The influence of beliefs on instruction

(it’s a long, involved path)

What’s the lesson going to be like?

Day 4AGoal: Students develop an understanding of the relationship between world view, beliefs about learning and instruction, and the instruction that actually takes place.Materials: PowerpointReadings for preparation: Driscoll chpts 1 & 9; Fang pp. 47-55 Procedure: Pose question, what determines what instruction will be like?

We all have “world views”

These views influence decisions & interpretations of events

• “Research decisions . . . Fundamentally stem from disciplinary assumptions, or beliefs, that investigators have about the phenomena they study” (Driscoll, p. 6).

• Teachers (Fang, 1996).– Teacher thought processes

• Planning (before and after instruction)

• Interactive thoughts and decisions (during instruction)

• Theories and beliefs

Theories and Beliefs

• Are an important part of teachers’ [anyone’s] general knowledge.

• Guide personal thoughts and actions.

• Are shaped by many factors.

• Can affect teaching and learning.

• Preservice teachers (and others) do hold implicit views about teaching and learning.

Consistency/Inconsistency Theory

• Consistency – beliefs align with the way you teach, etc.

• Inconsistency – do not teach (etc.) in a way that aligns with beliefs. How could this happen? – Contextual factors– Psychological, social, environmental factors– May have coping strategies

‘isms

• Source of knowledge– Empiricism: sensory experience– Nativism: innate– Rationalism: reason

• If you were a researcher and you subscribed to one of these ‘isms as the source of knowledge, where would you look for data?

• If you were a teacher and you subscribed to one of these ‘isms as the source of knowledge, what kinds of things would your students do in your classroom?

‘isms

• Content of knowledge (what there is to know)– Skepticism – nothing for sure– Realism – everything in the world – Idealism – ideas or representations of reality– Pragmatism – although there is a reality what

we can/will know about it is provisional, sometimes what we know aligns with reality, sometimes it doesn’t.

‘isms

• Knowledge traditions (epistemology – how we come to know, world views) – Objectivism – reality is external and separate from the

knower. We come to know this reality through empiricism or realism

– Pragmatism –reality is external, but what we come to know of it serves a pragmatic purpose. As mentioned, this may or may not align with reality.

– Interpretivism – Reality is assumed to be constructed by the knower.

Caution

• Do not over interpret these. Do not think these are good, solid definitions – they are working definitions to help us get by.

• Bottom line – people hold these notions (or various degrees of them) whether they articulate them or not.

Objectivism Interpretivism

?? Pragmatism??

People have beliefs about the world and how we come to know what is knowable in it. These beliefs influence their decisions.

What are your beliefs?

Beliefs of others

• Attitudes About Reality scores across the semesters.

We all have beliefs about how people learn

What does it mean to learn?

• “persisting change in human performance or performance potential” (Driscoll, p. 9).

• Must be a result of experience and interaction in the world, thus not just maturation.

Theories of learning

• Theory – more than just an hypothesis (suggested answer to a question). Have gone through the “theory building” process.

• Learning theory – “a set of constructs linking observed changes in performance with what is thought to bring about those changes” (Driscoll, p. 9).

• Is descriptive.

We all have beliefs about learning, developed through a variety of experiences or reason (how you acquire this knowledge about learning would certainly be influenced by your world view ) These beliefs about learning influence our

decisions.

Theories of learning align with an underlying set of beliefs about the world and how we come to know what is knowable in it.

Point to consider

• Although a worldview may align with a number of theories of learning, there will be other theories of learning for which a particular worldview may be incompatible.

• For example, behaviorism and cognitivism both embrace underlying beliefs of objectivism concerning reality.

We all have beliefs about how best to provide instruction

What is instruction?

• “Any deliberate arrangement of events to facilitate a learner’s acquisition of some goal” (Driscoll, p. 23).

What is instructional theory?

• “identifying methods that will best provide the conditions under which learning goals will most likely be attained” (Driscoll, p. 352)

• A prescription of how instruction should occur given – a set of conditions (characteristics of learners, learning

environment, constraints, etc.), – methods (ways to support and facilitate learning that can

be broken down into more detailed component methods) and

– outcomes (what is the desired learning goal).

What is instructional theory?

• Conditions and outcomes necessarily describe situations in which a particular instructional theory is considered appropriate and useful.

