Models of Teaching PDF

/
FIFTH EDITION
MODELS
OF
TEACHING
___________________
I Le :
Bruce Joyce
Mars ha Weil
Prentice.HaII of India
New DeIMi-110001
2003
jj:
This Fifth Indian ReprlntRs. 195.00
77
(Original U.S. EditionRs. 1006.00)
MODELS OF TEACHING, 5th Ed.

by Bruce Joyce and Marsha Well
1996 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., (now known as Pearson Education, Inc.), One Lake Street, Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, U.S.A. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Credits are on p. 476, which constitutes a continuation of the
copyright page.
ISBN-81 -203-1174-4
The export rights of this book are vested solely with the publisher.
This Eastern Economy Edition is the authorized,
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and
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Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Fifth Printing (Fifth Edition)
June, 2003
Published by Asoke K. Ghosh, Prentice-Hall of India Private

Limited, M-97, Connaught Circus,
New Delhi-110001 and Printed by Jay Print Pack Private Limited, New Delhi-110015.
CONTENTS
Foreword, Robert J. Schaefer
xv
I
FRAME OF REFERENCE
PART
Drawing on the knowledge base and our own inventions, we begin the
inquiry into the nature of learning and teaching.
CHAPTER
1
BEGINNING THE INQUIRY
Tooling Up the Community of Learners
Teaching well means helping students learn well. Powerful learners have
expanded repertoires of strategies for acquiring education. Models of teaching are designed to impart these strategies while helping students develop as
persons, increase their capacity to think clearly and wisely, and build social
skills and commitment. Teaching is the process of building communities of
learners who use their skills to educate themselves.
CHAPTER 2
WHERE DO MODELS OF TEACHING COME FROM?
11
How Are They Used?
Well-developed models of teaching are the products of long periods of
inquiry into how stucents learn. Over the years, four families of models have
developed, each emphasizing particular aspects of learning, but all sharing
the fundamental purpose of increasing capacity for self-educationand the
personal construction of knowledge.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 3
TEACHING AS INQUIRY
Taking Off from the Research Base
27
We are never finished with the study of learning and teaching. The research
on models of teaching is in continual change as teacher-researchers refine
the models and create new ones. Building student capacity for learning is
the theme as we review the research and study the effects to be expected
when we add various models to our repertoires and those of our students..
CHAPTER 4
THE CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE,
METACOGNITIONS, AND CONCEPTIONS OF
INTELLIGENCE
49
As teachers we continually construct skills and knowledge, and the effective

learner does the same. In both cases, thinking about how learning takes
placethe metacognitions of learninghas a central role. Current inquiry
has led to multidimensional concepts of intelligence and to the belief that a
major outcome of education is increases in intelligence.
CHAPTER 5
TEACHING AND EQUITY
Gender, Money, Race, and Culture
55
Education is in a war against cultural stereotypes about learning capacity.

Research on teaching and learning supports the position that equity can be
achieved for men, women, races, socioeconomic groups, and cultures. A
mor reason is that learning capacity can be improved so that apparent initial disadvantages disappear.
PART
II
THE SOCIAL FAMILY
63
The social family capitalizes on our nature as social creatures to further
learning and to expand our ability to relate productively to one another. The
models range from the simple processes of organizing students to work
CONTENTS
together to elaborate models that teach democratic social organization and
the analysis of major social problems and critical social values and issues.
CHAPTER 6
PARTNERS IN LEARNING
From Dyads to Group Investigation
65
The simplest forms of cooperative learning organize students to help one
another respond to the cognitive and social tasks of the information-processing models of teaching. Widely used today through the efforts and research
of Robert Slavin, David and Roger Jotinson, and their colleagues, cooperative learnir4g positively affects academic learning, social development, and
the self-esteem of the learner. John Dewey proposed that group investigation
should be the basic model for social and academic learning in a democratic
society. Recent research and practice by Shlomo Sharan and his colleagues
affirm and illuminate this broad, complex, and powerful model.
CHAPTER 7
ROLE PLAYING
Studying Social Behavior and Values
89
Fannie and George Shaftel have designed a process to help students understand and develop their social values. Role playing of problematic situations
is used to open up discussions of values and how they operate in oui
lives. The model permits values to be studies as a core of the growing self
the place where social norms and personal identity and sense of meaning
come together.
CHAPTER 8
JURISPRUDENTIAL INQUIRY
Learning to Think about Social Policy
109
Making social policy is a fundamental need in small groups, communities,

nations, and even the interriation. Built around the analysis of case studies
containing problems that can only be solved by clarifying values and resolving conflicts and competing demands, the jurisprudential model introduces
policy analysis. Developed by Donald Oliver and James Shaver, the model
can be used to design entire social studies courses or to illuminate policy
questions within other curriculum areas from science to athletics.
Vii
Viii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 9
ADAPTING TO INDWIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Conceptual Systems Theory
129
How do we plan for students who are at different

stages of development?
Largely by planning to increase their development. We use David Hunt's
modifications of conceptual systems theory to study our students and modulate teaching to increase their productivity and development.
PART
III
THE INFORMATION.PROCESSING FAMILY

Learning to Think by Thinking
141
While research on how students learn to think is by no means
a completed
science, a variety of models can increase students' ability to seek and master
information, organize it, build and test hypotheses, andapply what they are
learning in their independent reading and writing and theirexploration of

themselves and the world about them. &me of these models induce the students to collect information and build concepts. Others teach them to profit
from direct instruction through readings, lectures, and instructional systems.
CHAPTER 10
THINKING INDUCTIVELy
Collecting, Organizing, and Manipulating Data
145
Classification is believed to be the fundamental higher-order

thinking skill,
and analytic and synthetic skills depend on the discriminations made
througn classification. Drawing on the work of Hilda Taba and others who
have concerned themseives with the development of thinking processes, we
present the basic classification model. This model begins with concept formation and proceeds to the development of generalizations,hypotheses, and
inferences about causation.
CHAPTER 11
ATTAINING CONCEPTS
The Basic Thinking Skills
161
Concept attainment helps students learn categories and study how to learn
and apply them. The model also provides teachers with an alternative to
induction, enabling them to control data sets and help studentsdevelop precise knowledge of concepts.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 12
SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AND INQUIRY TRAINING
The Art of Making Inferences
179
The focus is on learning how the academic disciplines construct knowledge
and how to join the inquiry We use the example of the Biological Sciences
Study Committee biology program, developed under the leadership of
Joseph Schwab. Then we concentrate'on a program, first developedby
Richard Suchman, to train students to engage in causal reasoning.The
training is built around sets of puzzling problems that the students attempt
to solve by collecting and verifying data, developing concepts, and building
and testing hypotheses.
CHAPTER 13
MEMORIZATION
Getting the Facts Straight
209
Recent research on memorization, especially on the use of "link words" to

facilitate associations, has produced some dramatic effects on the rate at
which students can acquire information and concepts. In some applications
the instructors generate the mnemonics. In others the students develop their
owrl. In both the students are organized into learning communities that possess knowledge about how to acquire, store, and retrieve information.
Research by Leviri, Pressley, and their colleagues has stressed the importance of providing students with cognitive control over learning
strategiesthe "metacognitive" dimension of being a student. In other
words, the students are not taught simply to engage in a learning activity.
They are taught how to learn and how to use knowledge of learning to
increase their effectiveness.
CHAPTER 14
SYNECTICS
Enhancing Creative Thought
233
It can be argued that the ability to go beyond the known anj synthesize
fresh ideas and solutions is the ultimate information-processingskill. It can
also be argued that possessing the freedom to create is one of the peaks of
personal development. William Gordon has developed a procedure to help
people break set and generate fresh solutions to problems, generate more
lucid writing and speaking, and coalesce groups around creative problem
solving. Rather than conceiving of creativity as an isolating, inward process,
it is developed in groups and increases cohesion and empathy among group
members.
ix
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 15
LEARNING FROM PRESENTATIONS
Advance Organizers
265
David Ausubel's model facilitate learnings from lectures, readings and other
mediated presentations, and courses by increasing the cognitive activity of
the students. The model lets the students in on the intellectual scaffolds of
the disciplines and teaches them how to use those frameworks to guide their
inquiry
CHAPTER 16
THE DEVELOPING INTELLECT
Adjusting Models to Cognitive Development
279
Jean Piaget and his colleagues developed a model of intellectual development that we can use to organize the information-processing models to
facilitate cognitive growth. We select and modify the models to help students
increase their levels of conceptual activity We give special attention to
Lawrence Kohlberg's framework for facilitating moral development as we
teach.
IV
THE PERSONAL FAMILY
PART
Focus on the Person
293
The personalistic models focus on the development of the integrated feeling,

thinking selfthe personal identity They shape the environment around the
capacity for self-education and the need to develop self-awareness and
understanding.
CHAPTER 17
NONDIRECTIVE TEACHING
The Learner at the Center
295
Carl Rogers was the leading spokesperson for teaching oriented around
the student's perceptual world. The teacher operates from a counseling
stance, helping the students understand themselves, clarify their goals,
and acept responsibility for their growth and the direction of their lives.
CONTENTS
Designed to enhance the growing self, the model helps us reach into the psychological space of the students and enlist them in the learning-teaching
partnership.
CHAPTER 18
CONCEPTS OF SELF
Modeling Rich States of Growth
309
The ultimate evidence of whether education has been effective is in the reci-
procal relationships of educated people with their worldcontributing to it

and profiting from it. We discuss a framework for examining the growing
self and modeling for our students a self-actualizing way of life.
PART
THE BEHAVIORAL SYSTEMS FAMILY

Behavior Theoiy
321
On the foundation of the work of B. F. Skinner a large number of

approaches to learning have been developed, each taking advantage of the
human being's ability to modify behavior in response to tasks and feedback.
These models are used in a wide variety of applications, from teaching information, concepts, and skills to increasing comfort and relaxation, decreasing
phobias, changing habits, and learning to control one's behavior. Our selection includes just a few of the ones with broad potential for uses in school
settings.
CHAPTER 19
MASTERY LEARNING AND PROGRAMMED
INSTRUCTION
329
An important application of behavioral systems theory is in the development

of systems that enable learning tasks to be regulated according to the
progress of the learners and that teach students to pace themselves for optimal performance. Often these systems organize material to be learned in
relatively small, sequenced, instructional "modules" presented to the students with assessments of learning embedded in them. These "mastery
learning" and "programmed instruction" systems have wide applicability in
academic curriculum areas. We stress the work of Benjamin Bloom in the
development of mastery learning and Bloom and Carroll's conception of
intelligence as a matter of time to accomplish certain kinds of tasks.
Xi
Xii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 20
DIRECT INSTRUCTION
343
Direct instruction involves a straightforward use of tasks and feedback to

help students master academic content. This approach is based on studies,
especially by Jere Brophy and Tom Good, of effective teachers and on
social learning theory particularly the applications by Wes Becker and
his colleagues.
CHAPTER 21
LEARNING FROM SIMULATIONS
Training and Self-Training
353
In industrial, military, athletic, and educational settings, researchers have

developed procedures for developing skills and enabling those to be used
effectively in work and education. Computer-based simulations are readily
adding to curricular options in elementary and secondary schools.
PART
VI
PROFESSIONAL SKILL
365
Planning instruction, adding to one's teaching repertoire, and learning as we

teach are our themes.
CHAPTER 22
THE CONDITIONS OF LEARNING
Focusing and Planning Instruction
367
Robert Gagn and his colleagues have developed a classification of learning

goals that enables us to organize objectives and place them in appropriate
sequence. We study planning, using Gagn's framework, and illustrate planfling with a global education curriculum.
CHAPTER 23
HOW TO LEARN A TEACHING REPERTOIRE
The Professional Learning Community
375
Based on 25 years of research on how we acquire teaching skills, we present

a framework for organizing ourselves to expand our teaching repertoire.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 24
LEARNING STYLES AND MODELS OF TEACHING
Making Discomfort Productive
385
For our students and ourselves, reaching out for new learning tools and
ideas involves some necessary and exciting discomfort. One of the major
challenges of teaching is to build learning communities that represent "safe
space" in which students can keep themselves on the move as learners. "Atrisk" students are those who are trying to stretch too limited a repertoire
over too many 'earning tasks. Our remedy is to design the school as a laboratory for learning how to learn, a place where stretching one's capacity is a
way of life,
APPENDIX
PEER COACHING GUIDES
399
These guides are designed to facilitate planning for practice with nine of the
most commonly used models of teaching and to provide formats for observing demonstration and peer practice.
Advance Organizer
Cooperative Learning Organization
Jurisprudential Model
Synectics
Concept Attainment
Inquiry Training
Assists to Memory
Role Playing
Inductive Thinking
445
References
477
Index
401
405
409
415
420
426
430
435
439
XIII
FOREWORD
The autumn efflorescence of color annually admired in New England foliage is no less visually exciting or aesthetically satisfying because it is familiar and oft-observed. Neither is a new publication of Models of Teaching
less intellectually stimulating or professionally rewarding because one has
admired earlier editions of the work. Although I now live most of the year
in Florida, I never willingly miss an October in Vermont or up-state New
York. And while I'm now only an occasional teacher, I could never ignore a
fresh, while yet familiar, demonstration of the authors' insights into the
mysteries and complexities of teaching.
The essential task of this realization of Models of Teaching, as, indeed,
of all earlier editions, is to describe a rich variety of approaches to teaching
in sufficient detail and with sufficient illustration of their uses and purposes
in real learning situations as to make each model an active, or at least potentially active, part of a teacher's repertoire. No teacher, prospective, neophyte, or veteran, could examine these models without a renewed sense of
the multiplicity of educational purposes, the range and diversity of useful
teaching behaviors, or the intellectual zest inherent in the craft.
No model is presented didactically. Each is discussed in terms of its
underlying theory and of the problematics intrinsic to its use. Research testing the effectiveness of each model is nicely marshalled. Citing such theory
and research is clearly not intended to provide closed, static "proofs" of the
efficacy of individual models, but to encourage reflection and inquiry about
yet unknown aspects of teaching strategy. Readers of this book are never assumed to be passive receptacles of the authors' wisdom.
I am impressed, as I have long been, with the breadth of scholarship,
the command of psychological and pedagogical literature, and the sheer
professional enthusiasm that Models of Teaching exemplifies. It is true that
I have grown accustomed to such virtues and have duly noted them in earlier editions of the book. But I still respond, also, to the familiar golds, the
reds, the browns, and the persistent greens of New England autumns. Each
manifestation, be it of book or foliage, is a uniquely exciting experience.
Robert J. Schaefer
Longboat Key, Florida
xv
PAflT
FRAME OF
REFERENCE
We move into the study of teaching as an inquiry by individuals, faculties,
and school districts. As practitioners we use the knowledge base as a mirror for the study of our own practice and draw on the models of teaching
that are the products of disciplined inquiry into teaching to find tools we
can explore with our students. In these chapters we survey the available
models, examine them as models of learning for students, and take stock of
the research.
Perhaps the most important finding is that the purpose of teaching is to
increase capacity to learnthe multifaceted thing we call intelligence. We
find that education can greatly affect intelligence and that these tools we
call models of teaching are one way to organize intelligence-oriented education.
Therefore, many of the differences that have often been said to inhibit
learningdifferences in race, gender, culture, and socioeconomic backgroundare trivial in comparison to the power education has to give the
learners tools to educate themselves.
CH APTEA
BEGINNING THE
INQUIRY
Tooling Up the Community of
Learners
Every once in a while I think we should have called the book Models of
Learning. Then, I remember that real teaching is teaching kids how to learn.
So I guess the title is all right.
Marsha Weil to Bruce Joyce, January 1974
Let's begin by visiting two first-grade and two tenth-grade classrooms at

9:00 on the first day of school.
SCENARIO
In one first-grade classroom the children are gathered around a table on
which a candle and jar have been placed. The teacher, Jackie Wiseman,
lights the candle and, after it has burned brightly for a minute or two, covers it carefully with the jar. The candle grows dim, flickers, and goes out.
Then she produces another candle and a larger jar, and the exercise is repeated. The candle goes out, but more slowly. Jackie produces two more
candles and jars of different sizes, and the children light the candles, place
the jars over them, and the flames slowly go out. "Now we're going to develop some ideas about what has just happened," she says. "I want you to
ask me questions about those.candles and jars and what you just observed."
The students begin. She gently helps them rephrase their questions or plan
experiments. When one asks, "Would the candles burn longer with an even
bigger jar?," Jackie responds, "How might we find out?" Periodically, she
will ask them to dictate to her what they know and questions they have and
will write what they say on newsprint paper. Their own words will be the
content of their first study of reading.
PARTI / FRAMEOFREFERENCE
Jackie is beginning her year with the model of teaching we call inquiry train-
ing (Chapter 12). The model begins by having the students encounter what
will be, to them, a puzzling situation. Then, by asking questions and conducting experiments, they build ideas and test them. Jackie will study their
inquiry and plan the next series of activities to build a community that can
work together to explore their world.
SCENARIO
Next door the children are seated in pairs. In front of them is a pile of
small objects. Each pair of children also has a magnet. Their teacher, Jan
Fisher, smiles at them and explains that the U-shaped object is called a magnet. "We're going to find out something about this thing we call a magnet.
We'll begin by finding out what it does when it's held close to different
things. So I want you to explore with your magnet. Find out what happens
when you bring it close to or touch the things in front of you with it. And
sort the other objects according to what happens." She, too, will take notes
on the categories they form and use the categories to begin their study of
written vocabulary
Jan has begun with the model we call inductive thinking (Chapter 10).
That model begins by presenting the students with information or having
them collect information and engage in classifying. As they develop categoriesin this case of objects according to how they respond to a magnetic
fieldthey will build hypotheses to test Jan will study how they think and
what they see and don't see and will help them learn to attack other problem areas as a community of inductive thinkers.
SCENARIO
Mariam True's .10th-grade social studies class begins with a videotape
taken in a California courtroom, where litigation is being conducted over
whether a mother can prevent a father and their. 12-year-old son from having time together. The parents are divorced and have joint custody of their
son, who lives with the mother.
The tape presents the opening arguments in the case. Mariam asks the
students to generate, individually, the issues as they see them and to re-
quest further information about the situation. She then urges them to
share and also asks each student to accumulate the ideas and questions
that all the students share under the headings of "issues" and "questions."
They find it necessary to develop another category called "positions and
CHAPTER 1
values,"
I BEGINNING THE INQUIRY
because many of the students articulated positions during the
sharing exercise.
The inquiry will continue by watching more segments of the tape and
analyzing several abstracts of similar cases that Mariam has collected for
them. One such case is their first homework assignment. Gradually, through
the week, Mariam will lead the students to develop sets of policy statements
and the values that underlie the various possible policies. As the exercise
proceeds, she will be studying how well the students are able to clarify facts,
distinguish value positions from one another, and discuss differences between seemingly opposing values and policy positions. She, too, is beginning the development of a learning inquiry and is herself an inquirer into
her students and their learning.
Mariam has opened her class with the jurisprudential model of teaching
(Chapter 8), which is designed to lead students to the study of public policy
issues and their own values.
SCENARIO
The class then moves to Shirley Mills's English course, which opens
with a scene from the film The Milagro Bean field War. The students share
their reactions to the setting, action, and characters. They express a variety
of viewpoints, but when they want to defend their interpretations or argue
against the ideas of others, Shirley announces that, for the time being, she
wants to preserve their differences so that they can inquire into them. She
then passes out copies of the novel of the same name by the author John
Nichols and asks them to begin reading it. During the week she will encourage them to explore the social issues presented by the book and film
and to compare the devices used by the author and filmmakers. She will
watch closely what issues and devices they see and don't see as she builds
her little community.
Shirley has introduced her students to the group investigation model
(Chapter 6), a powerful cooperative learning model she has used to design
her course. The model begins by having students confront information that
will lead to an area of inquiry. They then inquire into their own perceptual
worlds, noting similarities and differences in perception as the inquiries
proceed.
Education continuously builds ideas and emotions. The flux of human con-
sciousness gives the process of education its distinctive character and

makes teaching and learning such a wondrous, ever-changing process, as
thoughts and feelings are built and rebuilt. The children come to school
filled with words that exist in their memories of listening and speaking and
PART i
/ FRAME OF REFERENCE
experience the transformation of the words and all they mean into reading
and writing. The words will never be the same again, for they take on a new
dimension. Where they could be heard before, they are now seen as well.
Where they could be produced before as sounds, they can now be written
down. The fundamental reality of the words continues, nonetheless, to be
in the minds of those children, but something important has happened to
them and that happening is the property of each unique mind. The teacher
brings those changes to the children by arranging the learning environments and providing tasks that generate those new realities. The realities,
however, are possessions of the minds of the children.
We try to peer inside to find out what learning has taken place and what
readiness there is for new learning. But teachers cannot crawl inside and look
aroundwe have to infer what is inside from what we can see and hear. Our
educated guesses are the substance of our trade as we tr continually, to construct in our minds the pictures of the minds of our students. The never-ending cycles of arranging environments, providing tasks, and building pictures
of the minds of the students make teachingthe continuous inquiry into
mind and environmenta business that is never complete. The process is exactly the same in the secondary phase of education and in undergraduate and
graduate school as it is with young children. The teacher and professor of
physics arrange environments, provide tasks, and try to learn what is going
on in those wondrous and unique minds in parallel cadence with the teacher
who first introduces reading and writing to the students.
To engage in teaching well is to embrace the adventure of limitless

learning about minds and how ideas and emotions interact with environments and become transformed. We are never finished with this adventure,
never satisfied with the arts and sciences of making those inferences, never
done with the construction of models of learning and teaching that are
built on the guesses we make about what is going on in those minds. The
nature of our work takes us on a safari through a rich landscape that offers
adventures we cannot predict. We are caught up in an inquiry that has
no end.
Schools and classes are communities of students brought together to explore the world and learn how to navigate it productively. We have great
hopes for these little units of our society. We hope their members will become
highly literate, that they will read omnivorously and write with skill and delicacy. We hope they will understand their social world, be devoted to its im-
provement, and develop the dignity, self-esteem, and sense of efficacy to

generate personal lives of high quality. These aspirations are central to the
study of teaching and guide the research that has resulted in a rich array of
models of teaching. These models are the work of teachers who have beaten
a path for us and hacked out some clearings where we can start our inquiries.
In this book we introduce some of these models, discuss their underlying theories, examine the research that has tested them, and illustrate their
uses. As educators we survey these models and select ones we will master
to develop and increase our own effectiveness. We use them, study our stu-
CHAPTER 1
/ BEGINNING THE INQUIRY
dents' responses, and adapt them. To become competent to use these teach-
ing strategies comfortably and effectively requires much study and practice,
but by concentrating on one or two at a time we can easily expand our

repertoires. (Chapter 23 describes the process of acquiring the skill necessary to use new models of teaching.) The key to getting good at them is to
use them as tools of inq1ir
MODELS OF LEARNING
Models of teaching are really models of learning. As we help students acquire information, ideas, skills, values, ways of thinking, and means of expressing themselves, we are also teaching them how to learn. In fact, the
most important long-term outcome of instruction may be the students' increased capabilities to learn more easily and effectively in the future, both because of the knowledge and skill they have acquired and because they have
mastered learning processes.
How teaching is conducted has a large impact on students' abilities to

educate themselves. Successful teachers are not simply charismatic and
persuasive presenters. Rather, they engage their students in robust cognitive
and social tasks and teach the students how to use them productively. For example, although learning to lecture clearly and knowledgeably is highly de-
sirable, it is the learner who does the learning; successful lecturers teach
students how to mine the information in the talk and make it their own. Effective learners draw information, ideas, and wisdom from their teachers
and use learning resources effectively. Thus, a major role in teaching is to
create powerful learners.
The same principle applies to schools. Outstanding schools teach the
students to learn. Thus, teaching becomes more effective as the students
progress through those schools because, year by year, the students have
been taught to be stronger learners. We measure the effects of various models of teaching not only by how well they achieve the specific objectives to-
ward which they are directed (for example, self-esteem, social skill,
information, ideas, creativity) but also by how well they increase the ability
to learn, which is their fundamental purpose. Students will change as their
repertoire of learning strategies increases, and they will be able to accomplish more and more types of learning more effectively.
THE RAPID RESPONSE TO

