Teaching Approaches

TEACHING
APPROACHES
Direct Instruction, Homework, Questioning,
and Group Discussion
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Objective
■ Discuss the appropriate uses of direct instruction, homework,
questioning, and group discussion.

■ Direct instruction or explicit teaching refers to systematic
instruction for mastery of basic skills, facts, and information.
■ Direct instruction applies best to the teaching of basic skills.
(Rosenshine & Stevens, 1986).
o Basic skills refers to clearly structured
knowledge that is needed for later learning
and that can be taught step by step.
o E.g., science facts, mathematics
computations, reading vocabulary, and
grammar rules.

EXAMPLE:
 You want to teach students on how to pronounce a word, how to
write a paragraph, how to add fractions, how to thread a sewing
machine, how to dribble the ball, how to draw a G-clef or how to
read the map.
 To teach them the skills or process, you show them how by
demonstrating it step-by-step.
 This is the “telling” and the “showing” method. You are a lecturer
and demonstrator.

A framework for effective instruction on teaching basic skills:
Source: Rosenshine, 1988; Rosenshine & Stevens, 1986
Review and
check the
previous day’s
work.
Present new
material.
Provide guided
practice.
Give feedback
and correctives
based on
student answers.
Provide
independent
practice.
Review weekly
and monthly to
consolidate
learning.

Is homework an effective learning tool or waste of time?
■ In general, homework has substantial benefits at the high school
level, with decreased benefits for middle school students and little
benefit for elementary students (Cooper, 1989; Cooper et al., 2006).
■ While assigning homework may have academic benefits, it can also
cut into important personal and family time (Cooper et al., 2006).
■ Assigning too much homework can result in poor performance
(Fernández-Alonso et al., 2015).
■ A student’s ability to complete homework may depend on factors that
are outside their control (Cooper et al., 2006; OECD, 2014; Eren &
Henderson, 2011).
■ The goal shouldn’t be to eliminate homework, but to make it
authentic, meaningful, and engaging (Darling-Hammond & Ifill-Lynch,
2006).

Point Counterpoint
Better retention of factual knowledge. Potential loss of interest in academics.
Increased understanding. Physical and emotional fatigue; can cut into
sleep time.
Stronger critical thinking skills. Widen gap between high and low achievers.
Better study habits and management
skills.
Decreased leisure time and family/
community activities.
More independent problem-solving. Increased opportunities for cheating.
Greater parental involvement in
schooling.
Can increase pressure from parents to
perform well.
Helps teachers track student progress. May disproportionately harm economically
disadvantaged or minority students.
Source: Cooper et al., 2006; OECD, 2014; US Dept of Education, 2003; Walker et al., 2004.

Homework Guidelines – Family and Community Partnerships
■ Make sure families know what students are expected to learn.
■ Help families find a comfortable and helpful role in their child’s
homework.
■ Solicit and use suggestions from families about homework.
■ If no one is at home to help with homework, set up other support
systems.
■ Take advantage of family and community “funds of knowledge” to
connect homework with life in the community and life in the
community with lessons in school (Moll et al., 1992).

Helping Your Child with Homework
Show that you
think education
and homework is
important
•Set a regular
time for
homework
•Pick a place
•Remove
distractions
•Provide supplies
and identify
resources
•Set a good
example
•Be interested
and interesting
Monitor
assignments
•Ask about the
school's
homework
policy
•Be available
•Look over
completed
assignments
•monitor time
spend viewing
TV and playing
games
Provide guidance
•Help your child
get organized
•Encourage good
study habits
•Talk about
assignments
•Watch for
frustration
•Give praise
Talk with
teachers
•Tell the teacher
about your
concerns
•Work with the
teacher
Source: US Department of Education

■ Effective questioning skills are among the most valuable skills that a
teacher can possess — and among the more difficult to develop.
■ The teacher’s questions develop a framework for the subject matter
involved.
■ The pattern from the teacher’s point of view consists of:
o initiation (teacher asks questions)
o response (student answers)
o evaluation/reaction (praising, correcting, probing, or expanding)
Being able to ask and answer students' questions is an important
part of teaching and learning. Asking questions helps you motivate
students' curiosity about the topic and at the same time helps you
assess their understanding of the material.

