EdPractices_21

7/25/2019 EdPractices_21

1/32

EDU

CATI

ONALPRA

CTIC

ESSE

RIES21INERNAIONAL ACADEMY

OF EDUCAION

INERNAIONAL BUREAUOF EDUCAION

Principlesoinstruction

by Barak Rosenshine


2/32

2

The International Academy

of Education

Te International Academy o Education (IAE) is a not-or-profitscientific association that promotes educational research, and its

dissemination and implementation. Founded in 1986, the Academy isdedicated to strengthening the contributions o research, solving criticaleducational problems throughout the world, and providing bettercommunication among policy-makers, researchers, and practitioners.

Te seat o the Academy is at the Royal Academy o Science,Literature and Arts in Brussels, Belgium, and its co-ordinating centre isat Curtin University o echnology in Perth, Australia.

Te general aim o the IAE is to oster scholarly excellence in allfields o education. owards this end, the Academy provides timelysyntheses o research-based evidence o international importance.Te Academy also provides critiques o research and o its evidentiarybasis and its application to policy.

Te current members o the Board o Directors o the Academyare:

Monique Boekaerts, University o Leiden, Te Netherlands(President);

Erik De Corte, University o Leuven, Belgium (Past President);

Barry Fraser, Curtin University o echnology, Australia

(Executive Director);

Herbert Walberg, Stanord University, Palo Alto, United Stateso America

Erik Hanushek, Hoover Institute, Stanord University,United States o America;

Maria de Ibarrola, National Polytechnical Institute, Mexico;

Denis Phillips, Stanord University, United States o America.

For more inormation, see the IAEs website at:

http://www.iaoed.org

IBE/2010/S/EP21
http://www.iaoed.org/http://www.iaoed.org/


3/32

3

Series PrefaceTis booklet is about the most effective methods o teaching. Ithas been prepared or inclusion in the Educational Practices Seriesdeveloped by the International Academy o Education and distributedby the International Bureau o Education and the Academy. As parto its mission, the Academy provides timely syntheses o research on

educational topics o international importance. Tis booklet is thetwenty-first in the series on educational practices that generally improvelearning.

Te booklet author Barak Rosenshine was educated in the schoolso Chicago. He received a B.A. and M.A. rom the University oChicago and then taught United States History in the Chicago Public

Schools Later, he earned and a Ph.D. rom Stanord University. Hehas long been on the aculty o the University o Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which is well known or attracting graduate students romeconomically developing countries. Many o these students studied withProessor Rosenshine. Rosenshines work on teaching has been honoredby the American Educational Research Association and the AmericanFederation o eachers.

Te officers o the International Academy o Education areaware that this booklet is based on research carried out primarily ineconomically advanced countries. Te booklet, however, ocuses onaspects o language learning and instruction that are universal. Tepractices presented here are likely to be generally applicable throughoutthe world. Indeed, they might be especially useul in countries that arecurrently less developed economically. Even so, the principles should beassessed with reerence to local conditions, and adapted accordingly. Inany educational setting or cultural context, suggestions or guidelinesor practice require sensitive and sensible application, and continuingevaluation.

HERBER J. WALBERG

Editor, IAE Educational Practices SeriesStanord UniversityPalo Alto, CAUnited States o America

SUSAN J. PAIK

Series Co-EditorClaremont Graduate UniversityClaremont, CAUnited States o America


4/32

4

Previous titles in the Educational practices series:

eaching1. by Jere Brophy. 36 p.

Parents and learning2. by Sam Redding. 36 p.

Effective educational practices3. by Herbert J. Walberg and Susan J. Paik.24 p.

Improving student achievement in mathematics4. by Douglas A. Grouws

and Kristin J. Cebulla.48 p.utoring5. by Keith opping.36 p.

eaching additional languages6. by Elliot L. Judd, Lihua an and HerbertJ. Walberg. 24 p.

How children learn7. by Stella Vosniadou. 32 p.

Preventing behaviour problems: What works8. by Sharon L. Foster, PatriciaBrennan, Anthony Biglan, Linna Wang and Suad al-Ghaith. 30 p.

Preventing HIV/AIDS in schools9. by Inon I. Schenker and Jenny M.Nyirenda. 32 p.

Motivation to learn10. by Monique Boekaerts. 28 p.

Academic and social emotional learning11. by Maurice J. Elias.31 p.

eaching reading12. by Elizabeth S. Pang, Angaluki Muaka, Elizabeth B.Bernhardt and Michael L. Kamil.23 p.

Promoting pre-school language13. by John Lybolt and Catherine Gottfed.27 p.

eaching speaking, listening and writing14. by rudy Wallace, Winifed E.Stariha and Herbert J. Walberg. 19 p.

Using new media15. by Clara Chung-wai Shih and David E. Weekly. 23 p.

Creating a sae and welcoming school16. by John E. Mayer. 27 p

eaching science17. by John R. Staver. 26 p.eacher proessional learning and development18. by Helen imperley. 31 p.

