Direct Instructions
Direct instructions are known to be the most common and appropriate means of effective teaching strategies where completely new concepts and ideas, that can be difficult and abstract are “laid out” to students (Brookfield, 1990).
Direct instructions are known to be the most common and appropriate means of effective teaching strategies where completely new concepts and ideas, that can be difficult and abstract are “laid out” to students (Brookfield, 1990).
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to observe this particular method of teaching during the science class, where concept of the Electrical Circuit was introduced to students from Year 5 for the first time.
The trainee teacher started her lesson with questioning. The purpose of this was firstly to check students’ knowledge of what they already knew about the circuits and secondly it was aimed to grab students’ attention and make the start of the lesson interesting. Large amount of research has been done on the importance of questioning and it is said that questioning plays vital role in “stimulating students thinking and learning” (Gall et al., 1970, p 113) which was indeed the case during my science class observation. Questions raised curiosity about the new idea and were a good start for the lesson that was followed by direct instruction part and students’ note taking.
Point made by Sanders emphasized that “questioning has a little effect on student learning unless it requires students to use ideas rather then just remembering them” (Sanders, 1966). Therefore students were encouraged to share their knowledge of what they already knew about circuits by participating in quiz games and activities. The trainee teacher used science website http://www.andythelwell.com/blobz/guide.html in order to make the lesson appealing, consequently quiz turned out to be a very interesting facet of the class activity and as a result the lesson did not turn out to be as boring as it could be.
Direct instructions have some limitations and reputation of being “dull and boring” (Killen, R., 2007) in many cases it is a fact but it can be modified and teachers can make the lesson interesting as the one experienced by me last week.
Reference:
Killen, R. (2007). Using direct instruction as a teaching strategy. In Effective
Teaching Strategies: Lessons from Research and Practice, (4th ed.),
(pp 101-124). Thomson Social Science Press.
Teaching Strategies: Lessons from Research and Practice, (4th ed.),
(pp 101-124). Thomson Social Science Press.