CHANGES IN INSTRUCTION
Many people are surprised to learn just how quickly a teacher can accelerate the learning rates of students. A nice example of speed and size of gain
was provided by the 190 elementary school teachers of an Iowa school dis-
PART I
trict. They focused on improving the quality of writing of their students by

using the inductive model of teaching (Chapter 10). With the model, they
were able to help students explore the techniques used by published authors
to accomplish such tasks as introducing characters, establishing settings,

and describing action. At intervals the teachers collected samples of the
children's writing, which were scored by experts who did not know the identity of the children.
By the end of the year the children's writing had improved dramatically.
The example of the fourth grade illustrates how much they improved
(Table 1.1). Their end-of-year scores for writing quality were higher than the
end-of-year scores for eighth-grade students the previous year! They had
made greater gains in one year than were normally achieved by comparable students over a period of four years. Moreover, all students had gained
substantiallyfrom the ones who started with the poorest writing skills to
the ones who began with the most developed skills. A gender gap in writing
(males often lag behind females in developing writing skills) narrowed significantly (Joyce, Calhoun, Carran, and Halliburton, 1995).
That the same model of teaching reached all the students is also surprising to many people, but it is a typical finding in studies of teaching and
teaching strategies. Teachers who "reach" the students with poor histories
of learning and help them out of their rut also propel the best students into
higher states of growth than they have been accustomed to.
A group of secondary school teachers in Israel, led by Shlomo Sharan
and Hana Shachar (1988), demonstrated the rapid acceleration in states of
TABLE 1.1 MEAN GRADE-FOUR SCORES ON EXPOSITORY WRITING FOR
FALL 1992 AND SPRINC 1993
Dimensions
Period
Focus!
Organization (FO)
Support (SUP)
Grammar!
Mechanics (GM)
Fall
M
SD
0.55
Spring
M
SD
2.8
0.94
1.6
2.2
0.65
2.11
3.2
3.0
0.97
0.96
0.65
Note: In the fall, the coefficients of correlation between FO and SUP

and GM were .56 and .61, respectively; between SUP and GM, the
coefficient of correlation was .63. In the spring, these were .84, .65, and
.74, respectively. Effect sizes computed between fall and spring scores
were, for FO, 2.18, for SUP, 1.53, and for GM, 1.37. See Chapter 3 for
an explanation of "effect size" and how to interpret it.
CHAPTER 1
/ BEGINNING THE INQUIRY
growth when they studied and first began to use the group investigation
model (Chapter 6), a complex form of cooperative learning. They worked
with classes in which the children of the poor (referred to as "low-SES,"
which is shorthand for "lower socioeconomic status") were mixed with the
children of middle-class parents (referred to as "high-SES," for "higher socioeconomic status"). In a year-long social studies course, the teachers gave
pretests of knowledge to the students as well as final examinations. This

way they could measure students' gains in academic learning and compare
them with those of students taught by the "whole-class" format most common in Israeli schools. Table 1.2 shows the results.
You can make several interesting comparisons as you read the table.
First, in the pretests the lower-SES students scored significantly lower than
their higher-SES counterparts. Typically, socioeconomic status is related to
the knowledge students bring to the instructional situation, and these students were no exception. Then the lower-SES students taught by group investigation achieved average gains nearly two and a half times those of the
lower-SES students taught by the whole-class method and exceeded the
scores made by the higher-SES students taught with the whole-class format.
In other words, the "socially disadvantaged" students taught with group in-
vestigation learned at rates above those of the "socially advantaged" students taught by teachers who did not have the repertoire provided by group
investigation. Finally, the "advantaged" students also learned more through
group investigation. Their average gain was twice that of their whole-class
counterparts. Thus, the model was effective by a large margin for students
from both backgrounds.
TABLE 1.2
EFFECTS OF COMPLEX COOPERATiVE LEARNING IN A
HISTORY COURSE BY SES
Cooperative Learning
(Treatment)
Pretest
M
SD
Posttest
M
SD
Mean Gain
Whole Class Control
High SES
Low SES
High SF5
Low SF5
20.99
9.20
14.81
21.73
10.53
12.31
62.60
10.85
50,17
14.44
42.78
14.40
27.03
13.73
41.61
35.36
21.05
14.92
7.20
7.05
Source: S. Sharan and H. Shachar, Language and Learning in the

Cooperative Classroom. N.Y.: Springer-Verlag, 1988.
10
PART I / FRAME OF REFERENCE
These examples should get us thinking about making a big difference

for our students. As we will see, other models also can help students increase their learning capability, sometimes modestly and sOmetimes dra-
matically. The important point is that teaching can make a big difference to
students at both the classroom and school levels. Knowing this is the core
of effective teaching, because effective teachers are confident that they can
make a difference and that the difference is made by tooling up their learn-
ing community. Then they study student learning closely and shape the
learning environment to accelerate growth.
DESIGNING THE SCHOOL WHERE

EVERYBODY CAN LEARN
Imagine a school where the various models of teaching are not only intended to accomplish a range of curriculum goals (learning to read; to com-
pute; to understand mathematical systems; to comprehend literature,

science, and the social world; and to engage in the performingarts and athletics) but are also designed to help the students increase their power as
learners. As students master information and skills, the result of each learning experience is not only the content they learn, but the increased ability
they acquire to approach future learning tasks and to create programs of
study for themselves.
In our school the students acquire a range of learning strategies because
their teachers use the models of teaching that require them. Our students
learn models for memorizing information (Chapter 13). They learn how to
attain concepts (Chapter 11) and how to invent them (Chapter 10). They
practice building hypotheses and theories and using the tools of science to
test them. They learn how to extract information and ideas from lectures
and presentations (Chapter 15), how to study social issues (Chapter 8), and
how to analyze their own social values (Chapter 7).
Our students also know how to profit from training and how to train
themselves in athletic, performing arts, mathematical, and social skills

(Chapters 1921). They know how to make their writing and problem solv-
ing more lucid and creative (Chapter 14). Perhaps most important, they
know how to take initiative in planning personal study (Chapter 17), and
they know how to work with others to initiate and carry out cooperative
programs of inquiry (Chapter 6). These students are both challenging and
exhilarating to teach because their expanded learning styles enable us to
teach them in the variety of ways that are approprilte for the many goals of
education.
Can we design such a school? You bet we can! Can we do it by using the
models of teaching as rigid formulae? No we can't! Do we have to study the
kids' responses and continuously adapt the ways we teach? You bet we do!
So let's continue our inquiry.
CHAPTER
WHERE DO MODELS
OF TEACHING
COME FROM?
How Are They Used?
This work is more than worthwhile. It's transporting. The satisfaction when
the veil lifts and someone realizes that the only barriers to growth are
imagina?y and self-imposed is almost unbearable. It must be like watching
the birth of a species.
Fritz Pens to Bruce Joyce, Spring 1968
The core of the teaching process is the arrangement of environments within

which the students can interact and study how to learn (Dewey, 1916). A
model of teaching is a description of a learning environment. The descriptions have many uses, ranging from planning curriculums, courses, units,
and lessons to designing instructional materialsbooks and workbooks,
multimedia programs, and computer-assisted learning programs. Because
the models provide learning tools to the students, they are uniquely suited
to the development of programs for students whose "learning histories" are
cause for concern.
For the last 40 years we have conducted a continuous and worldwide
search for promising approaches to teaching. We visit schools and classrooms and study research on teaching and learning. We also look at the
work of persons in teaching roles outside of schools, such as therapists and
trainers in industrial, military and athletic settings. We have found models
of teaching in abundance. Some have broad applications, while others are
designed for specific purposes. They range from simple, direct procedures
that get immediate results to complex strategies that students acquire gradually from patient and skillful instruction.
For inclusion in this book we have selected models that constitute a
basic repertoire for schooling. That is, with these models we can accomplish
most of the common goals of schoolsand a good many goals that few
schools achieve. They include many, but not all, of the major philosophical
and psychological orientations toward teaching and learnir,. All have a
11
12
PART I
coherent theoretical basisthat is, their creators provide us with a rationale
that explains why we expect them to achieve the goals for which they were
designed. The models selected also have long histories of practice behind
them: they have been refined through experience so that they can be used
comfortably and efficiently in classrooms and other educational settings.
Furthermore, they are adaptable: they can be adjusted to the learning styles
of students and to the requirements of the subject matter.
Finally, there is evidence that they work. Besides being validated by experience, all are backed by some amount of formal research that tests their
theories and their abilities to gain effects. The amount of related research
varies from model to model. Some are backed by a few studies, while others have a history of literally hundreds of items of research.
We have grouped the models of teaching we have discovered into four
families that share orientations toward human beings and how they learn.
These are the social family, the information-processing family, the personal
family, and the behavioral systems family. Parts II to V of the book present
the models selected for each family, with the last chapter of each part dealing with frameworks fOr modifying the models to account for individual differences in students.
THE SOCIAL FAMILY

When we work together we generate a collective energy that we call synergy.
The social models of teaching are constructed to take advantage of this phe-
nomenon by building learning communities. Essentially, "classroom man-
agement" is a matter of developing cooperative relationships in the

classroom. The development of positive school cultures is a process of developing integrative and productive ways of interacting and norms that support vigorous learning activity. Thus, we begin with the social family. Table
2.1 identifies the models and several of the developers and redevelopers of
the social models.
PARTNERS IN LEARNING (CHAPTER 6)

In recent years there has been a great deal of development work on cooperative learning, and great progress has been made in developing strategies that help students work effectively together. The contributions of three
teamsled respectively by Roger and David Johnson, Robert Slavin, and
Shlomo Sharanhave been particularly notable, but the entire cooperative
learning community has been active in exchanging information and techniques and in conducting and analyzing research (see, for example, Sharan,
1990). The result is a large number of effective means tor organizing students to-work together. These range from systems for teaching students to
carry out simple learning tasks in pairs to complex models for organizing
classes and even schools in learning communities that strive to educate

themselves.
Dedicated to Elinor and Joel Duncan.

If true humanism is congenitally driven, they've got it.
CHAPTER 2 / WHERE DO MODELS OF TEACHING COME FROM?
TABLE 2.1 SOCIAL MODELS
Models
Developers (Redevelopers)
Partners in learning
Positive interdependence
Structured inquiry
Group investigation
Role playing
Jurisprudential inquiry
David Johnson
Roger Johnson
Margarita Calderon
Elizabeth Cohen
Robert Slavin
(Aronson)
John Dewey
Herbert Thelan
(Shiomo Sharan)
(Bruce Joyce)
Fannie Shaftel
Donald Oliver
James Shaver
Cooperative learning procedures facilitate learning across all curriculum areas and ages, improving self-esteem, social skill and solidarity, and
academic learning goals ranging from the acquisition of information and
skill through the modes of inquiry of the academic disciplines.
In Chapter 6 we begin with the simpler forms of cooperative learning,
especially as they are combined with other models of teaching. We end with
the most complex model, that of group investigation, which combines

preparation for life in a democratic society with academic study.
GROUP INVESTIGATION (CHAPTER 6)

Group investigation is the direct route to the development of the cornmLAlity of learners. All the simpler forms of cooperative learning are preparation for rigorous, active, and integrative collective action as learners. John
Dewey (1916) developed the ideaextended and refined by a great many

teachers and theorists and shaped into powerful definition by Herbert Thelen (1960)that education in a democratic society should teach the democratic process directly. A substantial part of the students' education should
be by cooperative inquiry into important social and academic problems. Essentially, the model also provides a social organization within which many
other models can be used when appropriate. Group investigation has been
used in all subject areas, with children of all ages, and even as the core social
model for entire schools (Chamberlin and Chamberlin, 1943). The model is
designed to lead students to define problems, explore various perspectives
on the problems, and study together to master information, ideas, and
13
14
skillssimultaneously developing their social competence. The teacher or-
ganizes the group process and disciplines it, helps the students find and organize information, and ensures that there is a vigorous level of activity and
discourse.
ROLE PLAYING (CHAPTER 7)

Role playing is included next because it leads students to understand social behavior, their role in social interactions, and ways of solving problems
more effectively. Designed by Fanme and George Shaftel (1982) specifically
to help students study their social values and reflect on them, role playing
also helps students collect and organize information about social issues, develop empathy with others, and attempt to improve their social skills. In ad-
dition, the model asks students to "act out" conflicts, to learn to take the
roles of others, and to observe social behavior. With appropriate adaptation,
role playing can be used with students of all ages.
JURISPRUDENTIAL INQUIRY (CHAPTER 8)

As students mature, the study of social issues at community state, national, and international levels can be made available to them. The jurisprudential model is designed for this purpose. Created especially for
secondary students in the social studies, the model brings the case-study
method, reminiscent of legal education, to the process of schooling (Oliver
and Shaver, 1966, 1971; Shaver, 1995). Students study cases involving social
problems in areas where public policy needs to be made (on issues of justice and equality poverty and power, for example). They are led to identify
the public policy issues as well as options available for dealing with them
and the values underlying those options. Although developed for the social
studies, this model can be used in any area where there are public policy issues, and most curriculum areas abound with them (ethics in science, busi
ness, sports, and so on).
THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY

Information-processing models emphasize ways of enhancing the human
being's innate drive to make sense of the world by acquiring and organizing
data, sensing problems and generating solutions to them, and developing
concepts and language for conveying them. Some models provide the
learner with information and concepts, some emphasize concept formation
and hypothesis testing, and still others generate creative thinking. A few
are designed to enhance general intellectual abiit Many informationprocessing models are useful for studying the self and society, and thus for
achieving the personal and social goals of education.
Seven information-processing models are discussed in Part III. Table
2.2 displays the developers and redevelopers of those models.
TABLE 2.2 INFORMATION-PROCESSING MODELS
Models
Inductive thinking
(classification-oriented)
Concept attainment
Mnemonics
(memory assists)
Hilda Taba
LBruce Joyce)
Jerome Brciner
(Fred Lighthall)
(Tennyson)
(Cocchiarella)
(Bruce Joyce)
Michael Pressley
Joel Levin
Richard Anderson
Advance organizers
David Ausubel
(Lawton and Wanska)
Scientific inquiry
Joseph Schwab
Richard Suchman
(Howard Jones)
Bill Gordon
Inquiry training
Synectics
INDUCTIVE THINKING (CHAPTER 10)

The ability to analyze information and create concepts is generally regarded as the fundamental thinking skill. The model presented here is an
adaptation from the work of Hilda Taba (1966) and of many others
(Schwab, 1965; Tennyson and Cocchiarella, 1986) who have studied how to
teach students to find and organize information and to create and test hypotheses describing relationships among sets of data. The mode! has been
used in a wide variety of curriculum areas and withstudents of all agesit
is not confined to the sciences. Phonetic and structural analysis depend on
concept learning, as do rules of grammar. The structure of literature is

based on classification. The study of communities, nations, and history requires concept learning. Even if concept learning were not so critical in the
development of thought, the organization of information is so fundamental
to curriculum areas that inductive thinking would be a very important

model for learning and teaching school subjects.
CONCEPT AAINMENT (CHAPTER 11)

This model, built around the studies of thinking conducted by Bruner,
Goodnow, and Austin (1967), is a close relative of the inductive model.
15
16
RRT I / FRAME OF REFERENCE

Designed both to teach concepts and to help students become more effec-
tive at learning concepts, it provides an efficient method for presenting organized information from a wide range of topics to students at every stage
of development. The model is placed here because it provides a way of delivering and clarifying concepts and of training students to become more effective at developing concepts.
MNEMONICS (MEMORY ASSISTS) (CHAPTER 13)

Mnemonics are strategies for memorizing and assimilating information. Teachers can use mnemonics to guide their presentations of material
(teaching in such a way that students can easily absorb the information),
and they can teach devices that students can use to enhance their individual and cooperative study of information and concepts. This model also has
been tested over many curriculum areas and with students of many ages
and characteristics. We include variations developed by Pressley, Levin, and
Delaney (1982), Levin and Levin (1990), and popular applications by Lorayne and Lucas (1974). Because memorization is sometimes confused with
repetitious, rote learning of obscure or arcane terms and trivial information, people sometimes assume that mnemonics deal only with the lowest
level of information. That is by no means true. Mnemonics can be used to
help people master interesting concepts, and in addition, they are a great
deal of fun.
ADVANCE ORGANIZERS (CHAPTER 15)

During the last 35 years this model, formulated by David Ausubel
(1963), has become one of the most studied in the information-processing
family. It is designed to provide students with a cognitive structure for comprehending material presented through lectures, readings, and other media.
It has been employed with almost every conceivable content and with students of every age. It can be easily combined with other modelsfor example, when presentations are mixed with inductive activity.
SCIENTIHC INQUIRY (CHAPTER 12)

Of the several models that engage students in scientific inquiry we use
as the primary example the work of the Biological Sciences Study Commit-
tee, led by Joseph Schwab (1965). From the beginning, the student is
brought into the scientific process and helped to collect and analyze data,
check out hypotheses and theories, and reflect on the nature of knowledge
construction.
INQUIRY TRAINING (CHAPTER 12)

Designed to teach students to engage in causal reasoning and to become
more fluent and precise in asking questions, building concepts and hypotheses, and testing them, this model was first formulated by Richard
Suchman (1962). Althou,gh originally used with the natural sciences, it has
been applied in the social sciences and in training programs with personal
and social content. It is included here because it has value for teaching students how to make inferences and build and test hypotheses.
SYNECTICS (CHAPTER 14)

Developed first for use with "creativity groups" in industrial settings,
synectics was adapted by William Gordon (1961 a) for use in elementary and
secondary education. Synectics is designed to help people "break set" in

problem-solving and writing activities and tO gain new perspectives on topics from a wide range of fields. In the classroom it is introduced to the stu-
dents in a series of workshops until they can apply the procedures

individually and in cooperative groups. Although designed as a direct stimulus to creative thought, synectics has the side effect of promoting collabo-
rative work and study skills and a feeling of camaraderie among the
students.
ADJUSTING TO THE STUDENT:

THE DEVELOPING INTELLECT (CHAPTER 16)
Models based on studies of students' intellectual development

(Kohlberg, 1976; Piaget, 1952; Sigel, 1969; Sullivan, 1967) are used to help
us adjust instruction to the stage of maturity of an individual student and to
design ways of increasing the students' rate of development. These models
can be used in all types of educational settings and with all types of content.
They are now most often employed with young children, particularly environmentally disadvantaged children, especially when the educational goal is
to accelerate their growth (Spaulding, 1970). But the applications for older
students are just as important (Purpel and Ryan, 1976). Table 2.3 displays
models for adapting to individual differences and planning adaptive

instruction.
TABLE 2.3 DEVELOPMENT, ADAPTATION, AND
INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN MODELS
Models
Conceptual systems theory
David Hunt
0. J. Harvey
Harry Schroder
Cognitive development
Jean Piaget
(Irving Sigel)
(Constance Kamii)
Conditions of learning
Robert Gagne
17
18
The long-term goal of all information-processing models is to teach students how to think effectively. These models rest on the thesis that students
learning more complex intellectual strategies will increase their ability to
master information and concepts. Taken together, they represent a fullblown "thinking skills" program: helping students learn information and
concepts, the ability to analyze information and develop hypotheses, and
the capacity to synthesize new ideas and solutions to problems.
THE PERSONAL FAMILY

Ultimately hui1ian reality resides in our individual consciousnesses. We develop unique personalities and see the world from perspectives that are the
products of our experiences and positions. Common understandings are a
product of the negotiation of individuals who must live and work and create families together.
The personal models of learning begin from the perspective of the selfhood of the individual. They attempt to shape education so that we come to
understand ourselves better, take responsibility for our education, and learn
to reach beyond our current development to become stronger, more sensitive, and more creative in our search for high-quality lives.
The cluster of personal models pays great attention to the individual

perspective and seeks to encourage productive independence, so that people become iiicreasingly self-aware and responsible for their own destinies.
Table 2.4 displays the models and their developers.
NONDIRECT1VE TEACHING (CHAPTER 17)

Psychologist and counselor Carl Rogers (1961, 1982) was for three
decades the acknowledged spokesperson for models in which the teacher
plays the role of counselor. Developed from counseling theory the model
emphasizes a partnership between studermis and teacher. The teacher endeavors to help the students understand how to play major roles in directing their own educationsfor example, by behaving in such a way as to
clarify goals and participate in developing avenues for reaching those goals.
The teacher provides information about how much progress is being made
and helps the students solve problems. The nondirective teacher has to
TABLE 2.4 PERSONAL MODELS
Models
Nondi.rective teaching
Enhancing self-esteem
Carl Rogers
Abraham Maslow
(Bruce Joyce)
CHAPTER 2 I WHERE DO MODELS OF TEACHING COME FROM?
actively build the partnerships required and provide the help needed as the
students try to work out their problems.

The model is used in several ways. First, at the most general (and least
common) level, it is used as the basic model for the operation of entire educational programs (Neil!, 1960). Second., it is used in combination with
other models to ensure that contact is made with the students. In this role,
it moderates the educational environment. Third, it is used when students
are planning independent and cooperative study projects. Fourth, it is used
periodically when counseling students, finding out what they are thinking
and feeling, and helping them undefstand what they are about.
The model has been used with all types of students and across all subjects and teaching roles. Although designed to promote self-understanding
and independence, it has fared well as a contributor to a wide range of academic objectives (see Aspy and Roebuck, 1973; Chamberlin and chamberun, 1943).
ENHANCING SELF-ESTEEM (CHAPTER 18)

The influential work of Abraham Maslow has been used to guide programs to build self-esteem and self-actualizing capability for 40 years. We
explore the principles that can guide our actions as we work with our sudents to ensure that their personal image functions as well as possible.
The personal, social, and academic goals of education are compatible
with one another. The personal family of teaching models provides the essential part of the teaching repertoire that directly addresses the students'
needs for self-esteem and self-understanding and for the support and respect of other students.
THE BEHAWORAL SYSTEMS FAMILY

A common theoretical basemost commonly called social learning the ry,
but also known as behavior modification, behavior therapy, and cybernetics
guides the design of the models in this family. The stance taken is ti at
human beings are self-correcting communication systems that modify behavior in response to information about how successfully tasks are navi
gated. For example, imagine a human being who is climbing (the task) an
unfamiliar staircase in the dark. The first few steps are tentative as the foot
reaches for the treads. If the stride is too high, feedback is received as the
foot encounters air and has to descend to make contact with the surface. If
a step is too low, feedback results as the foot hits the riser. Gradually behavior is adjusted in accordance with the feedback until progress up the
stairs is relatively comfortable.
Capitalizing on knowledge about how people respond to tasks and feedback, psychologists (see especially Skinner, 1953) have learned how to or-
ganize task and feedback structures to make it easy for human beings'
19
20
PART I
self-correcting capability to function. The result includes programs for re-
ducing phobias, learning to read and compute, developing social and athletic skills, replacing anxiety with relaxation, and learning the complexes of
intellectual, social, and physical skills necessary to pilot an airplane or a
space shuttle. Because these models concentrate on observable behavior
and clearly defined tasks and methods for communicating progress to the
student, this family of teaching models has a firm research foundation.
Behavioral techniques are appropriate for learners of all ages and for an
impressive range of edUcational goals. Part V describes four models that, together, represent a part of the spectrum and provide considerable power to
teachers and program and media designers. Table 2.5 displays the models
and their developers.
MASTERY LEARNING AND PROGRAMMED

INSTRUCTION (CHAPTER 19)
The most common application of behavioral systems theory for academic goals takes the form of what is called mastery learning (Bloom, 1971).
First, material to be learned is divided into units ranging from the simple to
the complex. The material is presented to the students, generally working as
individuals, through appropriate media (readings, tapes, activities). Piece by
piece, the students work their way successively through the units of materials, after each of which they take a test designed to help them find out what
TABLE 2.5
BEHAVIORAL MODELS
Models
Mastery learning
Benjamin Bloom
James Block
Direct instruction
Tom Good
Jere Brophy
Carl Gereiter
Ziggy Engleman
Wes Becker
Simulation
Carl Smith
Mary Smith
Albert Bandura
Carl Thoresen
Wes Becker
B. F. Skinner
Social learning
Programmed schedule
(task performance
reinforcement)
21
they have learned. If they have not mastered any given unit, they canrepeat
it or an equivalent version until they have mastered the material.

