NBA Accreditation and Teaching-Learning in Engineering (NATE)

N J Rao and K Rajanikanth

Module 2: Course Design and Instruction

Week 8: Instruction (Key Words: Brain, Learning, Instructional Situation, Instructional

Components)

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M2 U15: Instruction: An Overview
Recap

 Understood the process of designing a course in the framework of Instructional System Design
model of ADDIE and in alignment with NBA requirements.

20
M2 U15: Outcomes

 Understand the nature and constructs of Instruction.

Learning

 People can only learn by constructing/producing their own knowledge.




EL
Learning requires active manipulation of the material to be learned and cannot occur passively.
This is the principal tenet of Constructivism.
The knowledge, skills and attitudes the learner needs to construct are stated as Learning
PT
Outcomes.

What is Instruction?

 The purpose of instruction is to help people learn.

 If production of knowledge is what learner does, what teacher does is to foster that production.
N

 This fostering the “production” is termed as “instruction”.

Instruction
 It is the intentional facilitation of learning toward an identified learning goal
-

(Competency/Outcome).
 It is the deliberate arrangement of learning activities and conditions to promote the attainment of
some intended goal (Learning Outcome/Competency).
E

 It is prescriptive.
AT

Instruction Practiced at Present

 Instruction methods practiced at present are mostly lecture based.

 We teachers follow the method our teachers followed.
 We did not like it as students.
N

 Our students are not likely to appreciate what we do now as teachers.

Students Learn Better

when
 they are provided information about the Course Outcomes/ Competencies, their responsibilities,
and the criteria used to evaluate their performance,

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 1

 
  assessment is in alignment with the things they are supposed to be able to do at the end of the
course, and
 instruction facilitates the students to attain the stated Course Outcomes/Competencies.

Conduct of a Course

 Write Course Outcomes/Competencies.

 Conduct instruction to facilitate the students to attain the stated outcomes/competencies.

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 Measure the attainment of outcomes.

Instructional Unit

 A course is described in terms of its Course Outcomes.

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 Course Outcomes are elaborated, if needed, into Competencies.
 One Instructional Unit is associated with one CO/Competency.
 An instructional unit will have 1 to 5 and sometimes more classroom sessions of 50 minutes to
one-hour duration/one or more 2-hour laboratory sessions/field trips/ etc.

Instruction

EL
PT
N
-

 
Instruction Should Be
E

Irrespective of the instructional situations and the instructional approaches instruction should be
AT

 Effective: Instruction should facilitate the learners to attain the intended learning outcomes.
 Engaging (Appealing): Instruction should enable learners to actively engage with the knowledge
they are expected to acquire.
 Efficient: Instruction should be efficient in its use of resources, irrespective of the situations and
instructional methods.
N

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 2

 
 Instructional Situations

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20
 
Values (Instructional Situations)

Values (about)

Learning Goals
(Competencies, COs)
Examples
EL
Write good programs in C encountered commonly in business
applications
PT
Priorities Covering the syllabus when the scope of the content is too large

Method Use the program-share-critique method

Who has the power Management through HOD

N

Conditions (Instructional Situations)

Conditions Examples
-

Content Problem solving through programming using C

Learner Students with low CET rankings habituated to rote learning

E

Learning Environment Not so comfortable a classroom with blackboard

AT

Instructional Development Constraints Time available for designing the course

Instruction Types (Approaches)

 Face-to-Face
N

 Blended
 Flipped Classroom
 Online
 MOOC

 Each type of instruction is conducted using some instructional methods.

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  The instructional methods should preferably incorporate some principles of learning.

Instructional Methods for Face-to-Face Instruction Type

 There are large number instructional methods:

o Direct Instruction
o Problem Based Instruction

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o Project Based Instruction
o Simulation Based Instruction
o Discovery Based Instruction
o Discussion Based Instruction
Etc.

20
o

 Each instructional method has several variants.

 Some of the instructional methods are not efficient.