Effective pedagogy in mathematics19. by Glenda Anthony and MargaretWalshaw. 30 p.

eaching other languages20. by Elizabeth B. Bernhardt. 29 p.

hese titles can be downloaded rom the websites o the IEA(www.iaoed.org ) or o the IBE (www.ibe.unesco.org/publications.htm)or paper copies can be requested rom: IBE,Publications Unit, P.O. Box 199, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland.Please note that several titles are now out o print, but can bedownloaded rom the IEA and IBE websites.
http://www.iaoed.org/http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications.htmhttp://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications.htmhttp://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications.htmhttp://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications.htmhttp://www.iaoed.org/


5/32

5

Table of contentsTe International Academy o Education,page 2

Series Preace,page 3

Introduction,page 6

Daily review,1. page 8

Present new material using small steps,2. page 10Ask questions,3. page 12

Provide models,4. page 14

Guide student practice,5. page 16

Check or student understanding,6. page 18

Obtain a high success rate,7. page 20

Provide scaffolds or difficult tasks,8. page 22

Independent practice,9. page 24

Weekly and monthly review,10. page 26

Conclusion,page 28

Reerences,page 29

Online reerences,page 31

Tis publication was produced in 2010 by the International Academyo Education (IAE), Palais des Acadmies, 1, rue Ducale, 1000 Brussels,Belgium, and the International Bureau o Education (IBE), P.O. Box199, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland. It is available ree o charge and

may be reely reproduced and translated into other languages. Pleasesend a copy o any publication that reproduces this text in whole or inpart to the IAE and the IBE. Tis publication is also available on theInternet. See the Publications section, Educational Practices Seriespage at:

http://www.ibe.unesco.org

Te authors are responsible or the choice and presentation o the actscontained in this publication and or the opinions expressed therein,which are not necessarily those o UNESCOIBE and do not committhe organization. Te designations employed and the presentation othe material in this publication do not imply the expression o anyopinion whatsoever on the part o UNESCOIBE concerning thelegal status o any country, territory, city or area, or o its authorities,

or concerning the delimitation o its rontiers or boundaries.

Printed in 2010 by Imprimerie Villire, 74160 Beaumont/St Julien, France.
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/http://www.ibe.unesco.org/


6/32

6

IntroductionTis pamphlet presents ten research-based principles o instruction,and suggestions or classroom practice. Tese principles come romthree sources: (a) research on how our brain acquires and uses newinormation; (b) research on the classroom practices o those teachers

whose students show the highest gains; and (c) findings rom studiesthat taught learning strategies to students.

Te first source o these suggestions is research in cognitive science.Tis research ocuses on how our brains acquire and use inormation.Tis cognitive research also provides suggestions on how we mightovercome the limitations o our working memory when learning new

material. Tese suggestions appear in these ten principles.A second source o the instructional ideas in this pamphlet comes

rom observing the classroom practices o master teachers. Masterteachers are those teachers whose classrooms made the highest gainson achievement tests. Tese teachers were observed as they taught, andthe investigators coded how they presented new material, how andwhether they checked or student understanding, the types o support

they provided to their students and a number o other instructionalactivities. Te activities that were used by the most-successul teachersare incorporated into these ten principles.

A third source o suggestions or classroom practice came romthe research o cognitive scientists who developed and tested cognitivesupports and scaffolds that helped students learn complex tasks.

Instructional procedures, such as thinking aloud, providing studentswith scaffolds and providing students with models, came rom thisresearch and these procedures are also described in these ten principles.

Each o these three sources has suggestions or classroom practicethat are included in this pamphlet. An interesting finding is that there isno conflict at all between the instructional suggestions that come romeach o these three sources. In other words, these three sources supplementand complement each other. And the act that the instructional ideasrom three different sources supplement and complement each othergives us aith in the validity o these findings.

Te ollowing is a list o some o the instructional procedures thathave come rom these three sources. Tese ideas will be described anddiscussed in this pamphlet:


7/32

7

Begin a lesson with a short review o previous learning.

Present new material in small steps with student practice afereach step.

Limit the amount o material students receive at one time.

Give clear and detailed instructions and explanations.

Ask a large number o questions and check or understanding.

Provide a high level o active practice or all students.

Guide students as they begin to practice.

Tink aloud and model steps.

Provide models o worked-out problems.

Ask students to explain what they had learned.

Check the responses o all students.

Provide systematic eedback and corrections.Use more time to provide explanations.

Provide many examples.

Re-teach material when necessary.

Prepare students or independent practice.

Monitor students when they begin independent practice.


8/32

8

1. Daily review

Research findings

Daily review is an important component o instruction. Review can helpus to strengthen the connections o the material we have learned. Tereview o previous learning can help us to recall words, concepts andprocedures effortlessly and automatically when we need this materialto solve problems or to understand new material. Te development oexpertise requires thousands o hours o practice and daily review is one

component o this practice.Daily review was part o a successul experiment in elementary-

school mathematics. eachers in the experiment were taught tospend eight minutes every day on review. eachers used this time tocheck the homework, go over problems where there were errors, andpractise the concepts and skills that needed to be practised until theybecame automatic. As a result, students in these classrooms had higherachievement scores than did students in other classrooms.

Daily practice o vocabulary can lead to seeing the words as a unit,to seeing the whole word automatically rather than as individual letters.When students see words as a unit, they have more space available in theirworking memory, and this space can now be used or comprehension.Mathematical problem-solving is also improved when the basic skills

(addition, multiplication, etc.) are overlearned and become automatic,thus reeing memory capacity.

In the classroom

Te most effective teachers in the studies o classroom instructionunderstood the importance o practice and they would begin their lessonswith a five- to eight-minute review o previously covered material. Some

teachers would review vocabulary, or ormulae, or events or previouslylearned concepts. Tese teachers provided additional practice on actsand skills that were needed or recall to become automatic.

eacher activities might also include reviewing the concepts andskills that were necessary to do the homework, having students correcteach others papers, asking about points over which the students had

difficulty or made errors, and reviewing or providing additional practiceon acts and skills that need overlearning. Tese reviews ensured that the

Daily review can strengthen previous learningand can lead to uent recall.


