Page 67 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

3.2 Linking Instructional Strategies to Learning Objectives 55

tutorial, games, lecture, and so on. For motor skill learning, possible strategies
include hands-on experiences with real and simulated artifacts and interacting with
simulations and virtual realities.

Inductive Thinking
The inductive thinking model is an example of concept formation based on
allowing students to infer a general rule or patterns based on multiple examples and
non-examples; this approach was developed by Hilda Taba (1971; see http://www.
csus.edu/indiv/m/mcvickerb/imet_sites/fundamentals/inductive/taba_handbook.htm).
Learning how to classify is fundamental; consequently, students learn information
and concepts through the activity of classifying. They also learn how to build
conceptual understanding of content areas and how to build and test hypotheses
based on classifications. Inductive thinking is a generic model, partly because
classification is believed to be the basic higher-order thinking skill and further,
because the model is applicable to knowledge from phonics to physics.
Concept Attainment
The concept attainment model facilitates the type of learning referred to as con-
ceptual learning in contrast with the rote learning of factual information or of
vocabulary. In practice, the model works as an inductive model designed to teach
concept through the use of examples. Therefore, in addition to help the students in
the attainment of a particular concept, the model enables them to become aware of
the process of conceptualizing.
Advance Organizers
As Ausubel maintains, advance organizers are the primary means of enriching or
strengthening the learner’s cognitive structure and enhancing the possibilities of
learning or retention of new knowledge or information. Ausubel describes advance
organizers as introductory materials or activities presented ahead of the learning
task and at a higher level of abstraction and inclusiveness than the learning task
itself. Their purpose is to explain, integrate and interrelate the material in the
learning task with the previously learned material (Ausubel, 1968). Advance
organizers increase the ability to absorb information and organize it, especially
when learning from lectures and readings. Possible uses include learning cognitive
strategies and intellectual skills (e.g., discrimination tasks, learning concepts,
engaging in exploratory learning and simulations). Socratic questioning can be a
form of an advance organizer. Possible technologies are management flight simu-
lators, interactive simulations, and puzzles (Suchman’s, 1964), an inquiry training
system, or intelligent tutoring system, among others.
Group Investigation
Group investigation is a pedagogical approach that allows a class to work actively
and collaboratively in small groups and enables students to take an active role in
determining their own learning goals and processes. Examples for group investi-
gation are observing the behavior of insects in groups, discovering the motion
curve of an asteroid within a scientific team (Sharan & Sharan, 1990). Small group
investigations are often used in problem-based medical training.