Instructional Theories in Action

Lessons Illustrating Selected Theories and Models

Charles M. Reigeluth, Charles M. Reigeluth

• Éditeur: Routledge
• Année: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781136561795
• Édition: 1
• Sujet: Bildung
• Sous-sujet: Bildung Allgemein

Companion volume to the award-winning best seller Instructional Design Theories and Models, this book serves as a concrete introduction to instructional design for curriculum developers, teachers and teacher trainers, and students. Eight major theorists translate their works and theories into sets of instructional prescriptions; corresponding model lessons provide step-by-step illustrations of these theories. Instructional Theories in Action features:
*overviews of the most important prescriptions and corresponding sample lesson plans written by the original theorists;
*practical, concrete approaches to presenting the major strategies and principles;
*model lessons focusing on the same objectives to facilitate comparisons of the theories;
*numbered comments that identify which instructional prescription is being implemented at each point of the sample lessons;
*chapter introductions, footnotes, and student study questions, and
*clear identification and cross referencing of commonalities that are often masked by varying terminology.

1	Introduction
	Charles M. Reigeluth Syracuse University

WHAT IS INSTRUCTIONAL THEORY?

The purpose of the field of instruction is to provide educators and trainers with prescriptions for making their instruction more effective and appealing. Over the past 20 years, methods of instruction (such as expository and discovery) have been analyzed to identify fairly elementary components that comprise them, such as examples, feedback, visual representations, and mnemonics. Many prescriptions for the use of such strategy components have been generated and validated since the mid 1960s. However, those prescriptions are mostly piecemeal—isolated bits and pieces that do not take into consideration the full range of components that a given unit of instruction should have.

Clearly, what teachers, textbook writers, and other instructional developers need are prescriptions that are more integrated and more comprehensive. This is what prescriptive instructional theories are meant to offer: They prescribe optimal combinations of strategy components for different situations. The few efforts that have been undertaken to achieve a measure of comprehensiveness have mostly produced independent and relatively incomplete knowledge bases, and most use inconsistent terminology. Hence, this book and its more advanced companion, Instructional-Design Theories and Models: An Overview of Their Current Status (Reigeluth, 1983), represent but a small step forward in a sorely needed integrative effort. The companion volume provides a thorough description of each of the theories illustrated in this volume, whereas each chapter in this volume provides a summary of the prescriptions for a theory, followed by a lesson and commentary that illustrate and explain each prescription.

Instructional theory addresses two questions: What methods should be used in the design of instruction? and when should each be used? These two concerns can be labeled as methods and situations. Statements that link situations and methods are called “principles” or “theories.”

Methods of Instruction. Methods may be individual strategy components, the elementary building blocks from which methods are created. Or they may be models of instruction: sets of strategy components that have been combined to optimize the quality of the instruction.

Situations of Instruction. How do you know when a certain method of instruction should be used? One way is to examine the instructional outcomes: the effects of each method. However, it has been found that the same method can have different effects under different conditions. Conditions include such variables as the nature of the content or learning task, the nature of the learners, and the nature of the institutional setting. Together, the desired outcomes and the conditions constitute the situations, or the bases for prescribing when to use each strategy component or each model of instruction.

Principles of Instruction. A descriptive principle of instruction describes the effects of a single strategy component. It identifies the likely outcome(s) for a given strategy component under given condition(s). A prescriptive principle of instruction, on the other hand, prescribes when the strategy component should be used. It identifies the strategy component that should be used for a given desired outcome and condition(s).

Theories of Instruction. A descriptive theory of instruction describes the effects of a whole model of instruction (integrated set of strategy components), instead of just the effects of a single strategy component. A prescriptive theory of instruction prescribes when a given model or set of models should be used. It identifies the instructional model that should be used for a given desired outcome and condition(s). The more comprehensive an instructional theory is, the more models it prescribes for different kinds of desired outcomes and conditions.

HISTORICAL TRENDS

The field of instruction, like most disciplines, began with an emphasis on philosophical concerns, which entailed the expression of opinions and conjecture (see, e.g., Dewey, 1916). With the advent of Skinner’s focus on programmed instruction in the 1950s, this phase finally (considering that education is one of the oldest professions) gave way to a focus on validated prescriptions, which require the scientific testing of opinions and conjecture through research. As with other disciplines, initial research on instruction tended to focus on very general, vague variables, such as discovery versus expository methods and lecture versus discussion formats. However, in that research two different discovery methods often differed more than an expository and a discovery method differed, making it impossible to identify reliable causes of superior outcomes.