Principles of Learning

Two well known frameworks followed for instruction design



Merrill’s Principles
Nine Events of Instruction of Gagne

Instructional Components
EL
PT
 Instructional components are elements of instruction that are not directly related to the content
but facilitate effective instruction that can lead to good learning.
 Every instructional method uses some instructional components organized as a sequence.
 Some examples of instructional elements are:
N

o Getting Attention
o Note Making &
o Summarizing (Review)
-

o Graphical Methods
o Cooperative Learning
E

Content Sequencing

 Instructors prefer to sequence the content in a particular manner depending on the subject and
AT

the students.
 Some ways of content sequencing are:

o Easy-to-difficult (Scaffolding)
o Concrete-to-abstract
N

o Abstract-to-concrete
o General-to-specific
o Hierarchical

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 Instruction

20
20
EL
PT
N

 
M2 U16
-

 Understand the instructional situations and their requirements.

E
AT
N

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 M2 U16: Instructional Situations
Recap

 Understood the constructs of instruction.

M2 U16 Outcomes

 Understand the elements of Instructional Situations.

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Instructional Situation (Context)

 An instructional context refers to the instructional setting and environment (e.g., student
demographics, social milieu, fiscal conditions, and organizational relationships) within which the
instruction occurs.

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 It consists of all the factors external to the learners that influence and define what, when,
where, how, why, and with whom individual learners learn from instruction.
 Collectively all the factors together are called “Instructional Situation”.

Constructs of Instructional Situation


EL
Constructs (elements) of Instructional Situation can be seen under two broad classifications
 Values: Elements of instruction deemed to be important by stakeholders. An alignment of values
about instruction across all stakeholders is helpful.
Conditions: All factors related to context other than ‘values’ that have influence on the choice
PT
and use of Instruction Methods.

Values

Refer to
N

 Learning Goals
 Priorities
 Methods
 Who has the Power
-

Learning Goals

 In the context of Outcome Based Education, Learning Goals are expressed as Outcomes (POs,
E

PSOs and COs).

 These outcomes need to be written following a well-defined process.
AT

 One Course Outcome becomes the focus of instruction at any given time.
 Instruction needs to be planned for that CO taking the POs and PSOs addressed by that CO into
account .
N

Priorities

 Priorities can vary from one course to the other.

Priority can be:
 Covering the syllabus when the scope of the content is too large.
 Pass percentage should be high.

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 6

 
  To enable the students to master some selected parts of the course.
 To address the requirements of better/weak students.

Methods

 Instruction Method should not be restricted mainly to one-way transfer of information.

 Many Instruction Methods are available.
 Every teacher should master several Instruction Methods applicable to the courses he/she should

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teach.
 The choice of method(s) should pay attention to the physical environment, effectiveness,
efficiency and engagement.

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Who has the Power?

 In autonomous institutions the instructor (at least on paper) has the power to decide the content,
instruction, assessment and evaluation.
 In institutions affiliated to a University, some centralized bodies have the power to decide the
content, assessment and evaluation. The teacher has power only over the Instruction and CIE.

EL
In some private institutions it is the management through HOD that has power over many
aspects of instruction.

Conditions
PT
Refer to
 Content
 Communication
 Learners
N

 Learning Environment
 Development Constraints

Content
-

 All courses are not similar in nature.

 Courses can be descriptive, mathematical, conceptual, engineering science, engineering or
E

design oriented.
 For example, it is very difficult to maintain motivation and interest in a descriptive course like
material science. Instruction in these courses can be challenging.
AT

 Similarly teaching a course that is mathematical and has several abstract concepts can also be
challenging.
 All courses are to be described in terms of Course Outcomes.
N

Communication

 Teaching is primarily a communicative process.

 Rules for communication, and the communicative competence of both teacher and students in
the classroom will influence the attainment of outcomes.
 The teacher determines the structure and direction of instructional conversations.

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 Language of Communication

 All learning resources are available in English.

 Instruction, assessment and student responses are required to be in English.
 English not being the native language of most Indians, students as well as teachers are not
necessarily fluent communicating in English.
 Errors in communicating by the teacher can occur if the teacher is not adequately fluent in

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English.
 Errors in understanding by students can occur if the student is not adequately competent in
English and/or if the teacher is not adequately fluent in English.
 Language errors in what is written on the board and presented in the slides can have multiplier

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effects.