Instructional systems based on this model have been used to provide in-
struction to students of all ages in areas ranging from the basic skills to
highly complex material in the academic disciplines. With appropriate
adaptation, they have also been used with gifted and talented students, students with emotional problems, and athletes and astronauts.
DIRECT INSTRUCTION (CHAPTER 20)

From studies of the differences between more and less effective teachers and from socia learning theory a paradigm for instructing directly has
been assembled. Direct statements of objectives, sets of activities clearly related to the cbjectives, careful monitoring of progress, arid feedback about
achievement and tactics for achieving more effectively are linked with sits:
of guidelines for facilitating learning.
SIMULATION (CHAPTER 21)

Two approaches to training have been developed from the
cybernetc -'
group of.behavior theorists. One is a theory-to-practice model and the other
is simulation. The former mixes information about a skill with demonstra-
tions, practice, feedback, and coaching until the skill is mastered. For
example, if an arithmetic skill is the objective, it is explained and demonstrated, practice is given with corrective feedback, and the student is asked
to apply it with coaching from peers or the instructor. This variation is commonly used for athletic training.
Simulations are constructed from 'descriptions of real-life situations. A
less-than-real-life environment is created for the instructional situation.
Sometimes the renditions are elaborate (for example, flight and spaceflight
simulators or simulations of international relations). The student engages
in activity to 'achieve the goal of the simulation (to get the aircraft off the
ground, perhaps, or to redevelop an urban area) and has to deal with realistic factors until the goal is mastered.
PROFESSIONAL SIULL AND

DEVELOPMENT
Part VI presents a model for thinking about the design of curriculum and
instruction, a procedure for learning to expand the teaching repertoire, and
a position on helping students learn to increase their repertoire.
THE CONDITIONS OF LEARNING (CHAPTER 22)

Over the years Robert Gagn has proyided ways of organizing instruction that take into account both the condition of the learner and ways of
:?s
/
10
22
PART
sequencing instruction so that one activity builds on another. The resulting
hierarchy is employed in curricular and instructional design.
USING THE TEACHING REPERTOIRE:

A FIRM YET DELICATE HAND
Although we gain personal satisfaction as teachers by expanding our
repertoire of tools, and although teaching is made easier by teaching students strategies for learning, all of the creators of the various models of
teaching have designed them to increase student learning and thus to help
us become more effective piofessionals.
As we consider when and how to use various combinations of models
and, therefore, which learning strategies will get priority for particular units
and lessons and groups of students, we take into account the types and pace
of learning likely to be promoted. We draw on the research to help us determine the sizes and kinds of effects each model has had in its history so
that we can estimate its productivity if we use it properly.
As you study the four families of teaching models, you will want to accumulate a mental picture of what each model is designed. to accomplish
and whether, under certain conditions, one is likely to have a larger effect
than another.
Sometimes decision making is relatively easy because one model just
stands out as though it was crafted for a given purpose. For example, the
jurisprudential model is designed to teach students to analyze public issues
in the high school. It is not appropriate for use with young children, but
then neither is the study of complex national and international political and
economic issues. However, a high school course that has the analysis of
public issues as a major objective can give major attention to the model,
which can actually be used to design a whole course or part of one. The
model serves other objectives (students learn information and concepts
while studying issues, and the model promotes cooperative skills), but those
are its nurturant rather than its primary objectives.
It is more complicated when several models can achieve the same objective. For example, information can be acquired through inductive inquiry
or from readings and lectures developed around advance organizers. Or the
two models can be blended. While the coordination of models with objectives when designing curricula, courses, and activities cannot be thoroughly
addressed until the four families have been studied, we need to keep in mind
as we study each model that it eventually becomes part of a repertoire that
we draw on as we design programs of learning.
As we study the research base, we learn to estimate the magnitude of effects we can get when we teach the students any given model in compari.
son with some other possible procedure.
The cognitive and social tasks that each model of teaching provides to
students are designed to create energy that will result in particular kinds of
learning. The effects of each model are the types of learning prompted by
the model in comparison to a condition in which that model or some equivalent one is not being used. For example, we can ask, "Are certain kinds of
learning enhanced when students study together compared to when they

study alone?" Notice that this is a question of comparison. Clearly students
can learn under either condition. The question when choosing models is
which will probably pay off best in certain courses, units, or episodes. Also,
we have to keep in mind that there are many kinds of learning and that
some may be enhanced through cooperative study whereas others may not.
Placement of models in a program of study is important, as is blending
them appropriately. Consider a program to teach students a new language.
One of the early tasks when learning a new language is to develop an initial
vocabulary. The link-word method has been dramatically successful in initial vocabulary a:quisition, in some cases helping students acquire and retain words as much as twice as fast as normal (Pressley, Levin, and Delaney,
1982), making it a good choice for use early in the program. Students need
to acquire skills in reading, writing, and conversation that are enhanced by
an expanded vocabulary; then other models that generate practice and synthesis can be used.
To make matters more complicated, we have to acknowledge, thankfully, that students are not identical. What helps one person learn a given
thing more efficiently may not help another as much. Fortunately, there are
few known cases where an educational treatment that helps a given type of
student a great deal has serious damaging effects on another type, but dif-
ferences in positive effects can he substantial and need to be taken into

account when we design educational environments. Thus, we pay considerable attention to the "learning history" of students, how they have progressed academically, their self-image, their cognitive and personality
development, and their social skills and attitudes.
Also, students will change as their repertoire of learning strategies increases. As they become a more powerful learning community, they will be
able to accomplish more and more types of learning more effectively. All the
models of teaching in this book can enhance the ability of students to

achieve various learning objectives. In a very real sense, increasing aptitude
to learn is one of the fundamental purposes of these models.
Thus, in assessing the research, we are concerned with the general educational effects of each model and the specific, "model-relevant" effects for
which it was designed. For example, the inductive models were designed to
teach students the methods of science. That is their primary, direct mission.
Research clearly indicates that those models achieve those effects very well,
but that traditional, "chalk-and-talk" methods of teaching science are poor
instruments for teaching the scientific method (Bredderman, 1983; ElNemr, 1979). Just as important, scientific inquiry increases the amount of
information students learn, encourages their development of concepts, and
improves their attitudes toward science. What is of interest to us is that

those models both achieve their primary goals and have general educational
benefits, including gains in student aptitude to learn.
23
24
PART I I FRAME OF REFERENCE
We are satisfied when some models achieve small but consistent effects
that accumulate over time. The advance organizer model, which is designed
to increase the acquisition and retention of information from lectures and
other kinds of presentations such as films and readings, achieves its results
when the "organizers" are properly used (Joyce and Showers, 1995). Con-
sider the thousands of hours of presentations and readings to which students are exposed as part of their education: lectures, written assignments,
and films and other media are so pervasive as educational tools that even
relatively modest increments of knowledge from specific uses of organizers
can add up to impressive increases in learning.
Perhaps the most interesting research has resulted when several mod-
els have been combined to attack multifaceted educational problems.

Robert L. Spaulding, for example, developed a program for economically
poor, socially disruptive, low-achieving children that used social learning
theory techniques based on knowledge from developmental psychology and
inductive teaching models. That program succeeded in improving students'
social skills and cooperative learning behavior, induced students to take
more responsibility for their education, substantially increased students'
learning of basic skills and knowledge, and even improved students' performance on tests of intelligence (Spaulding, 1970).
Spaulding's work illustrates the importance of combining models in an
educational program to pyramid their effects and achieve multiple objectives. Effective education requires combinations of personal, social, and
academic leatning that can best be achieved by using several appropriate
models.
Also, although many models have been designed to promote specific
kinds of learning, they do not necessarily inhibit other objectives. For example, because inductive teaching methods are designed to teach students
how to form concepts and test hypotheses, it is sometimes assumed that
they will inhibit the "coverage" of information. Tests of these models have
found that they are also excellent ways of helping students learn information. In addition, the information so learned is likely to be retained longer
than that learned by the recitation and drill-and-practice methods that are
so common in schools (Worthen, 1968).
Methods designed for particular kinds of content can often be adapted
successfully for others. Inductive methods, for example, were designed for
academic content in the sciences andsocial sciences, but they can also be
used for studying literature and social values.
However, it would be a mistake to assume that, because a particular
model is effective, it should be used exclusively. Inductive models illustrate
this point. If they are used relentlessly for all purposes, they achieve lessthan-optimal results. Creativity is valuable, and the creative spirit should
pervade our lives. But much learning requires noncreative activity. Memorization is important, too, but to build all of education around memorization would be a serious mistake.
CHAPTER 2 I WHERE DO MODELS OF TEACHING COME FROM?
A few models of learning can have dramatic effects in specific applications. The link-word method, one of several models that assist memoriza-
tion, has increased rates of learning two to three times in a series of

experiments. Essentially, this means that students learned given amounts of
material two to three times faster when they used the link-word method
than they would have if they had used customary procedures for memorizing words (Pressley, Levin, and Delaney, 1982). However, such dramatic ef-
fects should not lead us to attempt to achieve all objectives with the
link-word method. It is one of the models of choice when rapid acquisition
of information is the objective, but it is not the sole answer to the problems
of education. On the other hand, it should not be sold short. It has been
shown to be usefulto teach hierarchies of concepts in science (Levin and
Levin, 1990), addressing one of the important and most complex instructional goals. It also nurtures academic self-confidencemore rapid and
confident learning almost always helps students feel better about themselves.
Thus, as we study the tested alternative models of teaching, we find no

easy route to a single model that is superior for all purposes, or even that
should be the sole avenue to any given objective. However, we do find powerful options that we can link to the multiple educational goals that constitute a complete educational diet. The message is that the most effective
teachers (and designers) need to master a range of models and prepare for
a career-long process of adding new tools and polishing and expanding their
old ones.
Satisfaction from personal and professional growth and exploration
should be reason enough for teachers to set as a goal not one or two basic
models to use for all purposes, but a variety that they explore for the potential they hold for pupils and teachers alike.
The world we hope to see is one in which children (and older students)
will experience many models of teaching and learn to profit from them. As
teachers increase their repertoires, so will students increase theirs and become more powerful and multifaceted learners. That is the raison d'tre of
Models of Teaching.
25
CHAPTER
TEACHING AS
INQUIRY
Taking Off from.
the Research Base
It's Inquiiy, INQUIRI INQUIRY! Do I sound like a broken record? But
Thelen was right! It's inquiry, not activity!
Emily Calhoun to Bruce Joyce, for the thousandth time
SCENARIO
The teachers of Kaiser Elementary School in the Newport/Costa Mesa
School District have been learning to use the inductive model of teaching to
help their students connect reading and writing. The objective is to see if
the students can learn to generate better-quality writing by analyzing how
expert writers work. For example, when studying how to introduce characters, the students classify the approaches used by authors in the books they
are reading. They then experiment with the devices they have identified.
Periodically, the teachers ask the students to produce writing elicited

with standardized content and prompts. The students might watch a segment of film that Introduces a character and then be asked to provide a written introductIon to the character. These samples of writing are scored with
an instrument developed at the UCLA Center for Research on Evaluation
(Quellmalz and Burry, 1983) to measure quality of writing across the.

grades. This instrument yields scores on three dimensions of quality.
The year before the teachers began to design the teaching of writing
with the inductive model, the average gain during a year was about 20
points on the scale. For example, the fourth-grade average climbed from a
score of 180 to 200. The grade-six average moved from about 220 toabout
240. As the teachers taught the students to make the connection between
reading and writing, the average gain jumped to about 90 points the first
year. The average student gained about four and a half times more than the
27
28
PART I
average gain the previous year. No student gained less than 40 points. Some
gained as much as 140 points.

The teachers surveyed the research on the teaching of writing and found
some examples of what looked like large gains when particular curriculum
approaches were implemented. They wondered how they could compare
the results of their efforts when some studies used different scales. In this
chapter we will explore what the Kaiser teachers founda tool that will
help us as we examine the research underlying various models of teaching.
More important, we'll see how that tool can be applied to your inquiries into
teaching.
Our Kaiser teachers are inquirers. They conduct teaching as an action research activity, using the knowledge base on teaching as a starting point,
then studying student response, preparing to adapt what they are doing
and also to seek new models that can enhance their students' learning
repertoire.
This chapter is an introduction to the knowledge base and to tools for
individual and collective inquiry into teaching. Models of teaching link educational theory and research to contemporary classroom practice. Each
model is built on long study of teaching and learning. But they are all in the
process of being improved, both through formal research and through the
study of teacher-researchers all over the world. Thus, we urge that you use
the models as a framework for your study of teaching and as points of de-
parture for your inquiry rather than regarding them as formulas that will
work without further need to study student response.
We'll begin our quest with an important tool, one that can be used to as-
sess the existing knowledge base and that will help us conduct inquiry
linked to that base.
THE CONCEPT OF EFFECT SIZE

We use the concept of "effect size" (Glass, 1982) to describe the magnitude of gains from any given change in educational practice and thus to predict what we can hope to accomplish by using that practice.
To introduce the idea, let us consider a study conducted by Dr. Bharati
Baveja with the authors (1988) in the Motilal Nehru School of Sports about
30 miles northwest of New Delhi, India. Dr. Baveja designed her study to
test the effectiveness of an inductive approach to a botany unit compared
with an intensive tutorial treatment. All the students were given a test at the
beginning of the unit to assess their knowledge before instruction began

and were divided into two groups equated on the basis of achievement. The
control group studied the material with the aid of tutoring and lectures on
the materialthe standard treatment in Indian schools for courses of this
type. The experimental group worked in pairs and were led through inductive and concept attainment exercises emphasizing classification of plants.
CHAPTER 3 I TEACHING AS INQUIRY
Figure 3.1 shows the distribution of scores for the experimental and
control groups on the posttest which, like the pretest, contained items dealing with the information pertaining to the unit.
The difference between the experimental and control groups was a littie above a standard deviation. The difference, computed in terms of standard deviations, is the effect size of the inductive treatment. Essentially, what
that means is that the experimental-group average score was where the 80th
percentile score was for the control group. The difference increased when a
delayed recall test was given 10 months later, indicating that the information acquired with the concept-oriented strategies was retained somewhat
better than information gained via the control treatment.
Calculations like these enable us to compare the magnitude of the potential effects of the innovations (teaching skills and strategies, curricula,
and technologies) that we might use in an effort to affect student learning.
We can also determine whether the treatment has different effects for all
kinds of students or just for some. In the study described just above, the experimental treatment was apparently effective for the whole population.
The lowest score in the experimental-group distribution was about where
the 30th-percentile score was for the control group, and about 30 percent of
the students exceeded the highest score obtained in the control.
Although substantial in their own right, gains in learning and retention
of information were modest when we consider the effect on the students'
ability to identify plants and their characteristics, which was measured on
a separate test. The scores by students from the experimental group were
eight times higher than the scores for the control group. Baveja's inquiry
FIGURE 3.1 Compared distributions for experimental and control groups: Baveja study.
29
30
PART I
confirmed her hypothesis that the students, using the inductive model, were
able to apply the information and concepts from the unit much more effectively than were the students from the tutorial treatment.
FURTHER INQUIRY INTO EFFECT SIZE

Let's work through some concepts that are useful in describing distributions of scores to deepen our understanding a bit.
We describe distributions of scores in terms of the central tendencies,
which refer to the clustering of scores around the middle of thedistribution,
and variance, or their dispersion. Concepts describing central tendency include the average or arithmetic mean, which is computed by summingthe
scores and dividing by the number of scores, the median or middle score
(half of the others are above and 'half below the median score), and the
mode, which is the most frequent score (graphically, the highest point in
the distribution). h Figure 12 the median, average, and mode are all in the
same place, because the distribution is completely symmetrical.
Dispersion is described in terms of the range (the distance between the
highest and lowest scores), the rank, which is frequently described in percentiles (the 20th score from the top in a 100-person distribution is atthe 80th
percentile because 20 percent of the scores are above and 80 percentare.below

it), and the standard deviation, which describes how widely ornarrowly scores
are distributed. In Figure 3.3, the range is from 70 (the lowest score) to 150
(the highest score). The 50th-percentile score is at the middle (in this case corresponding with the average, the mode, and the median). The standard devia-
FIGURE 3.2 A sample normal distribution.
CHAPTER 3 / TEACHING AS INQUIRY
FIGURE 3.3 A sample normal distribution with standard deviations.
tions are marked off by the vertical lines labeled + 1 SD, +2 SD, and so on. Note
that the percentile rank of the score 1 standard deviation above the mean is 84
(84 percent of the scores are below that point); the rank 2 standard deviations
above the mean is 97; and 3 standard deviations above the mean is 99.
When the mean, median, and mode coincide as in these distributions,

and the distribution of scores is as symmetrical as the ones depicted in these
figures, the distribution is referred to as normal. This concept is useful in
statistical operations, although many actual distributions are not symmetrical, as we will see. To explain the concept of effect size, we will use symmetrical, "normal" distributions before illustrating how the concept works
with differently shaped distributions.
Thus, in Figure 3.4 we will convert the results of the study of group investigation that appeared in Table 1.2 to graphical form. Figure 3.4 compares the posttest scores of the low-SES students in the "whole-class" and
"group investigation" treatments. The average score of the "group investigation" treatment corresponds to about the 92nd percentile of the distribution of the "whole-class" students. The effect size is computed by dividing
the difference between the two means by the standard deviation of the "control" or "whole-class" group. The effect size in this case is 1.6 standard deviations using the formula
ES = Average of experimental group Average of control group +
Standard deviation of control
Throughout the book figures like these will provide an idea about the
relative effects one can expect if one teaches students with each model of
31
32
FIGURE 3.4 A sample depiction of effect size: Sharan-Shachar study.
teaching compared with using the normative patterns of curriculum and instruction. We will create each figure from an analysis of the research base
currently available and will usually build the figure to depict the average effects from large numbers of studies.
When using the research base to decide when to use a given model of teach-
ing it is important to realize that size of effects is not the only consideration.
We have to consider the nature of the objectives and the uses of the model. For
example, in Spaulding's study described above, the effect size on ability

measures was just 0.5, or about a half standard deviation (see Figure 3.5).
However, ability is a powerful attribute, and a model or combination of
models that can increase ability will have an effect on everything the student does for years to come, increasing learning through those years. The
simplest cooperative learning procedures have relatively modest effect

sizes, affecting feelings about self as a learner, social skills, and academic
learning, and they are easy to use and have wide applications. Thus, their
modest effect can be felt more regularly and broadly than some models that
have more dramatic effect sizes with respect to a given objective.
Some models can help us virtually eliminate dispersion in a distribution.
For example, a colleague of ours used mnemonic devices to teach his fourthgrade students the names of the states and their capitals. All his students
learned all of them and remembered them throughout the yeat Thus the dis
tribution of his class's scores on tests of their ability to supply all the names
on a blank map had no range at all. The average score was the highest possible score. There were no percentile ranks because the students' scores were
all tied at the top. For some objectivesbasic knowledge about the U.S. Constitution, computation skills, a basic reading vocabularywe want, in fact,
to have a very high degree of success for all our students because anything
less is terribly disadvantaging for themand for their society.
CHAPTER 3 I TEACHING AS INCUIRY
FIGURE 3.5 A sample effect size: ability scores from Spaulding study.
attractive, size alone is not
Although high effect sizes make a treatmentalternatives. Modest effect
the only consideration when choosing among

payoff for the population. A
sizes that affect many persons worthwhile.
can have a large
Suppose
a dread disease is afcomparison with medicine is
fecting a population and we possess a vaccine that will reduce the chances
might beof contracting the disease by only 10 percent. If a million personsmodest

efvaccine
but
900,000
if
it
is
used,
the
come infected without the
fect of the vaccine might save 100,000 lives. In education, some estimates
each
suggest that during the first year of school about one million children
read.
We
toward learning to
year (about 30 percent) make little progress
instruction
is
in
fact
a
dread
edualso know that lack of success in reading
cational disease, since for each year that initial instruction is unsuccessful
the probability that the student will respond to instruction later is greatly
one that reduced the
lowered. Would a modestly effective treatmentsay,
children
by
5 percentbe worthlack of success in the first year for 50,000
treatments
might
be cumulative. Of
while? We think so. Also, several such
but one is not always available.
course, we prefer a high-effect treatment,students
and we might need to reEven when it is, it might not reach some
sort to a less-powerful choice for those students.
Also, different types of effects need to be considered. Attitudes, values,
concepts, intellectual development, skills, and information are just a few.
Keeping to the example of early reading, two treatments might be approximately equal in terms of learning to read in the short run, but one might afready
fect attitudes positively and leave the students feeling confident andsimilar
programs might achieve
to try again. Similarly, two social studiesbut
one might excel in attitudes
amounts of information and concepts, instances,
when the effect size
toward citizenship. In the most dramatic
the lowest-scoring student in the
reaches five or six standard deviations,
33
34
experimental treatment exceeds the highest-scoring student in the control
treatment! This is a rare event, of course, but when it does occur, it gives us
great hope about the potential of educational practice.
Again, as we describe some practices and the effects that can be expected from them, we should not concentrate on magnitude Of effects alone.
Self-instructional programs that are no more effective than standard instruction can be very useful because they enable students to teach them-
selves and can be blended with agent-delivered instruction. Broadcast

television, because of its potential to reach so many children, can make a
big difference even though it is modestly effective in comparison with standard instruction. Sesame Street and the Electric Company (Ball and Bogatz,
1970) are examples. They are not dramatically more effective than firstgrade instruction without them, but they produce positive attitudes and
augment instruction handsomely, enabling a certain percentage of students
to virtually teach themselves. In fact, distance education and media-based
instruction (learning from television, computer-assisted instruction, and
packages of multimedia materials) need not be more effective to be terribly
useful. For example, in a high school that does not offera given foreign language, a student who can learn that language by self-study assisted by television, computer programs, and such can benefit greatly. The British Open
University, operated as distance education augmented by tutorial centers,
virtually doubled the number of university graduates in the United Kingdom, and the performance of its students on academic. tests conipared favorably with the performance of "regular" university students.
Some procedures can interact productively with others. One-to-one tutoring has a very large effect size (Bloom, 1984) and might interact productively with some teaching strategies. Or, as is evidently the case within
the "Success for All" (Slavin, Madden, Karweit, Livermon, and Dolan, 1990)
and "Reading Recovery" (Pinnell, I 9S9) programs, it is incorporated within
a curriculum management system that enables short periods of tutoring to
pay off handsomely. On the other hand, "tracking" hurts the effectiveness of
any procedure (Oakes, 1986).
Simply learning the size of effects of a year's instruction can be very informative, as we learned from the National Assessment of Writing Progress
(Applebee et a!., 1990). This assessment revealed that the effect size of instruction in writing nationally is such that the average eighth-grade student
is about at the 62nd percentile of the fourth-grade distributiOn! Schools may
want to learn how much better they can do than that!
Measures of learning can be of many kinds. School grades are ofgreat
importance, as are measures of conduct such as counts of referrals and suspensions. In fact, staff development programs want to give dose attention to
those measures as well as simple measures such as howmany books students
read. Content analyses of student work arevery important, as in the study of
quality of writing. Curriculum-relevant tests (those that measure the content
of a unit or course) are important. Finally, the traditional standardizedtests
can be submitted to an analysis that produces estimates of effect size.
CENARI0
When our Kaiser School faculty discovered the concept of effect size,
they were able to calculate the effects of their efforts in such a way that they
could compare their results to those of other efforts. They consulted the review of research on writing conducted by George Hillocks (1987) and found
that the average effect size of "inquiry" approaches to the teaching of writing was 0.67 compared to textbook-oriented instruction. The average stu70th percentile of the
dent in the average treatment was at about the
method.
For each grade the
distributions of students taught by the textbook
teachers carefully calculated the effect size. For example, their sixth grade
had gained an average of 90 points compared with an average of 20 the previous year (the control), a difference of 70 points. The standard deviation of
the control year was 55. Dividing 55 into 70 they calculated an effect size of
1.27, nearly twice the average in the Hillocks review. The average student in
the first year the inductive model was used was at approximately the 90th
percentile of the distribution of the control year. Figure 3.6 depicts the two
distributions.
As we said before, our Kaiser teachers are inquirers. They picked a model
of teaching, learned to use it, and inquired into its effects on the students.
The inquiry will lead them to continue to search for ways of using that
FIGURE 3.6 Comparison of Kaiser students' gains in quaility
with 199495.
of writing, 199394
35
36
PART
model well and for other models that can serve their students. They are clas-
sic "teacher-researchers."
The state of the art is not such that any specific curricular or instructional models can solve all problems of student learning. Educational research is in its infancy. We hope that the readers of this book will not just
use it as a source of teaching and learning strategies, but will learn how to
add to the knowledge base. There are more than two million teachers in the
United States alone. If only 1 percent conducted and reported one study
each year, there would be 20,000 new studies every year, a knowledge Increment several times larger than the entire current base. But aside from
contributing to the larger knowledge base, teachers in any school can, by
studying their teaching, share ideas that can help everyone in the school become more effective.
GETTING GOING: SURVEYING THE

KNOWLEDGE BASE
The following pages are designed to provide an introduction to some of the
research underlying the models of teaching described later in the book and
also some other sources of research on teaching practices. The aspects of
research dealt with are ones that we believe can provide some understanding of the yield to date, but the review is not exhaustive. To summarize all
the research would require several volumes. This book is about teaching, so
most of its space needs to be devoted to the models and how they work,
However, the models rely heavily on the knowledge base. We need to consider the nature of that base and how to use it to help us select the models
that will best fuel our quest to do our job knowledgeably and well. Our focus
is on what can be achieved if any given model is used well. From that starting point, you learn one model and conduct your own inquiry to see how it
works and whether you can improve it.
INQUIRY INTO MODELS OF TEACHING

Most models of teaching are designed for specific purposesthe teaching
of information, concepts, ways of thinking, the study of social values, and
so onby asking students to engage in particular cognitive and social tasks.
The research generally begins with a thesis describing an educational environment, its presumed effects, and a rationale that links the environment
and its intended effectshow to develop concepts or to learn them, how to
build theories, memorize information, solve problems, learn skills. Some
models center on delivery by the instructor while others develop as the

learners respond to tasks, and the student is regarded as a partner in the educational enterprise. However, all mature educational models emphasize
how to help students learn to construct knowledgelearning how to learn.