Therefore, the discipline soon entered an analysis phase, during which phenomena were broken down into manageable components upon which research was conducted (see, e.g., Evans, Homme, & Glaser, 1964). Today much piecemeal knowledge about the effects of different instructional strategy components has been generated and validated. However, it is also common for the analysis phase in a discipline to be followed by a synthesis phase, during which that piecemeal knowledge is integrated into progressively more comprehensive models and theories. Although there are signs that such a synthesis phase has begun in the field of instruction, our educational and training problems today are such that we cannot afford to drag our feet in this endeavor. There is a strong need for much more work to integrate our current knowledge into optimal models of instruction, each of which is prescribed for different kinds of instructional situations.

In response to this need, the editor and authors of this book wrote Instructional Design Theories and Models: An Overview of Their Current Status (1983). Its primary purpose was to contribute to an integration of instructional prescriptions. That book assembled and described the most comprehensive and thorough of those instructional theories that are still undergoing some further development, to the best knowledge of the editor. (Other notable instructional theories include the various instructional prescriptions of Ausubel, 1968; Bruner, 1960, 1966; and Skinner, 1954, 1965; all of which are no longer under development; and the more recent prescriptions of Bloom, 1976, 1981; Case, 1978a, 1978b; Lawson & Lawson, 1980; Markle, 1978; and Rothkopf, 1981; all of which are, in the editor’s opinion, of narrower scope of detailed instructional prescriptions than those included here.) That book went beyond assembling and describing the theories illustrated in this volume; it also attempted to facilitate integration into a common knowledge base through chapter forewords and extensive editor’s notes that compared and contrasted individual prescriptions and that assessed overall strengths (unique contributions) and weaknesses (omissions) of each theory.

WHY THIS BOOK?

Understanding. The primary purpose of this book is to help educators and trainers to create more effective and appealing instruction by making it easier to understand the various methods of instruction that are prescribed by these prominent instructional theories. Each of the original theorists (with one exception) has developed a lesson that illustrates most of the methods that his theory prescribes. Therefore, this book provides a more concrete understanding of the instructional theories than does the companion volume. In addition, each author has written numbered comments that identify the specific prescription from his theory that is being implemented at each point in the lesson. These comments have been written in such a way that they are understandable to a reader who has not read the earlier book. Because this book is a more concrete description of the instructional theories, we recommend that someone new to these theories read this book before the earlier book.

Comparison. Another important purpose of this book is to facilitate comparison and contrast of these instructional theories. As one author has put it (Gropper, 1983), most of the theories represented here were developed as “independent knowledge bases” with entirely different terminologies. By having all authors develop their lessons for the same set of objectives and test items (see p. 5), it is easier for the reader to cut through the terminology differences and make direct comparisons among the instructional theories. Editor’s Notes have been added to further facilitate such comparisons.

Integration. A third important purpose in producing this book is to contribute to the integration of our existing knowledge about instruction. It is our hope that this book will show that, rather than competing with each other, these theories complement each other. There are many commonalities among these theories: that is, many theories prescribe the same methods for the same situations (all in different terminology, though!). Most of the differences in methods prescribed by the theories are due to differences in the situations for which they are prescribed. For example, a discovery approach may be appropriate in some cases but not in others. It would hardly be appropriate for teaching a group of surgeons the latest technique in their field. This book can help draw attention to the need to view instructional theories not as competing with each other but as making unique contributions to a truly integrated, comprehensive set of prescriptions for creating effective and appealing instruction. An educator or trainer will benefit by having all of these various methods of instruction in his or her repertoire.

Chapter Format

Each chapter has three main sections: an introduction, a lesson, and a set of comments. The introduction presents a summary of the theory’s major prescriptions. Occasionally, some general information about the overall design of the lesson is also included here. The lesson may take a variety of forms. The authors were advised that the lesson “may be in the form of written materials, a sample dialogue between teacher and student(s), a ‘map’ showing how the topics might be sequenced within a complete course, a description (including drawings, etc.) of any nonprint media t...