9/32

9

students had a firm grasp o the skills and concepts that would be neededor the days lesson.

Effective teachers also reviewed the knowledge and concepts thatare relevant or that days lesson. It is important or a teacher to helpstudents recall the concepts and vocabulary that will be relevant or thedays lesson, because our working memory is small. I we do not reviewprevious learning, then we will have to make a special effort to recall oldmaterial while we are learning new material, and this process will make

it difficult or students to learn the new material.Daily review is particularly important or teaching material that

will be used in subsequent learning. Examples include reading sightwords (i.e. any word that is known by a reader automatically), grammar,math acts, math computation, math actoring and chemical equations.

When planning or review, teachers might want to consider which

words, math acts, procedures and concepts need to become automatic,and which words, vocabulary or ideas need to be reviewed beore thelesson begins.

In addition, teachers might consider doing the ollowing duringtheir daily review:

Correction o homework;

Review o the concepts and skills that were practised as part o thehomework;

Asking students about points where they had difficulties or madeerrors;

Review o material where errors were made;

Review o material that needs overlearning (i.e. newly acquiredskills should be practised well beyond the point o initial mastery,leading to automaticity).

Suggested readings: Miller, 1956; LaBerge & Samuels, 1974.


10/32

10

2. Present new material usingsmall steps

Research findings

Our working memory, the place where we process inormation, issmall. It can only handle a ew bits o inormation at oncetoo much

inormation swamps our working memory. Presenting too much materialat once may conuse students because their short-term memory will beunable to process it.

Tereore, the more effective teachers do not overwhelm theirstudents by presenting too much new material at once. Rather, theseteachers only present small amounts o new material at any time, andthen assist the students as they practise this material. Only afer thestudents have mastered the first step do teachers proceed to the nextstep.

Te procedure o first teaching in small steps and then guidingstudent practice represents an appropriate way o dealing with thelimitation o our working memory.

In the classroom

Te more-successul teachers did not overwhelm their students bypresenting too much new material at once. Rather, they only presentedsmall amounts o new material at one time, and they taught in such away that each point was mastered beore the next point was introduced.

Tey checked their students understanding on each point and re-taughtmaterial when necessary.

Some successul teachers taught by giving a series o shortpresentations using many examples. Te examples provided concretelearning and elaboration that were useul or processing new material.

eaching in small steps requires time and the more-effective teachers

spent more time presenting new material and guiding student practicethan did the less-effective teachers. In a study o mathematics instruction,

Only present small amounts of new materialat any time, and then assist students as they

practise this material.


11/32

11

the most-effective mathematics teachers spent about twenty-threeminutes o a orty-minute period in lecture, demonstration, questioning

and working examples. In contrast, the least-effective teachers onlyspent eleven minutes presenting new material. Te more-effectiveteachers used this extra time to provide additional explanations, givemany examples, check or student understanding and provide sufficientinstruction so that the students could learn to work independently andnot have difficulty. In one study, the least-effective teachers only askednine questions in a orty-minute period. Compared to the successul

teachers, the less-effective teachers gave much shorter presentations andexplanations and then they would pass out worksheets and tell studentsto solve the problems. Under these conditions, the success rate ortheir students was lower than the success rate that the more-successulteachers obtained in their classrooms. Te less-successul teachers werethen observed going rom student to student and having to explain thematerial again.

When students were taught a strategy or summarizing a paragraph,the teacher taught the strategy using small steps. First, the teachermodelled and thought aloud as he/she identified the topic o a paragraph.Ten, he/she led practice on identiying the topic o new paragraphs.Ten, he/she taught students to identiy the main idea o a paragraph.Te teacher modelled this step and then supervised the students as they

practised both finding the topic and locating the main idea. Followingthis, the teacher taught the students to identiy the supporting detailsin a paragraph. Te teacher modelled and thought aloud, and then thestudents practised. Finally, the students practised carrying out all threesteps o this strategy. Tus, the strategy o summarizing a paragraph wasdivided into smaller steps, and there was modelling and practice at eachstep.

Suggested readings:Evertson et al., 1980; Brophy & Good, 1990.


12/32

12

3. Ask questions

Research findings

Students need to practise new material. Te teachers questions andstudent discussion are a major way o providing this necessary practice.Te most successul teachers in these studies spent more than hal theclass time lecturing, demonstrating and asking questions.

uestions allow a teacher to determine how well the material hasbeen learned and whether there is a need or additional instruction.Te most-effective teachers also ask students to explain the processthey used to answer the question, to explain how the answer was ound.Less-successul teachers ask ewer questions and almost no processquestions.

In the classroom

Good and Grouws (1979) conducted an experimental study where theteachers were taught to ollow the presentation o new material witha high requency o questions. eachers were taught to increase thenumber o questions and process questions they asked during this guidedpractice. Te teachers in the experimental group increased the number

o actual and process questions they asked and the students o teachersin these classes achieved higher scores on the post-test in mathematicsthan did students o teachers in the control groups.

Imaginative teachers have ound ways to involve all students inanswering questions. Examples include having each student:

ell the answer to a neighbour.1.

Summarize the main idea in one or two sentences, writing the2.summary on a piece o paper and sharing this with a neighbour, orrepeating the procedures to a neighbour.

Write the answer on a card that he or she then holds up.3.

Raise their hand i they know the answer (thereby allowing the4.teacher to check the entire class).

