increases in volume, so he or she has the sensation of
having actually increased the flow of gas to a real engine.
As the person drives, the film shows curves in the road and, as he or she turns the
wheel, he or she may experience the illusion that the automobile is turning. The
35
simulator can present the student with learning tasks to which he or she can
respond, but the responses do not have the same consequences that they would have
in a real-life situation; the simulated automobile does not crash into anything,
although it may look like it is crashing from the driver's point of view. And in the
manner of training psychology, the tasks presented can be made less complex than
those a driver would have to execute in the real world; this way, it is easier for him or
her to acquire the skills he or she will need later for actual driving. For example, in a
driving simulator the student can simply practice shifting from one gear to another
until he or she has mastered the task. The student can also practice applying the
brakes and turning the wheel until he or she has a feel for how the automobile
responds when he or she does those things.

The advantages of a simulator are several. The learning tasks can be made much
less complex than they are in the real world, so that the students may have the
opportunity to master tasks that would be extremely difficult when all the factors of
real-world operations impinge upon them. For example, learning how to fly a complex
airplane without the aid of a simulator leaves very little room for error: The student
pilot has to do everything adequately the first time, or the plane is in difficulty. With
the use of a simulator the training can be staged. The trainee can be introduced to
simple tasks, and then more complex ones, until he or she builds a repertoire of
skills adequate for piloting the plane. In addition, difficulties such as storms and
mechanical problems can be simulated, and the student can learn how to cope with
them. Thus, by the time the student actually begins flying he or she has built the
repertoire of necessary skills.

A second advantage of simulators is that they permit students to learn from self-
generated feedback. As the student pilot turns the wheel of the great plane to the
right, for example, he or she can feel the plane bank, he or she can feel the loss of
speed in some respects, and he or she can learn how to trim the craft during the
turn. In other words, the trainee can learn through his or her own senses, rather
than simply through verbal descriptions, the corrective behaviors that are necessary.
In the driving simulation, if the driver heads into curves too rapidly and then has to
36
jerk the wheel to avoid going off the road, this feedback permits him or her to adjust
his or her behavior so that when he or she is on a real road he or she will turn more
gingerly as he or she approaches sharp curves. The cybernetic psychologist designs
simulators so that the feedback about the consequences of behavior enables the
learners to modify their responses and develop a repertoire of appropriate behaviors.
Some very elaborate applications of cybernetic psychology have been made in military
training. For example, in a submarine simulator several members of the crew can
communicate with one another by radio and other devices. They are able to take their
"submarine" under water, maneuver it against enemy ships, raise their periscope,
sight ships through it, and fire torpedoes. The simulator is constructed so it can be
attacked by enemy destroyers and can emerge and engage in evasive action; the crew
can hear the enemy only over sonar and other undersea listening devices.

SOCIAL SYSTEM
Because the teacher selects the simulation activity and directs the students through
carefully delineated activities, the social system of simulation is rigorous. Within this
structured system, however, a cooperative interactive environment can, and ideally
should, flourish. The ultimate success of the simulation, in fact, depends partly on
the cooperation and willing participation of the students. Working together, the
students share ideas, which are subject to peer evaluation but not teacher
evaluation. The peer social system, then, should be non-threatening and marked by
cooperation.

PRINCIPLES OF REACTION
The reactions of the teacher are primarily those of a facilitator. Throughout the
simulation he or she must maintain a non-evaluative but supportive attitude. It is
the teacher's task to first present and then facilitates understanding and
interpretation of the rules of the simulation activity. In addition, should interest in
the activity begin to dissipate or attention begins to focus on irrelevant issues, he or
she must direct the group to "get on with the game."

SUPPORT SYSTEM
37
Simulation requires support materials ranging from simple teacher made games, to
marketed games to specifically designed simulators such car driving or airplane-
navigating simulators. Simulations are gaining in popularity, and the number of
pumsnea materials increases every year. The 1973 Social Science Education
Consortium Data Book lists more than fifty simulations available for use in social
studies alone. The teacher who is interested in using simulations is directed to
publishers' catalogs; the mentioned Data Handbook(l971,1972,1973);Ronald
Kleitsch, Directory of Educational Simulations, Learning Games, and Didatic Units
(1979); David Zuckernlan and Robert Horn, The Guide to Simulation Games for
Education and Training (1970); and Ron Stadsklev, Handbook of Simulation Gaming
in Social Education (n.d.).

SOCIAL SYSTEM
The social system is structured by the teacher through selecting materials and directing
the simulation. The interactive environment of the class, however, should be non
threatening
and marked by cooperation. The teacher has the role of managing the
simulation(taking care of organization and logistics), explaining the game, maintaining
the rules, coaching (offering advice, prompting), and Conducting the deorlefmg a1sct.s.
sfon.
PRINCIPLES OF REACTION
1. DO not evaluate plavers' decisions and moves
2. Facilitates student's understanding and interpretation of rules.
3. Encourage participation and help the students cope with uncertainty
4. Tell students to "get on with the game" when necessary.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
Simulation requires a carefully structured base of resource materials

CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY

Learners are encouraged to discover facts and relationships for themselves.

