Approaches to Instruction: Introduction EDU 330: Educational Psychology Daniel Moos

Question: Who said the following? “You want your students to learn? Don’t focus on WHAT your students are learning…focus on HOW are your students are learning.” Answer: Me

Approaches to Instruction: Introduction Behavioral Approach Academic knowledge and skills are the focus (not social skills) Teacher makes instructional decisions Maintaining positive climate through reinforcement Three components of direct instruction: Orientation, Presentation, Structured/Guided/Independent Practice Cognitive/Constructivism Approach Rooted in Information Processing Communicate clear goals and objectives: What you want to accomplish, why you want to accomplish, and how you are going to assess Role of organization and meaningfulness Support “active learning” Assumptions consistent with Constructivism (ZPD, discovery learning, social interaction, real-world)

Approaches to Instruction: Introduction Humanistic Approach Focus on “noncognitive” variables (i.e. students’ needs, emotions, values, and self-perceptions) Children make choices about their own development “Teacher as facilitator” (not a “prescriber”) Social Cognitive Approach Cooperative learning: Group heterogeneity Group goal and individual accountability Interaction Interpersonal skills Team competition

First Step: Identify Learning Objective Shoot a basketball with proper form Second Step: Identify how you are going to structure activity to ensure learning objective is met; use at least one theory How would a Behaviorist approach be? How would a Humanistic approach be? How would a Social approach be? How would a Constructivist approach be? Approaches to Instruction: Application to Experiential Activity

Co-teaching: Introduction What is co-teaching? Co-teaching is typically defined as two educational professionals working together to meet the needs of heterogeneous learners What are some keys to effective co-teaching? Planning – Who is going to lead which section? How will you support each other? The students? Plan, plan, plan! Disposition – What are your beliefs on: fairness, grading, behavior management, and philosophy of teaching? Evaluation – Is this model more effective in meeting the needs of individual students? What are some barriers to effective co-teaching? Time Grading Teacher and Student readinessl