Distinguishing How from What People Learn |
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Classic Education at EduClassics.com describes a learners’ view of behavior patterns people use to learn. Use of these descriptions to plan and instruct lessons can increase contributions of Classic Education in the 21st Century. This page introduces a learners’ view (ALV) of a model to plan and instruct lessons. It indicates how a good teacher instructs simply, so others may simply learn.
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From a learners’ view (ALV), learning from a lesson depends on how choices that teachers make fit with choices that learners make to complete a lesson. Teachers choose the content, how to present it, and a criterion for learning that content. Learners choose how they will meet the criterion for the lesson.
Increasing learning depends on teachers blending into lessons the content, criterion for learning a lesson, and behavioral science descriptions of what learners do to meet that criterion. The more criteria learners meet with the same effort and resources, the more efficient the learning.
From this view, teaching is an applied science. The art of teaching rests on making choices based on behavioral science data that result in increased learning and increased efficiency of learning.
A Model of a Lesson from A Learners’ View
This model applies behavioral science descriptions of learning to planning and instructing lessons that result in efficient learning. The model features a Triple-Helix of Learning (THL). Good teachers use THL, at least implicitly, to manage how much learning will occur promptly from their lessons.
THL indicates which choices teachers have to decrease the likelihood of learners failing to complete a lesson promptly and successfully. Teachers blend these choices during planning and instruction to fit ALV. Blending increases the likelihood that learning will occur promptly.
There are three categories of choices to blend. Each category has more than one element from which teachers choose for each lesson. Data indicate the sequence of elements that learners follow. Use judgement to arrange these elements in your lesson.
Categories of Choices
1. Learners’ Questions: Choices to plan lessons that answer at least learners’ two (2) primary generic questions, What do I have to do? and What will it cost me to do it?
2. Content Analysis: Choices that reduce lesson content to its simplist description in ways that identify what a learner must do first, second, etc. to demonstrate competence with the content.
3. Analysis of Instruction: Choices to present the content in ways that respond to learners’ questions.
Dimensions of Lesson Choices
Choices by teachers blend into three dimensions. Each dimension consists of elements from all three categories of choices. Teachers increase efficiency of learning from a lesson by addressing the following blended choices]. These blends give priority to one over the other option. The first option of each dimension is most likely to yield prompt learning of the lesson.
* Lesson Theme: The Process of managing the facts of the content.
* Focus of Instruction: Descriptions "of" or Discussions "about" the process or content of the lesson.
* Planned Results: Managed Risks of Failure or Another choice
Planning a Lesson from A Learners’ View
1. Learners’ Question #1: Answer learners’ first question, “What do I have to do?” by choosing one or more results from Dimension 3. Tell learners how they shall demonstrate the criterion for learning the lesson. This answer gives priority to process over content of the lesson.
2. Content Analysis: Choose the sequence of the content to present in order that learners may meet the criterion for learning the lesson. For example, choose what part of the content to describe first, second, etc.
3. Analysis of Instruction: Choose how to present each step of the content in order to minimize trials-and-errors and use of clock time by learners.
4. Learners’ Question #2: Answer learners’ second question, What will it cost me to do it? by choosing which resource of learners you will monitor, e.g., clock time, trials-and-errors, etc.
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Increased efficiency occurs when teachers select, blend, instruct, test learners,and adjust choices to fit learners’ questions more closely. If learners do not promptly meet criterion for learning a lesson, adjust the content analysis and the teacher’s responses to fit learners’ questions more closely. It may take several adjustments to increase the efficiency of learners’ academic performance. Use frequence counts of learners’ response patterns to identify which elements of content and instruction to adjust.