including learning from sources that are often stereotyped as passive, such
as learning from lectures, films, reading assignments, and such.
Testing instructional models requires training teachers to use them. The
first step in theory-driven research is often the collection of baseline data

about how the teachers normally teach. Then the teachers are prepared to
use the new teaching behaviors, including how to teach the students the
"learning skills" essential to the model. Since most teachers have used the
"recitation" or "lecture-recitation" as the primary mode of teaching (Goodlad, 1984; Goodlad and Klein, 1970; Hoetker and Ahlbrand, 1969; Sirotnik,
1983), training in new strategies must be extensive enough that the new
model becomes comfortable. Implementation of the new behavior is monitored, either in the regular classroom or in a laboratory setting, and theory-
relevant student behaviors or outcomes are measured. Experimental

classrooms are often compared with control classrooms to determine the
presence, direction, and magnitude of change, with the use of the concept
of effect size. In lines of programmatic research, such as those conducted
by Pressley, Levin, and their colleagues on mnemonics (Levin and Levin,
1990) and those by Sharan (1990, 1992) and his colleagues on complex cooperative learning models, repeated studies attempt to engineer increasingly effective ways of helping students learn. One way of looking at this
type of research is that the development of a model of teaching is the process
of submitting an educational idea to repeated testing and ref Itrement until the
idea has matured to the point where fairly precise predictions can be made
about how to use it and the effects to be expected if it is implemented well. In
nearly all cases the mastery of a model by the students is the key to effectivenessthe students have to learn how to engage in the particular learning process emphasized by that model:
INQUIRY INTO COOPERATiVE LEARNING MODELS

There have been three lines of research on ways of helping students
study and learn together, one led by David and Roger Johnson, a second by
Robert Slavin, and the third by Shlomo and Yael Sharan and Rachel HertzLazarowitz in Israel. Among other things, the Johnsons and their colleagues
(1974, 1981, 1990) have studied the effects of cooperative task and reward
structures on learning. The Johnsons' (1 975a, 1981) work on peers teaching
peers has provided information about the effects of cooperative behavior on
both traditional learning tasks and on values and intergroup behavior and
attitudes. Their models emphasize the development of what they call positive interdependence, or cooperation where collective action also celebrates
individual differences. Slavin's extensive 1983 review includes the study of
a variety of approaches where he manipulates the complexity of the social
tasks and experiments with various types of grouping. He reported success
with the use of heterogeneous groups with tasks requiring coordination of
group members, both on academic learning and intergroup relations, and
37
38
PART I
has generated a variety of strategies that employ extrinsic and intrinsic re-
ward structures. The Israeli team has concentrated on group investigation,

the most complex of the social models of teaching.
What is the magnitude of effects that we can expect when we learn to
use the cooperative learning strategies effectively? Rolheiser-Bennett

(1986) compared the effects of the degrees of cooperative structure required
by the several approaches (Joyce, Showers, and Rolheiser-Bennett, 1989).
On standardized tests in the basic curriculum areas (such as reading and

mathematics), the highly structured approaches to teaching students wo
work together generated effect sizes of an average 0.28 with some studies
approaching half a standard deviation. On criterion-referenced tests the average was 0.48, with some of the best implementations reaching an effect
of about 1 standard deviation. The more elaborate cooperative learning
models generated an average effect size of somewhat more than I standard
deviation, with some exceeding 2 standard deviations. (The average student
was above the 90th percentile student in the control group.) The effects on
higher-order thinking were even greater, with an average effect of about 1.25
standard deviations and effects in some studies as high as 3 standard deviations (Figure 3.7).
WHOLE-SCHOOL COOPERATIVE LEARNING
Research that compares schools has gone on for some time. In the early
years, these studies were designed on a planned-variation model, where

schools operating from different stances toward education were compared
FIGURE 3.7 Effects of elaborate cooperative learning strategies on student achievement compared with noncooperative lecture/recitation procedures.
with one another. For example, 50 years ago the beautifully designed "eightyear study" (Chamberlin and Chamberlin, 1943) submitted the theses of the
Progressive Movement (largely cooperative learningoriented) to a serious
(and generally successful) test and defended it against the suggestion that
social and personal models of education were dangerous to the academic
health of students. Recent research on unusually effective schools has found
that one of their most prominent characteristics is a cooperative social climate in which all faculty and students work together to build a supportive,
achievement-oriented climate.
Taken as a whole, research on cooperative learning is overwhelmingly
positivenearly every study has had from modest to very high effects.
Moreover, the cooperative approaches are effective over a range of achieve-
ment measures. The more intensely cooperative the environment, the

greater the effectsand the more complex the outcomes (higher-order processing of information, problem solving), the greater the effects.
The cooperative environment engendered by these models has had substantial effects on the cooperative behavior of the students, increasing feelings of empathy for others, reducing intergroup tensions and aggressive and
antisocial behavior, improving moral judgment, and building positive feelings toward others, including those of other ethnic groups. Many of these effect sizes are substantiali or 2 standard deviations are not uncommon and
one is as high as 8. Hertz-Lazarowitz (1993) used one of the models to create integrative interaction between Israeli and Arab students in the West
Bank! Margarita Calderon has worked with Lazarowitz and Jusefina Tinajero to adapt a cooperative integrated reading and composition program for
bilingual students with some nice results (Calderon, HertzLazarowitz, and
l'inajero, 1991). An adaptation in higher education that organizes students
into cooperative study groups reduced a dropout rate in engineering from
40 to about 5 percent (Bonsangue, 1993). Conflict-resolution strategies have
taught students to develop integrative behavior and reduced social tension
in some very divided environments in inner-city schools (Johnson and Johnson, 1990).
INQUIRY INTO INFORMATION-PROCESSING MODELS

Quite a number of models of teaching are designed to increase students'
ability to process information more powerfully. These include methods for
presenting information so that students can learn and retain it more effectively by operating on it more conceptually, systems that assist memorization and teach students how to organize information for mastery, models to
teach students to collect and organize information conceptually, and ones
to teach students to use the methods of the disciplines, to engage in causal
reasoning, and to master concepts.
Many of these models have an extensive recent research literature (the
number ranges from about a dozen to more than 300 publications). We will
discuss just three models here: advance organizers, mnemonics, and scientific inquiry.
39
40
PART I
ADVANCE ORGANIZERS
David Ausubel's formulation (1963) that there would be greater retention of materials from presentations and reading if the material was accompanied by organizing ideas has generated more than 200 studies.
Essentially, lectures, assignments of reading and research, and courses are
accompanied by presentations of concepts that help the student increase intellectual activity during and after exposure to information. The early studies involved much experimentation with ways of formulating and delivering
organizers. Because of modest findings, some reviewers asserted that the
line of work was not paying off (Barnes and Clausen, 1975). The technique
advanced quite a bit during the 1 970s, however, and current reviewers are
quite positive (Lawton and Wanska, 1 977a, 1979; Luiten, Ames, and Ackerson, 1980). Rolheiser-Bennett's (1986) review of 18 recent investigations
turned up an average effect size of lower-order achievement (such as the recall of information and concepts) of 1.35. (With such an effect the average
student studying with the aid of organizers learned about as much as the
90th-percentile student studying the same material without the assistance
of the organizing ideas.) The effects on higher-order thinking (transfer of
concepts to new material, and so on) averaged 0.42. Longer-term studies obtained somewhat better results than did short-term studies, presumably be-
cause the organizing ideas became better anchored in the minds of the
students and had greater facilitating effect.
Stone's (1983) analysis indicated that organizers are effective across ages,
being somewhat more effective for students at the stage of concrete operations (when students may need more assistance formulating abstract ideas to
anchor content), and across curriculum areas. Illustrations add to the effectiveness of organizers, and the impact is increased when they lead to activities and generalizations. While organizers affect several kinds of outcomes,
recall of facts and formulas is most affected. The prediction that can be made
is that teachers who accompany presentations and written assignments with organizers will have consistent, although sometimes modest, effects on the learn-
ing of information and concepts. Because readings and lectures repeatedly

reach so many learners, the cumulative potential is great. Also, structuring a
course around organizers, organizing presentations and assignments within
the course, tying the organizers to activities that require their application,
and illustrating them can have effects as high as 2 standard deviations. (With
an effect Qf that size, the lowest-achieving students are about where the average student would be when studying without the help of organizers. The
rest of the distribution is comparably above the control.)
MNEMONICS (SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE MEMORIZATION)
Although research on memorization and mnemonic strategies has been

conducted for more than a hundred years, until a few years ago most of the
yield for school practice offerred few and very general guidelines, such as
advice about when to mass and when to distribute practice. Little research
In the mid-1970s a
Atkinson
at
Stanford
University that
productive line of work was begun by
the
Universities
of Westhas been greatly extended by Pressley and Levin at
developed
a
series
of
systems
for orern Ontario and Wisconsin. They have
had been conducted on the learning of school subjects.
ganizing information to promote memory and have given particular,

although not exclusive, attention to a method known as the "link-word"
method. Atkinson applied the method during experiments with computerassisted instruction in which he was attempting to increase students' larnwith what he
ing of initial foreign language vocabularies. He experimented
designed
to
make assocalled "acoustic" and "imagery" links. The flrst was
the
sounds
of
known
English
ciations between foreign pronunciations and
vivid
(Atkinson,
1975).
words. The second was used to make the connection
much
learning
in
two
In one early study the link-word method produced as
The
experimental
group
trials as the conventional method did in three.
learned about half as many words more than the control group and maintained the advantage after several weeks. He also found that the method was
enhanced when the students supplied their own imagery.
Further developmental work included experiments with children of various ages and across subjects. Using a link-word system in Spanish vocabulary learning, second- and fifth-grade children learned about twice the
number of words as did children using rote and rehearsal methods (Pressley, 1977). In later work with Levin and Miller (Pressley, Levin, and Miller,
action" variant of the method
1981 a, 1981 b), Pressley employed a "pictured
with first- and sixth-grade children, who acquired three times as much vocabulary as did control groups. With Dennis-Rounds (Pressley and DennisRounds, 1980), he extended the strategy to social studies information
(products and cities) and learned that students could transfer the method
to other learning tasks with instruction. Pressley, Levin, and McCormick
(1980) found that primary school students could generate sentences to enhance memorization. The results were three times as great as for students
using their own methods. Similar results were found with kindergarten and
preschool children (Pressley et a!., 1981a, 1981b). Pressley and colleagues
(1981 a, 198 ib) successfully extended the work to vocabulary with abstract
meanings. Levin and Levin (1990) have also extended the application to abstract prose.
It was important to learn whether better "natural" memorizers, with

practice, develop their own equivalent methods. Pressley, Levin, and
Ghatala (1984) asked whether students, with age and practice, would spontaneously develop elaborated methods for memorizing material and found
that very few did. The better performers had developed more elaborate
methods than the majority, who used rote-rehearsal methods alone. Howlearning for the
ever, the newly developed mnemonic methods enhanced
it
appears
that the
best memorizers, as well as for the others. Hence,
method or an equivalent one can be beneficial for most students.
The consistency of the findings is impressive. The link-word method ap-
of
pears to have general applicability across subject matters and ages
41
42
PART I / FRAMEOFREFERENCE
children (Pressley, Levin, and Delaney, 1982) and can be used by teachers
and taught to children. The effect sizes reached by many of the studies are
quite high. The average for transfer tasks (where the material learned was
to be applied in another setting) was 1.91. Recall of attributes of items (such
as towns, cities, minerals) was 1.5. Foreign language acquisition was 1.3,
with many studies reporting very high outcomes. Delayed recall generally
maintained the gains, indicating that the mnemonics strategies have a lasting effect.
SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY
Models taken directly from the sciences have been the basis for curric-
ula for both elementary and high school children. A description of the
teaching skills and the effects of the science-based curriculums is included

in a later section of this chapter. The results of the research indicate that the
scientific method can be taught and has positive effects on the acquisition
of information, concepts, and attitudes. More narrowly defined studies have
been made on inductive teaching and inquiry training. Beginning with
Taba's (1966) expi oration of an inductive social studies curriculum, periodic
small-scale studies have probed the area. In 1968 Worthen provided evidence to support one of its central thesesthat inducedconcepts would facilitate long-term recall. Feeley (1972) reviewed the social science studies
and reported that differences in terminology hampered the accumulation of
research but that the inductive methods generally lived up to expectations,
generating concept development and positive attitudes. Research on Suchman's (1964) model for teaching causal reasoning directly supported the
proposition that inquiry training can be employed with both elementary
and high school children. Schrenker (1976) reported that inquiry training
resulted in increased understanding of science, greater productivity in critical thinking, and skills for obtaining and analyzing infonnation. He reported that it made little difference in the mastery of information per se, but
that it was as efficient as didactic methods or the didactic-cum-laboratory
methods generally employed to teach science. Ivany (1969) and Collins
(1969) examined variants in the kinds of confrontations and materials used
and reported that the strength of the confrontation asa stimulus to inquiry
was important and that richness in instructional materials was a significant
factor. Elefant (1980) successfully carried out the strategy with deaf children in an intriguing study that has implications for work with all children.
Voss's (1982) general review includes an annotation of a variety of studies
that are generally supportive of the appioach.
Currently the clearest evidence about the potential effects on students
comes from the study of the academically oriented curriculums in science
and mathematics that were developed and used during the 20-year period
from 1955 to 1975 and from the experience with elementarycurriculums in
a variety of subject areas (Becker and Gersten, 1982; Rhine, 1981). The theory of the academic curriculums was relatively straightforward. The essence
of the position was stated in Bruner's The Process of Education (1961) and
Schwab and Brandwein's The Teaching of Science (1962). The teaching of sci-
ence should be as much as possible a simulation of the scientific process itself. The concepts of the disciplines should be studied rigorously in relation
to their knowledge base. Thus science would be learned as inquiry. Further,
the information learned would be retained well because it would be embedded in a meaningful framework and the student would possess the interrelated concepts that make up the structure of the disciplines.
In the academic reform movement of the 1950s and 1 960s, entire curriculums in the sciences (for example, Biological Sciences Study Committee's Biology), social studies (such as Man: A Course of Study), mathematics
(for instance, School Mathematics Study Group), and language (like the linguistic approaches) were developed and introduced to the schools. These
curriculums had in common their designers' beliefs that academic subjects
should be studied with the tools of their respective disciplines. Most of these
curriculums therefore required that students learn the modes of inquiry employed by the disciplines as well as factual material. Process was valued
equally with content, and many of these curriculums became characterized
as "inquiry oriented."
Much curriculum research resembles the experimental studies of teaching, but the unit under study is a configuration of content, teaching methods, instructional materials and technologies, and organizational forms. In
the experiments any one of the elements of curriculum may be studied sep-
arately or in combination with the others, and the yield is expressed in

terms of whether a curriculum produces predicted effects. Research on curriculum depends heavily on training in the content of the curriculum and
the. teaching strategies needed to implement it. Following training, implementationis monitored, either by classroom observation or interviews. Effects are determined by comparing student outcomes in experimental and
control classrooms. In a few studies (for example, Almy, 1970), combinations of curriculums are employed to determine effects on cognitive development and intelligence.
In reviewing the studies, El-Nemr (1979) concentrated on the teaching
of biology as inquiry in high schools and colleges. He looked at the effects
on achievement of information, on the development of process skills, and
on attitudes toward science. The experimentally oriented biology curriculums achieved positive effects on all three outcomes. The average effect
sizes were largest for process skills (0.44 at the high school level and 0.62 at
the college level). For achievement they were 0.27 and 0.11 respectively, and
for attitudes, 0.22 and 0.51. Bredderman's (1983) analysis included a

broader range of science programs and included the elementary grades. He
also reported positive effects for information (0.10), creativity (0.13), science process (0.52), and, in addition, reported effects on intelligence tests
where they were included (0.50). From these and other studies we can conclude that it is possible to develop curriculums that will achieve modelrelevant effects and also will increase learning of information and concepts.
43
44
Also, vigorous curriculums in one area appear to stimulate growth in
other, apparently unconnected areas. For example, Smith's (1980) analysis
of aesthetics curriculums shows that the implementation of the arts-
oriented curriculums was accompanied by gains in the basic skills areas.

Possibly an active and effective curriculum in one area has energing effects
on the entire school program. Hillocks' (1987) review of the teaching of
reading and writing produced similar effects. His conclusion indicatedjust
how closely hQw we teach is connected with what We teach. Essentially, the
inductive approaches to the teaching of reading and writing produced av-
erage effect sizes of about 0.60 compared to treatments that covered the
same material, but without the inductive approaches to the teaching/learning process.
Reviews (Sternberg, 1 986b; Sternberg and Bahna, 1986) ofsome of the
recently developed packages for teaching elements of analyticreasoning to
students have reported modest effects for some of them. Bereiter (1984)
produced a fine analysis of various approaches to the teaching of thinking
in which he concluded that the teaching of thinking is far better undertaken
in a fashion that is integrated with the curriculum areas than in a "separateskills" approach.
INQUIRY INTO PERSONAL MODELS OF TEACHING

Synectics (Gordon and Poze, 1971 b) is designed both to enhance per-
sonal flexibility and creativity and to teach another of the higher-order
thinking skills, specifically the ability to think divergently and generate alternative and relevant solutions to difficult problems and alternative perspectives on important concepts and values.
Research on synectics indicates that it achieves its "model-relevant"
purposes, increasing student generation of ideas, divergent solutions to
problems, and fluency in expressing ideas. (Effect sizes average 1.5 for
generation of ideas and problem solving.) By helping student', develop
more multidimensional perspectives, it also increases recall of material
from written, passages by an effect size of 2.0, and the information is retained at an even higher level.- It is of considerable interest is that teaching
students to think creatively is positively related with the learning and retention of information and can increase the lower-orderoutcomes to a substantial degree. Many laypeople form the opinion that an emphasis on
creativity runs counter to the acquisition of information, concepts, and
skills, but it turns out that they are enhanced by the synthesis required to
think metaphorically.
NONDIRECTIVE TEACHING
Carl Rogers's Freedom to Learn in the Eighties (1982) includes a chapter

summarizing much of the research from the humanistic perspective. Aspy,
(Roebuck, Wilison, and Adams, 1974) and Roebuck, Buhler, and Aspy
CHAPTER 3
/ TEACHING AS INQUIRY
(1976) have been very productive over the last 20 years. They have explored
several of the theses of the personal family of models, particularly that

building self-directed, empathetic communities of learners will have positive effects on students' feelings about themselves and others and, consequently, will free energy for learning. Roebuck, Buhier, and Aspy's (1976)
study with students identified as having learning difficulties produced positive effects on self-concept, intergroup attitudes and interaction patterns,
achievement in reading and mathematics, and increased scores on tests of
intelligence. In studies of classroom teachers, they have documented the
need for extensive training (Aspy et al., 1974). The students of teachers who
had learned the model thoroughly achieved more, felt better about them-
selves, had better attendance records, and iniproved theli interpersonal

skills. The model of nondirective teaching is complex. Teachers have to develop egalitarian relationships with the students, create a cooperative group
of students who respect one anothers' differences in personality and ability,
and help those students develop programs of study (including goals and the
means for achieving them). They also have to provide feedbackabout performance and behavior and teach the students to reflect on one another's
behavior and performance, help individuals and groups evaluate progress,
and maintain an affirmative social climate.
Here, as with synectics, the findings run counter to what many people
expect. Placing the student at the center of the learning processand paying
close attention to personality development and esteem for self apparently
enhance learning in the academic as well as the personal domain.
BEHAVIORAL SYSTEMS MODELS

This family, based on the work of B. F. Skinner and the cybernetic training psychologists (Smith and Smith, 1966), has the largest literature. Studies range from programmed instruction to simulations and include training
models (Joyce and Showers, 1983) and methods derived directly from therapy (Wolpe and Lazarus, 1966). There is a great deal of research on the ap-
plication of social learning theory to instruction (Becker and Gersten,

1982), training (Smith and Smith, 1966), and simulations (Boocock and
Schild, 1968). The behavioral technologists have demonstrated that they
can design programs for both specific and general goals (Becker and Gersten, 1982) and also that the effective application of those techniques requires extensive cognitive activity and precise interactive skills (Spaulding,
1970).
A recent analysis by White (1986) examined the results of studies on the
application of the DISTAR version of social learning theory to special

education. The average effect sizes for mathematics and reading ranged
from about one-half to one standard deviation. The effects for moderately
and severely handicapped students were similar. Perhaps most important,
there were a few studies in which the effects on aptitude (measures of
intellectual ability) were included. Where the DISTAR program was
45
46
PART I
implemented for several years the effect sizes were 1.0 or above, represent-
ing an increase of about 10 points in the standard JO ratio.

Thoreson and his associates have concentrated on teaching people to
change their behavior by developing their own programs. Some of the most
interesting work relates to the self-curing of phobias, such as acrophobia,
and teaching people to monitor and modify their own behavior in social situations, such as overcoming excessive shyness and aggressiveness.
INQUIRERS BUILDING ON INQUIRERS

In recent years there has been a new "call to arms" to help students learn to
construct knowledge (Brooks and Brooks, 1993). We discuss three types of
student learning. One is where the students attempt to discover the world
from their own perspectives. The second is the work by groups of students
to inquire together and construct ideas about the world. The third is inquiry
based on the academic disciplines, where students try on the ideas and
approaches to inquiry that prevail in the disciplines. Each of these three
types of student learning can be facilitated by the different families of models of teaching. The assumption that if students construct knowledge their
learning will be both richer and more enduring is borne out by most of
the research. Whether it is the "inquiry" approaches to language learning
(Hillocks, 1987), or the inductive approaches to science (Bredderman,
1983), or the development of group investigation in social science (or any
other curriculum area), the various themes of constructivism pay off, not
only in helping students learn to reason and gain conceptual control over
academic substance, but in the learning of information and skills as well.
The relation to teaching is that, as we help students construct knowledge,
we are constructing knowledge about teaching.
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
School faculties can use models of teaching as an avenue to school improvement by learning sets of models that can increase the learning capac-
ity of their students. In a recent school improvement project (Joyce,

Murphy, Showers, and Murphy, 1989), part of the focus was on a middle
school whose students had poor histories of learning. Only 30 percent of the
students achieved promotion at the end of the year before the project began.
Scores on standard tests revealed that the average student in the school had
gained only about 6 months' achievement for each year in school (10
months is average). The school district had made a number of initiatives to
alleviate the situation, including special programs for "at-risk" students,
lowered class size, increased counseling services, and so on, all with no effect. However, as the teachers learned to use several models of teaching designed to increase cooperative activity, teach cOncepts, and teach students
to work inductively and to memorize information, the learning rates of the
students began to improve dramatically. By the end of the first year, 70 per-
cent achieved the standards required for promotion, and 95 percent

achi.eved promotion at the end of the second year. Juc!'ing from the standardized tests administered at the end of the second year, the average tudents in the school were achieving at a normal ratethat is, gaining 10
months of learning for 10 months of effort when compared to the U.S. population as a whole. We believe that the use of the models of teaching that
the teachers added to their repertoire increased the learning rates of the students, reduced off-task behavior, and improved the tone of the school's social climate. Time lost in disciplinary action decreased & matically, to
about one-fifth of the amount lost before the program began. It is unlikely
that any one model could have achieved effects of this magnitude, but the
combination of models helped students learn a variety of learning strategies
that together enabled them to educate themselves more strongly.
THE UNENDING SEARCH