Raise their hand i they agree with the answer that someone else5.has given.

Questions help students practise newinformation and connect new material to theirprior learning.


13/32

13

Te purpose o all these procedures (cards, raising hands, writinganswers) was to provide active participation or the students and also to

allow the teacher to see how many students were correct and confident.Te teacher may then re-teach some material when it was considerednecessary. An alternative was or students to write their answers andthen trade papers with each other.

Other teachers used choral responses to provide sufficient practicewhen teaching new vocabulary or lists o items. Tis made the practice

seem more like a game. o be effective, however, all students needed tostart together, on a signal. When students did not start together, thenonly the aster students answered.

In addition to asking questions, the more-effective teachersacilitated their students rehearsal by providing explanations, by givingmore examples and by supervising students as they practised the newmaterial.

King (1994) developed a series o stems or questions (see below)that teachers might ask when teaching literature, social science contentand science content to their students. eachers would develop questionsbased on these stems. Sometimes students would also develop questionsrom these stems and ask questions o each other.

EXAMPLES OF SEMS FOR UESIONSHow are __________ and __________ alike?

What is the main idea o __________?

What are the strengths and weakness o __________?

In what way is __________ related to __________?

Compare __________ and __________ with regard to__________.

What do you think causes __________?

How does __________ tie in with what we have learned beore?

Which one is the best __________ and why?

What are some possible solutions or the problem o __________?

Do you agree or disagree with this statement: __________?

What do you still not understand about __________?

Suggested readings: Good & Grouws, 1979; King, 1994.


14/32

14

4. Provide models

Research findings

Students need cognitive support to help them learn to solve problems.Modelling and the teacher thinking aloud as he/she demonstrates howto solve a problem are examples o cognitive support.

Worked-out examples are another orm o modelling that hasbeen developed by researchers in Australia. Worked-out examples allowstudents to ocus on the specific steps that can solve the problems andthus reduce the cognitive load on their working memory. Modelling andworked examples are used successully to help students learn to solveproblems in mathematics, science, writing and reading comprehension.

In the classroom

Many o the skills that are taught in classrooms can be conveyed byproviding prompts, modelling the use o the prompt by the teacher, andthen guiding students as they develop independence. When teachingreading comprehension, or example, teachers provided students withprompts that the students could use to ask themselves questions abouta short passage. Te first step is to give the students prompts that they

can use to begin a question. Students were given words such as who,where, why and how to help them begin a question. Ten everyoneread a passage and the teacher modelled how to use these words to ask aquestion. Many examples were given.

Ten, during guided practice, the teacher helped the studentspractise asking questions by helping them select a prompt and develop a

question that begins with that prompt. Te students practised this stepmany times with lots o support rom the teacher.

Ten the students read new passages and practised asking questionson their own, with support rom the teacher when needed. Finally,students are given short passages ollowed by questions and the teacherexpressed an opinion about the quality o the students questions.

Tis same procedureproviding a prompt, modelling, guidingpractice and supervising independent practicecan be used or many

Providing students with models and workedexamples can help students learn to solveproblems faster.


15/32

15

tasks. When teaching students to write an essay, or example, first theteacher modelled how to write each paragraph, then the students and

teacher worked together on two or more new essays and, finally, studentsworked on their own with supervision rom the teacher.

Worked-out examples is another orm o modelling that has beenused to help students learn how to solve problems in mathematics andscience. A worked-out example is a step-by-step demonstration o howto perorm a task or how to solve a problem. Te presentation o worked-

out examples begins with the teacher modelling and explaining the stepsthan can be taken to solve a specific problem. Te teacher also identifiesand explains the underlying principle or these steps.

Usually students are then given a series o problems to complete attheir desks as independent practice (sometimes called seatwork). But,in the research carried out in Australia, students were given a mixture oregular problems and worked-out examples. Worked-out examples were

problems where all the steps were completed or the students. So, duringindependent practice, students first studied a worked-out example; thenthey worked-out a regular problem; and then they studied a worked-outexample and worked on another problem. In this way, students coulduse the worked-out examples that showed them how to ocus on theessential parts o the problem.

O course, not all students studied the worked-out examples. ocorrect this problem, the Australian researchers also presented partially-completed problems where only some o the problem was workedout and students had to complete the missing steps. When partially-completed problems are presented, students are required to pay moreattention to the worked-out example.

Suggested readings:Sweller, 1994; Rosenshine, Chapman & Meister,1996; Schoeneld, 1985.


16/32

16

5. Guide student practice

Research findings

It is not enough simply to present students with new material, becausethe material will be orgotten unless there is sufficient rehearsal.An important finding rom the inormation-processing research is thatstudents need to spend additional time rephrasing, elaborating and

summarizing the new material in order to store this material in theirlong-term memory. When there has been sufficient rehearsal, thestudents are able to retrieve this material easily and, thus, are ableto make use o this material to oster new learning and to aid inproblem-solving. But when the rehearsal time is too short, studentsare less able to store or remember or use the material. As we know, it isrelatively easy to place something in a filing cabinet, but it can be very

difficult to recall where exactly we filed it. Rehearsal helps us rememberwhere we filed it.

A teacher can help this rehearsal process by asking questions,because good questions require the students to process and rehearsethe material. Rehearsal is also enhanced when students are asked tosummarize the main points, and when they are supervised as they

practice new steps in a skill. Te quality o storage will be weak istudents only skim the material and do not engage in depth oprocessing. It is also important that all students process the newmaterial and receive eedback.