Communication in English

 Students coming from rural areas and graduating from 12th standard in Indian language medium
are likely to have issues despite special formal and informal activities planned by the Institution.
 Continued usage of local language beyond third semester can become disadvantageous to


EL
students, as placement interviews and conduct of all professional activities are done in English.
As major professional communication is in written form, students should be given several
exercises in writing in English and encouraged to read widely.
PT
Learners

 Students in majority of affiliated colleges come from a wide range of social and economic
backgrounds as well as cognitive abilities and motivations.
 Entrance Test ranks and their range is an approximate proxy to cognitive abilities.
N

 There appears to be not so insignificant number of students in all branches with no motivation for
engineering, and are there in the program due to parental pressure.
 Context is characterized by the distribution of students across all these categories.
-

Learning Environment

 Has physical, social and emotional dimensions.

E

 Physical environment of the learning spaces in India can become very taxing in many institutions,
and it can become very difficult to get the attention of students.
AT

 Some arrangements of the furniture do not permit certain types of instructional activities.
 Availability or non-availability of Wi-Fi and access to power for internet devices will have
significant influence on the type of Instruction Methods used.

Social Dimension of Classroom

N

 It is known that we can all learn better through social interactions.

 Learning environment should permit practice of Instruction Methods like think-pair-share, group
discussions, group projects as required by the outcomes.
 Social interaction will be effective only through proper group formation.

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 8

 
 Emotional Support

 Learning environment as decided or created by the instructor should provide an emotionally

supportive environment.
 Students from rural/disadvantaged backgrounds, though reasonably competent, may lack
confidence and special attention must be paid to support them.
 Students should not be discouraged to raise question/s.

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 Students should not be ridiculed if they make mistake/s.
 Presence of many unmotivated students in the classroom is always a challenge to the teacher.

Development Constraints

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 These refer to time available to a teacher to design and conduct a new course.
 While there will be no dearth of learning resources on the internet, monetary constraints can
become an issue with respect to some courses.

Exercise

 Identify the Instructional Situation (context) of a course you taught in terms of its values and
conditions.
EL
Thank you for sharing the results of the exercise at nate.iiscta@gmail.com

M2 U17 Outcomes
PT
 Understand how brains learn.
N
-
E
AT
N

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 M2 U17: How Brains Learn
Recap

 Understood what instructional situation are, and that values and conditions of an instructional
situation can greatly influence instruction and learning.

M2 U17 Outcome

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 Understand a few features of brain and their role in teaching and learning.

Teachers and Brain

 The job of the teacher is to change the brain.

 It is good to know something about the structure and functioning of the brain and be familiar with

20
the current state of educational neuroscience.
 For a starter, the following book is recommended:
Sousa D. A. How the Brain Learns, 2011, Corwin

Some Findings from Brain Research



Brain cannot multitask.
EL
The human brain continually reorganizes itself based on the inputs. This process, called
neuroplasticity, continues through out one’s life.

Emotions affect learning, memory and recall.

PT
 Movement and exercise improve mood, increase brain mass and enhance cognitive processing.
 Teaching and learning can be more difficult at certain times of the day (circadian cycles)
 Sleep deprivation and stress can affect learning and memory.
 Intelligence and creativity are two separate abilities, and both can be modified by the
N

environment and schooling.

 Social and cultural climate affect teaching and learning.
 Arts can help develop the brain.
-

Basic Facts about the Brain

 Human brain is a wet fragile mass that weighs about 1.5 kg.
E

 It represents only about 2 percent of the body weight and it consumes nearly 20 percent of our
calories.
AT

Brain
N

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 10

 
 Frontal Lobes

 Part lying just behind the forehead is called prefrontal cortex.

 Known as the executive control center: deals with planning and thinking.
 Monitors higher-order thinking, directs problem solving, and regulates the excesses of the
emotional system.
 Also contains our self will area - what may be called our personality.

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 It is the area where focus occurs because most of the working memory is located here.
 The 10 to12 year gap in the development of frontal lobe explains why so many adolescents and
young adults get involved in risky situations.

Limbic System

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 It is nestled between brain stem and cerebrum.
 Structures of limbic system are duplicated in each hemisphere.
 It generates emotions and processes emotional memories.
 Manages the interplay between emotion and reason.


EL
The two structures in the brain, mainly responsible for long-term remembering, are in the limbic
system.

Brain Cells

 Human brain has one trillion cells of two types: nerve cells and glial cells.
PT
 Nerve cells are called neurons and are about 100 billion in number.
 Most of the cells are glial cells that hold the neurons together and act as filters to keep harmful
substances out of the neurons.
N

 Neurons are the functioning core for the brain.