As you examine the models presented in the following chapters, you
may want to glance back at this chapter from time to time and think about
the inquiries that can be engaged in as you begin to design lessons, units,
and courses for your students. We never finish studying teachingwe are
all, as Ernest Hemingway put it with respect to writing, "apprentices to a
craft which none of us will ever master."
47
CHAPTER
THE CONSTRUCTION
OF KNOWLEDGE,
METACOGNITIONS,
AND CONCEPTIONS
OF INTELLIGENCE
What I can't figure out is why it's not just obvious. The school is a place
where knowledge is manufactured. For the teachers it's knowledge about
teaching and learning. For the teachers and kids, it's knowledge about the
woridevetything: from the most abstruse literature to the here and now.
And how knowledge is built has to be apart of the study for teachers and
students alike, because you don't know what, you have unless you know how
it was created. And the most important thing about learning how knowledge
is constructed is so you can build knowledge for yourself and for others.
Bob Schaefer to Bruce Joyce, June 1969
In the process of education, the educators design the environment with

which the student will interact. If the transaction between the student and
the environment is productive, learning results. And it is the student who
does the learning. (Teachers learn, too, but here we are concerned with the
objective of the whole enterprise: the education of the young and the adult
novice.) The learner does this by constructing knowledge. Knowledge lives
in the consciousness of the minds that inhabit the planet, and those minds
have a life of their own. The education game evolves differently from games
played with material objects. When one of us throws a Frisbee to another,
the Frisbee that is caught is the same Frisbee that was thrown, or at least
most of us will agree to that, pending the outcome of metaphysical inquiry
Education differs greatly from a giant game in which chunks of knowledge
are thrown, like Frisbees, and are caught pretty much as they left the
thrower. The environment stores knowledge, all right, but it is knowledge in
49
50
the process of transformation. The storage bins, even books, are approxi-
mations of concepts in the mind of the author, and the contents are interpreted and changed as they are read.
During the last 15 years much attention has been given to the ambiguous natures of knowledge, learners, and environments in an attempt to provide greater clarity about the process of education and how to make it real
and productive. Three areas of inquiry have particular relevance to the nature and purpose of the various models of teaching:
1. The study of how the mind creates knowledge has resulted in what are
currently referred to as constructivist views of education.
2. The study of how to help the learner gain understanding about how
knowledge is cOnstructed and about the conscious control of tools for
doing so is the study of metacognition.
3. Reflection on learner capacity is resulting in the reassessment of the nature of the mind, particularly in redefinitions of the nature of intelligence.
All the models of teaching discussed here have either explicit or implicit
positions on how knowledge is constructed. The appropriate use of each

helps students gain conscious control of tools for learning that they can use
to approach particular kinds of learning. Each model is designed to increase
certain aspects of the ability to learnto increase intelligence of particular
kinds.
CONSTRUCTIVIST VIEWS:
THE CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE
We acknowledge the position that the learner constructs knowledge and
aim at developing a learning environment that facilitates the inquiry of the
learner (Brooks and Brooks, 1993). The constructivist challenges the longstanding societal view that knowledge and skill come in finished, polished
pieces and the job of the school is to take those pieces out of the cultural
storehouse and give them to the learner intact until the picture puzzle of essential knowledge is complete.
Within the general framework of constructivism there are three schools
of thought, each placing a somewhat different emphasis on the role of individuals, social groups, and academic modes of knowing in knowledge development. A personalistic view makes central the attempt by students. The
school emphasizes the unique internal frame of reference, along with the
view that, as individuals develop knowledge, there will always be differences
between them in conception and meaning. The personal family of models
of teaching described in Part IV makes the individual personality central in
the educational process and attempts to help individuals understand them-
CHAPTER 4 / THE CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE
and their world as a basic part of schooling. The social point of view
emphasizes the process by which groups of students inquire together and
construct ideas about the world. Viewed thus, knowledge cannot be separated from the social process within which it is manufactured. The social
models described in Part II emphasize the social construction of knowledge.
The academic inquiry position is based on the methods of the academic disciplines, and helps students try on the ideas and approaches of disciplined
inquiry using academic tools to construct knowledge. The infonnationprocessing models described in Part III give much emphasis to the use of
those academic tools. All three positions take the view that knowledge is
emerging rather than static, that the inevitable task of learning is to seek
meaning within one's expanding frame of reference, and that a major part
of the process of education is building knowledge and. checking it against
the concepts of others. Bereiter's (1 984a) reviews of debates about the various views of constructivism are important reading for anyone wishing to
delve into the subject of constructivism as such.
The constructivist position is very respectful of the learner and makes
important the study of the nature of knowledge as well as its construction.
The youngest children are led toward the attempt to understand. Phonics is
inquired into and mastered, rather than being treated as a set of phonetic
Frisbees that can be sailed intact across the classroom. The social world becomes content to be dug into and learned, with an emphasis on social problem solving. The disciplines provide ways of thinking that open up windows
for inquiry. Real learning generates growth in the learner's mind. New concepts change ways of organizing knowledge and thinking about it, providing new material for associations and problem solving.
selves
METACOGNITION: LETTING THE

STUDENT IN ON THE SECRET
The central idea is to help the student think about the nature of learning
and develop conscious control over tools for learning. Sometimes called
cognitive strategy instruction (Gaskins and Elliot, 1991; Pressley and Associates, 1990), the position is taken that a major task of the school is to increase capacity for learningthat the student's construction of knowledge
and mastery of skill can become increasingly sophisticated and efficient if
we make the student an insider to the learning process. Thus viewed, models of teaching are not only models for helping students construct knowledge and skill, they are learning strategies that can be taught directly to the
students. Therefore we teach students to develop concepts, to teach themselves skills, to use metaphorical thinking to solve problems, and to inquire
as the scientist does.
An extensive line of research has been directed toward the questions,
"Can metacognition be taught?" and "Does the conscious control over tools
51
52
PART I
for learning help the student become a more effective learner?" Thus far, the
answer to both is "yes" (Pressley and Associates, 1990). Cognitive strategy
training can begin as the child enters school and is just beginning the study
of reading, writing, and arithmetic.
For 30 years research on several moaers of teaching has inquired into
the effects of teaching the students the underlying model of learning. The
original work on teaching students to develop concepts was based on the
idea that inductive thinking can be taught. Inquiry training, as the name implies, was an early example of an approach to teach processes of causal rea-
soning. The scientific inquiry model was designed to teach sciencing

consciously, not just information about science. Synectics was designed to
provide conceptual control over metaphorical thinking. Behaviorist approaches to help people control anxiety and aversions to learning were designed 30 years ago.
Essentially, we are unaware of an effective model of teaching that does
not bring the learner into the game.
CONCEPTS OF INTELLIGENCE
The Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives, as the first definition of
intelligence, "the ability to learn or understand or deal with new or trying
situations." That definition covers a lot of territory. It leaves possible many
kinds of learning, newness, and demanding situations. It leaves open questions about where intelligence comes from, whether it is unitary or many
sided, and whether it can change or be taught.
The developers of most of the models of teaching in this book have grappled with the question of the nature of intelligence. Thirty years ago Ben-
jamin Bloom (1974) and John Carroll (1963) developed a concept of

learning ability that has led to the development of the mastery learning
model. About the same time, W. W. Gordon (1961a) concentrated on the
role of metaphoric thinking in creative solutions to problems. Hilda Taba's
(1966) study of inductive thinking led to the important inductive thinking
model. Carl Rogers (1961) and Abraham Maslow (1962) developed views of
how people learn that led to their personal models of teaching.
As different as they are and as different as are their models, the developers
share three beliefs about intelligence that run counter to the general societal
concepts. First, gender, race, and ethnicity do not hinder the development of
intelligence (see Chapter 5). Second, intelligence is not fixed, but can be
learned and taught. Third, intelligence is multidimenional and aspects of it
can be capitalized on with specific models of learning and taught through
them.
In recent years Howard Gardner (1983) and Robert Sternberg (l986a)
have become the spokespersons for the view that intelligence has many dimensions and that the learning environment should capitalize on those di-
mensions for energy and, in turn, enhance them. Gardner takes the view
CHAPTER 4 / THE CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE
that the combinations of dimensions of intelligence in different mixes is one
reason we develop our unique personalities. Seven "intelligences" are

included in Gardner's "map": linguistic (capacity to use words), logicalmathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and
intrapersonal.
With respect to the models of teaching described in this book, it is easy
to see how the personal models capitalize on the intrapersonal and the social models capitalize on the interpersonal, but all models utilize those dimensions of capability to varying degrees. Similarly, it is easy to see which
dimensions of capability the various models are designed to exercise and
improve.
A CONSTRUCTED, SELF-AWARE,
CAPACITY-INCREASING ENVIRONMENT
The construction of knowledge, the teaching of models of learning, and the
development of learner capacity will appear throughout the book in the discussion of each model. We hope the concepts will be clarifying, but we hope
they will also help you assume the optimistic position we take with respect
to the learner.
53
CHAPTER
TEACHING
AND EQUITY
Gender, Money,
Race, and Culture

The belief in the importance of hard work is not alien to Americans. The
mystety is why, in the later years of the twentieth centu?y, we have modified
this belief in such a destructive way. Why do we dwell on the differences
among us, rather than on our similarities? Why are we unwilling to see that
the whole society is advanced when all its members, not only the privileged
socioeconomic and ethnic groups, are given the opportunity to use their
abilities to the fullest?
Harold Stevenson and Jay Stigler in The Learning Gap,
1992
CENARI0
Recently, a team of cheerleaders.. . sat in a circle in their high school

cafeteria and looked at the pages of a Frederick's of Hollywood catalog to
see what their competition squad would wear this season. Some of the girls
were just a month and a half out of junior high.
When the 44 girls are training, the room buzzes with adolescent energy... which is why the hush was so pronounced when the Frederick's
catalogue went around. The reason for the stillness was a glossy photograph
of a perfectly proportioned woman in a white lace teddy.
"It'll look great," the coach insisted, their silence an implicit rejection of
her choice for the uniform. She hadn't yet announced which of the 44 girls
would make the competition squad. . . . The squad competes throughout the
winter at meets run by private companies.
"The high-waist pants will make you look slim," the coach said. "You'll
wear a white tank top under the white lace so no one will see your nipples."
That, the coach confided, had been something of a problem with past uniforms.
Jane Gottesman, New York limes, October 23, 1994
_____________________
55
56
PART I
We
/ FRAMEOFREFERENCE
are so lucky to be allowed to teach. The rich countryside of humanity
gives us its children to live with and school. We are given boys and girls who
come in every human color and bring us the sumptuous cultural and personal differences of their homes. We have the fortune to nurture the bold
and the shy, the tall and the short, the serious and the comic, the confident
and the frightened.
And we are given such a luxury of opportunities to show them. Science
and engineering of unparalleled sophistication, a globe that has shrunk to
bring all cultures within reach, and whose nations, for the first time in history, are almost all politically free to make their way. We have spectacular
media within our fingertips and a phenomenal library that is easier and easier to access.
Our riches enable us to educate in such a way that human variety can
be capitalized on and enrich the entire society. Our wealth of educational
technology enables us to reach all children and ensure that they are well educated, can make their way in the world of work, aiid can build a fine quality of life.
We have also inherited a terrible problem that we musi defeat. The prob-
lem originates with a perverse defect in the structure of our society and the
norms and beliefs that accompany that structure. The process of education,
reflecting the society, has developed a major quirk that operates against its
fundamental purpose.
The problem is that millions of children, perhaps nearly all of them, do not
receive an equitable educationone that fulfills their promisebecause of the
way individual differences are regarded in the culture. This cultural error con-
tains three assumptions:

1. Learning capacity is derived from genetic differences and/or differences
in early socialization and is virtually unchangeable thereafter.
2. Schools are relatively powerless in relation to the capacity the child

brings to them.
3. Wide levels of achievement of the basic core curriculum can be tolerated, including levels that disadvantage the student throughout much of
life.
As a result of those beliefs, education is conducted in such a manner

that 30 percent of our children leave school without completing their basic
education and millions of others leave with a deficit of one kind or another
that hampers their future opportunities.
Although other types of individual differences affect equity, we will deal
briefly here with the most prominent categorical ones: gender, money, race,
and culture.
GENDER
Both genders suffei; but women in the most obvious and pervasive ways.
Myra and David Sadker have written beautifully on the subject (as Sadker
CHAPTER 5 / TEACHING AND EQUITY
and Sadker, 1994). Their treatment and bibliographies are a good starting
point for a student of the subject.

The reason tor the sutrering is that the society teaches that there are genetic differences in aptitude that are related to gender and to the "proper
roles for each gender." For example, our culture deems men to be better at
things mechanical, to be less able in literary matteFs, and women to have
less mathematical aptitude but to be better at empathy and nurturing.

Males are to make their way by being outwardly self-sufficient and commanding, women by being feminine and charming.
These attributed differences play their way out in school. In the nation
as a whole, the quality of writing by the average male is at about the 30th
percentile of the average female. That difference is accepted as "normal,"
because it is assumed that a genetic'difference is playing its way out. Similarly, three times as many boys as girls fail to learn to read in the primary
grades. The difference in learning to read disappears under powerful strategies for teaching kids how to read. And when writing is taught with the most
effective curricular and instructional methods, both .genders improve their
writing markedly, and the gender differences virtually disappear!
Thus it is with mathematics, science, and women, but the problem is
even more sinister, because the achievement gap between the genders in
mathematics and science is not nearly as great as is the situation with respect to reading and writing, but the myth persists in terms of self-esteem
and opportunities provided. Sadker and Sadker (1994) report that, whereas
in elementary school, 31 percent of women feel they are "good" at math,
only 18 percent feel that way by the middle school level. Sheila Tobias
(1993) refers to a study of women entering the University of California at
Berkeley All have been high achievers in general in order to be admitted. In
the year of the study, though 57 percent of the males admitted had taken
four years of mathematics, only 8 percent of the females had. Without the
four years of mathematics courses, students there are not eligible for the
calculus sequence, would rarely attempt chemistry or physics, and are disadvantaged for statistics and economics. Because they could not take the
entry-level courses, they were ineligible for 10 of the 12 "colleges" and 22
out of the 44 majors the university offered! Many of the high-achieving men
had disadvantaged themselves, but nine out of ten of the women had.
We could go on and on. There is no need, because everyone who reads
this can supply their own examples of gender-attributed academic, artistic,
and athletic stereotypes. The athletic stereotypes are now being beaten
down in public. When the male author of this book was in high school, one
of his teammates on the swimming team (there was no team for females)
broke the interscholastic 200-yard freestyle record. Looking at the local
paper yesterday, he noticed that one of- the local girls had won the same
event in several seconds less than the time of his high school cohort. Looking farther at the times of her teammates, he realized that the championship
male team of his boyhood would have been wiped out by the girls of the
small local high school near where he now lives. The boys are better, today,
too, but those local girls would outperform nearly all the highschool boys
57
58
PART I
/ FRAMEOFREFERENCE
alive today. What has brought about the change? A difference in beliefs, plus
good teaching.
However, we are not holding up the athletic programs as paragons.
Many schools give more prestige to athletic participation than to academic

achievement, and for decades have thus drawn the energy of boys away
from their education. Cheerleading corps have an absurd prominence in
many secondary schools, teaching both genders that the female route to
success is femininity and sexiness. Adolescence in our society is fraught
with inner turbulence as kids struggle to create their identity. Walk around
almost any high school and you will see heaps of girls who are have obviously succumbed to the notion that becoming sexually attractive, in an immediate, enticing sense, is more important than becoming a person of inner
substance.
The arts are better, although lingering doubts about masculinity (let
alone sexual preference, which is a story for a different book) still can dog
any male who takes art seriously. But changes in stereotypes plus good
teaching are gradually changing the picture.
The academic opportunity discrimination persists. The old notion that
girls who were achievers would make poor dates probably has diminished
somewhat, but the idea that femininity and academic excellence can go together is not well established, and many females are still taught that academic learning is not as important as being good-looking and charming.
They can give themselves permission not to push themselves. The loss is
atrocious.
For males, too, gender stereotypes cause great damage academically.
Differential treatment at an early age can have some devastating effects. Between kindergarten and third grade boys are about three times as likely to
be retained in grade (held back a year) as girls. Retention at that age increases the likelihood of dropping out of school about 75 percent compared
with students of equal achievement who are promoted! The same proportional difference exists with respect to retention between grades four and
six, where the effect is to increase the dropout rate by about 90 percent!
Differential achievement expectations affect the male, also. Like females
in other subjects, boys can give up trying to learn to read and write if they
accept the cultural stereotype that their academic situation is "just the way
it is." Presently, male "dropouts" greatly outnumber female dropouts largely
because the educational system cooperates with the cultural idea that many
boys are just not "academically oriented." Again, walk around nearly any
high school and you will see males who have succumbed to the notion that
projecting a masculine image is more important than becoming a person of
inner substance.
We are not arguing that adolescence and early adulthood are not times
when young men and women have to learn to come to terms with and capitalize on their real and wonderful biological differences. Far from it. Vive
La difference! But the view that gender prevents learning is perverse.
With respect to the basic education schools offer, gender differences in

academic aptitude, if they exist, need have no effect. There are no gender
differences sufficient to prevent boys and girls from having equal degrees of
excellence in all the areas within the general curriculum (Friedman, 1995).
In an excellent elucational system (or classroom), everybody wins.
Good education is the key. But the school has to lead the culture on this one.
The ridiculous popularity of books like Men Are from Mars, Women Are from
Venus (Gray, 1993) is a relatively mild indication of the kind of societal

stereotypes the school has to overcome.
MONEY
Socioeconomic differences are the greatest predictor of success in school. A
massive and very well-known study of educatiohal achievement (Coleman
et al., 1966) found that parents' education and occupation so influenced

academic achievement that its authors actually concluded that the influence of differences between schools was so minor that they asserted that
schools did not make a difference. In other words, they argued that if
achievement in any given school could be predicted simply by knowing the
characteristics of the parents, then schools that thought they were good
were kidding themselveschange the kids and achievement would change!
Although the Coleman team overinterpreted their findings somewhat
there are schools that make a difference (Brookover et al., 1978; Mortimer,
et al., 1988)there is no question that the students' backgrounds have a

huge influence on schools as they are presently run. Furthermore, the massive federal government Chapter I program, which provides school districts
with resources to try to improve the education of the economically poor, has
failed miserably. One of the present authors was recently a member of a

team that studied a large urban school district. We found that the district
was receiving Chapter I funds for nearly 70 percent of the students and that
the students served in the first grade were still receiving service in the
twelfth grade because their educational disadvantage had not been "fixed."
Yet there are school-improvement programs built around powerful
models of teaching that have elevated the achievement of the children of the
poor and done it quicklywithin a year or two. (See Slavin et al., 1990;
Wallace, Lemahieu, and Bickel, 1990; Joyce, Showers, Murphy, and Murphy, 1989; Becker and Gersten, 1982; Levin and Levin, 1990. For general reviews, see Joyce, Wolf, and Calhoun, 1993, 1995; Joyceand Showers, 1995.)
Again, good teaching can make a huge dent in the problem. And it must, because the failure to learn leaves people with a lifelong self-image that they
cannot learn, causing them to avoid the learning opportunities and challenges of adulthood and perpetuating the cycles of poverty. The long series
of studies by Cohen (1995) and her associates have shown how feasible it is
59
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to generate status equality and how rapidly schools can affect the interac-
tions that generate better self-images and achievement for all students.
Unfortunately, few school districts have prepared their teachers to use
the curricular and instructional strategies that provide equity for the poor.
We must solve that problem. Again, schooling must lead the society. The
massive publicity given to absurd books such as The Bell Curve (Herrnstein
and Murray, 1994), which argues that the poor are genetically inferior to the
rich, indicates' how seriously the school has to battle ignorance of the real
facts. The children of the poor have as much potential as the children of the
rich, but schools haven't learned to use the tools that will reach them, although plenty of those tools exist. As an editorial in the October 24, 1994,
issue of the New York Times proclaimed, in relation to The Bell Curve,
"Plants grown under ideal conditions will achieve different heights. . . . But,
lock half the plants in a dark closet and the Ifference in average height between the two groups will be due entirely to environment."
RACE
Racial prejudice has been a part of our society for hundreds of years and in-
tellectual inferiority has been attributed to people of color as a major part

of that prejudice. A wonderful review by Professor' Jim Banks of the University of Washington traces the convoluted intellectual gyrations by psychologists who have tried to develop decent measurements of intellectual
ability but who were, themselves, the children of their times (Banks, 1995).
While nearly all the scientific community rejects the notion of racially determined intelligence, the idea dies hard in society in general. Although the
outstanding achievements of so many people of color have demonstrated
the fallacy and despite the wonderful economic progress made in several
countries where everybody has color, the ingraihed prejudice still leads people to believe that those outstanding achievements are exceptions.
The problem is compounded in our society by the fact that so many people of color are also economically poor, so that race interacts with the problem of money.
The fact is that race does not predict academic ability, but good education does. The same programs cited m the preceding section have demonstrated that, with good curriculum and instruction and a positive social
climate, racial differences in academic achievement diminish rapidly. We
possess the technology. We have only to use it.
CULTURE
American schools, have always been most comfortable with kids who come
with the mainstream culture already in place, simply because American so-
ciety has always been most comfortable with people who are similar to
them. (Nearly all world societies share this problem, often to an extreme:
witness the world history of strife between tribes and nations.) During the
periods of large European immigration to the United States, there was significant strife between those already here and those who were new, even
though the European nations share much more culture than they do not.
The nomenclature of ethnic slurs could be worked into a kind of sick Rap:
Frogs, Micks, Wops, Polacks, Squareheads, Kikes, and Dumb Swedes will
do for a beginning. Linguistic differences were not tolerated in schools.
"Learn English fast or fail!" was the policy.
The European children huddled in ethnic ghettos until they got a handle on English and a handhold on the conomic ladder. The schools helped
in that they were the place where English was learned and where the kids
mingled and gradually learned to get along. The schools permitted a cruel
cost, however: many of those children went through life, and many of their
great-grandchildren do today, embarrassed about the origins that gave them
life and love and the cultural base that provided them with social meaning.
Today, the cultural difference problem is at a crisis stage that has two
dimensions. One is that a very large proportion of American children have
migrated recently from other places, particularly Latin countries and Asia.
The schools are not reaching them effectively, either in terms of achievement or cultural dignity. The other is that the world has changed, and the
future prosperity of the nation depends on the ability to mingle produtively
with the other societies in the world.
The current ethnic and linguistic mix makes our schools a perfect lab-
oratory both to demonstrate that cultural difference is not a barrier to

achievement or dignity and to prepare all our kids for the new global society that we have to navigate as a nation if not individually.
Again, we have the technology if we have the will. But giving up something is the hard part of growing up, for society as well as for individuals.
The really difficult part of our struggle is giving up the idea that gender,
monetary racial, and cultural differences are factors that determine educational potential. They are factors only if we make them so. The powerful
models of teaching reach all students and create a much more level playing
field because they teach children how to learn and because they possess the
adaptive flexibility to accommodate differences productively and capitalize
on them. Research that has sought "special" methods for the children of the
poor, the racially or culturally different, or for boys and girls, has come up
empty-handed because our likenesses are far more salient than are our differences and the differences are superficial. It used to be said that "travel is
broadening." World travel certainly is, because as you encounter other cultures and experience new ways of doing things, you find out that there is
only one kind of people on Planet Earth.
61
THE SOCIAL FAMILY

The models of teaching described in this book come from beliefs about the
nature of human beings and how they learn. The social models, as the name
implies, emphasize our social nature, how we learn social behavior, and
how social interaction can enhance academic learning. Nearly all inventors
of social models believe that a central role of education is to prepare citizens to generate integrative democratic behavior, both to enhance personal
and social life and to ensure a productive democratic social order. They be-
lieve that cooperative enterprise inherently enhances our quality of life,

bringing joy and a sense of verve and bonhomie to usand reducing alienation and unproductive social conflict. In addition, cooperative behavior is
stimulating not only socially but also intellectually. Thus, tasks requiring social interaction can be designed to enhance academic learning. The development of productive social behavior and academic skills and knowledge
are combined.
The social theorists have developed a large number of models that have
great potential for our teaching repertoires and for the design of entire
school environments as well, for they envision the school as a productive little society, rather than a collection of individuals acquiring education independently. In a cooperative school culture, students can be taught to use the
other families of models of teaching to acquire the knowledge and skills toward which those models are developed.
Many of the social theorists have not only built rationales for their mod-
els, but have raised serious questions about the adequacy of the current
dominant patterns of schooling. In many schools the majority of learning
tasks are structured by teachers for individuals. Most interaction between
teachers and students is in the pattern of recitationthe teacher directs
questions about what has been studied, calls on an individual who responds, and then affirms the response or corrects it (Sirotnik, 1983). Patterns of evaluation pit student against student. Many developers of the
social models believe that individualistic patterns of schooling, combined
with the teacher-dominated recitation pattern of schooling, are actually
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PART II / THE SOCIAL FAMILY
counterproductive for individuals and for society by depressing learning
rates, creating an unnatural and even antisocial climate, and failing to provide opportunities for young people to maximize their potential and that of
others by exercising their capacity for cooperation. People are inherently
cooperative, they argue, and depressing cooperation drives children from
each other and deprives them of an important dimension of their competence (see Johnson and Johnson, 1990; Sharan, 1990; Thelen, 1960).
The ideas of cooperating to learn academic content and of preparing
students for citizenship and a satisfying social life are very old. They can be
found in the writings of Aristotle, Plato, and Marcus Aurelius, as well as in
those of Christian educators such as Thomas Aquinas, in the medieval period, and John Amos Comenius in the Renaissance. The rise of the modern
commercial democratic states found expression in the writing of JeanJacques Rousseau in France, John Locke in England, and Thomas Jefferson
and Benjamin Franklin in America. During the period of the development
of the common school in America, Horace Mann and Henry Barnard argued
strongly for an active cooperative school.
The concept was announced forcefully by John Dewey throughout the
first half of the twentieth century. With his ideas as the primary rationale,
it found expression in the development of a number of models for schooling and in the activity of the Progressive Education Association, ushering in
the current era of research and development of social models of education.
We will see the themes generated during the evolution of Western civilization in the following chapters as we study the work of the contemporary
developers of social models. Three active communities are strongly working to improve the social models. One is led by David and Roger Johnson at
the University of Minnesota. The second is led by Robert Sla'in at Johns
Hopkins University. The third, in Israel, includes Shlomo Sharan, Rachel
Hertz-Lazarowitz, and several other teacher-researchers. There are differences in their frames of reference, but they are respectful and cooperative
with one another and are appropriately international. Inreasingly they are
joined by European researchers, and elements of their work are being used
and extended by collaborators in Asia.
In Chapter 6 we begin with procedures for developing partnerships in
learning and proceed to the contemporary versions of the classic group in-
vestigation model. In Chapters 7, 8, and 9 we focus on values and social

problem solving. Social inquiry and role playing can be used with students
of all ages, and the jurisprudential inquiry model emphasizes social policies
and issues for older students. Finally, we examine procedures developed