In the classroom

In one study the more-successul teachers o mathematics spent more

time presenting new material and guiding practice. Te more-successulteachers used this extra time to provide additional explanations,to give many examples, to check or student understanding and toprovide sufficient instruction so that the students could learn to workindependently without difficulty. In contrast, the less-successulteachers gave much shorter presentations and explanations and thenthey passed out worksheets and told students to work on the problems.

Under these conditions, the students made too many errors andhad to be re-taught the lesson.

Successful teachers spent more time guidingthe students practice of new material.


17/32

17

Te most-successul teachers presented only small amounts omaterial at a time. Afer this short presentation, these teachers then

guided student practice. Tis guidance ofen consisted o the teacherworking the first problems at the blackboard and explaining the reasonor each step. Tis instruction served as a model or the students.Tis guidance also included asking students to come to the blackboardto work out problems and to discuss their procedures. Trough thisprocess, the students seated in the classroom saw additional models.

Although most teachers provided some guided practice, the most-successul teachers spent more time in guided practice, more timeasking questions, more time checking or understanding, more timecorrecting errors and more time having students work out problems withteacher guidance.

eachers who spent more time in guided practice and had highersuccess rates also had students who were more engaged during individual

work at their desks. Tis finding suggests that, when teachers providedsufficient instruction during guided practice, the students were betterprepared or the independent practice (e.g. seatwork and homeworkactivities) but when the guided practice was too short the studentswere not prepared or the seatwork and they made more errors duringindependent practice.

Suggested readings:Evertson et al., 1980; Kirschner, Sweller & Clark,2006.


18/32

18

6. Check for student understanding

Research findings

Te more-effective teachers frequently check to see if all the studentsare learning the new material. Tis check provides some of theprocessing that is needed in order to move new learning into thelong-term memory. Tis check also lets teachers know if studentsare developing misconceptions.

In the classroom

Effective teachers also stopped to check for student understanding.Tey checked for understanding by asking questions, by askingstudents to summarize the presentation up to that point or to repeatdirections or procedures, or asked students whether they agreed

or disagreed with other students answers. Tis checking has twopurposes: (a) answering the questions might cause the students toelaborate upon the material they learned and augment connectionsto other learning in their long-term-memory; and (b) checking forunderstanding can also tell the teacher when parts of the material needto be re-taught.

In contrast, the less-effective teachers simply asked Are there any

questions? and, if there were no questions, they assumed that thestudents had learned the material and proceeded to pass worksheetsfor students to do the work on their own.

Another way to check for understanding is to ask students tothink aloud as they worked to solve mathematical problems, to planan essay or identify the main idea in a paragraph. Another check is

to ask students to explain or defend their position to others. Havingto explain a position may help students to integrate and elaboratetheir knowledge in new ways.

Another reason for the importance of teaching in small steps,guiding practice, checking for understanding and obtaining a highsuccess rate comes from the fact that we construct and reconstructknowledge. We cannot simply repeat what we hear word for word.Rather, we connect our understanding of the new information to

Checking for student understanding at eachpoint can help students learn the materialwith fewer errors.


19/32

19

our existing concepts or schema, and we then construct a mentalsummary: the gist of what we have heard. However, when left on

their own, many students make errors in the process of constructingthis mental summary. Tese errors occur, particularly, when theinformation is new and the student does not have adequate orwell-formed background knowledge. Tese constructions are noterrors so much as attempts by the students to be logical in an areawhere their background knowledge is weak. Tese errors are socommon that there is a literature on the development and correction

of student misconceptions in science. Providing guided practice afterteaching small amounts of new material, and checking for studentunderstanding, can help limit the development of misconceptions.

Suggested readings: Fisher & Frey, 2007; Dunkin, 1978.


20/32

20

7. Obtain a high success rate

Research findings

In two o the major studies on the impact o teacher, the investigatorsound that students in classrooms o the more-effective teachers had ahigher success rate as judged by the quality o their oral responses andtheir individual work. In a study o ourth-grade mathematics, it wasound that 82% o students answers were correct in the classrooms

o the most-successul teachers, but the least-successul teachershad a success rate o only 73%. A high success rate during guidedpractice also leads to a higher success rate when students are working onproblems on their own.

Te research also suggests that the optimal success rate orstudent achievement appears to be about 80%. A success rate o 80%shows that students were learning the material, and it also showsthat the students were challenged.

In the classroom

Te most-effective teachers obtained this success level by teaching insmall steps, that is, by combining short presentations with supervisedstudent practice, and by giving sufficient practice on each part beore

proceeding to the next step. Tese teachers requently checked orunderstanding and required responses rom all students.

It is important that students achieve a high success rate duringinstruction and on their practice activities. Practice, we are told, makesperect, but practice can be a disaster i students are practising errors!I the practice does not have a high success level, there is a chance thatstudents are practising and learning errors and once errors have beenlearned they are very difficult to overcome.

When we learn new material we construct a gist o this materialin our long-term memory. However, many students make errors in theprocess o constructing this mental summary. Tese errors can occurwhen the inormation is new and the student did not have adequateor well-ormed background knowledge. Tese constructions were

not errors so much as attempts by the students to be logical in an areawhere their background knowledge was weak. But students were more

It is important for students to achieve a highsuccess rate during classroom instruction.


21/32

21

likely to develop misconceptions i too much material was presentedat once, and i teachers did not check or student understanding.

Providing guided practice afer teaching small amounts o new material,and checking or student understanding, can help limit the developmento misconceptions.