• Is probabilistic rather than deterministic – Increases the chance of attaining a goal

(outcome) rather than assuring attainment of it.

People have beliefs about instruction, developed through a variety of experiences or reason (how one acquires this knowledge about instruction would certainly be influenced by an individual’s worldview and beliefs about learning ) These beliefs about instruction influence their decisions.

Theories of instruction align with an underlying set of beliefs about the world, and how we come to know what is knowable in it, through a process of learning.

Point to consider

• Although an instructional theory may be useful from a number of views of learning, certain instructional theories may be incompatible with certain theories of learning.

Instructional theories, methods, and strategies

• Instructional theories are bigger. Within them there will be a variety of instructional methods or teaching strategies that will be useful.

• For our purposes, we won’t generally distinguish among them – in other words, the green squares could be an instructional theory, method, or strategy.

But . . .

• To give us a general idea of the difference, let’s list some instructional methods or strategies . . .

• These might be considered tools in a tool box. You need to understand when, why, and how to use a certain tool. In other words, when it is a good idea to use lecture, why would you use it (what does it do for the learners in terms of learning), and how it is best implemented?

Just for fun, let’s think about an instructional theory

• Name one instructional theory (think . . . Did you do your readings?)

• Gagné’s Theory of Instruction – Taxonomy of learning outcomes– Conditions of learning– Events of instruction

Compare

• Conditions• Methods• Outcomes

• Taxonomy of learning outcomes

• Conditions for learning– Internal

– External

• Nine events of instruction

Taxonomy of learning outcomes

• Verbal information• Intellectual skills

– Discrimination– Concrete concepts– Defined concepts– Rules– Higher order rules

• Cognitive strategies• Attitudes • Motor skills

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Outcomes

•Knowledge•Comprehension•Application•Analysis•Synthesis•Evaluation

Cognitive Strategies and Metacognitive skills

(taxonomy)

(taxonomy)

Conditions for learning

• Internal (what the learner needs to do to be ready to achieve the desired outcome).

• E.g., internal conditions to consider for learning verbal information. – Learner needs to recall related material– Constraint of the learner is working memory

capacity – we can only deal with a limited amount of things at one time.

Conditions of learning

• External (what are the external conditions that will foster the learning?)

• E.g., external conditions to consider in learning verbal information– Present information in meaningful chunks– Provide cues for encoding, and thus retrieval– Present a variety of cues

Nine events of instruction

• Gain attention• Inform learners of objective• Stimulate recall of prior knowledge• Present content• Provide “learning guidance”• Elicit performance• Provide feedback• Assess performance• Enhance retention and transfer

Should everyone use Gagne’s theory of instruction?

• Theories of instruction align with an underlying set of beliefs about the world, and how we come to know what is knowable in it, through a process of learning.

• No, it is only one alternative that was initially aligned with – Objectivist worldview

– Cognitive information-processing learning theory

Gagné provides a well- articulated and theoretically grounded path through our visual. There are many other paths.

Why is this important?(and why take an Ed Psych course?)

OKBest Good

World view Theories of learning

Instructional theories, methods, strategies

Day 4AGoal: Students develop an understanding of the relationship between world view, beliefs about learning and instruction, and the instruction that actually takes place.Materials: PowerpointReadings for preparation: Driscoll chpts 1 & 9; Datnow & Castellano Procedure: Pose question, what determines what instruction will be like?

Lesson plans, etc.

Day 4AGoal: Students develop an understanding of the relationship between world view, beliefs about learning and instruction, and the instruction that actually takes place.Materials: PowerpointReadings for preparation: Driscoll chpts 1 & 9; Datnow & Castellano Procedure: Pose question, what determines what instruction will be like?

OKBest Good

World view Theories of Learning, Motivation,

Development, Counseling,

Organizational BehaviorTest Development

How do we help . . .

Nuts and bolts

So now what???

, motivation,assessment

OKBest Good

World view Theories of learning

Instructional theories, methods, strategies

Day 4AGoal: Students develop an understanding of the relationship between world view, beliefs about learning and instruction, and the instruction that actually takes place.Materials: PowerpointReadings for preparation: Driscoll chpts 1 & 9; Datnow & Castellano Procedure: Pose question, what determines what instruction will be like?

Lesson plans, etc.