from conceptual systems theory for adapting the social models to the learning styles of students.
CHAPTER
PARTNERS IN
LEARNING
From Dyads to
Group Investigation
The most stunning thing about teaching people to help kids learn
cooperatively is that people don't know how to do it as a consequence of
their own schooling and life in this society. And, if anything is geneticallydriven, it's a social instinct. If it weren't for each other, we wouldn't even
know who we are.
Herbert Thelen to Bruce Joyce, about 1964
SCENARI0
Mary Hilitepper opens the year in her 10th-grade English class by presenting the students with 12 poems she has selected from a set of 100 poems
that represent the works of prominent contemporary poets. She organizes
the students into pairs, asking them to read the poems and then classify
them by structure, style, and themes. As they classify the poems (see Chapter 10 for the structure of the inductive model), they are to prepare to re-
port their categories to the other students so that the partnerships can
compare their classifications with those of the other students. Working together, the class accumulates a list of the ways they have perceived structure, style, and theme. Then, Ms. Hilitepper presents the pairs of students
with another dozen poems that they examine, both fitting them into their
eisting categories and expanding the categories as necessary. This process
is repeated until all students are familiar with four dozen poems. She then
gives them several other tasks. One is to decide how particularthemes are
handled by style and structure and vice versa (whether style and structure
are correlated with each other and with themes). Another is to build hypotheses about whether some groups of poems were written by particular
authors using distinctive combinations of style, structure, and theme.
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PART I!
/ THE SOCIAL FAMILY
Only then does she pass out the anthologies and books of critical analysis that are used as the course textbooks, asking students to test their hypotheses about authorship and also to find out if the scholars of poetry
employ the same categories they have been developing in their partnerships.
Mary is organizing her class for partnership-based learning. The cognitive tasks of the classification version of the inductive model of teaching (see
Chapter 10) have been used to drive the inquiry. In addition to the substance
of this opening unit of study she is preparing the students to embark cooperatively on their next unit of studywriting poetry or studying the short
story (Which would you use next? For our answer, see Chapter 10.) Before
long she will introduce them to the more complex activities of group investigation.
SCENARIO
As the children enter Kelly Farmer's fifth-grade classroom in Savannah
Elementary on the first day of the school year, they find the class roster on
each desk. She smiles at them and says, "Let's start by learning all our
names and one of the ways we will be working together this year. You'll notice I've arranged the desks in pairs, and the people sitting together will be
partners in today's activities. I want each partnership to take our class list
and classify the first names by how they sound. Then we will share the
groupings or categories each partnership makes. This will help us learn one
another's names. It is also to introduce you to one of the ways we will study
spelling and several other subjects this year. I know from Mrs. Annis that
you have worked inductively last year so you know how to classify but let
me know if you have any problems."
The students do know what to do, and within a few minutes they are
ready to share their classifications. "We put Nancy and Sally together because they end in 'y." "We put George and Jerry together because they
sound the same at the beginning even though they're spelled differently."
"We put the three 'Kevin's' together." A few minutes later the pairs are murmuring together as they help one another learn to spell the list of names.
Kelly has started the year by organizing the students into a "cooperative
set," by which we mean an organization for cooperative learning. She will
teach them to work in dyads and triads, which can combine into groups of
five or six. (Task or work groups larger than that generally have much lower
productivity.) The partnerships will change for various activities. The stu-
dents will learn to accept any members of the class as their partners and
will learn that they are to work with each other to try to ensure that everyone achieves the objectives of each activity.
She begins with pairs because that is the simplest social organization.
In fact, much of the early training in cooperative activity will be conducted
in groups of two and three because the interaction is simpler than it is in
CHAPTER 6 / PARTNERS IN LEARNING
larger groups. She also uses fairly straightforward and familiar cognitive
tasks for the initial training for the same reasonit is easier for students to
learn to work together when they are not mastering complex activities at the
same time. For example, she will have them change partners and have the
new partnerships quiz each other on simple knowledge, such as of the states
and their capitals, and tutor one another. She will change partnerships
again and ask them to categorize sets of fractions by size. Eachstudent will
learn hv to work with any and all of the other students in the class over a
variety of tasks. Later she will teach the children to respond to the cognitive
tasks of the more complex informatiob-processing models of teaching

as well as more complex cooperative sets. By the end of October she expects
that they will be skillful enough that she can introduce them to group
investigation.
Both teachers have embarked on the task of building learning communities.

They will teach the students to work together impersonally but positively,to
gather and analyze information, to build and test hypotheses, and to coach
one another as they develop skills. The difference in maturity between the
classes will affect the degree of sophistication of their inquiry, but the basic
processes will be the same.
Each of these teachers possesses a variety of strategies for educating
their students to work productively together. On their desks are Circles of
Learning (Johnson and Johnson, 1 985a) and Cooperative Learning Resources
for Teachers (Kagan, 1988). Each is studying the students, learning how effectively they cooperate, and deciding how to design the next activities to
teach them to work more effectively together.
PURPOSES AND ASSUMPTIONS

The assumptions that underlie the development of cooperative learning
communities are straightforward:
1. The synergy generated in cooperative settings generates more motivation than do individualistic, competitive environments. Integrative social groups are, in effect, more than the sum of their parth. The feelings
of connectedness produce positive energy.
2. The members of cooperative groups learn from one another. Each

learner has more helping hands than in a structure that generates isolation.
3. Interacting with one another produces cognitive as well as social complexity, creating more intellectual activity that increases learning when
contrasted with solitary study
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/ THE SOCIAL FAMILY
4. Cooperation increases positive feelings toward one another, reducing
alienation and loneliness, building relationships, and providing affirmative views of other people.
5. Cooperation increases self-esteem not only through increased learning
but through the feeling of being respected and cared for by the others
in the environment.
6. Students can respond to experience in tasks requiring cooperation by
increasing their capacity to work productively together. In other words,
the more children are given the opportunity to work together, the better they get at it, which benefits their general social skills.
7. Students, including primary school children, can learn from training to
increase their ability to work together.
Recently, interest has been renewed in research on the cooperative

learning models. The more sophisticated research procedures that now
exist have enabled better tests of their assumptions and more precise estimates of their effects on academic, personal, and social behavior. Work by
three groups of researchers is of particular interest. One is led by David and
Roger Johnson of the University of Minnesota (Johnson and Johnson, 1974,
1981, 1990). Another is led by Robert Slavin (1983, 1990) of Johiis Hopkins
University, and the third by Shiomo Sharan of Tel Aviv University (1980,
1990a). Using somewhat different strategies, the teams of both the Johnsons
and Slavin have conducted sets of investigations that closely examine the
assumptions of the social family of teaching models. Specifically, they have
studied whether cooperative tasks and reward structures affect learning

outcomes positively. Also, they have asked whether group cohesion, cooperative behavior, and intergroup relations are improved through cooperative learning procedures. In some of their investigations they have examined
the effects of cooperative task and reward structures on "traditional" learning tasks, in which students are presented with material to master.
Important for us is the question of whether cooperative groups do in

fact generate the energy that results in improved learning. The evidence is
largely affirmative. In classrooms organized so that students work in pairs
and larger groups, tutor each other, and share rewards, there is greater mastery of material than with the common individual-study-cum-recitation pattern. Also, the shared responsibility and interaction produce more positive
feelings toward tasks .and others, generate better intergroup relations, and
result in better self-images for students with histories of poor achievement.
In other words, the results generally affirm the assumptions that underlie
the use of cooperative learning methods (see Sharan, 1990). Cooperative
learning theorists differ in their views about whether groups should compete with one another, Slavin generally favoring competition and the Johnsons favoring cooperation. Qin, Johnson, and Johnson (1995) have recently
published a complex review of research on this question and report that the
cooperative structures generally generate improved learning in the important area of problem-solving.
CHAPTER 6 I PARTNERS IN LEARNING
Sharan and his colleagues have studied group investigation. They have
learned much both about how to make the dynamics of the model work and
about its effects on cooperative behavior, intergroup relations, and lowerand higher-order achievement. We will discuss their research as we discuss
group investigation later in this chapter.
An exciting use of the cooperative procedures is in combination with
models from other families, in an effort to combine the effects of several
models. For example, Baveja, Showers, and Joyce (1985) conducted a study
in which concept and inductive procedures were carried out in cooperative
groups. The effects fulfilled the promise of the marriage of the informationprocessing and social models, feflecting gains that were twice those of a
comparison group that received intensive individual and group tutoring
over the same material. Similarly, Joyce, Murphy, Showers, and Murphy
(1989) combined cooperative learning with several other models ofteaching to obtain dramatic (30 to 95 percent) increases in promotion rates with
at-risk students as well as correspondingly large decreases in disruptive

activity, an obvious reciprocal of increases in cooperative and integrative
behavior.
For those for whom cooperative learning is an innovation, an endearing feature is that it is easy to organize students into pairs and triads. And
it gets effects immediately. The combination of social support and the increase in cognitive complexity caused by the social interaction have mild
but rapid effects on the learning of content and skills. In addition, partnerships in learning provide a pleasant laboratory in which to develop social
skills and empathy for others. Off-task and disruptive behavior diminish
substantially. Students feel good in cooperative settings, and positive feelings toward self and others are enhanced.
Another nice feature is that the students with poorer academic histories
benefit so quickly. Partnerships increase involvement, and the concentration on cooperation has the side effect of reducing self-absorption and increasing responsibility for personal learning. Whereas the effect sizes on
academic learning are modest but consistent, the effects on social learning
and personal esteem can be considerable when comparisons are made with
individualistic classroom organization.
Curiously, we have found that some parents and teachers believe that
students who are the most successful in individualistic environments will
not profit from cooperative environments. Sometimes this belief is expressed as "gifted students prefer to work alone." A mass of evidence
contradicts that belief (Slavin, 1991; Joyce, 1991a). Perhaps a misunderstanding about the relationship between individual and cooperative study
contributes to the persistence of the belief. Developing partnerships does
not imply that individual effort is not required. In the scenario in Ms. Hilltepper's classroom all the individuals read the poems. When classifying
poems together, each individual contributed ideas and studied the ideas of
others. Individuals are not submerged but are enhanced by partnerships
with others. Successful students are. not inherently less cooperative. In
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70
highly individualistic environments they are sometimes taught disdain for

less-successful students, to their detriment as students and people, both in
school and in the future.
INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF

PARTNERSHIPS: TRAINING FOR
COOPERATION
For reasons not entirely clear to us, the initial reaction of some people to
the proposition that students be organized to study together is one of concern that they will not know how to work together productively. In fact,
partnerships over simple tasks are not very demanding of social skills. Most
students are quite capable of cooperating when they are clear about what
has been asked of them. However, developing more efficient ways of working together is clearly important, and there are some guidelines for helping
students become more practiced and efficient. These guidelines pertain to
group size, complexity, and practice.
Our initial illustrations are of simple dyadic partnerships over clear cognitive tasks. The reason is that the pair or dyad is the simplest form of social organization. One way to help students learn to work cooperatively is
to provide practice in the simpler settings of twos and threes. Essentially,
we regulate complexity through the tasks we give and the sizes of groups we
form. If students are unaccustomed to cooperative work, it makes sense to
use the smallest groups with simple or familiar tasks to permit them to gain
the experience that will enable them to work in groups of larger sizes. Task
groups larger than six persons are clumsy and require skilled leadership,
which students cannot provide to one another without experience or training. Partnerships of two, three, or four are the most commonly employed.
Practice results in increased efficiency. If we begin learning with partners and simply provide practice for a few weeks, we will find that the students become increasingly productive.
TRAINING FOR EFFICIENCY

There are also methods for training the students for more efficient cooperation and "positive interdependence" (see Qin, Johnson and Johnson,
1995; Kagan, 1990). Simple hand signals can be used to get the attention of
busy groups. One of the common procedures is to teach the students that
when the instructors raise their hands, anyone who notices is to give their
attention to the instructor and raise their hand also. Other students notice
and raise their hands, and soon the entire instructional group is attending.
This type of procedure is nice because it works while avoiding shouting
above the hubbub of the busy partnerships and teaches the students to participate in the management process.
Kagan has developed several procedures for teaching students to work

together for goals and to ensure that all students participate equally in the
group tasks. An example is what he calls "numbered heads." Suppose that
the students are working in partnerships of three. Each member takes a
number from one to three. Simple tasks are given ("How many metaphors
can you find in this page of prose?"). All members are responsible for mastery of each task. After a suit4ble interval, the instructor calls out one numberfor example, "Number twos." The number two persons in all groups
raise their hands. They are responsible for speaking for their groups. The
instructor calls on one of them. All other persons are responsible for listening and checking the answer of the person who reports. For example, if the
response is "seven," the other students are responsible for checking that response against their own. "How many agree? Disagree?" The procedure is
designed to ensure that some individuals do not become the "learners" and
"spokespersons" for their groups while others are carried along forthe ride.
Also, for tasks for which it is appropriate, pretests may be given. An ex
ample might be a list of words to learn to spell. After the pretest a number
of tasks might be given to help the students study the words. Then an interval might be provided for the students to tutor one another, followed by
a posttest. Each group would then calculate their gain scores (the number
correct on the posttest minus the number correct on the pretest), giving all
members a stake in everyone s learning. Also, cooperative learning aside, the
procedure makes clear that learning expressed as gain is the purposeof the
exercise. When posttests only are used, it is not clear whether anyone has
actually learnedstudents can receive high marks for a score no higher than
they would have achieved n a pretest.
Sets of training tasks can help students learn to be more effective partnerships, to increase their stake in one another, and to work assiduouslyfor
learning by all.
TRAINING FOR INTERDEPENDENCE

In addition to practice and training for more efficient cooperative behavior, procedures for helping students become truly interdependent are
available. The least complex involve reflection on the group process and discussions about ways of working together most effectively. The more com-
plex involve the provision of tasks that require interdependent behavior. For
example, there are card games where success depends on "giving up" valuable cards to another player and communication games where success requires taking the position of another. Familiar games like "Charades" and
"Pictionary" are popular because they increase cohesion and the ability to
put oneself in the place of the other. There are also procedures for rotating
tasks so that each person moves from subordinate to superordinate tasks
and where members take turns as coordinators.
The Johnsons (1995) have demonstrated that sets of these tasks can increase interdependence, empathy, and role-taking ability and that students
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can become quite expert at analyzing group dynamics and learning to cre-
ate group climates that foster mutuality and collective responsibility. The
role-playing model of teaching, discussed in the next chapter, iS designed to
help students analyze their values and to work together to develop interactive frames of reference.
DiVISION OF LABOR: SPECIALIZATION

A variety of procedures have been developed to help students learn how
to help one another by dividing labor. Essentially, tasks are presented in

such a way that division of labor increases efficiency. The underlying rationale is that dividing labor increases group. cohesion as the team works to
learn information or skills while ensuring that all members have both responsibility for learning and an important role in the group. Imagine, for
example, that a class is studying Africa and is organized into groups of four.
Four countries are chosen for study. One member of each team might be
designated a "country specialist." The country specialists from all teams

would gather together and study their assigned nation and become the tutors for their original groups, responsible for summarizing information and
presenting it to the other members. Or similarly, when tasks requiring memorization are presented to the class, the group will divide responsibility for
creating mnemonics for aspects of the data. Or teams could take responsibility for parts of the information to be learned.
A procedure known as jigsaw (Aronson, Blaney, Stephan, Sikes, and
Snapp, 1978; Slavin, 1983) has been worked out to develop formal organi-
zations for divisions of labor. It is highly structured and appropriate a an

introduction to division-of-labor processes. Whereas individualistic classroom organization allows individuals to exercise their best-developed skills,
division of labor procedures require students to rotate roles, developing

their skills in all areas.
COOPERATIVE ORCOMPETIT1VE GOAL STRUCTURES

Some developers organize teams to compete against one another while
others emphasize cooperative goals and minimize team competition. Johnson and Johnson (1990) have analyzed the research and argue that the evi-
dence favors cooperative goal structures, but Slavin (1983) argues that
competition between teams benefits learning. The fundamental question is
whether students are oriented toward competing with one another or with
a goal. R,ecently several of our colleagues have organized whole classes to
work cooperatively toward a goal. For example, the science department of
a high school began the year in chemistry by organizing the students to
master the essential features of the Table of Elements. In teams, they built
mnemonics that were used by all teams. Within two weeks, all students
knew the table backward and forward, and that information served as the
structural organizer (see Chapter 5) for the entire course. In a group of fifthgrade classes the exploration of social studies began with memorization of
CHAPTER 6 / PARTNERS IN LEARMNG
the states, large cities, river and mountain systems, and otherbasic infor-
mation about the geography of the United States. Class scores were computed (for example, 50 statestimes 30 students is 1,500 items). The goal was
for the class as a whole to achieve a perfect score. The classes reached scores
over 1,450 within a week, leaving individuals with very few items to master
to reach a perfect score for the class.
MOTIVATION: FROM EXTRINSIC TO INTRINSIC?

The issue about how much to emphasize cooperative or individualistic
goal structures relates to conceptions of motivation. Sharan (1990) has argued that cooperative learning increases learning partly because it causes
motivational orientation to move from the external to the internal. In othei
words, when students cooperate over learning tasks, they become more interested in learning for its own sake rather than for external rewards. Thus,
students engage in learning for intrinsic satisfaction and become less dependent on praise from teachers or other authorities. The internal motivation is more powerful than the external, resulting in increased learning rates
and retention of information and skills.
The frame of reference of the cooperative learning community is a direct challenge to the principles that many schools have relied on to guide
their use of tests and rewards for student achievement. Unquestionably, one
of the fundamental purposes of general education is to increase internal
motivation to learn and to encourage students to generate learning for the
sheer satisfaction in growing. If cooperative learning proceduies (among
others) succeed partly because they contribute to this goal, then the testing
and reward structures that prevail in most school environments may actually retard learning. As we turn to group investigationa powerful model
that radically changes the learning environmentconsider how different
are the tasks, cooperative structures, and principles of motivation we observe in many contemporary schools.
GROUP INVESTIGATION: BUILDING

EDUCATION THROUGH THE
DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
SCENARIO
Debbie Psychoyos's 11th-grade social studies class on world geography
has been studying demographic data from the computer program PCGLOBE on the 177 nations of the world. Each of the nine groups of four
have analyzed the data on about 20 nations and searched for correlations
among the following variables: population, per capita GNP, birth rate, life
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education, health care services, industrial base, agricultural

production, transportation systems, foreign debt, balance of payments,
women's rights, and natural resources.
The groups reported, and what had begun as a purely academic exercise suddenly aroused the students.
expectancy,
"People born in some countries have a life expectancy 20years less than
folks in other countries."
"We didn't Und a relationship between levels of education and per capita
wealth!"
"Some rich countries spend more on military facilities and personnel
than some large poor ones spend on health care!"
"Women's rights don't correlate with type of government! Some democracies are less liberal than some dictatorships!"
"Some little countries are relatively wealthy because of commerce and
industry Some others just have one mineral that is valuable."
"The United States owes other countries an awful lot of money."
The time is ripe for group investigation. Ms. Psychoyos carefully leads
the students to record their reactions to the data. They make a decision to
bring together the data on all the countries and find out if the conclusions
the groups are coming to will hold over the entire data set. They also decide
that they need to find a way of getting in-depth information about selected
countries to flesh out their statistical data. But which countries? Will they
try to test hypotheses?
One student wonders aloud about world organizations and how they relate to the social situation of the world. They have heard of the United Nations and UNESCO but are vague about how they function. One has heard
about the "Committee of Seven," but the others have not. Several have
heard of NATO and SEATO but are not sure how they operate. Several won-
der about the European Economic Community. Quite a number wonder

about the ramifications of German reunification. Several wonder about
India and China and how they fit into the picture.
Clearly, deciding priorities for the inquiry will not be easy. However, the
conditions for group investigation are present. The students are puzzled.
They react differently to the various questions. They need information and
information sources are available. Ms. Psychoyos smiles at her brood of
young furrowed brows. "Let's get organized There is information we all
need, and let's start with that. Then let's prioritize our questions and divide
the labor to get information that will help us."
John Dewey's ideas have given rise to the broad and powerful model of
teaching known as group investigation. In it, students are organized into
democratic problem-solving groups that attack academic problems and are
taught democratic procedures and scientific methods of inquiry as they proceed. The movement to practice democracy in the classroom constituted the
first major reform effort in American education and generated a great deal
of critical reaction. As schools experimented with democratic-process education, they were subjected to serious criticism during the 1930s and 1940s.
The first items of research produced by the reformers were actually developed in defensein response to questions raised by concerned citizens
about whether such a degree of reliance on social purposes would retard the
students' academic development. The studies generallyindicated that social
and academic goals are not at all incompatible. The students from those
schools were not disadvantaged; in many respects, in fact, they outperformed students from competitive environments where social education
was not emphasized (Chamberlin and Chamberlin, 1943). The reaction continued, however, a seeming anomaly in a democracy whose political and
commercial institutions depend so much tn integrative organizational

behavior.
Educational models derived from a conception of society usually envision what human beings would be like in a very good, even utopian, society. Their educational methods aim to developideal citizens who could live
in and enhance that society, who couid fulfill themselves in and through it,
and who would even be able to help create and revise it. We have had such
models from the time of the Greeks. Plato's Republic (1945) is a blueprint
for an ideal society and the educational program to support it. Aristotle
(1912) also dealt with the ideal education and society. Since their time,
many other utopians have produced educational models, including Augustine (The City of God, 1931), Sir Thomas More (Utopia, 1965. Comenius
(The Great Didactic, 1907), and John Locke (1927).
It was natural that attempts would be made to use teaching methods to
improve society. In the United States) extensive efforts have been made to
develop classroom instruction as a model of democratic process; in fact,

variations on democratic process are probably more common than any
other general teaching method as far as the educational literature is concerned. In terms of instructional models, democratic process has referred to
organizing classroom groups to do any or all of the following tasks:
1. Develop a social system based on and created by democratic procedures.
2. Conduct scientific inquiry into the nature ofsocial life and processes.
In this case the term democratic procedures is synonymous with the scientific method and inquiry
3. Engage in solving a social or interpersonal problem.
4. Provide an experience-based learning situation
The implementation of democratic methods of teaching has been exceedingly difficult. They require the teacher to have a high level of interpersonal and instructional skills. Also, democratic process is cumbersome
and frequently slow; parents, teachers, and school officials often fear that it
will not be efficient as a teaching method. In addition, a rich array of instructional resources is necessary, and these have not alwaysbeen available.
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Probably the most important hindrance is that the school simply has not
been organized to teach the social and intellectual processes of democracy.