I once observed a class where the teacher was going rom deskto desk during independent practice and suddenly realized thatthe students were having difficulty. She stopped the work and told the

students not to do these problems or homework and she would re-teachthis material the next day. She stopped the work because she did notwant the students to practice errors.

Unless all students have mastered the first set o lessons therewas a danger that the slower students would all urther behind whenthe next set o lessons was taught. So there is a need or a high successrate or all students. Mastery learning is a orm o instruction where

lessons are organized into short units and all students are required tomaster one set o lessons beore they proceed to the second set.In mastery learning, tutoring by other students or by teachers wasprovided to help students master each unit.

Variations o this approach, particularly the tutoring, might beuseul in other classroom settings.

Suggested readings: Anderson & Burns, 1987; Frederiksen, 1984.


22/32

22

8. Provide scaffolds for difculttasks

Research findings

Investigators have successully provided students with scaffolds, orinstructional supports, to help them learn difficult tasks. A scaffold isa temporary support that is used to assist a learner. Tese scaffolds are

gradually withdrawn as learners become more competent, althoughstudents may continue to rely on scaffolds when they encounterparticularly difficult problems. Providing scaffolds is a orm o guidedpractice.

Scaffolds include modelling o the steps by the teacher, or thinkingaloud by the teacher as he or she solves the problem. Scaffolds mayalso be tools, such as cue cards or checklists, that complete part o thetask or the students, or a model o the completed task against whichstudents can compare their own work.

Te processes o helping students solve difficult problemsby modelling and providing scaffolds has been called cognitiveapprenticeship. Students are learning strategies during thisapprenticeship that will enable them to become competent readers,

writers and problem-solvers. Tey are aided by a master who models,coaches, provides supports and scaffolds the students as theybecome independent.

In the classroom

One orm o scaffolding is to give students prompts or steps theymight use. Prompts such as who and why and how

have helped students learn to ask questions while they read.eaching students to ask questions has been shown to help studentsreading comprehension.

Berkowitz (1986) developed a prompt to help students organizematerial.

1. Draw a central box and write the title o the article in it.

2. Skim the article to find our to six main ideas.

The teacher provides students with temporarysupports and scaffolds to assist them when

they learn difcult tasks.


23/32

23

3. Write each main idea in a box below the central box.

4. Find and write two to our important details to list under each

main idea.

Another orm o scaffolding is thinking aloud by the teacher.For example, teachers might think aloud as they try to summarizea paragraph. Tey would show the thought processes they gothrough as they determine the topic o the paragraph and then usethe topic to generate a summary sentence. A teacher might thinkaloud while solving a scientific equation or writing an essay, whileproviding labels or their processes. Tinking aloud by the teacherprovides novice learners with a way to observe expert thinkingthat is usually hidden rom the student. eachers can also studytheir students thought processes by asking them to think aloudduring their problem-solving processes.

One characteristic o experienced teachers is their ability toanticipate students errors and warn them about possible errors thatsome o them are likely to make. For example, a teacher might havestudents read a passage and then show the class a poorly writtentopic sentence and ask students to correct this topic sentence.In teaching division or subtraction, students might be shownthe places where students requently made errors and then

these errors were discussed.

In some o the studies, students were given a checklist toevaluate their work. One checklist item was: Have I ound the mostimportant inormation that tells me more about the main idea or Doesevery sentence start with a capital letter. Te teacher then modelleduse o the checklist.

In some studies, students were provided with expert models towhich they could compare their work. For example, when studentswere taught to generate questions, they could compare their questionswith those generated by the teacher. Similarly, when learning to writesummaries, students could compare their summaries on a passage withthose generated by an expert.

Suggested readings: Pressley et al., 1995; Rosenshine & Meister, 1992.


24/32

24

9. Independent practice

Research findings

In a typical teacher-led classroom, guided practice is ollowed byindependent practiceby students working alone and practisingthe new material. Tis independent practice is necessary because agood deal o practice (overlearning) is needed in order to becomefluent and automatic in a skill. When material is overlearned it can berecalled automatically, and doesnt take up any space in our workingmemory. When students become automatic in an area, they can then

devote more o their attention to comprehension and application.Independent practice provides students with the additional

review and elaboration they need to become fluent in a skill.Tis need or fluency applies to acts, concepts anddiscriminations that must be used in subsequent learning. Fluencyis also needed in operations, such as dividing decimals, conjugatinga regular verb in a oreign language or completing and balancing achemical equation.

In the classroom

Te more-successul teachers provided or extensive and successulpractice, both in the classroom and afer class. Independent practiceshould involve the same material as the guided practice. I guided

practice dealt with identiying types o sentences, then independentpractice should deal with the same topic or, perhaps, with creatingindividual compound and complex sentences. It would beinappropriate i this guided practice contained an independentpractice assignment that asked students do activities such as: Writea paragraph using two compound and two complex sentences,because the students have not been adequately prepared or such an

activity.Students need to be prepared or their independent practice.

Sometimes, it may be appropriate or a teacher to practice someo the seatwork problems with the entire class beore they beginindependent practice.

Students were more engaged when their teacher circulated around

the room and monitored and supervised their seatwork. Te optimaltime or these contacts was thirty seconds or less. Classrooms where

Provide for successful independent practice.


25/32

25

the teachers had to stop at students desks and provide a great deal oexplanation during seatwork were also classrooms where students

were making errors. Tese errors occurred because the guided practicewas not sufficient or students to engage productively inindependent practice. Tis finding suggests the importance oadequately preparing students beore they begin their independentpractice.