 Closed questions check whether
students have learned or
remembered specific information.
 They require a factual answer and
leave little or no room for dissent.
 The answer is either correct or
incorrect.
 Closed questions are important for
students, but it is also important
that your questioning activities do
not stay entirely within the closed
question areas.
Closed Questions
 Open-ended questions require
more complex responses.
 It can stimulate lively class
discussion because they give
students opportunities to express
ideas, draw inferences, and
contribute their own opinions.
Open-Ended Questions
Types of
Questions

It is used to check
the retention of
previously learned
information and to
focus thinking on a
particular point or
commonly held set
of ideas.
Try to word closed
questions to avoid
yes/no answers,
unless that's the
way you really want
students to
respond.
It anticipates certain
answers to which
students have already
been exposed in a
lecture, class activity,
assigned reading, or
some visual aids.
Pose questions for which
there are a limited
number of acceptable
responses or right
answers.
Use closed questions to cause students
to classify or pick out similarities and
differences, apply previously learned
information to a new problem, or make a
judgment using standards that have
been supplied.
Source: https://www.unl.edu/gtahandbook/asking-and-answering-questions

It is used to to promote
discussion or student
interaction, stimulate
thinking and allow freedom
to hypothesize, speculate and
share ideas about possible
activities.
Avoid questions that
begin “Do you think
...?” or “Should ...?”
because they
encourage a yes or
no response.
Try instead for
a question
that might
begin “What
do you think
about ...?”
It anticipates a wide
range of acceptable
responses rather
than one or two
right answers.
It draws on the students' past experiences, but
also cause students to give opinions and their
reasons for these opinions, to infer or identify
implications, to formulate hypotheses, or to
make judgments based on their own values
and standards.

➮ Ask plenty of questions that are pitched at a level most of
the class can handle.
➮ Encourage students to use their own reactions, feelings,
perceptions, values and life experiences as starting points
for discussion.
➮ Ask specific questions.
➮ Learn to really wait after you ask a question.
➮ Give all students adequate time to formulate answers.
➮ Be clear and positive in rewarding all participation.

➮ Repeat the question or paraphrase it.
➮ Redirect content-related questions to the whole class.
➮ Answer a question with more questions.
➮ Promote a discussion among students.
➮ Don't be afraid to admit you don't know the answer.
➮ Set aside certain times in the class when you deal only with
basic questions.

o Are you saying that…. ?
o Do you mean that …. ?
o Can you be more specific?
o Why do you think so?
o What do you really mean?
o Can you telling me more?
o Can you clarify that?
o Can you give an example?
o What does that mean?
o How did you reach that conclusion?
o To what extent, does that apply here?
o Are you claiming that …. ?
o Why do you think that … ?
How to Ask
Clarifying
Questions?

When teachers pose a question and then
learn to wait at least 3 to 5 seconds before
calling on a student to answer, students tend
to give longer answers; more students are
likely to participate, ask questions, and
volunteer appropriate answers; student
comments involving analysis, synthesis,
inference, and speculation tend to increase;
and the students generally appear more
confident in their answers.
How can wait time affect student learning?

■ Group discussion refers to conversation in which the
teacher does not have the dominant role; students pose
and answer their own questions.

✓ Group discussion helps students participate directly, express themselves
clearly, justify opinions, and tolerate different views.
✓ Group discussion also gives students a chance to ask for clarification,
examine their own thinking, follow personal interests, and assume
responsibility by taking leadership roles in the group.
✓ Group discussions help students evaluate ideas and synthesize personal
viewpoints.
✓ Discussions are also useful when students are trying to understand
difficult concepts that go against common sense.
✗ However, discussions are quite unpredictable and may easily digress into
exchanges of ignorance.
✗ A few students might dominate the discussion while the others
daydream.
What are the uses and disadvantages of group discussion?

Guidelines – Productive Group Discussions
■ Invite shy children to participate.
■ Direct student comments and questions back to another student.
■ Make sure that you understand what a student has said. If you are
unsure, other students may be unsure as well.
■ Probe for more information.
■ Bring the discussion back to the subject.
■ Give time for thought before asking for responses.
■ When a student finishes speaking, look around the room to judge
reactions.

Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E. A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of
research, 1987–2003. Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 1-62.
Darling-Hammond, L., & Ifill-Lynch, O. (2006). If They'd Only Do Their Work! Educational Leadership, 63(5), 8-13.
Eren, O., & Henderson, D. J. (2011). Are we wasting our children's time by giving them more
homework? Economics of Education Review, 30(5), 950-961.
OECD (2014). Does Homework Perpetuate Inequities in Education? PISA in Focus, No. 46, OECD Publishing, Paris.
Rosenshine, B. (1988). Explicit teaching. In D. Berliner & B. Rosenshine (Eds.), Talks to teachers (pp. 7 5–92). New
York, NY: Random House.
Rosenshine, B., & Stevens, R. (1986). Teaching functions. In M. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching
(3rd ed., pp. 376–391 ). New York, NY: Macmillan.
Walker, J. M., Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Whetsel, D. R., & Green, C. L. (2004). Parental involvement in homework: A
review of current research and its implications for teachers, after school program staff, and parent leaders.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.
US Department of Education. Helping Your Child With Homework. Retrieved from
https://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/homework/index.html
REFERENCE

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