1.
Irene Hawkins

2.
What is learning?

3.
What is learning?
• Learning happens when experience
produces a stable change in
someone’s knowledge or behavior.

4.
What is Direct Instruction?
• Direct instruction, also known as explicit teaching, is
the traditional method of teaching whereby the
teacher lectures and then questions students on the
content presented.

5.
Pros of Direct Instruction
• It ensures that state mandated topics of study
are covered prior to state achievement tests
• It is easy to manage available instructional time
to include everything that needs to be taught
• It includes an opportunity for informal student
assessment and reteaching
• It keeps student behavior issues to a minimum

6.
Cons of Direct Instruction
• Limited to lower-level objectives
• Ignores innovative models of teaching
• Discourages students’ independent
thoughts and actions

7.
Is direct
instruction
bad?

8.
Three General Theories of Learning
•1. Behavioral
•2. Cognitive
•3. Constructivist

9.
Behavioral Perspective on Learning
A-B-C: Antecedent – Behavior – Consequence

10.
• Reinforcement (encourages or strengthens behavior)
• Positive reinforcement
• Negative reinforcement
• Punishment (suppresses or weakens behavior)
• Direct punishment
• Removal punishment
Consequences

11.
Positive Reinforcement
High grades
Good behavior rewards
Money for chores
The student is getting something he or she wants;
therefore, the behavior is reinforced and strengthens.

12.
Exempt a student from a test
Excuse a student from class
Excuse a child from chores
Although something is being taken away, it is something
that the child does not want to do; therefore, the
behavior is reinforced and is strengthened.
Negative Reinforcement

13.
Direct Punishment
• Detention
• In School Suspension
• Punish work
The student is receiving something they do not want;
therefore, the behavior weakens.

14.
Removal Punishment
• Not going out for recess
• Not allowed to go to school dance
• Not receiving chore money
The child is losing something they want to do;
therefore, the behavior weakens.

15.
Behavioral (Strengths)
• Highly effective way to target unwanted behaviors
• Based on observable behaviors

16.
Behavioral (Weaknesses)
• What works for one student may not work for all.
• You must know, beforehand, what the student’s
motivating force is.

17.
When should I use a
behavioral approach?
“Identify a situation in your school that you would
like to change. Think about the participants
(students, parents, or teachers) whose behaviors
could change for the better to improve the
situation. Now identify the possible reinforcers for
their current behavior – what desirable outcomes
do they achieve for acting the way they do or what
unpleasant outcomes do they escape?”
-Hoy & Miskel

18.
Behavioral Approach Example:
• The Good Behavior Game
• The entire class earns rewards based on the collective
behavior of the class. This is usually based on a point
system going toward the class total.
• Divide class into teams.
• Students receive points for inappropriate classroom behaviors.
• The team with the fewest points at the end of the
predetermined period of time wins.
• If all teams have fewer than a predetermined amount,
everyone wins!

19.
Cognitive Approach to Teaching
• Uses the way people think to solve problems
• Takes what students already know to guide
future learning

20.
Two Kinds of Knowledge
• General Knowledge
• Applies to a variety of situations
• How to use a computer
• How to read
• Domain-specific Knowledge
• Relates to a specific task or subject area
• Using Microsoft Word to type an essay
• Learning lines from Shakespeare

21.
• Rehearsal:
• Maintenance Rehearsal
•Repeat information to get it to last longer
• Elaborate Rehearsal
•Associate information to something you
already know
Working Memory

22.
Long-Term Memory
• Memorization strategies:
• Underline and highlight information
• Take notes
• Visual mapping
• Mnemonics
• Application strategies:
• Translate information into own words
• Create examples
• Explain to a friend
• Act out a concept
• Draw a diagram
• Apply knowledge to new problems

23.
When to use Cognitive Approach to Learning
• Use when you want students
to understand and recall
information for a later time.

24.
Cognitive (Strengths)
• Allows students to remember vast amounts of knowledge.
• Helps students focus on the most important information.
• Makes use of prior knowledge to learn new concepts
• Students mentally organize information into meaningful
chunks of knowledge
• Provides review and repetition of information
• Focuses on the meaning of the content, not just memorization!

25.
Cognitive (Weaknesses)
• The information students learn
becomes part of their long-term
memories. If they learn it incorrectly
the first time, it is likely they will always
remember it that way.

26.
Constructivist Approach to Teaching
• Students take an active role in their own learning.
• Social interactions improve learning.

27.
• “Knowledge is not a copy of reality. To know an
object, to know an event, is not simply to look at it
and make a mental copy or image of it. To know an
object is to act on it. To know is to modify, to
transform the object, and to understand the process
in this transformation, and as a consequence to
understand the way the object is constructed.”
Jean Piaget

28.
Three Characteristics
• Contingency Support: The teacher is constantly
adjusting and tailoring responses to the student.
• Fading: The teacher gradually withdraws support as
the students develop understanding and skills.
• Transferring Responsibility: Students assume
more and more responsibility for their own learning.
-Hoy & Miskel

29.
When to use Constructivist Approach
• Use with information that you want students to
be able to apply to the real world.

30.
Classroom Examples:
• Jigsaw: Students are separated into learning
sections where they each learn something
different and teach it to the rest of the class.
• Scripted Cooperation: Students work in pairs
to complete an assignment then take turns
sharing information learned. One partner
summarizes the information learned while the
other listens, takes notes, then fills in incorrect
or missing information.

31.
Constructivist (Strengths)
• This method is beneficial to ELL
students since it encourages them to
speak and explain themselves.

32.
Constructivist (Weaknesses)
• Students with special needs
• These students need more time for planning and
preparation. They may have difficulty quickly
understanding new concepts; and therefore, struggle with
these activities.
• Gifted students
• If the class involves mixed ability groups, this may not be
beneficial to gifted students because the pace is often too
slow and repetitive. This leads to them taking over the
assignment rather than sharing responsibility and learning
from one another.

33.
Review:
• Behavioral Approach:
– Use it to control classroom misbehaviors so that all
students can gain the most from instruction.
• Cognitive Approach:
– Use what students already know to be able to learn new
information. Repetition is key to improve long-term
memory.
• Constructivist Approach:
– Allow students to work collaboratively to learn, but also to
learn how to present information to others.

34.
Works Cited
Hoy, W.K., & Miskel, C. G. (2013). Educational administration:
Theory, research, and practice. New York: McGraw-Hill.