TOPIC 6

TEACHING AND
LEARNING STRATEGIES
HARDEEP KAUR DARSHAN SINGH
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Explain the behaviourist, cognitive and

constructivist teaching strategies
• Apply the behaviourist, social learning, information
processing and constructivist theories in a variety
teaching strategies
• Discuss the concept of thinking skills
• Examine how thinking skills could be improved by
using thinking tools
 6.1 DEFINITION OF TEACHING
STRATEGIES
• A teaching strategy is a method or technique of instruction to enhance
learning performance.
• Teaching strategies are referred to as instructional strategies in the field of
ID as instruction is not only provided by the teacher.
• According to Dick, Carey & Carey (2014), an instructional strategy covers
the following aspects:
• selecting the delivery system, whether online, blended or face to face;
• sequencing and grouping the content into clusters suitable for
learning;
• describing the learning components in the instruction;
• determining student groupings during the instruction;
• structuring the lesson and selecting the media for delivering
instruction.
 DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHING
STRATEGIES
• Which theory should be applied during instruction?
• According to Spector (2012), it is more important to
determine what needs to be learnt first, whether
factual knowledge, procedural skills, cognitive
skills or intellectual skills or attitude.
 EXPOSITORY VS INQUISITORY
TECHNIQUES
• Expository techniques
• to help the learner focus on the instruction by stating the
purpose, providing a demonstration of the knowledge
• behaviourist and cognitivist theories
• Inquisitory techniques
• to ask the learner what useful areas might be learnt within
the subject
• Constructivism theory
• A combination of both
• Would be determined by the subject matter.
 EXPOSITORY TECHNIQUES
• Expository techniques are related to behaviourist
and cognitivist theories.
• Direct instruction could be used
• for drill and practice for memorising verbal
information,
• for lectures on introducing new topics to
provide a foundation for the topic and
motivating the learners in the topic (Spector,
2012).
 INQUISITORY TECHNIQUES
• Inquisitory techniques relates to constructivism
through:
• exploratory instruction for promoting understanding of new
phenomena,
• interactive simulation for promoting critical thinking in
dynamic systems,
• Socratic questioning for learners to link something new and
unfamiliar to something they have already understood.

• Dick, Carey and Carey definition of a constructivist

learning environment is when “learners in collaborative
groups with peers and teachers are consulting resources
to solve problems”.
• The indirect instruction models expose the learners to
inquisitory learning techniques.
 DIRECT INSTRUCTION
• Direct instruction consists of:
• a teacher explaining a new concept or skill,
• then allowing controlled practice under teacher’s
direction to test their understanding,
• and continuing to practice under teacher’s guidance
or guided practice.
Note:
• popular behaviourist instructional strategy
• cognitive domain of learning
• maximisation of student learning time
 TYPICAL STEPS OF A LESSON
Koslov et al. (1999) identify the following typical steps of a lesson.
Attention and focus: Short wake-up.
Orientation or preparation: Teacher presents the goal of the lesson and
demonstrates how the lesson builds on prior work.
•Model: Teacher demonstrates concepts, propositions, strategies and/or
operations. This can include repetitions, variations with different examples
in order to help generalisation. The teacher also can ask short questions and
accept focused questions from learners.
•Lead: Teacher organises some guided practice. Firstly, all together (choral
responding) and then more individually. If necessary, he goes back to the
model.
•Test: Students have to practise individually (written).
•Feedback: Students are corrected (using positive rewards).
•Error correction: Persistent errors are identified, and if necessary, the teacher
has to start over with model/lead/ test.
•Additional material: Learners are engaged with different materials where
the same strategies have to be applied to a common feature (more
generalisations).
•Problem-solving and strategy discrimination skills: These skills are
introduced in future lessons (once students master a certain vocabulary of
basic strategies).
ACTIVITY

(a) What are the main features of direct instruction

(DI)?
(b) Suggest some instructional materials to be used
for this model of instruction and elaborate how you
can apply the materials.
 COOPERATIVE LEARNING
• Cooperative learning is a specific type of group activity that
attempts to promote learning and social skills by
incorporating three concepts:
• group rewards,
• individual accountability
• and opportunity for success (Slavin, 1995).
• This form of learning is based on social learning theories,
where social interaction in the school environment enhances
academic learning.
• Social interaction using these models do not mimic the direct
questioning interaction of teacher and student in
behaviourist models. Instead, learners cooperate, argue and
interact as they learn.
 ACTIVITIES/STRATEGIES FOR
COOPERATIVE LEARNING

• Think-Pair-Share
• Numbered Heads Together
• Jigsaw
• Group Investigation
 THINK-PAIR-SHARE
Activity Description Modification
Think-Pair- Think (a) Modification: Timed Pair Share
Share  Assign a topic. If you want to prevent one person from
monopolising the conversation, set a time
 Students think. Pair limit and students will take turns talking.
 Students move to assigned partners:
Please move to your partner that we
assigned earlier.
   Students discuss with partners. (b) Modification: Rally Robin
Share If the discussion is supposed to generate a list
from the pair of students, the students can
 Teacher calls on students to share with take turns writing.
class:
  Student number 4, Rajesh, what did you (c) Modification: Think-Write- Pair-Share
and your partner say about how to best Slows pace of discussion. All students write
solve word problem? their ideas so the teacher can monitor the
participation.