Students helping students

Some investigators (Slavin, 1996) have developed procedures, suchas co-operative learning, during which students help each other asthey study. Research shows that all students tend to achieve morein these settings than do students in regular settings. Presumably,some o the advantage comes rom having to explain the material tosomeone else and/or having someone else (other than the teacher)explain the material to the student. Co-operative learning offers an

opportunity or students to get eedback rom their peers about correctas well as incorrect responses, which promotes both engagement andlearning. Tese co-operative/competitive settings are also valuable orhelping slower students in a class by providing extra instruction orthem in this setting.

Suggested readings:Rosenshine, 2009; Slavin, 1996.


26/32

26

10. Weekly and monthly review

Research findings

Students need extensive and broad reading, and extensive practice inorder to develop well-connected networks o ideas (schemas) in theirlong-term memories. When the knowledge on a particular topic islarge and well-connected, it becomes easier to learn new inormationand prior knowledge is more readily available or use. Te more onerehearses and reviews inormation, the stronger these interconnectionsbecome. It is also easier to solve new problems when one has a rich,well-connected body o knowledge and strong ties between theconnections. One o the goals o education is to help studentsdevelop extensive and available background knowledge.

Knowledge that is organized into patterns only occupies a ewbits in our limited working memory. So having larger and betterconnected patterns rees up space in our working memory. Tis availablespace can be used or reflecting on new inormation and orproblem-solving. Tis development o well-connected patterns (alsocalled unitization and chunking) and the reeing o space inthe working memory is one o the hallmarks o an expert in a field.

Tus, the research on cognitive processing supports the needor a teacher to assist students by providing or extensive readingo a variety o materials, requent review, and discussion andapplication activities. Te research on cognitive processing suggests thatclassroom activities, such as extensive reading o a variety o materials,discussion and requent review, help students increase the number

o pieces o inormation in their long-term memory and organizethis inormation into patterns and chunks.

Te more one rehearses and reviews inormation, the strongerthe interconnections between the materials become. Review alsohelps students develop their new knowledge into patterns, and helpsthem acquire the ability to recall past learning automatically.

Te best way to become an expert is through practicethousandso hours o practice. Te more the practice, the better the perormance.

Students need to be involved in extensivepractice in order to develop well-connectedand automatic knowledge.


27/32

27

In the classroom

Some o the successul programmes in elementary schools providedor requent review. In one successul experimental, study teacherswere asked to review the previous weeks work every Monday andthe previous months work every ourth Monday. Tese reviewsand tests provided the additional practice that students neededto become skilled, successul perormers who could applytheir knowledge and skills to new areas.

Many successul programmes provided or extensive review.One way o achieving this goal is to review the previous weekswork every Monday and the previous months work every ourthMonday. Some teachers also gave tests afer these reviews. It was alsoound that even at the secondary level classes that had weekly quizzesscored better on final exams than did classes that had only one ortwo quizzes during the term. Tese reviews and tests provide the

additional practice that the students need to become skilled, successulperormers who can apply their knowledge and skills in new areas.

eachers ace a difficult problem when they are aced with theneed to cover a lot o material, but without sufficient review. But theresearch states (and we know rom personal experience) that materialthat is not adequately practised and reviewed is easily orgotten.

Suggested readings: Good & Grouws, 1979; Kulik & Kulik, 1979.


28/32

28

ConclusionTe ten principles in this pamphlet come rom three different

sources: (a) research on how the mind acquires and uses inormation;(b) the instructional procedures that are used by the mostsuccessul teachers; and (c) the procedures that were invented byresearchers to help students learn difficult tasks. Te research romeach o these three sources has implications or classroom instruction,and these implications are described in each o these ten principles.

Even though these principles come rom three different sources,the instructional procedures that are taken rom one source donot conflict with the instructional procedures that are taken romanother source. Instead, the ideas rom each o the sources overlap and

add to each other. Tis overlap gives us aith that we are developing avalid and research-based understanding o the art o teaching.


29/32

29

References and further readingAnderson, L.W.; Burns, R.B. (1987). Values, evidence, and mastery learning.

Review o educational research, 57(2), 215224, Summer.

Berkowitz, S.J. (1986). Effects of instruction in text organization on sixth-grade students memory for expository reading. Reading research

quarterly, 21(2), 161178.Brophy, J.E.; Good, .L. (1986). eacher behavior and student achievement.

In: Wittrock, M.C. (Ed.). Handbook o research on teaching, 3rd ed.,pp. 328375. New York, NY: Macmillan.

Brophy, J.; Good, . (1990). Educational psychology: a realistic approach.New York, NY: Longman.

Dunkin, M.J. (1978). Student characteristics, classroom processes, and

student achievement. Journal o educational psychology, 70(6), 9981009.

Evertson, C.E. et al. (1980). Relationship between classroom behaviorsand student outcomes in junior high mathematics and English classes.

American educational research journal, 17, 4360.

Fisher, D.; Frey, A. (2007). Checking or understanding: ormative assessmenttechniques or your classroom. Arlington, VA: Association for Supervisionand Curriculum Development.

Frederiksen, N. (1984). Implications of cognitive theory for instruction inproblem-solving.Review o educational research, 54(3), 363407.

Gage, N.L. (1978). Te scientific basis o the art o teaching. New York, NY:eachers College Press.

Good, .L.; Grouws, D.A. (1979). Te Missouri mathematics effectiveness

project.Journal o educational psychology, 71, 143155.Good, .L.; Grouws, D.A. (1977). eaching effects: a process-product study

in fourth grade mathematics classrooms. Journal o teacher education,28, 4054.