 Neurons have tens of thousands branches emerging from its core, called dendrites, which can be
more than 10,000 per neuron.
 Every neuron will have one axon, and layer called myelin sheath surrounds each axon.
-

Neuron
E
AT
N

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 Synapse and Synaptic Junction

20
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Neurons


EL  

The dendrites of neurons receive electrical impulses from other neurons and transmit them along
PT
the axon.
 The myelin sheath insulates the axon from the other cells and increases the speed of impulse
transmission.
 A neuron can transmit between 250 to 2,500 impulses per second.
N

 Neurons have no direct contact with each other. The dendrite and synapses are separated by a
few nanometers.
 The electrical impulse is transferred from synapses to dendrites through neurotransmitters.
 Learning occurs by changing the synapses so that the influence of one neuron on another also
-

changes.

Amygdala
E

 It is in the limbic system and plays an important role in emotions, especially fear.
 It regulates the individual’s interactions with the environment and can affect survival, such as
AT

whether to attack, escape, mate, or eat.

 It is believed that amygdala encodes an emotional message, if one is present, whenever a
memory is tagged for long-term memory.

Classroom Conducive to Learning

N

 The teacher’s capacity to humiliate, embarrass, reject, and punish constitutes a perceived threat.
 Many students even see grading more as punitive than a rewarding process.
 Presence of a threat in any significant degree impedes learning.
 Teachers can make their classrooms better learning environments by avoiding threats (even
subtle intimidation).

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 Information Processing Model (David Sousa)

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Sensory Register to Short-term Memory
EL  
PT
 Information from the senses passes through the sensory register to short-term memory after the
incoming information is filtered to determine how important it is (sensory filtering).
 The filtering of incoming information is dominantly done by past-experience of the individual.
N

 The sensory register (sensory memory) does hold sensory information for a very brief time
(usually less than a second).
 The short-term memory includes immediate memory and working memory.

Immediate Memory
-

 Immediate memory in the model may be treated as a clipboard, a place where information is put
briefly until a decision is made how to dispose it.
E

 Immediate memory operates sub-consciously or consciously and holds data for up to 30 seconds.
 Threats and emotions affect processing the immediate memory. Students must feel physically
AT

safe and emotionally secure before they can focus on the content.
 Data affecting survival and data generating emotions are processed ahead of data for new
learning.
 How a person “feels” about learning situation determines the amount of attention devoted to it.
N

Working Memory

 Working memory is also a temporary memory and is the place where conscious processing
occurs.
 When something is in working memory, which is of very limited capacity, it has our focus and
demands our attention.

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  Information in working memory can come from the sensory/ immediate memories or be retrieved
from long-term memory.
 The limited capacity of working memory requires us to do chunking of information.
 Packaging lessons into 15 to 20 minutes components is likely to result in maintaining greater
student interest than one 40-minute lesson.

Long-Term Memory

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 Information is most likely to get stored if it makes sense and has meaning.
 Making sense means, the learner can understand an item based on his/ her experience.
 Having meaning refers to whether the items are relevant to the learner. The same item is not
likely to be equally relevant to all students in a classroom.

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Memory

 Memory gives us a past and a record of who we are and is essential to human individuality.
 For all practical purposes, the capacity of the brain to store information is unlimited.
 A stimulus causes a group of neurons fire together, and the firing may last only for a brief time


(standby period).

EL
If the pattern is repeated during this standby period (through rehearsal and practice) the
tendency for the associated group to fire together is increased.
These neuronal patterns firing together (if one fires, they all fire) leads to forming a new memory
PT
trace called engram.
 These individual engrams associate and form networks so that whenever one is triggered, the
whole network together is strengthened, thereby consolidating the memory, making it more
easily retrievable.
N

Learning and Retention

 Learning and retention are different.

 We can learn something for a short period, a few minutes, days, or even till the end of semester,
-

and then practically lose it. Learning does not always involve long-term retention.
 Retention refers to the process whereby long-term memory preserves learning in such a way that
E

it can locate, identify, and retrieve it accurately in the future.

Guidelines to Teachers
AT

For good Retention:

 Teach students rehearsal activities and strategies.
 Remind students to continuously practice rehearsal strategies until they become regular parts of
their study and learning habits.
N

 Keep rehearsal relevant. Teachers’ experiences may not be relevant to students.

