So, what alternatives are out there...?

DIRECT AND INDIRECT INSTRUCTION:  RECEPTION VS.  DISCOVERY LEARNING

Direction instruction or “expository teaching” involves the transmission of knowledge from a source to a passive receiver.  Ausubel refers to this as “reception learning.”  The source may be a teacher, textbook, guest speaker, videotape, etc...
Advantages?
                    The greatest advantage of direct instruction is the efficient transmission of large amounts of information.
                    Large amounts of content and concepts can be covered rather quickly.

Disadvantage?
 The biggest drawback to “direct instruction” is that it usually places the student in the role of a passive receiver of information.
 The student is not actively involved in the creation of his/her own knowledge.

Three major forms of Direct Instruction:

The Lecture  (Oh no, please.....not the lecture!)
 Surprise, the lecture IS an appropriate teaching/learning strategy, even for elementary students, if we do the following:
 1.  Keep it short (15 minutes or less).  Remember the Vaudville “12 minute rule.”
 2.  Make it meaningful, relevant, and applicable to the lives of your students.
 3.  Plan carefully.  Know what you want to say and the order of the presentation.  Notes are fine but don’t read your lecture.
 4.  Use visual aides whenever possible.
 5.  Encourage students to take notes.  Most elementary students will need initial help.
 6.  Ask appropriate questions as you go.  Good questions spur student involvement.

Class Discussions  (Let’s talk.....)
 During class discussions the teacher directs the flow of discussion between the student and him/herself.  To be most effective,
   class discussions should:
1.  Be well organized with specific questions identified prior to class.  These questions should be of both the “convergent” and
     “divergent” variety.  (Consider Bloom’s Taxonomy when writing discussion questions)

2.  Engaged in only AFTER students have been given sufficient information that will facilitate the discussion.  Students must
     know something about the subject before they can discuss it with us.

3.  Engaged in within an atmosphere of appropriate “wait-time.”

Wait-Time I and II
                               Wait-time I - The amount of time the teacher waits, in silence, after asking a question.

                               The average amount of wait-time allowed by teachers not trained in wait-time strategies?

                               (Slightly less than ONE full SECOND!)  Believe it or not!

What difference can Wait-Time make?

After doing a large amount of research, Mary Budd Rowe found significant effects in classrooms where teachers had been trained in wait-time.
 In classrooms where teachers were trained to wait a minimum of THREE SECONDS after asking a question, the following things were noted:
 1.  The length of student responses increased 4 to 8 times!  Longer answers.

 2.  The number of students who chose willingly to respond to questions increased dramatically, failure to respond decreased.

 3.  Student confidence levels increased.

 4.  Students asked more questions in class.

 5.  Students considered “slow” began to contribute more to class discussions; up to 37% more.

 6.  High-level thinking increased.  As much as 7 times more high-level thinking.

 7.  Discipline problems decreased.

 And what about teacher behaviors that changed.....???

 Teacher behaviors changed too!  Teachers trained in wait-time strategies:

 1.  Began asking more (and better) questions.

 2.  Were less likely to expect only the “bright” kids in the class to answer questions.  These teachers began to view their
         classes as having fewer academically “slow” students.

 3.  Teachers untrained in wait-time techniques were often shown to discriminate against slower academic students!  These
         teachers waited only 0.9 seconds for slow students but gave the academically talented students 1.2 seconds (on average)
         to answer questions.

 4.  Evidence exists that wait-time may vary by culture.  Austrailian teachers untrained in wait-time waited less than 0.5 seconds
         before moving on.

KEY CONCEPT:   If students are to inquire deeper into a subject and engage in higher-level thinking, teachers need to increase their “wait-time tolerance.”

 This will enable our students to better think, create, and demonstrate fully their human potential.
 Improve your classroom performance.  Increase your wait-time.

Wait-Time II:  Waiting (in silence) after the answer is given.
 Wait-time II is the time we wait AFTER the answer is given.
 The recommended amount of time here, once again, is 3 seconds.
 This behavior allows:
                                 1.  The student to reflect upon, modify, or lengthen his/her answer.
                                 2.  It further encourages the other members of the class to evaluate, reflect upon, and then respond to the
                                      answer given.
REMEMBER: Not only will you have to train and remind yourself about appropriate wait-times, you must train your students as well.

Do not allow them to violate the wait-times needed by their classmates by shouting out answers or responding immediately to answers given.

Remember as well that FAST answers are not necessarily the BEST answers.  Do not place a premium on FAST answers.  Instead, reward answers that reflect higher-level thinking, logic, and courtesy/respect for others.

3.  DEMONSTRATIONS:  This is a methodology in which the teacher models certain behaviors as the students look on.
     This methodology is sometimes mistakenly referred to as an “experiment.” True “experiments” however, involve the
      manipulation of variables, testing for their effect, and reporting the previously unknown results.

Suggestions for effectively using demonstrations.
 1.  Plan and Practice.  Before doing any demonstration for your class, practice it.  Make sure you can pull it off.

 2.  Discuss, explain, and make application of what the students observed.  If the students don’t learn from the demonstration, it
      is merely entertainment.  Discrepant events are good examples demonstrations. We have used a number of these including
      the “cartesian diver,” water drops on a penny, “magic book,” etc... There are books full of “discrepant events” and you can
      also find them on the web by simply searching under “discrepant events.”

INDIRECT INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES (Getting the students actively involved in the learning process.)

 .Indirect instructional stategies ACTIVELY engage both TEACHER and STUDENT.

 When using indirect instructional strategies the teacher’s role becomes one of the helper, guide, and/or facilitator.

 (Remember Maslow’s “guide on the side.” ?)

 When using indirect instructional strategies the students are viewed as active participants in the teaching/learning process.

 Students actively engage in observing, measuring, predicting, classifying, recording data, graphing, analyzing, and other process
  skills.

 Learning “how to learn” is given equal importance and attention with “what to learn.”
.
 “Inquiry learning” is an example of indirect instruction.  (Also known as “discovery learning and/or “guided discovery.”)

 Reasons for using Inquiry include:
 1.  Active involvement of the learner.
 2.  Increased use of higher-level thinking.
 3.  Increased use of process skills.

 Examples of inquiry or discovery learning used in this class include:
 1.  Discovering the rainfall pattern of OK.
 2.  Anthrop./Archeol.  Artifact Hunt.
 3.  Paper Towel Testing.
 4.  Model Rocket/Aerospace Unit.

Other Indirect Instructional Strategies
 1.  Simulation: A “role play” which mimics real life in which the learner takes an active role in gathering data, problem solving,
     graphing, etc...

     Oral Histories: Doing history NOT just reading the histories others have gathered.  Students take on the responsibilities of a
     real historian gathering information from those they interview.

    Experiments: A teaching/learning experience in which students manipulate variables to determine the effect of such variables
    on the outcome of the experiment.  In a true experiment, the outcome is not known until the data is gathered and analyzed.

    Games: Actively encouraging students to pursue a goal and/or gain knowledge for points or other rewards.

 Games are “competitive” endeavors and involve winning and losing.
 Personally, I think that’s just fine.  Games mirror “real life” as it too is a series of wins and losses.
 Through games, students can be taught the value of teamwork, determination, persistance, and courage.
 Further, we can share with them the values of humility and dignity.

 MPORTANT: When incorporating GAMES into the classroom, teachers should see to it that each child experiences the “thrill of victory” as often as the “agony of defeat.”

 Use games to boost enthusiasm, confidence, and committment to others.

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