Instead, it has been directed toward and organized for basic instruction in
academic subjects, and school officials and patrons have, for the most part,
been unwilling to change that direction or organization. Given the positive
effects on student learning in all domains, it is a serious mistake not to make
group investigation a staple in the repertoire of all schools
THE PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS

The dominating figure in the effort to develop models for democratic
process has been John Dewey, who wrote How We Think in 1910. Nearly
all the theoreticians dealing with reflective thinking since that time have
acknowledged their debt to him. However, those who have emphasized
democratic process have by no means been homogeneous, nor have they
followed Dewey in the same ways or even directly. FOr example, in the 1 920s
Charles Hubbard Judd (1934) emphasized academic scholarship. William

Heard Kilpatrick (1919), for many years a major spokesperson for the Progressive movement, emphasized social problem solving. George Counts
(1932) stressed not only problem solving but also reconstruction of society.
Boyd Bode (1927) emphasized the general intellectual processes of problem
solving.
A well-known statement of this group's concern with the democratic

process and societal reconstruction was made in 1961 by Gordon H. Hullfish and Philip G. Smith in Reflective Thinking: The Method of Education.
These authors stress the role of education in improving the capacity of individuals td reflect on the ways they handle information and on their concepts, their beliefs, their values. A society of reflective thinkers would be
capable of improving itself and preserving the uniqueness of individuals.
This philosophy contains many ideas or propositions common to democraticprocess philosophies. It carefully delineates the ties among the personal world
of the individual, his or her intellect, social processes, and the functioning
of a democratic society.
Huilfish and Smith see intellectual development and skill in social

process as inextricably related. For example, the development of skill in social process requires skill in synthesizing and analyzing the viewpoints of
those engaged in social interaction.
Next, they believe that knowledge is constructed and continuously reconstructed by individuals and groups. They stress .that knowledge is not
conveyed to us merely through our sensory interactions with our environment, but that we must operate on experience to produce knowledge. As a
result, knowledge has a personal quality and is unique for each individual.
For example, a few hours before writing this, one of the authors stood on a
rocky point looking at the Pacific Ocean against the brown of the California coast. He felt a quiet excitement and an appreciation of the se and the
rocks and the great peace of the scene about him. Yet the concept sea, the
CNAPTER 6 I PARTNERS IN LEARNING
concept rock, the concept wave, and the excitement, peace, and apprecia-
tion he felt were not inherent in the experience themselves. These were con-
structed by the author in relation to that experience and to. others he has
had. He created some concepts and borrowed some from others, He generated some feelings and some beliefs and had been given some by imitating
other people (the vast majority were borrowed in this way).
Thus, individuals' ways of reflecting on reality are what make their
world comprehensible to them and give them personal and social meaning.
The quality of an individual's ability to reflect on experience becomes a critical factor in determining the quality of the world that individual will construct about himself or herself. Someone who is insensitive to much of his
or her experience and does not reflect on it will have a far less richly constructed world than someone who takes in a good deal of experience and reflects fully on it. It becomes critical for education to sensitize the individual
to many aspects of the physical and social environment and to increase the
individual's capacity to reflect on the environment.
The individual quality of knowledge creates some difficulties, especially
when it comes to constructing a society. Nevertheless, Hulifish and Smith
maintain that individual differences are the strength of a democrucy, and

negotiating among them is a major democratic activity. The more an individual learns to take responsibility for reflecting on experience and developing a valid view of the world and a valid set of beliefs, the more it is likely
that the resulting network of information, concepts, and values will be

unique to the individual. In other words, the more fully reflective an individual is, the more he or she will develop a personal processing system. A
democratic society requires that we work together to understand each
other's worlds and develop a shared perspective that will enable us to learn
from each other and govern ourselves while preserving a pluralistic reality
The perception of alternative frames of reference and alternative
courses of action is essential to social negotiations. But one must have great
personal development to understand other people's viewpoints. This shar-
ing of perceptions is necessary, however, if a mutual reality is to be constructed (see Berger and Luckmann, 1966).
The essence of a functioning democracy is the negotiation of problem
definitions and problem situations. This ability to negotiatewith others also
helps each person negotiate his or her own world. Maintaining a sense of
meaning and purpose depends on developing a valid and flexible way of
dealing with reality. Failure to make life comprehensible or to negotiate reality with others will result in a feeling of chaos. The ability to continually
reconstruct one's value stances and the ability to create value systems that
are compatible are both essential to mature development.
Most models of teaching assume that one does something in particulai
to get a specific outcome from the learner. On the contrary, models that emphasize democratic process assume that the outcome of any educational experience is not completely predictable. The democratic model makers reason
that if they are successful in persuading students to inquire into the nature
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of their experiences, and to develop their own ways of viewing the world, it
will be impossible to predict just how they will face any given situation or
solve any particular problem. Hence, if the students are taught an academic
discipline, it is not so that they will know exactly the discipline known by
others, but so that this exposure will help each of them create a frame of
reference and a unique way of ordering reality:
ORIENTATION TO THE MODEL

GOALS AND ASSUMPTIONS
In Democracy and Education (1916), John Dewey recommends that the
entire school be organized as a miniature democracy. Students participate
in the development of the social system and, through experience, gradually
learn how to apply the scientific method to improve human society. This,
Dewey feels, is the best preparation for citizenship in a democracy. John U.
Michaelis (1963) has extracted from Dewey's work a formulation specifically for teaching the social studies at the elementary level Central to his
method of teaching is the creation of a democratic group that defines and
attacks problems of social significance.
Herbert Thelen is one of the founders of the National Training Laboratory: In many respects Thelen's group investigation model resembles the
methods Dewey and Michaelis recommend. Group investigation attempts
to combine in one teaching strategy the form and dynamics of the democratic process with the process of academic inquiry: Thelen is reaching for
an experience-based learning situation, easily transferable to later life situations and characterized by a vigorous level of inquiry.
Thelen (1960, p. 80) begins with a conceptioP of a social being: "man
[woman] who builds with other men [women] the rules and agreements
that constitute social reality." Any view of how people shoulddevelop has to
refer to the inescapable fact that life is social. A social being caitnot act without reference to his or her companions on earth; otherwise in the quest for
self-maintenance and autonom each person may well conflict with other
people making similar efforts. In establishing social agreements, each individual helps to determine both prohibitions and freedom for action. Rules
of conduct operate in all fieldsreligious, political, economic, and scientificand constitute the culture of a society. For Thelen, this negotiation
and renegotiation of the social order are the essence of social process:
Thus in groups and societies a cyclical process exists: individuals, interdependently seeking to meet their needs, must etab1ish a social order (and in the
process they develop groups and sdcieties). The social order determines in varying degrees what ideas, values and actions are possible, valid, and "appropriate"! Working within these "rules" and stimulated by the need for rules the
culture develops. The individual studies his reactions to the rules and reinter-
this
he seeks. Through
prets them to discover their meaning for the way of life
influences the way of life
quest he changes his own way of life, and this in turn

of others. But as the way of life changes, the rules must be revised, and new controls and agreements have to be hammered out and incorporated into the social
order. (Thelen. 1960, p. 80)
The classroom is analogous to the larger society; it has a social order

and a classroom culture, and its students care about the way oflife that develops therethat is, the standards and expectations that become established. Teachers should seek tc harness the energy naturally generated by
the concern for creating the social order. The model of teaching replicates
the negotiation pattern needed by society Through negotiation the students
study academic knowledge and engage in social problem solving. According to Thelen, one should not attempt to teach knowledge from any academic area without teaching the social process by which it was negotiated.
Thelen rejects the normal classroom order that develops around the
basic values of comfort and politeness or of keeping the teacher happy.
Rather, the classroom group should take seriously the process of developing a social order.
The teacher's task is to participate in tbe activities of developing the social order
in the classroom for the purpose of orienting it to inquiry and the "house rules"
to be developed are the methods and attitudes of the knowledge disciplineto be
taught. The teacher influences the emerging social order toward inquiringwhen
he "brings out" and capitalizes on differences in the way students act and interprets the role of investigatorwhich is also the role of member in the classroom. (Thelen, 1960, p. 8)
Life in classrooms takes the form of a series of "inquiries." Each inquiry

starts with a stimulus situation to which students
can react and discover basic conflicts among their attitudes, ideas, and modes
of perception. On the basis of this information, they identify the problem tobe
investigated, analyze the roles required to solve it, organize themselves to take
these roles, act, report, and evaluate these results. These steps are illuminated
by reading, by personal investigation, and by consultation with experts. The
group is concerned with its own effectiveness, and with its discussion of its own
process as related to the goals of investigation. (Thelen, 1960, p. 82)
In their concentration on the overt activities of democratic process,

many followers and interpreters of Dewey overlook the underlying spirit
that brings the'democratic process to life. The activities, iffollowed by rote,

provide only lifeless applications quite unlike the democratic process and
scientific method Dewey and Thelen have in mind The classshould become
a miniature democracy that attacks problems and, through problem solving, acquires knowledge and becomes more effective as a social group.
Many attempts to use democratic process did little to change educational
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practice because the implementation was superficial, following the form
but not the substance of democracy.
BASIC CONCEPTS
The two concepts of (1) inquiry and (2) knowledge are central to The-.
len's strategy
INQUIRY
Inquiry is stimulated by confrontation with a problem, and knowledge

results from the inquiry The social process enhances inquiry and is itself
studied and improved. The heart of group investigation lies in its formulation of inquiry. According to Thelen (1960), the concern of inquiry is
to initiate and supervise the processes of giving attention to something; of interacting with and being stimulated by other people, whether in person or
through their writing; and of reflection and reorganization of concepts and attitudes as shown in arriving at conclusions, identifying new investigations to be
undertaken, taking action and turning out a better product. (p. 85)
The first element of inquiry is an event the individual can react to and
puzzle overa problem to be solved. In the classroom the teacher can select content and cast it in terms of problem situationsfor example, "How
did our community come to be the way it is?" Simply providing a problem,
however, will not generate the puzzlement that is a major energy source for
inquiry The students must add an awareness of self and a desire for personal meaning. In addition, they must assume the dual roles of participant
and observer; simultaneously inquiring into the problem and observing
themselves as inquirers. Because inquiry is basically a social process, students are aided in the self-observer role by interacting with, and by observing the reactions of, other puzzled people. The conflicting viewpoints that
emerge also energize the students' interest in the problem.
Although the teacher can provide aproblem situation, it is up to the students as inquirers to identify and formulate the problem and pursue its solution. Inquiry calls for firsthand activity in a real situation and ongoing
experience that continually generates new data. The students must thus be
conscious of method so that they may collect data, associate and classify
ideas recalling past experience, formulate and test hypotheses, study consequences, and modify plans. Finally, they must develop the capacity for reflection, the ability to synthesize overt participative behavior ith symbolic
verbal behavior. The students are asked to give conscious attention to the
experienceto formulate explicitly the conclusions of the study and to in.
tegrate them with existing ideas. In this way thoughts are reorganized into
new and more powerful patterns.
Let us examine a few examples that Thelen gives us to illustrate the flavor of inquiry and to point out the difference between inquiry and activity.
The first example is drawn from a second-grade social studies class dealing
with the question, "How do different people live?" The teacher proposed
that the students select some group, find out how they live, and put this information in a play they would write themselves. After some discussion the
students selected prairie dogs as a focus for their study. Here is an account
of their inquiry.
They started their study by naming the characters for the play they would write,
and of course the characters turned out to be baby, chicken, mother, father,
farmer's boy, snake, etc. They made lists of questions to be answered: What do
prairie dogs eat? Where do they live? What do they do with their time? How big
are their families? Who are their enemies? etc. Individuals sought answers to
questions from science pamphlets, books, the science teacher, officials of the
local zoo, and I have no doubt at least a few of them talked to their parents.
They reported their findings in compositions during the writing lessons. The
plot of the play gradually took shape and was endlessly modified with each new
bit of information. The play centered around family life, and there was much
discussion and spontaneous demonstration of how various members of the
family would act. Most of these characterizations actuallyrepresented a cross-
section of the home lives of seven-year-old children, as perceived by the

children. But each action was gravely discussed and soberly considered, and
justified in terms of what they knew about the ecology of prairie dogs.
They built a stage with sliding curtains and four painted backdropsmore
reference work here to get the field and farm right. The play itself was given six
times, with six different casts, and each child played at least two different parts.
There was never any written script, only an agreement on theline of action and
the part of it to occur in each scene. And after each presentationthe youngsters
sat around and discussed what they had been trying to communicate, how it
might be improved. (Thelen, 1960, pp. 142143)
Thelen contrasts this example with one drawn from a high school social
studies class in which students were to put on a series of television programs on the history of the community. As preparation, the students looked
up information and visited historical sites, taking pictures of important

evidence.
Harry and Joe took pictures of an Indian mound, left there by original settlers.
They took it from the south because the light was better that way, and they never
discovered the northern slope where erosion had laid bare a burrow full of Indian relics. Mth'y and Sue spent two afternoons on a graph of corn production
in the region; the graph was in a geography book the teacher gave them and the
time was mostly spent in making a neat elaborately lettered document for the
camera. The narrators were chosen for their handsome appearance, and much
of the staging of the show (which used reports mostly) centered around deciding the most decorative way to seat the students. A lot of old firearms and house-
hold implements were borrowed from a local museum and displayed, a

sentence or two of comment for each. (Thelen, 1960, pp. 143144)
In this latter instance, Thelen acknowledges that the students have

learned something about the region, but he points out that most of the
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energythe measure of successwas the effectiveness of the television as
a blend of entertainment and information giving. The roles in which the students inquired "were those of a reporter with a keen eye for human interest
angles, rather than the sociologist's or historian's with a disciplined concern
for the course of human events" (Thelen, 1960, p. 144)
These two examples illustrate the distinction between activity and inquiry. The actions of the second-grade class investigating prairie dogs contained the elements of inquiry: puzzlement, self-awareness, methodology
and reflection. In looking at the two examples given, we may ask ourselves:
Were there questions? Who formulated them? Who sought their answers?
How was the information obtained? Was the information applied? Were
conclusions drawn, and who drew them? Activities are potential channels
for inquiry, but inquiry must emanate from the motivations andcuriosity of
students. Activities cease to be inquiry when the teacher is the sole source
of the problem identification and the formulation of plans, or when the end
product of inquiry takes precedence over the inquiry process. That is what
happened to the high school groupthey attained production, but lost the
process on the way.
KNOWLEDGE
The development of knowledge is the goal of inquiry, but Thelen uses

knowledge in a special way: as the application of the universals and principles drawn from past experience to present experience. In the prairie dog
example, the process of discovering knowledge was on center stage at all
times; the principles of inquiry were what counted.
Knowledge is unborn experience; it is the universals incorporated into the ner-
vous system; it is a predisposition to approach the world with inquiry; it is

meaningful past experience living within itself; it is the seed of potential internal reorganization through which one keeps in touch with the changing world.
Knowledge lies in the basic alternative orientations and the proposition through
which new orientations can be built. (Thelen, 1960, p. 51)
In other words, we "try on" various ways of looking at experience, continually reinterpreting experience into workable principles and concepts.
Why should inquiry take place in groups? In addition to the application
of scientific. method, inquiry has emotional aspectsemotions rising from
involvement and growing self-awareness, the seeking of personal meaning
and the affect that accompanies conscious reflective behavior. Thus, Thelen
(1954, p. 45) views a learning situation as "one which involves the emotions
of the learner." The group is both an arena for personal needs (individuals
with their anxieties, doubts, and private desires), and also an instrument for
solving social problems. As conflicting views impinge on individuals, they
find themselves inescapably involved in the social and academic dimensions of inquiry. The individual "is driven by very profound and very pervasive psychic needs for the kind of classroom in which he can survive as a
person and find a place for himself in the organization. Algebra may mean
than nothing initially, but self-esteem, freedom of sorts, feelings of

growing adequacy and stimulation that provoke him into rewarding activity are important" (Thelen, 1960, p. 147). The social aspects of group investigation provide a route, therefore, to disciplined academic inquiry.
As a group confronts a puzzling situation, the reactions of individuals
vary widely, and the assumptive worlds that give rise to these varied reactions are even more different than the reactions themselves. The need to reconcile this difference generates a basic challenge. The newly perceived
alternatives extend the student's experience by serving both as a source of
self-awareness and as a stimulus to his or her curiosity. Engaged in inquiry
with a group, individuals become aware of different points of view that help
them find out who they are by seeing themselves projected against the views
of others. It also stimulates them: they want to know why differences exist
and how they affect them.
less
OVERVIEW OF THE TEACHING STRATEGY

Thelen provides the example of a group of 11 adult women preparing to
be elementary school teachers. This group has enough in common to facilitate close relationships but contains enough diversity to generate the differing reactions that energize inquiry. These women were investigating the
skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary to be effective teachers. The ini-
tial confrontation centered on seven elementary school classes that the

teachers had observed. They were given no instructions as to what to observe but were simply told to report their findings to the group.
Soon, heated arguments developed over the interpretation of a kindergarten teacher's behavior. The discussion revealed a great many attitudes
and ideas about teaching and learning as well as many submerged personal
concerns about the course. At that point the discussion dissolved into arguments and ceased being informative. Hence, the instructors broke in with
the suggestion that the group accept the difference of opinion and more systematically examine the factors that influence classroom activities.
Short filmstrip samples of classroom activities were then presented. The
group listed all the factors they could think of to account for the differences
among the samples. The purposes of the teacher seemed central.
The next task was to relate the observed behavior of children to the motivations of the teacher. Out of this task grew a checklist for studying the be-
havior and roles of the students. In other words, the original emotional
conflict had led to the collection of new information, more disciplined
analysis, and finally the development of an instrument for making judgments more objectively.
The group continued to make and compare its observations. From these
discussions individuals were stimulated to pursue aspects of teaching that
interested them; then they met on a private, personal basis with each person and developed further individual goals.
But what were to be the next activities of the group as a whole? On the
basis of their discussion with their students, the instructors were able to iden-
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tify broad questions about child development that interested the group. Ac-
cordingly, they made a proposal to study the skills, attitudes, and orientations
of children at different ages. The group ca1ed in resource people, evaluated
the children's progress gradually, and took over responsibility for guiding its
own action. The original inquiry into different reactions to the behavior of a
teacher had been "recycled" into an inquiry into child development.
THE MODEL OF TEACHING

SYNTAX
The model begins by confronting the students with a stimulating problem. The confrontation may be presented verbally, or it may be an actual ex-
perience; it may arise naturally, or it may be provided by a teacher. If the

students react, the teacher draws their attention to the differences in their
reactionswhat stances they take, what they perceive, how they organize things, and what they feel. As the students become interested in their differences in reaction, the teacher draws them toward formulating and structuring the problem for themselves. Next, students analyze the required
roles, organize themselves, act, and report their results. Finally, the group
evaluates its solution in terms of its original purposes. The cycle repeats itself, either with another confrontation or with a new problem growing out
of the investigation itself (see Table 6.1).
SOCIAL SYSTEM
The social system is democratic, governed by decisions developed from,

or at least validated by, the experience of the groupwithin boundaries and
TABLE 6.1 SYNTAX OF GROUP INVESTIGATION MODEL
Phase One
Students encounter puzzling

situation (planed or unplanned).
Phase Three
Students formulate study task and

organize for study (problem
definition, role, assignments, etc.).
Phase Five
Students analyze progress and

process.
Phase Two
Students explore reactions to the

situation.
Phase Four
Independent and group study.
Phase Six
Recycle activity.
CHAPTER6 / PARTNERSINLEARNING
in relation to puzzling phenomena identified by the teacher as objects to

study. The activities of the group emerge with a minimal amount of external structure provided by the teacher. Students and teacher have equal status except for role differences. The atmosphere is one of reason and
negotiation.
PRINCIPLES OF REACTION
The teacher's role in group investigation is one of counselor, consultant,

and friendly critic. He or she must guide and reflect the group experience
over three levels: the problem-solving or task level (What is the nature of the
problem? What are the factors involved?'), the group management level
(What information do we need now? How can we organize ourselves to get
it?), and the level of individual meaning (How do you feel about these conclusions? What would you do differently as a result of knowing about...?)
(Thelen, 1954, pp. 5253). This teaching role is difficult and sensitive,because the essence of inquiry is student activityproblems cannot be imposed. At the same time the instructor must: (1) facilitate the group process,
(2) intervene in the group to channel its energy into potentially educative
activities, and (3) supervise these educative activities so that personal meaning comes from the experience (Thelen, 1960, p. 13). Intervention bythe instructor should be minimal unless the group bogs down seriously. Chapters
16 to 18 of Leadership of Discussion Groups (1975) by Gertrude K. Pollack
provide an excellent advanced discussion of leadership in groups. Although
the material was prepared for persons leading therapy groups, it is written
at a general level and provides much useful advice for those wishing tobuild
classrooms around group inquiry.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
The support system for group investigation should be extensive and responsive to the needs of the students. The school needs to be equipped with
a first-class library that provides information and opinion through a wide
variety of media; it should also be able to provide access to outside resources as well. Children should be encouraged to investigate and to con-
tact resource people beyond the school walls. One reason cooperative
inquiry of this sort has been relatively rare is that the support systems were
not adequate to maintain the level of inquiry.
APPLICATION
Group investigation requires flexibility from the teacher and the classroom organization. Although we assume that the model fits comfortably
with the environment of the "open" classroom, we believe it is equally com-
patible with more traditional classrooms. We have observed successful

group investigation teachers in a context in which other subjects, such as
math and reading, are carried out in a more structured, teacher-directed
fashion. If students have not had an opportunity to experience the kind of
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PART II
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social interaction, decision making, and independent inquiry called for in
this model, it may take some time before they function at a high level. On
the other hand, students who have participated in classroom meetings

and/or self-directed, inquiry-oriented learning will probably have an easier
time. In any case, it is probably useful for the teacher to remember that the
social aspects of the model may be as unfamIliar to students as the intellectual aspects and may be as demanding in terms of skill acquisition.
Although the examples of the model described here tend to be intellectually and organizationally elaborate, all investigations need not be so complex. With young children or students new to group investigation, fairly
small-scale investigations are possible; the initial confrontation can provide
a narrow range of topics, issues, information, and alternative activities. For
example, providing an evening's entertainment for the school is more focused than resolving the energy crisis. Deciding who will care for the classroom pet and how is even narrower. Of course, the nature of the inquiry
depends on the interests and ages of the students. Older students tend to be
concerned with more complex issues. However, the skillful teacher can design inquiries appropriate to the students' abilities and to his or her own
ability to manage the investigation.
As we indicated in the introduction to the social family of models, three
recent lines of research by three teams (led by David and Roger Johnson,
Robert Slavin, and Shiomo Sharan) have contributed a good deal of knowledge about how to engineer social models and what their effects are likely
to be.
The Johnsons have concentrated on cooperative tasks, cooperative rewards, and peer tutoring. They have made extensive reviews of studies with
students of all ages working in many substantive areas. As mentioned earlier, their reviews and studies support the contention that working together
increases student energy and that rewarding teams of students .for performance is effective, appearing to increase the energy of the teams (Johnson,
Maruyana, Johnson, Nelson, and Skon, 1981). In addition, their work with
peer tutoring appears positive as well, and heterogeneous teams (composed
of high and low achievers) appear to be the most productive (Johnson and
Johnson, 1972).
Slavin's (1983) work generally confirms that of the Johnsons, and he has
added some interesting variations. He has explored ways of differentiating
tasks when groups are working on projects and has found that differentiating tasks increases the energy of the students. For example, when students
are studying a topic in history, individuals can become "specialists" in certain areas of the topic, with the responsibility of mastering certain information and conveying it to the other students. In addition, he has looked at
the effects of team composition on learning and attitudes toward self and
others. Generally, the more heterogeneous groups learn more, form more
positive attitudes toward the learning tasks, and become more positive toward one another (Slavin, 1983).
Sharan has studied group investigation per Se. His team has reported
that the more pervasive the cooperative climate, the more positive the stu-
dents toward both the learning tasks and toward each other (Sharan and.
Hertz-Lazarowitz, 1 8Oa). In addition, he has hypothesized that the greater

social complexity would increase achievement of more complex learning
goals (concepts and theories) and both confirmed his hypothesis and found
that it increased the learning of information and basic skills as well. A nice
small study by teachers in an Oregon high school i worth reading both for
its insight into the dynamics of the groups and the effects on the students
(Hhtala, 1994).
The purpose of cooperative inquiry is to combine complex social and
academic tasks to generate academic and social learning. Properly implmented, it appears to achieve its goals.
INSTRUC1IONAL AND NURTURANT EFFECTS