King, A. (1994). Guiding knowledge construction in the classroom: effectsof teaching children how to question and how to explain. Americaneducational research journal, 30, 338368.

Kirschner, P.A.; Sweller, J.; Clark, R.E. (2006). Why minimal guidanceduring instruction does not work: an analysis of the failure ofconstructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching.Educational psychologist, 41, 7586.

Kulik, J.A.; Kulik, C.C. (1979). College teaching. In: Peterson, P.L.;Walberg , H.J. (Eds.). Research on teaching: concepts, findings, andimplications. Berkeley, CA: McCutchan.

Laberge, D.; Samuels, S.J. (1974). oward a theory of automatic informationprocessing in reading. Cognitive psychology, 6, 293323.


30/32

30

Miller, G.A. (1956). Te magical number seven, plus or minus two: somelimits on our capacity for processing information.Psychological review,

1956, 63, 8197.Pressley, M. et al. (1995). Cognitive strategy instruction, 2nd ed. Cambridge,

MA: Brookline Books.

Rosenshine, B. (2009). Te empirical support for direct instruction. In:obias, S.; Duffy, .M. (Eds.). Constructivist instruction: success or

ailure?, ch. 11. New York, NY: Routledge.

Rosenshine, B.; Meister, C. (1992). Te use of scaffolds for teaching higher-

level cognitive strategies.Educational leadership, April, 2633.Rosenshine, B.; Stevens, R. (1986). eaching functions. In: Witrock, M.C.

(Ed.). Handbook o research on teaching, 3rd ed., pp. 376391. NewYork, NY: Macmillan.

Rosenshine, B.; Chapman, S.; Meister, C. (1996). eaching students togenerate questions: a review of the intervention studies. Review oeducational research, 66, 181221.

Schoenfeld, A.H. (1985). Mathematical problem soling. New York, NY:Academic Press.

Slavin, R.E. (1996).Education or all. Exton, PA: Swets & Zeitlinger.

Stallings, J.A.; Kaskowitz, D. (1974). Follow through classroom observation.Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

Sweller, J. (1994). Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty and instructional

design.Learning and instruction, 4, 295312.


31/32

31

Online referenceswww.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1guid.htm

www.suite101.com/content/guided-practice-a214274

www.dynamitelessonplan.com/guided-practice/

docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:zxb20AUcJ7MJ:www.c-pal.net/course/module5/pd/appendix_F.pd+direct+instruction+model&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiSzb663m3bcA0WRa2zX-xFgRKNOFo4dlxkI6AYbpR5imRbAZoUEwI_5ZOdRdLy4eibOQw-9G9b_LmFgmWVxjzeDVru55dE06zHkAsb-aKl5BwLiMoskKoyigbxMM85Xtza&sig=AHIEtbSDAQo8s6c3WZWOI_2zSXoWd

wes8g

www.lieisastoryproblem.org/lesson/mdl_dir_instr.html
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/ishttp://www.suite101.com/content/guided-practice-a214274http://www.dynamitelessonplan.com/guided-practicehttp://www.c-pal.net/course/module5/pdf/appendix_F.pdf+direhttp://www.lifeisastoryproblem.org/lesson/mdl_dir_instr.htmlhttp://www.lifeisastoryproblem.org/lesson/mdl_dir_instr.htmlhttp://www.c-pal.net/course/module5/pdf/appendix_F.pdf+direhttp://www.dynamitelessonplan.com/guided-practicehttp://www.suite101.com/content/guided-practice-a214274http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/is


32/32

ED

UCA

TION

ALPRACT

ICES

SERIE

S2

The InternationalBureau of

EducationIBETe IBE was ounded in Geneva, Switzerland, as a private,non-governmental organization in 1925. In 1929, undernew statutes, it became the first intergovernmentalorganization in the field o education. Since 1969 theInstitute has been an integral part o UNESCO whileretaining wide intellectual and unctional autonomy.

Te mission o the IBE is to unction as an internationalcentre or the development o contents and methods oeducation. It builds networks to share expertise on, andoster national capacities or curriculum change anddevelopment in all the regions o the world. It aims to

introduce modern approaches in curriculum designand implementation, improve practical skills, and osterinternational dialogue on educational policies.

Te IBE contributes to the attainment o qualityEducation or All (EFA) mainly through: (a) developingand acilitating a worldwide network and a Communityo Practice o curriculum specialists; (b) providing

advisory services and technical assistance in response tospecific demands or curriculum reorm or development;(c) collecting, producing and giving access to a wide rangeo inormation resources and materials on educationsystems, curricula and curriculum development

processes rom around the world, including onlinedatabases (such as World Data on Education), thematicstudies, publications (such as Prospects, the quarterlyreview o education), national reports, as well ascurriculum materials and approaches or HIV & AIDSeducation at primary and secondary levels through theHIV & AIDS Clearinghouse; and (d) acilitating andostering international dialogue on educational policies,strategies and reorms among decision-makers and otherstakeholders, in particular through the International

Conerence on Educationorganized by the IBE since1934, which can be considered one o the main orumsor developing world-level policy dialogue betweenMinisters o Education.

Te IBE is governed by a Council composed orepresentatives o twenty-eight Member States electedby the General Conerence o UNESCO. Te IBE is

proud to be associated with the work o the InternationalAcademy o Education and publishes this material in its

i Cl i h i h h

EdPractices_21

Documents

Transcript of EdPractices_21