 Remember that time spent alone is not a trustworthy indicator of the effectiveness of the
rehearsal.
 Provide more visual and contextual clues to make rehearsal meaningful and successful.

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 Exercise

 Give two instances of rehearsal strategies you used in your courses and your view of their
effectiveness (maximum 250 words each).
Thank you for sharing the results of the exercise at nate.iiscta@gmail.com

M2 U18 Outcome

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 Understand some instructional components that facilitate the brain in dealing with retention,
learning and transfer.

20
EL
PT
N
-
E
AT
N

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 15

 
 M2 U18: Instructional Components
Recap

 Understood some aspects of how brains learn.

M2 U18 Outcome

 Understand the use of evidence based instructional components.

20
Instructional Components

 Instructional components are elements of instruction that are not directly related to the content
but facilitate effective instruction that can lead to good learning.

20
Instruction

EL
PT
N

 
Instructional Components
 Goals and Feedback
-

 Advance organizer
 Analogies  Independent practice
 Authentic tasks  Peer tutoring
E

 Coaching  Personalization
 Collaborative work  Preview
 Cooperative work  Reciprocal teaching
AT

 Demonstration  Reflection
 Elaboration  Guided practice
 Examples/Non-examples  Teamwork
 Feedback  Etc.
N

Goals

 Many students suffer from ‘failure of intent’: that is, they are trying to do the wrong thing because
they have misinterpreted COs.
 Students need to be able to give themselves feedback (metacognitive knowledge) while they are
working. Otherwise they will be unable to succeed with tasks, or to improve.

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 16

 
  To do this they need to understand the COs, and to be able to evaluate their work in progress
against these.

Feedback

 Students don’t construct meanings fully or accurately the first time, and so need to know their
errors and omissions in order to improve their constructs.
 The teacher also needs feedback on students’ understandings to help improve their learning.

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Teachers can use the feedback for improving their own teaching.
 Formative assessment methods constitute most effective feedback.
 High-quality feedback has more effect on weakest learners (so it reduces failure rates).

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Some Feedback Strategies

 Use interactive teaching methods.

 Self- and peer-assessment.
 Give time for practice.
 Get students to show where they have met the criteria.

 Use group and pair work.

Similes and Analogies

EL
Get students to represent their progress graphically.
PT
 Use similes, analogies, models etc. in your teaching to link the new knowledge to things the
students already know about.
 Explicitly teaching students to identify similarities and differences enhances their ability to
understand and use knowledge.
N

 Similes and analogies can also be used as an active learning method if students create similes
and analogies themselves.

Graphic Organizers
-

 Graphic organizers organize the content graphically.

 Graphic organizers help students organize ideas, see relationships, and facilitate retention of
E

information. They are best at showing the relational information.

 Visual representations can be used in all disciplines and are quite flexible in their application.

AT

They can be used

o by teachers as means to display information to the class.

o by the student as an activity (creating or completing one) and as means to plan writing,
making notes, and support to help answer questions or discuss issues.
N

 How graphic organizers are used depends on the objective.

 It works well to give students a diagram with little text on it and then ask them to add details as
they learn about the topic.
 A teacher can generate or make use of standard templates for the graphic organizers he proposes
to use and ask students to use them to save time.

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  For maximum effect, students should generate their own graphics (Tables, graphs, pie charts
etc.).
 Software tools (proprietary or open source) are available for creating some graphic organizers
(ex. Concept Map - Open Source)

Simple Graphic Organizers

20
20
EL
PT
N

 
-
E
AT
N

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 18

 
 Fishbone Diagram
A fishbone diagram, also called a cause and effect diagram or Ishikawa diagram, is a visualization 
tool for categorizing the potential causes of a problem in order to identify its root causes.   

20
20
 

EL
PT

 
N

Spectrum and Time-Line

-
E
AT

 
N

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 19

 
 Story Board

 A storyboard is a graphic organizer in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence

for the purpose of pre-visualizing an interactive media sequence.
 Storyboarding is used in software development as part of identifying the specifications for a
software.
 During the specification phase, screens that the software will display are drawn, either on paper

20
or using other specialized software, to illustrate the important steps of the user experience.