Bruner, 2001

38
A major theme in the theoretical framework of the constructivist theory is an active
process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their own
knowledge. Constructivists emphasize on the importance of learners’ reliance on
cognitive structures to select and transform information, construct hypotheses and
make decisions. Cognitive structures such as schema, mental models, attitudes and
scripts, which are related to behaviour, provide meaning and organization to
experiences and allow the individual to go beyond the information given. However,
this relationship is often complex, thus, making it difficult to generalize result across
tasks and domain differences (Kearsley, 2003; Huitt, 1999). Consequently, the
constructivists suggest a behaviorally-oriented curriculum (Huitt, 1999) in which
knowledge and skills are taught inductively in a constructivistically - oriented
classroom (Huitt, 1999) that require learners to carry out tasks implementing critical
thinking.

According to the constructivists, as far as instruction is concerned, teachers should

encourage students to discover principles by themselves. The teacher and learners
should engage in an active dialogue. The task of the teacher is to translate
information to be learnt into a format appropriate to the learners’ current state of
understanding; therefore, lesson plan should be organized in a manner in which
students could continually build upon what they have already learnt.

Bruner (1966) states that a theory of instruction should address four major aspects:
(1) Predisposition towards learning,
(2) The ways in which a body of knowledge can be structured so that it can be most
readily grasped by the learner,
(3) The most effective sequences in which to present material, and
39
(4) The nature and pacing of rewards and punishments. Good methods for
structuring knowledge should result in simplifying, generating new propositions, and
increasing the manipulation of information.

In his more recent work, Bruner (1986, 1990, 1996) has expanded his theoretical
framework to encompass the social and cultural aspects of learning as well as the
practice of law

James Bruner provides the following principles of constructivist learning:

1. Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make
the student willing and able to learn (readiness).
2. Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student
(spiral organization).
3. Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and/or fill in the gaps
(going beyond the information given).
(Kearsley, 2002; Huitt, 1999)

Thus, this shows that there should be an adequacy between learners’ acquisition of
knowledge and skills, and the development of their thinking skill. The constructivists
propose three teaching models, namely the Inductive Model, the Concept Attainment
Model and the Integrative Model.

It could be argued that constructivism emphasizes the importance of the world

knowledge, beliefs, and skills an individual brings to bear on learning. Viewing the
construction of new knowledge as a combination of prior learning matched against
new information, and readiness to learn, this theory opens up new perspectives,
40
leading individuals to informed choices about what to accept and how to fit it into
their existing schemata, as well as what to reject. Recapitulating the main principles
of constructivism, we could say that it emphasises learning and not teaching,
encourages learner autonomy and personal involvement in learning, looks to learners
as incumbents of significant roles and as agents exercising will and purpose, fosters
learners’ natural curiosity, and also takes account of learners’ affect, in terms of their
beliefs, attitudes, and motivation. In addition, within constructivist theory, context is
accorded significance, as it renders situations and events meaningful and relevant,
and provides learners with the opportunity to construct new knowledge from
authentic experience

Constructivism is both a philosophy and a theory of learning. The key concept of

constructivism is that learning is an active process of creating, rather than acquiring,
knowledge. The following principles provides general framework of constructivism
and its relevance for instruction

Learning Principles in Constructivism

1. Learning is an active process in which the learner uses sensory input and
constructs meaning out of it. The more traditional formulation of this idea
involves the terminology of the active learner (Dewey’s term) stressing that the
41
 learner needs to do something; that learning is not the passive acceptance of
knowledge which exists “out there” but that learning involves the learner s
engaging with the world.

2. People learn to learn as they learn: learning consists both of constructing

meaning and constructing systems of meaning. For example, if we learn the
chronology of dates of a series of historical events, we are simultaneously
learning the meaning of a chronology. Each meaning we construct makes us
better able to give meaning to other sensations which can fit a similar pattern.

3. The crucial action of constructing meaning is mental: it happens in the

mind. Physical actions, hands-on experience may be necessary for learning,
especially for children, but it is not sufficient; we need to provide activities
which engage the mind as well as the hands (Dewey called this reflective
activity.)

4. Learning involves language: the language we use influences learning. On the

empirical level. Researchers have noted that people talk to themselves as they
learn. On a more general level. There is a collection of arguments, presented
most forcefully by Vigotsky, that language and learning are inextricably
intertwined. This point was clearly emphasized in Elaine Gurain’s reference to
the need to honor native language in developing North American exhibits. The
desire to have material and programs in their own language was an important
request by many members of various Native American communities.

