THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

Assignment 2.1Tara Schermer

THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS

There are three main foundations of instructional design including:

BEHAVIORISM COGNITIVE

PERSPECTIVES &

CONSTRUCTIVISM

BEHAVIORISM

Behaviorism focuses strictly on observable behaviors through different types of conditioning, and pays no attention to mental activity that occurs during learning. There are two types of conditioning that behaviorism uses to assess learning including:

Classic Conditioning &

Behavioral/ Operant Conditioning

BEHAVIORISM

CLASSIC CONDITIONINGBEHAVIORAL/OPERANT CONDITIONING

Classic conditioning is used when attempting to get a natural reflex to respond to a stimulus.

Behavioral/operant conditioning uses reinforcement after it is established as a result of a certain stimulus. This is usually done through a process that is continued over and over again until the person/animal responds to a certain stimulus with the same reflex every time.

BEHAVIORISM

Behaviorism can be helpful and useful because it is very easy to understand since it focuses strictly on observed behaviors, rather than mental activity.

It is a foundation that many teachers use by rewarding students with positive behavior and punishing those with negative behavior.

However, since behaviorism disregards the activities of the mind, it does not account for all kinds of learning.

COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES

Cognitive perspectives focuses on what behaviorism disregards and that is trying to understand the hidden processes that take place in the learner’s brain.

It combines prior knowledge with learning to create new knowledge in which they can then use reinforcement again to provide feedback and encourage positive learning.

Cognitive perspectives use Bloom’s Taxonomy and Types of Knowledge to systemize instruction.

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE

Bloom’s Taxonomy identifies three different learning domains including, cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.

The different types of knowledge can be categorized into declarative, procedural, strategic, and metacognitive knowledge.

All these aspects focus on cognitive perspectives and understanding the learning that goes on in the brain.

CONSTRUCTIVISM

Constructivism is a less concrete foundation that focuses on the different experiences we have in our lives and how we can reflect on those to construct our own understanding of the world.

Radical constructivism involves the elimination of a standardized curriculum and focuses more on student experiences/prior knowledge and uses hands-on problem solving. This includes letting students judge their own progress rather than

giving them tests and grades, therefore, this approach is not very realistic.

Although it is not commonly enforced, it does a great job of allowing students to collaborate with one another and learn from their real-life experiences. However, without testing and grades, evaluation through constructivism

is difficult to design.

CONSTRUCTIVIST MODELS OF INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

There are several models of instructional design that can be used in the classroom, but I have chosen to focus on two models I find to be most effective which include:

Project-based learning &

Inquiry-based learning

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

Project-based learning is a teaching and learning strategy that engages learners in complex activities that force them to collaborate to solve problems and formulate answers.

This type of learning encourages students to choose and organize their activities, conduct research, and synthesize information.

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

Project-based learning creates a student-centered learning environment, allowing teacher facilitation, but not direction.

It is also based off authentic and real life experiences with multiple perspectives that allows students to gain insight from many different points of view.

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

This video talks about seven different components that make up project-based learning and how these components help students build knowledge through interactive activities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm_NoayYkLo&feature=channel_video_title

TRADITIONAL VS. PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

Inquiry-based learning is similar to project-based learning in the sense that its approach is less teacher focused and more geared towards hands-on activities and student centered discovery.

Students are pressed to develop their own questions that hold some value and meaning to them and to formulate an answer from their own hands on experiments.

INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

Inquiry-based learning follows a step-by-step approach to help students build knowledge and gain answers.

There are about six steps to this learning process that includes:

1. Formulate a question

2. Establish a hypothesis

3. Develop an experimental design

4. Analyze the data 5. Reach conclusions 6. Communicate the

results

INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

Inquiry-based learning allows schools to move away from the traditional forms of instruction in which the teacher simply gives students the facts and they are forced to be able to relay the information back on a test.

This type of instruction and learning creates an active learning environment in which students are able to make the content more meaningful and understandable to pertain to real life experiences.

THE LEARNING PYRAMID

This pyramid shows how much more effective learning can be through interactive, project and inquiry-based instruction and learning.

The average retention rates dramatically increase as students are given the opportunity to do hands-on experiments and by allowing them to share their findings and help inform their classmates of what they discovered.