  (d) Managing student behaviour

  (i) Assign partners to avoid issues of
popularity.
  (ii) Change partners to allow students to
experience each otherÊs
communication styles.

  (iii) Require quiet think time.

  (iv) Monitor discussions.
  (v) Ask students to share what their partner
said to emphasise that listening skills
are important.
ACTIVITY
(a) What are the main features of cooperative
learning?
(b) Suggest how you can design activities using
cooperative or collaborative learning in instruction.
 6.2 LEARNING STYLES
• Another approach to teaching looks at how information processing
relates to personality development as each individual reacts
differently to the environment.
• Thus, as the learner adapts to the differences in the environment,
instruction should be tailored to the learner.
• This is because learners develop at different stages and respond to
different stimuli.
• Thus, teaching strategies may need to adapt to match the learner’s
level of development.
• While some supporters of learning style argue that pedagogical
designs (in particular for electronic learning environments) should
accommodate different learning paths, Felder (in the context of class
teaching) argues that it is sufficient to incorporate a variety of
teaching modes.
FIVE DIMENSION OF FELDER-
SILVERMAN’S MODEL
 Felder-Silverman Model of Learning Style

Perception Input Organising Process Understanding

Sensing Visual Inductive Active Sequential

Intuitive Verbal Deductive Reflective Global

 FELDER-SILVERMAN’S MODEL
• Perception
(i) Sensing learners (concrete, practical, oriented towards facts and procedures); or
(ii)Intuitive learners (conceptual, innovative, oriented towards theories and
meanings).

• Input
(i) Visual learners (prefer visual representations of presented material-- pictures,
diagrams, flowcharts); or
(ii)Verbal learners (prefer written and spoken explanations).

• Organising
(i) Inductive learners (prefer presentations that proceed from the specific to the
general); or
(ii)Deductive learners (prefer presentations that go from the general to the
specific).

• Process
(i) Active learners (learn by trying things out, working with others); or
(ii)Reflective learners (learn by thinking things through and working alone).
• Understanding
(i) Sequential learners (linear, orderly, learn in small incremental steps); or
(ii)Global learners (holistic, systems thinkers, learn in large leaps).
 INDIRECT INSTRUCTION
• Indirect instruction is a more student-centred
approach of teaching.
• It involves student involvement in observing,
investigating, drawing inferences from data,
or forming a hypothesis.
• Laurillard's Conversational framework is a
form of constructivist model.
 LAURILLARD'S CONVERSATIONAL
FRAMEWORK
Laurillard's Conversational framework is a form of constructivist model.
Strategies for teaching include different forms of communication and associated
mental activities such as discussion, adaptation, interaction and reflection.

• Discussion between the teacher and the learner

• Teachers' and learners' conception should be mutually accessible
• Both should agree on learning objectives

• Adaptation of the learners actions and of the teacher's constructed environment

• Teacher must adapt objectives with regards to existing conceptions
• Learners must integrate feedback and link it to his own conceptions

• Interaction between the learner and the environment defined by the teacher
• Teacher must "adapt to world", i.e. create an environment adapted to the learning
task given to the learner
• Teacher must focus on support for task and give appropriate feedback to the learner.

• Reflection of the learner's performance by both teacher and learner

• Teacher should support the learner to revise his conceptions and to adapt the task to
learning needs
 LAURILLARD'S
CONVERSATIONAL FRAMEWORK
•  “Laurillard argues that the only use of technology which can
meet these aims is the "multimedia tutorial simulation",
characterised in terms of guided discovery learning.
• Her schema is based on forming an information rich
environment in which the student has control in discovering
knowledge, but the discovery is supported and scaffolded by
extra guidance functions which provide support and
feedback for subsequent learning.
• These functions are analogous to the coaching and
scaffolding at critical times proposed in the Situated
Cognition Theory.”
Laurillard argues that different media forms have different affordances
ACTIVITY

• Suggest how you can design activities using

Laurillard’s conversational framework in
instruction.
 PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING

• Problem-based learning (PBL) is the process of acquiring new

knowledge based on the recognition of a need to learn.
• In problem-based learning, small groups of students are presented
with contextual situations and asked to define the problem, decide
what skills and resources are necessary to investigate the problem
and then provide possible solutions (Duch, Groh & Allen, 2001).
• PBL takes on a constructivist approach where a cognitive conflict
may occur.
• On reflection of a specific approach to address the conflict, the
learner is able to re-organise his knowledge structures and
accommodate the new knowledge
 Problem-based Learning
The following are some of the guidelines that facilitators of PBL could
use:
(a) Facilitator identifies or designs an ill-structured problem or task
relevant to the learner.
(b) Facilitator presents the problem to the learners.
(c) Learners, in their own groups, collaboratively:
(i) Generate working ideas or possible ideas;
(ii) Identify available information related to the problem;
(iii) Identify learning issues;
(iv) Identify resources to look up or consult;
(v) Assign tasks to the various group members;
(vi) Gather information; and
(vii) Propose solution(s).
Steps two through five may be repeated and reviewed as new
ACTIVITY
• Suggest how you can design activities using PBL
in instruction.
 6.2 THINKING SKILLS
What are Thinking Skills?
• Critical and Creative Thinking
• Problem Solving
• Decision Making
 TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH THINKING SKILLS
Bloom's Taxonomy
• This is a popular instructional model developed by prominent educator Benjamin Bloom. It
categorises thinking skills from the concrete to the abstract – knowledge, comprehension,
application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The last three are considered higher-order thinking
skills.
 
Cognition
• This focuses on mental operations involved in thinking; the biological/ neurological processes of the
brain that facilitate thought.
 
Creative Thinking
• This is a novel way of seeing or doing things that is characterised by four components – fluency
(generating many ideas), flexibility (shifting perspectives easily), originality (conceiving something
new) and elaboration (building on other ideas).
Critical Thinking
• The process of determining the authenticity, accuracy or value of something; characterised by the
ability to seek reasons and alternatives, perceive the total situation and change one's view based on
evidence. It is also called logical thinking and analytical thinking.
 Infusion
• Integrating thinking skills instruction into the regular curriculum; infused programmes are
commonly contrasted with separateprogrammes, which teach thinking skills as a curriculum in itself.
 
Metacognition
• This is the process of planning, assessing and monitoring one's own thinking; the pinnacle of mental
functioning.
 Thinking Skills
• This is a set of basic and advanced skills and subskills that govern a person's mental processes. These
skills consist of knowledge, dispositions, and cognitive and metacognitive operations.
Transfer
• This is the ability to apply the thinking skills taught separately to any subject.
 THINKING SKILLS
• Thinking refers to the process of creating a structured series of
connective transactions between items of perceived information.
 
•Metacognition refers to awareness and control of one's thinking,
including commitment, attitudes and attention.

Critical Thinking
• Critical thinking refers to reasonable, reflective thinking that is
focused on deciding what to believe or do. Critical thinkers try to
be aware of their own biases as well as be objective and logical.

•Refers to the ability to form new combinations of ideas to fulfil a

need, or to get original or otherwise appropriate results by the
criteria of the domain in question.
 HOTS

The Ministry of Education emphasises

higher-order thinking skills (HOTS)
when defining thinking skills. HOTS is
defined as the capacity to apply
knowledge, skills and values for
reasoning and reflection, solving
problems, decision making, innovation
and creativity (MOE, 2014).
 6.3 THINKING TOOLS
Thinking tools are used to assist learners in
organising their thinking.
There is a significant relationship between
the type of tool and the way that a skill,
concept, process or disposition is best
learned.
3 types of Thinking Tools
• Mind Map
• Graphic Organiser
• Socratic Questioning
CHARACTERISTICS OF A MIND
MAP
 MIND MAP ON TYPES OF
TELEVISION PROGRAMMES
GRAPHIC ORGANISER
I-THINK MIND MAPS
TYPES OF SOCRATIC
QUESTIONS
 SUMMARY
Some teaching strategies are based on behaviourist while others may be based on
constructivist principles.
 
The direct instruction model is based on behaviourist principles while
cooperative learning is based on social learning model.

Laurillard’s conversational framework and problem-based learning are

constructivist teaching strategies.
 
The learning styles approach is a combination of information processing and
social learning theories.
 
This topic discusses the various definition, importance and categories of thinking
skills.
 
There are three most important thinking skills discussed in this topic – critical and
creative thinking, problem-solving and decision making.

The most common decision-making methods consist of five stages – define,

analyse, identify alternatives, choose and implement.

There are three types of thinking tools discussed in the topic – mind map,
graphic organiser and Socratic questioning.