Mind Maps

 Mand maps are powerful visual tools for the teacher to explore, along with the students in the

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classroom, relationships between and among parts of a key idea.
 Students can use mind map as a note taking tool as he/she understands the relationships among
parts of the idea under consideration.
 The mind maps also allow students to look beyond the obvious, make inferences, and discover
new knowledge.
(Buzon 1989)

Mind Map Sample - Emotional Intelligence

EL
PT
N
-
E
AT

 
Concept Map

 A concept map is a diagram that depicts suggested relationships between concepts, and it is
N

more structured than a mind map.

 It can be drawn at several levels: course level, course outcome level and competency level.
 It can used by the teacher to facilitate students to make links with what students already
understood.
 Students can also use a concept map as way of note taking.
Novak (1970s)

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 Note-making and Summarization

 This is a process by which your students discover the big picture, the main points from their
learning.

o Doing a précis.
o Making a mind map at the end of a topic.
o Creating graphic representation

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 Notes made by the learner are more effective than copied notes, books etc.
 Note-making/summarization is a sub-process of Understand (Bloom) cognitive activity.
 2-minute paper is an example of summarization.

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 The teacher can design templates for his proposed activities for note-making and summarization.
 Visualized note making is a strategy that encourages students to associate language with visual
imagery. Teachers can encourage students to link verbal notes with images and symbols that
show sequence, patterns, or relationships.
 ICT tools can be used to make this engaging activity efficient.

Activation Principle




EL
Learning needs to start from what the learners already know.
Learning needs to build on existing mental models of the world.
Activating Prior Knowledge helps a learner make connections to the new information.
PT
 A simple information-oriented pre-test of the material to be taught does not constitute activation
of prior experience.
 The activation principle, as per Merrill, states that learning is promoted when learners activate a
mental model of their prior knowledge and skill as a foundation for new skills.
N

Activation

 When left on their own, learners often activate an inappropriate mental model.
-

 Building on an inappropriate mental model often results in misconceptions that show up as errors
when learners attempt to solve a new problem.
 Directing learners to recall past relevant experience and checking this recollection for relevance
E

to the problem under consideration are more likely to activate appropriate mental model that
facilitates the acquisition of new set of interrelated skills. (R E Mayer 1992)
AT

Activating Strategies

 Reflection and Recording

 Brainstorming
N

 Small Group Discussions

 Concept Map

Exercise

 Present how you propose to use one of the instructional components presented in an instructional
unit of your course taking the situational factors into consideration.

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 21

 
 Thank you for sharing the results of the exercise at nate.iiscta@gmail.com

M2 U19 Outcome

 Understand the Principles of Learning including Merrill’s five first principles of learning, and
Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction.

20
20
EL
PT
N
-
E
AT
N

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 22

 
 M2 U19: Principles of Instruction Design
Recap

 Understood how to use a variety of instructional components in classroom.

M2 U19: Outcomes
 Understand Principles of Instruction Design including Merrill’s Five First Principles of Learning and
Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction.

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Instruction Design
 Instruction Design is concerned with the organization of appropriate pedagogical scenarios to
achieve the intended instructional goals.


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It provides guidelines which can provide the basis for developing approaches to teaching.
 It is based on learning theories. (How people learn?)
 The models provide guidelines on what should happen during instruction. (activities of learners
and teachers)
 Many theories exist!
 We discuss only Merrill’s Five First Principles of Learning and Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction.

Merrill’s First Principles


EL
Merrill’s Vision: Distill a set of interrelated prescriptive principles for instruction design.
PT
o Such principles are to be independent of any specific instruction model or instruction method!
o “Principles are not in and of themselves a model or method of instruction.”
o These principles can be implemented by different models and methods.

 Merrill identified 5 such principles.

N

The five first principles of learning as stated by Merrill:

 Task-Centered Principle
 Activation Principle
-

 Demonstration Principle
 Application Principle
 Integration Principle
E

Task-Centered Principle
 Learning is promoted when learners engage in a task-centered instructional strategy.
AT

 Learning from a task-centered instructional strategy is enhanced when learners undertake a

simple-to-complex progression of whole tasks.
 Different from topic-centered instructional strategies which typically teach all relevant
component skills required to solve a problem before actually getting to solve the problem.
N

Task-centered instructional strategy starts with a whole task up front.

 A minimal task-centered instructional strategy is a single task!

Activation Principle
 Direct learners to recall, describe or demonstrate relevant cognitive structures learnt earlier,
ensuring that appropriate mental model is invoked! This activity promotes learning.