5. Learning is a social activity: our learning is intimately associated with our

connection with other human beings, our teachers, our peers, our family as
well as casual acquaintances, including the people before us or next to us at
the exhibit. We are more likely to be successful in our efforts to educate if we
recognize this principle rather than try to avoid it. Much of traditional
42
 education, as Dewey pointed out, is directed towards isolating the learner from
all social interaction, and towards seeing education as a one-on-one
relationship between the learner and the objective material to be learned. In
contrast, progressive education (to continue to use Dewey’s formulation)
recognizes the social aspect of learning and uses conversation, interaction with
others, and the application of knowledge as an integral aspect of learning.

6. Learning is contextual: we do not learn isolated facts and theories in some

abstract ethereal land of the mind separate from the rest of our lives: we learn
in relationship to what else we know, what we believe, our prejudices and our
fears. On reflection, it becomes clear that this point is actually a corollary of
the idea that learning is active and social. We cannot divorce our learning from
our lives.

7. One needs knowledge to learn: it is not possible to assimilate new knowledge

without having some structure developed from previous knowledge to build on.
The more we know, the more we can learn. Therefore any effort to teach must
be connected to the state of the learner must provide a path into the subject for
the learner based on that learner’s previous knowledge.
It takes time to learn: learning is not instantaneous. For significant learning we
need to revisit ideas, ponder them try them out, play with them and use them.
If you reflect on anything you have learned, you soon realize that it is the
product of repeated exposure and thought. Even, or especially, moments of
profound insight, can be traced back to longer periods of preparation.

8. It takes time to learn: learning is not instantaneous. For significant learning

we need to revisit ideas, ponder them try them out, play with them and use
them. This cannot happen in the 5-10 minutes usually spent in a gallery (and
certainly not in the few seconds usually spent contemplating a single museum
object.) If you reflect on anything you have learned, you soon realize that it is
the product of repeated exposure and thought. Even, or especially, moments of
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 profound insight, can be traced back to longer periods of preparation.

9. Motivation is a key component in learning. Not only is it the case that

motivation helps learning, it is essential for learning. This idea of motivation as
described here is broadly conceived to include an understanding of ways in
which the knowledge can be used. Unless we know “the reasons why”, we may
not be very involved in using the knowledge that may be instilled in us. Even
by the most severe and direct teaching.

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 SUMMARY OF CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY by different Psychologist

Learning Discovery Reception Assisted (Scaffolding)

Background Jerome Brunner (1966) David Ausubel (1968) Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky
Definition Teaching methods in which students are Teaching method in which the teacher Teacher guides instruction, so that students
encouraged to discover principles for structures the learning situation to select will master and internalize the skills that
themselves. materials that are appropriate for students and permit higher cognitive functioning.
then presents them in well-organized lessons
that progress from generic to specific details.
Principles  Top-down: start with complex problem  Teacher structures learning situation Individuals construct knowledge by working to
and work out or discover basic skills  Expository teaching solve realistic problems, usually in
to solve collaboration with others.
 Students actively involved in learning
 Cooperative learning process
 Experimentation  Use of prior knowledge for new Learning as a change in meaning constructed
 Open-ended problems learning from experience.
 Learn on own through active  Knowledge continually changes once
involvement with concepts and “inside” the learner’s minds Individual interpretation of experience vs.
principles objective representation (information
processing perspective)

Applications 1. Encourage independence in early school 1. Incoming information must be integrated 1. Pose "good" problems - realistically
for Instruction career into what students already know complex and personally meaningful.

2. Encourage students to solve problems on 2. Teachers should use a deductive teaching 2. Create group learning activities.
own or in groups approach
3. Model and guide the knowledge
3. Learning should be flexible and 3. Organize instruction beforehand: general construction process
exploratory concepts first then move to inclusive
details
4. Arouse children’s curiosity
4. plan brief class discussions before new
5. Minimize risk of failure material is presented so students can
share important background information
6. Relevant learning

7. Return to important concepts

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46
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://imet.csus.edu/classic/fundamentals/inductive/index.html

http://imet.csus.edu/imet3/odell/portfolio/grartifacts/Lit%20review.pdf.

http://www.coe.ufl.edu/webtech/greatideas/pages/peoplepage/taba.htm

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~best/html/learning/advorg.htm

http://hagar.up.ac.za/catts/learner/cooplrn/b3.html

http://helpingstudents.org/JSPWiki/attach/ConceptAttainment/DanaWConcept_Att

ainment_Model.ppt.

http://imet.csus.edu/imet3/odell/portfolio/grartifacts/Lit%20review.pdf.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/resources/constructivistlearning.html

http://my-ecoach.com/idtimeline/constructivism.html

http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/constructivism.html.

http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/cattain/index.html

http://dlibed.kku.ac.th/e_lib2/exxe/42.pdf.

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