Understanding Traditional and Progressive Approaches to Learner-Centered Instruction

Understanding Traditional and Progressive Approaches to Learner-‐Centered Instruction

Karen Z. Bull, M.Ed.

Assistant Director of Distance Learning Onondaga Community College

*  Current Course Design *  Understanding By Design *  Results *  Evidence *  Experiences and Instruction *  6 Facets of Understanding *  Conclusion

Agenda

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Identify Desired Results

Be Clear

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Determine Acceptable Evidence

Be Specific

Should we put down what we think is right, or what we think you

think is right?

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*  Focus on a Topic (Racial Prejudice) *  Use a Particular Resource (To Kill A Mockingbird) *  Choose Specific Instructional Method (Seminar to discuss the book and cooperative groups to analyze stereotypical images in films and on television) *  To cause learning to meet a giving standard (The student will understand the nature of prejudice and the difference between generalizations and stereotypes)

Course Design

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Road Trip

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“To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to

know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are

always in the right direction.”

-‐Stephen R. Covey

Understanding By Design

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“Educational objectives become the criteria by which materials are selected, content is outlined, instructional procedures are developed, and tests and examinations are prepared…The purpose of a statement of objectives is to indicate the kinds of changes in the student to be brought about so that instructional activities can be planned and developed in a way likely to attain these objectives” (Tyler, 1949, pp 1, 45).

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Many Hats

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*  3 Main Stages 1.  Identify desired results 2.  Determine acceptable evidence 3.  Plan learning experiences and instruction

Rethinking Course Design

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Curricular Priorities

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Assessment Methods

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Fair Assessment

Assessment Alignment

Proof

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Specific and Clear

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6 Facets of Understanding

*  Explain *  Interpret *  Apply *  Perspective *  Empathize *  Self-‐Knowledge

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Facet 1: Explanation

“We see something moving, hear a sound expectedly, smell an unusual order, and we ask; What is it?...When we have found out what it signifies, a squirrel running, two persons conversing, an

explosion of gunpowder, we say that we understand.” (Dewey, 1933, pp. 137, 146)

...Facet 1…

*  Course Design: *  Problem-‐based learning *  Effective hands-‐on *  Effective minds-‐on *  Science programs

*  Assessment *  Performance tasks *  Projects *  Prompts and tests that ask

students to explain *  Link specific facts with

larger ideas *  Show their work, *  Support their conclusions.

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Facet 2: Interpretation

Juzo Itami’s films revealed truths to the Japanese they never knew existed – even though they were right

there in their daily life. “He could express the inside story about things people think they understand but really don’t,” said film critic

Jun Ishiko. (Washington Post, 1997, p. A1)

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* Learner-‐Centered Activities *  Invite students to: * fashion an oral history out of disparate interviews * mathematical conclusion out of discrete data * a story interpretation based on careful reading

...Facet 2…

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Facet 3: Application

[By understanding] I mean simply a sufficient grasp of concepts, principles, or skills so that one can bring them to bear on new problems and situations, deciding in which ways one’s present competencies can suffice and in which ways one may

require new skills or knowledge.

(Gardner, 1991, p. 18)

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* Learner-‐Centered Activities * Performance-‐based learning: *  Authentic tasks *  Conventional tests

...Facet 3…

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Facet 4: Perspective

An important symptom of an emerging understanding is the

capacity to represent a problem in a number of

different ways and to approach its solution from varied

vantage points; a single, ridge representation is unlikely to

suffice. (Gardner, 1991, p. 13)

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Facet 5: Empathy

To understand is to forgive. -‐French proverb

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Facet 6: Self-‐Awareness

It is the duty of the human understanding to

understand that there are things which it cannot understand, and what

those things are. (Kierkegaard, 1959)

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Thinking like an Assessor Thinking like an Activity Designer

What would be sufficient and revealing evidence of understanding?

What would be interesting and engaging activities on this topic?

What performance tasks must anchor the unit and focus the instructional work?

What resources and materials are available on this topic?

How will I be able to distinguish between those who really understand and those who don’t (though they seem to)?

What will students be doing in and out of class? What assignments will be given?

Against what criteria will I distinguish work?

How will I give students a grade (and justify it)?

What misunderstandings are likely? How will I check for those?

Did the activities work? Why or why not?

Facet 1 Explanation

Facet 2 Interpretation

Facet 3 Application

Facet 4 Perspective

Facet 5 Empathy

Facet 6 Self-‐Knowledge

Accurate Coherent Justified Systematic Predictive

Meaningful Insightful Significant Illustrative Illuminating

Effective Efficient Fluent Adaptive Graceful

Credible Revealing Insightful Plausible Unusual

Sensitive Open Receptive Perceptive Tactful

Self-‐aware Reflective Wise Self-‐adjusting Meta-‐Cognitive

Criteria for Each Facet

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Americans hold the notion that good teaching comes through artful and spontaneous interactions with students during lessons…such views minimize the

importance of planning increasingly effective lessons and lend credence to the folk belief that good

teachers are born, not made…Our biggest long-‐term problem is not how we teach now but that we have

no way of getting better. (Stingler & Hiebert, 1997, p. 20)

Conclusion

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Karen Z. Bull, M.Ed. Assistant Director of Distance Learning

Onondaga Community College [email protected]

Contact

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