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 23

 
  Learning from activation is enhanced when learners share previous knowledge and experience
with one another. Such a sharing provides vicarious experience to the peers and stimulates
similar recollections in them.
 Recalling or acquiring a structure for organizing the new knowledge helps the learners during
demonstration, application, and reflection phases of instruction.

Demonstration Principle

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 Learning is promoted when learners observe a demonstration of the skills to be learned that is
consistent with the type of content being taught.
 Learning from demonstration is enhanced:

20
o by peer discussion and peer demonstration.
o when learners are guided to relate an organizing structure to specific instances.
o learners observe through media that is relevant to the content.

(Learner guidance is quite helpful in making learner focus on critical elements of the demonstration)
 Merrill distinguishes between “Information” and “Portrayal” during demonstration.

o
o

o
EL
“Information” is presentation of general principles and learners must be able to recall it.
“Portrayal” is demonstration of general principles with a specific case and learners must be
able to apply the principles to any given case.
Depending on the nature of the content, instructor must provide appropriate guidance to the
PT
learners during “Information” and “Portrayal”.

 Based on the nature of the content, Demonstration must use appropriate media (text, graphics,
simulations,…).
N

Application Principle

 Learning is promoted when learners engage in application of their newly acquired knowledge that
is consistent with the type of content being taught.
-

 Learning from an application is enhanced:

o when learners receive corrective feedback.

by peer collaboration.
E

o
o when learners are coached and when this coaching is gradually withdrawn for each
subsequent task.
AT

Integration Principle

 Learning is promoted when learners integrate their newly acquired knowledge into their internal
cognitive structures by being directed to reflect on it. Reflection helps learners in retaining what
N

is learnt.
 Learning from Integration is enhanced:

o when learners publicly demonstrate their new knowledge.

o by peer discussion and peer critique. (Learner plays the role of a teacher!)
o when learners create, invent, or explore personal ways to use new knowledge or skill.

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 24

 
 Four-Phase Cycle of Learning

20
20
Structure-Guidance-Coaching-Reflection EL  
PT
N
-
E
AT

 
Levels of Instructional Strategy

 Information-only instruction with “remember-what-I-told-you” questions tacked onto the end is

N

considered as low-level instructional strategy.

 As more of the first principles of learning get implemented in the instructional strategy, the
instructional strategy will reach higher levels.

Gagne’s Model

 Gagne’s model is a behaviorist model that also draws from cognitivism.

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 25

 
  “Conditions of learning” - internal and external.

o Internal conditions: deal with previously learned capabilities of the learner; what the learner
knows prior to the instruction.
o External conditions: Stimuli (a purely behaviorist term) that is presented externally to the
learner; the instruction provided to the learner.
 Conditions of learning get reflected in the model of instruction.

20
 According to Gagne, there are nine events of instruction that need to be planned based on the
intended learning outcomes.

Nine Events of Instruction

1. Gain attention

20
(Motivate the student. Present a good problem, an anecdote, ask questions etc)
2. Describe the goal
(State what students will be able to do at the end of the instructional unit – the outcome)
3. Stimulate recall of prior knowledge
(Remind the student of prior knowledge relevant to the current lesson (facts, rules, procedures or

learning.)
4. Present the material to be learned
EL
skills). Show how knowledge is connected and provide the student with a framework that helps

(Text, figures, graphics, simulations, etc. Present in small units of instruction. Avoid memory
PT
overload.)
5. Provide guidance for learning
(Presentation of content is different from instructions on how to learn. For example, use side-boxes)
6. Elicit performance "practice“
N

(Let the learner apply the newly acquired knowledge. At least, use MCQ's.)
7. Provide informative feedback
(Analyze the learner’s practice performance; provide feedback; and perhaps present a good solution
-

of the problem)
8. Assess performance
(Test the depth of learning. Provide general progress information)
E

9. Enhance retention and transfer

(Inform the learner about similar problem situations and provide additional practice.)
AT

Exercise
 Assess the extent to which your favorite instructional strategy incorporates Merrill’s five first
principles of learning.
 Assess the extent to which your favorite instructional strategy incorporates Gagne’s Nine Events
N

of Instruction.
Thank you for sharing the results of the exercises at nate.iiscta@gmail.com

M3 U1
 Understand models of Direct Instruction.

NATE-Module 2-Week 8 N J Rao & K Rajanikanth 26