More LearningThrough

Less Teaching

Backwards Design Suspends instructional planning

Specific lessons are not developed until the last phase

This runs counter to the habits of many

BD demands that we set goals and establish assessments first

Good Teaching is Dependant

upon Good Design Teaching for understanding is not the

same as teaching for skill development or teaching for recall!

Different teaching purposes demand different teaching designs

The Three ColumnsOf The Paideia Proposal

Acquisition of Organized Knowledge

Development of Intellectual Skills

Enlarged Understanding of Ideas and Values

by means of

Didactic Instruction

by means of

Coaching, Exercises, and Supervised Practice

by means of

SocraticQuestioning and Active

Participation

Teaching TypesWhat the Teacher Uses What Students Need to Do

Didactic/Direct InstructionDemonstration/modelingLectureQuestions/convergent

CoachingFeedback/conferencingGuided practice

Facilitative/Constructivist/ReflectiveConcept attainmentCooperative learningDiscussionExperimental inquiryGraphic representationProblem-based learningQuestions (open ended)Reciprocal teachingSimulation (e.g., mock trial)Socratic seminarWriting process

Receive, take in, respond:Observe, attempt, practice, refineListen, watch, take notes, questionAnswer, give responses

Refine skills, deepen understanding:Listen, consider, practice, retry, refineRevise, reflect, refine, recycle through

Construct, examine, extend meaning:Compare, induce, define, generalizeCollaborate, support others, teachListen, question, consider, explainHypothesize, gather data, analyzeVisualize, connect, map relationshipsQuestions, research,conclude, supportPose/define problems, solve, evaluateAnswer and explain, reflect, rethinkClarify, question, predict, teachExamine, consider, challenge, debateConsider, explain, challenge, justifyBrainstorm, organize, draft, revise

Excessive Use of Lecture(or any single method)

Undercuts questioning, research, discussion, and performance needed to develop deep understandings

A frequent criticism of education

Wisdom Can’t be Told! Understanding is more stimulated

than learned It grows from questioning oneself and

being questioned by others Students must figure things out, not

simply wait to be told! This requires the teacher to alter

their curriculum and teaching style

Stating a Concept Vs. Developing a Concept

AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF TOPICS CONTAINING CONCEPTS THAT WERE DEVELOPED OR ONLY STATED

0102030405060708090

100

Germany Japan U.S.

Percentage of Topics

Stated Developed

Seatwork Time Spentin 3 Kinds of TasksAVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF SEATWORK TIME SPENT IN

THREE KINDS OF TASKS

0102030405060708090

100

Germany Japan U.S.

Percentage of

Seatwork Time

Practice procedure

Apply concept

Invent/ think

Teaching for Understanding Requires:

Routinely using teaching methods from all three general types Didactic: Direct instruction (used to

dispense factual information) Coaching: Teachers providing feedback

and guidance to students as they work Constructivist: Allowing the student to

“construct their own learning” by solving their own problems.

Direct or Indirect Teaching Approaches

It is not an either-or proposition As a teacher:

When should we present the facts we that know?

When should we force to students to discover the information on their own?

When should we allow practice while we coach?

These are the key questions for teachers of understanding

We Should… Use direct instruction and focused

coaching for discrete, unproblematic, and enabling knowledge and skill

Use indirect teaching for those ideas that are subtle, easily misunderstood, and those ideas that need some personal inquiry, testing and verification

Choosing a Teaching Approach

Didactic ConstructivistFactsDiscrete knowledgeDefinitionsObviousLiteralConcreteSelf-evidentPredicable resultDiscrete skills and techniquesRecipeAlgorithms

Concepts and principlesSystemic connectionsConnotationsSubtleSymbolicAbstractCounterintuitiveAnomalyStrategy (using repertoire and judgment)InventionHeuristics

Guidelines forStudent Autonomous

Learning Engage students in inquiry and

inventive work as soon as possible Use the text as a reference—not a

syllabus Ask more questions/answer fewer Make it clear that there are no stupid

questions

Guidelines forStudent Autonomous

Learning Ask naïve questions and let the

students correct you Raise questions with many possible

answers and push students to answer in multiple ways

Demand final performances (speech, presentation, project demonstration)

Continually assess for understanding