This model is highly versatile and comprehensive; it blends the goals of
academic inquiry social integration, and social-process learning. It can be
used in all subject areas, with all age levels, when the teacher desires to emphasize the formulation and problem-solving aspects of knowledge rather
than the intake of preorganized, predetermined information.
Provided that one accepts Thelen's view of knowledge and its reconstruction, the group investigation model (Figure 6.1) can be considered a
very direct and probably efficient way of teaching academic knowledge as
well as social process. It also appears likely to nurture interpersonal warmth
and trust, respect for negotiated rules and policies, independence in learning, and respect for the dignity of others.
In dccidijig whether to use the model, considering the potential nurturant
effects may be as important as analyzing the likely direct instructional effects.
Another model might be as appropriate for teaching academic inquiry, but a
teacher may prefer group investigation for what it might nurture.
FIGURE 6.1
Instructional and nurturant effects: group investigation model.
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PART II
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Syntax
Phase One: Encounter Puzzling Situation (planned or unplanned)
Phase Two: Explore Reactions to the Situation
Phase Three: Formulate Study Task and Organize for Study (problem
definition, role, assignments; and so on)
Phase Four: Independent and Group Study
Phase Five: Analyze Progress and Process
Phase Six: Recycle Activity
Social System
The system is based on the democratic process and group decisions, with
low external structure. Puzzlement must be genuineit cannot be imposed. Authentic exchanges are essential. Atmosphere is one of reason
and negotiation.
Principles of Reaction
Teacher plays a facilitative role directed at group process (helps learners
formulate plan, act, manage group) and requirements of inquiry (consciousness of method). He or she functions as an academic counselor. The
students react to the puzzling situation and examine the nature of their
ccmmon and different reactions. They determiiie what kinds of information they need to approach the problem and proceed to collect relevant
data. They generatehypotheses and gather the information needed to test
them. They evaluate their products and continue their inquiry or begin a
new line of inquixy The central teaching moves to build the cooperative
social environment and teach students the skills of negotiation and conflict resolution necessary for democratic problem solving. In addition, the
teacher needs to guide the students in methods of data collection and

analysis, help them frame testable hypotheses, and decide what would
constitute a reasonable test of a hypothesis. Because groups vary consid-
erably in their need for structure (Hunt, 1971) and their cohesiveness
(Thelen, 1967), the teacher cannot behave mechanically but must "read"
the students' social and academic behavior and provide the assistance
that keeps the inquiry moving without squelching it.
Support System
The environment must be able to respond to a variety of learner demands.
Teacher and student must be able to assemble what they need when they
need it.
CHAPTER
ROLE PLAYING
Studying Social
Behavior and Values
The analysis of values is what's important. Playing the roles lets the values
become visible if the analysis is right. Understanding that what you do is a
living out of your values starts the inquiry.
Fannie Shaftel to a group of Palo Alto teachers, May 1969
SCENARIO
We are in a seventh-grade classroom in East Los Angeles, California.
The students have returned to the classroom from a recess period and are
complaining excitedly to one another. Mr. Williams, the teacher, asks what
the matter is and they all start in at once, discussing a series of difficulties
that lasted throughout the recess period. Apparently, two of the students
began to squabble about who was to take the sports equipment outside.
Then all of the students argued about what game to play. Next, there was a
dispute about choosing sides for the games. This included a dispute over
whether the girls should be included with the boys or whether they should
play separately. The class finally began to play volleyball, but very shortly
there was a dispute over a line call, and the game was never completed.
At first, Mr. Williams displays his displeasure toward the class. He is
angry not simply over the incidents, but because these arguments have been
going on since the beginning of the year. At last he says, "OK, we really have
to face this problem. You must be as tired of it as I am, and you really are
not acting maturely. So we are going to use a technique that we have been
using to discuss family problems to approach our own problems right here
in this classroom: we're going to use role playing. Now, what I wantyou to
do is divide into groups and try to identify the types of problems we've been
having. Just take today, for example, and outline the problem situations that
got us into this fix."
The students begin with the argument over taking the sports equipment
outside, and then outline other arguments. Each is a typical situation that
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people face all the time and that they must learn to take a stand on. After
the separate groups of students have listed their problems, Mr. Williams appoints one of the students to lead a discussion in which each group reports
the kinds of problem situations that have come up; the groups agree on a
half dozen problems that have consistently bothered the class.
The students then group the problems according to type. One type concerns the division of labor. A second type deals with deciding principles for
selecting teams. A third type focuses on resolving disputes over the particulars of games, such as whether balls have been hit out of bounds, whether
players are out or safe, and so on. Mr. Williams then assigns one type of
problem to each group and asks the groups to describe situations in which.
the problems come up. When they have done this, the class votes on which
problem to start wjth. The first problem they select is disputes over rules;
the actual problem situation they select is the volleyball game in which the
dispute over a line call occurred.
Together, the class talks about how the problem situation develops. It
begins when a ball is hit close to the boundary.line. One team believes it is
in, and the other believes it is out of bounds. The students then argue with
one another, and the argument goes on so that the game cannot continue.
Several students are selected to enact the situation. Others gather
around and are assigned to observe particular aspects of the role playing
that follows. Some students are to look for the particulars of how the argument develops. Some are to study one role player and others another, to determine how they handle the situation.
The enactment is spirited. The students select as role players those who
have been on opposite sides during the game, and they become as involved
in the argument during the role playing as they were during the actual situation. Finally, they are standing in the middle of the room shouting at one
another. At this point, Mr. Williams calls, "Time!" and asks the students to
describe what has gone on.
Everyone is eager to talk. The discussion gradually focuses on how the
attitude of the participants prevented resolving the problem. No one was listening to the other person. And no one was dealing with the problem of how
to resolve honest disputes. Finally, Mr. Williams asks the students to suggest
other ways that people could behave in this kind of conflict. Some students
suggest giving in gracefully. But others object that if someone believes he or
she is right, that is not an easy thing to do. Finally, the students identify an
important question to focus on: "How can we develop a policy about who
should make calls, and how should others feel about those calls?" They decide to reenact the scene by having all the participants assume that the defensive team should make the calls only when they see clear evidence that
a ball is out and the other team has not seen the evidence.
The enactment takes place. This time, the players attempt to follow the
policy that the defensive team has the right to make the call, but the offensive team has the right to object to a call. Once again, the enactment results
in a shouting match; however, after it is over, the students who have

watched the enactment point out that the role players have not behaved as
CHAPTER 7 / ROLE PLAYING
if there is a resolution to the situation. They recognize that if there are to

be games, there has to be agreement about who can make calls as well as a
certain amount of trust on both sides.
They decide to try a third enactment, this time with two new role players inserted as dispute referees. The introduction of referees completely
changes the third enactment. The referees insist that the other players pay
attention to them, which the players do not want to do. In discussing this
enactment, the students point out that there has to be n system to ensure
reasonable order and the resolution of disputes. The students also agree
that as things stand, they probably are unable to resolve disputes without
including a referee of some sort, but that no referees will be effective unless
the students agree to accept the referees' decisions as final. They finally decide that in future games, two students will be referees. Those students will
be chosen by lot prior to the game; their function will be to arbitrate and to
make all calls relevant to the rules of the game, and their decisions will be
final. The students agree that they will see how that system works.
The next day Mr. Williams opens up the second set of issues, and the
students repeat this process. The exploration of other areasof dispute continues over the next few weeks. At first, many of the notions that are clarified are simply practical ones about how to solve specific problems.
Gradually, however, Mr. Williams directs the discussion to a consideration
of the basic values governing individual behavior. The students.begin to see
the problems of communal living, and they develop policies for governing
their own behavior, as individuals and as a group. They also begin to develop skills in negotiating. The students who were locked in conflict gradually learn that if they behave in a slightly different way, others may also
modify their behavior, and problems become easier to solve.
In role playing, students explore human relations problems by enacting

problem situations and then discussing the enactments. Together, students
can explore feelings, attitudes, values, and problem-solving strategies. Several teams of researchers have experimented with role playing, and their
treatments of the strategy are remarkably similar. The version we explore
here was formulated by Fannie and George Shaftel (1967). We have also incorporated ideas from the work of Mark Chesler and Robert Fox (1966).
Role playing as a model of teaching has roots in both the personal and
social dimensions of education. It attempts to help individuals find personal
meaning within their social worlds and to resolve personal dilemmas with
the assistance of the social group. In the social dimension, it allows individuals to work together in analyzing social situations, especially interpersonal problems, and in developing decent and democratic ways of coping
with these situations. We have placed role playing in the social family of
models because the social group plays such an indispensable part in human
development and because of the unique opportunity that role playing offers
for resolving interpersonal and social dilemmas.
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92

On its simplest level, role playing is dealing with problems through action; a problem is delineated, acted out, and discussed. Some students are
role players; others observers. A person puts himself or herself in the position of another person and then tries to interact with others who are also
playing roles. As empathy, sympathy, anger, and affection are all generated
duringthe interaction, role playing, if done well, becomes a part of life. This
emotional content, as well as the words and the actions, becomes part of
the later analysis. When the acting out is finished, even the observers are involved enough to want to know why each person reached his or her decision, what the sources of resistance were, and whether there were other
ways this situation could have been approached.
The essence of role playing is the involvement of participants and observers in a real problem situation and the desire for resolution and understanding that this involvement engenders. The role-playing process provides
a live sample of human behavior that serves as a vehicle for students to:
(1) explore their feelings; (2) gain insight into their attitudes, values, and
perceptions; (3) develop their problem-solving skills and attitudes; and
(4) explore subject matter in varied ways.
These goals reflect several assumptions about the learning process in
role playing. First, role playing implicitly advocates an experience-based
learning situation in which the "here and now" becomes the content of instruction. The model assumes that it is possible to create authentic analo-
gies to real-life problem situations and that through these re-creations

students can "sample" life. Thus, the enactment elicits genuine, typical emotional responses and behaviors from the students.
A related assumption is that role playing can draw out students' feelings, which they can recognize and perhaps release. The Shaftels' version
of role playing emphasizes the intellectual content as much as the emotional content; analysis and discussion of the enactment are as important
as the role playing itself. We, as educators, are concerned that students recognize and understand their feelings and see how their feelings influence
their behavior.
Anothr assumption, similar to an assumption of the synectics models,
is that emotions and ideas can be brought to consciousness and enhanced
by the group. The collective reactions of the peer group can bring out new
ideas and provide directions for growth and change. The model deemphasizes the traditional role of teacher and encourages listening and learning
from one's peers.
A final assumption is that covert psychological processes involving one's
own attitudes, values, and belief system can be brought to consciousness by
combinii* spontaneous enactment with analysis. Furthermore, individuals
can gain some measure of control over their belief systems if they recognize
their values and attitudes and test them against the views of others. Such
analysis can help them evaluate their attitudes and values and the consequences of their beliefs, so that they can allow themselves to grow.
THE CONCEPT OF ROLE

Each individual has a unique manner of relating to people, situations,
and objects. One person may feel that most people are dishonest and cannot be trusted; someone else may feel that everyone is interesting and may
look forward to meeting new people. People also evaluate and behave in
consistent ways toward themselves, seeing themselves as powerful and
smart, or perhaps afraid and not very able. These feelings about people and
situations aad about themselves influence people's behavior and determine
how they will respond in various situations. Some people respond with aggressive and hostile behavior, playing the part of a bully. Others withdraw
and remain alone, playing the part of a shy or sulking person.
These parts people play are called roles. A role is "a patterned sequence
of feelings, words, and actions.... It is a unique and accustomed manner
of relating to others" (Chesler and Fox, 1966, pp. 5, 8). Unless people are
looking for them, it is sometimes hard to perceive consistencies and pat.
terns in behavior. But they are usually there. Terms such as friendly, bully,
snobby, know-it-all, and grouch are convenient for describing characteristic
responses or roles.
The roles individuals play are determined by several factors over many
years. The kinds of people someone meets determine his or her general feelings about people. How those people act toward the individual and how the
individuals perceive their feelings toward them influence their feelings
about themselves. The rules of one's particular culture and institutions help
to determine which roles a person assumes and how he or she plays them.
People may not be happy with the roles they have assumed. And they
may misperceive the attitudes and feelings of others because they do not
recognize their role and why they play it. Two people can share the same
feelings but behave in very different ways. They can desire the same goals,
but if one person's behavior is niisperceived by others, he or she may not attain that goal.
For a clear understanding of oneself and of others, it is thus extremely
important that a person be aware of roles and how they are played. To do
this, each person must be able to put himself or herself in another's place,
and to experience as much as possible that person's thoughts and feelings.
If someone is able to empathize, he or she can accurately interpret social
events and interactions. Role playing is a vehicle that forces people to take
the roles of others.
The concept of role is one of the central theoretical underpinnings of
the role-playing model. It is also a major goal. We must teach students to
use this concept, to recognize different roles, and to think of their own and
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others' behavior in terms Of roles. At the same time, there are many other
aspects to this model, and many levels of analysis, which to some extent
compete with one another. For example, the content of the problem, the solutions to the problem, the feelings of the role players, and the acting itself
all serve to involve students in the role play. Therefore, to be a salient part
of the role-playing experience, the concept of role must be interwoven, yet
kept in the fore throughout all the role-playing activities. It also helps if,
prior to using the model, students have been taught this concept directly.

SYNTAX
The benefits of role playing depend on the quality of the enactment and
especially on the analysis that follows. They depend also on the students'
perceptions of the role as similar to real-life situations. Children do not necessarily engage effectively in role playing or role analysis the first time they
try it. Many have to learn to engage in role playing in a sincere way so that
the content generated can be analyzed seriously. Chesler and Fox (1966,
pp. 6466) suggest pantomimic exercises as a way of freeing inexperienced
students. Role playing is not likely to be successful if the teacher simply
tosses out a problem situation, persuades a few children to act it out, and
then condutts a discussion about the enactment.
The Shaftels suggest that the role-playing activity consist of nine steps:
(1) warm up the group, (2) select participants, (3) set the stage, (4) prepare
observers, (5) enact, (6) discuss and evaluate, (7) reenact, (8) discuss and
evaluate, and (9) share experiences and generalize. Each of these steps or
phases has a specific purpose that contributes to the richness and focus of
the learning activity. Together, they ensure that a line of thinking is pursued
throughout the complex of activities, that students are prepared in their
roles, that goals for the role play are identified, and that the discussion af
terward is not simply a collection of diffuse reactions, though these are important too. Table 7.1 summarizes the phases and activities ofthe model,
which are discussed and illustrated in the remainder of this section.
Phase one, warming up the group, involves introducing students to a
problem so that they recognize it as an area with which everyone needs to
learn to deal. The warm-up can begin, for example, by identifying a problem within the group.
Teacher: Do you remember the other day we had a discussion about

Jane's lunch money? Because she had put her money in her pocket
and had not given it to me when she -came into the room, it was lost.
We had quite a talk about finding money: whether to keep it or turn
it in. Sometimes it's not easy to decide what to do. Do you ever have
times when you just don't know what to do? (Shaftel and Shaftel,
1967, p. 67)

TABLE 7.1
SYNTAX OF ROLE PLAYING
Phase One:
Warm Up the Group
Identify or introduce problem.

Make problem explicit.
Interpret problem story, explore
issues.
Explain role playing.
Phase Two:
Select Participants
Analyze roles.
Select role players.
Phase Four:
Prepare the Observers
Phase Three:
Set the Stage
Set line of action.

Restate roles.
Get inside problem situation.
Decide what to look for.

Assign observation tasks.
Phase Six:
Discuss and
Phase Five:
Enact
Review action of role play (events,

positions, realism).
Discuss major focus.
Develop next enactment.
Begin role play.

Maintain role play.
Break role play.
Phase Eight:
Discuss and Evaluate
Phase Seven:
Reenact
Play revised roles; suggest next

steps or behavioral alternatives.
As in phase six.
Phase Nine:
Share Experiences and
Generalize
Relate problem situation to real

experience and, current problems.
Explore general principles of behavior.
Source: Based on Fannie Shaftel and George Shaftel, Role Playing of
Social Values (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967).
The teacher sensitizes the group to a problem and creates a climate of acceptance, so that students feel that all views, feelings, and behaviors can be
explored without retribution.
The second part of the warm-up is to express the problem vividly
through examples. These may come from student descriptions of imaginary
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or real situations that express the problem, or from situations selected by

the teacher and illustrated by a film, television show, or problem story
In Role Playing of Social Values: Decision Making in the Social Studies
(1967), the Shaftels provide a large selection of problem stories to be read
to the class. Each story stops when a dilemma has become apparent. The
Shaftels feel that problem stories have several advantages. They focus on a
particular problem and yet ensure that the children will be able to disassociate themselves from the problem enough to face it. Incidents that students
have experienced in their lives or that the group has experienced as a whole,
though visually and emotionally involving, can cause considerable stress
and therefore be difficult to analyze. Another advantage of problem stories
is that they are dramatic and make role playing relatively easy to initiate.
The burden of involving the children in the activity is lightened.
The last part of the warm-up is to ask questions that make the children
think about and predict, the outcome of the story: "How might the story
end?" "What is Sam's problem and what can he do about it?" The teacher
in the preceding illustration handled this step as follows:
Teacher: I would like to read you a story 'this afternoon about a boy
who found himself in just such a spot. His parents wanted him to
do one thing, but his gang insisted he do something else. Trying to
please everybody, he got himself into difficulty. This will be one of
those problem stories that stop but are not finished.
Pupil: Like the one we did last week?
Teacher: Yes.
Pupil: Oh! But can't you give us one with an ending?
Teacher: When you get into a jam, does someone always come along
and tell you how your problems will end?
Pupil: Oh no! Not very often.
Teacher: In life, we usually have to make our own endingswe have
to solve our problems ourselves. That s why I'm reading these problem storiesso that we can practice endings, trying out many different ones to see which works the best for us. As I read this story,
you might be thinking of what you would do if you were in Tommy
Haines's place. (Shaftel and Shaftel, 1967, p. 67)
The story is about a boy caught between his father's views and those of
his club. He has committed himself financially to a club project his father
does not approve of and would not support. Tommy does' not have the
money and resorts to a somewhat devious means of getting it. The problem
centers on Tommy's opportunity to clear the debt with his gang. He delivers
a package for the druggist and is overpaid $5enough to clear the debt.
Tommy stands outside the customer's door, trying to decide whether to return or keep the money. After, reading the story, the teacher focuses the
discussion on what might happen next, thus preparing for different enactments of the situation:
Teachen What do you think Tommy will do?
Pupil: I think he'll keep the money.
Teacher: Oh?
Pupil: Because he needs to pay the club.

Pupil: Oh no he won't. He'll get found out, and he knows it. (Shaftel
and Shaftel, 1967, p. 69)
In phase two, selecting participants, the children and the teacher describe the various characterswhat they are like, how they feel, and what
they might do. The children are then asked to volunteer to role play; they
may even ask to play a particular role. The Shaftels caution us against assigning a role to a child who has been suggested for it, because the person
making the suggestion may be stereotyping the child or putting him or her
in an awkward situation. A person must want to play a role. Although he or
she takes into account the children's preferences, the teacher should exercise some control in the situation.
We can use several criteria for selecting a child for a role. Roles can be
assigned to children who appear to be so involved in the problem that they
identify with a specific role, those who express an attitude that needs to be
explored, or those who should learn to identify with the role or place themselves in another person's position. The Shaftels warn the teacher not to
select children who would give "adult-oriented, socially acceptable" interpretations to the role, because such a quick and superficial resolution of the
problem dampens discussion and exploration of the basic issues (Shaftel
and Shaftel, 1967, P. 67).
In our illustration, the teacher asks a student to be Tommy and then

asks the student what roles need to be filled. He answers that he'll need
someone to be the customer and some student to be the gang. The teacher
asks several children to fill these roles.
hi phase three, setting the stage, the role players outline the scene but
do not prepare any specific dialogue. They simply sketch the setting and
perhaps one person's line of action. The teacher may help set the stage by
asking the students a few simple questions about where the enactment is
taking place, what it is like, and so on. It is necessary only that a simple line
of action be identified and a general setting clarified so that participantsfeel
secure enough in the roles to begin to act.
The setting is arranged so that one corner of the classroom becomes the
school where the gang is waiting for Tommy to bring the money; in another
corner, a chair is used to represent the door of the customer's house.
The teacher asks the boy playing Tommy where in the action he wants to
begin, and the boy decides to start with the scene where he is delivering the
packages.
In phase four, preparing the observers, it is important that the observers
become actively involved so that the entire group experiences the enactment
and can later analyze the play. The Shaftels suggest that the teacher involve
observers in the role play by assigning them tasks, such as evaluating the
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PART II
/ THE SOCIAL FAMILY
realism of the role playing, commenting on the effectiveness and the se-
quences of the role players' behavior, and defining the feelings and ways of
thinking of the persons being portrayed. The observers should determine
what the role players are trying to accomplish, what actions the role players took that were helpful or not helpful, and what alternative experiences
might have been enacted. Or they can watch one particular role to define
the feelings of that person. The observers should understand that there will
be more than one enactment in most cases, and if they would have acted
out a certain role in a different way, they may have a chance to do so.
In our illustration, the teacher prepares the observers as follows:
Teacher: Now, as you watch, consider whether you think Jerry's way
of ending the story could really happen. Hpw will people feel? You
may want to think of what will happen next. Perhaps you'll have dif-
ferent ideas about it, and when Jerry's finished, and we've talked
about it, we can try your ideas. (Shaftel and Shaftel, 1967, p. 69)
At phase five, enacting, the players assume the roles and "live" the situation spontaneously, responding realistically to one another. The role playing is not expected to be a smooth dramatization,, nor is it expected that
each role player will always know how to respond. This uncertainty is part
of life, as well as part of feeling the role. A person may have a general idea
of what to say or do but not be able to enact it when the time comes. The
action now depends on the children and emerges according to what happens in the situation. This is why the preparatory steps are so important.
The Shaftels suggest that enactments be short. The teacher should allow
the enactment to run only until the proposed behavior is clear, a character
has developed, a behavioral skill has been practiced, an impasse is reached,
or the action has expressed its viewpoint or idea. If the follow-up discussion
reveals a lack of student understanding about the events or roles, the

teacher can then ask for a reenactment of the scene.
The purpose of the first enactment is simply to establish events and
roles, which in later enactments can be probed, analyzed, and reworked. In
our illustration, the boy playing Tommy chooses not to tell the customer
that he has overpaid. During the initial enactment, the players of the major
role can be changed to demonstrate variety in the role and to generate more
data for discussion.
In phase six, discussing and evaluating, if the problem is important and
the participants and observers are intellectually and emotionally involved,
the discussion will probably begin spontaneously. At first, the discussion
may focus on different interpretations of tIe portrayal and on disagreements over how the roles should have been tarried out. More important,
however, are the consequences of the action and the motivations of the actors. To prepare for the next step, a teacher should focus the discussiofl on
these aspects.
the teacher can

when
he said that?"
ask questions such as, "How do .you suppose John felt
within
the roles and
The discussion will probably turn to alternatives, both
within the total pattern of action. When it does, the stage is set for further
enactments in which role players change their interpretations, playing the
same roles in a different way.
In our illustration, the discussion of the first enactment goes like this:
To help the observer think along with the role players,
Teacher: Well, Jerry has given us one solution. What do you think of
it?
Pupil: Uh-uh! It won't work!
Jerry: Why not?
Pupil: That man is going to remember how much moneyhe had. He'll
phone the druggist about it.
Jerry: So what? He can't prove anything on me. I'll just say he didn't
overpay me.
Pupil: You'll lose your job.
Jerry: When they can't prove it?
Pupil: Yes, even if they can't prove it.
Teacher: Why do you think so, John?
Pupil: Because the druggist has to be on the side of his customer. He
can fire Tommy and hire another boy. But he doesn't want his customers mad at him.
Pupil: He's going to feel pretty sick inside, if he keeps the money.
Teacher: What do you mean?
Pupil: Well, it bothers you when you know you've done something
wrong.
Teacher: Do you have any other way to solve this problem?

Pupil: Yes. Tommy should knock on the door and tell the customer
about being overpaid. Maybe the man'll let Tommy keep the money.
Teacher: All right, let's try it your way, Dick. (Shaftel and Shaftel,
1967, p. 71)
In phase seven, reenacting, the reenactment may take place manytimes.

The students and teacher can share new interprtations of roles and decide
whether new individuals should play them. The activity alternates between
discussion and acting. As much as possible, the new enactments should explore new possibilities for causes and effects. For example., one role may be
changed so that everyone can observe how that change cai4ses another role
player to behave. Or at the critical point in the enactment, the participants
may try to behave in a different way and see what the consequences are. In
this way, the role playing becomes a dramatic conceptual activity.
In our illustration, a second enactment produces the solution in which
Tommy alerts 'the man to his overpayment and gets to keep the money for
being so honest.
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PART II / THESOCIALFAMILY
In the discussion that follows the second enactmentphase eight, discuss and evaluatestudents are willing to accept the solution, but the
teacher pushes for a realistic solution by asking whether they think this ending could really happen. One student has had a similar experience but was
overpaid only $1.25, which he was allowed to keep The teacher asks the
class wJieTher they think it might be different with $5. She asks for another
solution, and it is suggested that Tommy consult his mother. There follows
some discussion of Tommy's father, concepts about family, and parental

roles. The teacher suggests that this third solution be enacted. Here's what
happens in the third enactment:
Tommy: Mom, I'm in an awful jam!

Mother: What's the trouble, Tommy?
Tommy: (Tells his mother the whole story)
Mother: Why, Tommy, you should have told me sooner. Here, you pay
the money (opens purse), and we'll talk this over with Dad when he
comes home. (Shaftel and Shaftel, 1967, p. 73)
During the discussion of this enactment, the teacher asks what will happen
next, and someone suggests that Tommy will get a licking. The students feel
that his punishment will relieve Tommy's guilt.
Phase nine, sharing experiences and generalizing, should not be expected to result immediately in generalizations about the human relations
aspects of the situation. Such generalizations require much experience. The
teacher should, however, attempt to shape the discussion so that the children, perhaps after long experience with the role-playing strategy, begin to
generalize about approaches to problem situations and the consequences of
those approaches. The more adequate the shaping of the discussion, the
more general will be the conclusions reached, and the closer the children
will come to hypothetical principles of action they can use in their own lives.
The initial goal, however, is to relate the problem situation to the children's experiences in a nonthreatening way. This goal can be accomplished
by asking the class members if they know someone who has had a similar
experience. In our illustration with Tommy and the money, the teacher asks
if anyone in the class knows of an instance in which a boy or girl was in a
situation like Tommy's. One student describes an experience with his father.
The teacher then asks about parental attitudes and the role of fathers with
respect to their children's money.
From such discussions emerge principles that all students can articulate and use. These principles may be applied to particular problems, or
they can be used by the children as a springboard for exploring other kinds
of problems. Ideally, the children will gradually master the strategy so that
when a problem comes up, either within their, group or from a topic they
have studied, they will be able to use role playing to clarify and gain insight
into the problem. Students might, for example, systematically use role playing to improve the quality of classroom democracy.
CHAPTER 7 I ROLE PLAYING
SOCIAL SYSTEM
The social system in this model is moderately structured. Teachers are
responsible, at least initially, for starting the phases and guiding students
through the activities within each phase; however, the particular content of
the discussions and enactments is determined largely by the students.
The teachers' questions and comments should encourage free and honest expression of ideas and feelings. Teachers must establish equality and
trust between themselves and their students. They can do this by accepting
all suggestions as legitimate and making no value judgments. In this way,
they simply reflect the children's feelings or attitudes.
Even though teachers are chiefly reflective and supportive, they assume
direction as well. They often select the problem to be explored, lead the discussion, choose the actors, make decisions about when the enactments are
to be done, help design the enactments, and most significant, decide what
to probe for and what suggestions to explore. In essence, the teachers shape
the exploration of behavior by the types of questions they ask and, through
questioning, establish the focus.
We have identified five principles of reaction that are important to this
model. First, teachers should accept student responses and suggestions, especially their opinions and feelings, in a nonevaluative manner. Second,
teachers should respond in such a way that they help the students explore
various sides of the problem situation, recognizing and contrasting alternative points of view. Third, by reflecting, paraphrasing, and summarizing
responses, the teacher increases students' awareness of their own views and
feelings. Fourth, the teacher should emphasizethat there are different ways
to play the same role and that different consequences result as they are explored. Fifth, there are alternative ways to resolve a problem; no one way is
correct. The teacher helps the students look at the consequences to evaluate a solutions and compare it with alternatives.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
The materials for role playing are minimal but important. The major
curricular tool is the problem situation. However, it is sometimes helpful to

construct briefing sheets for each role. These sheets describe the role or the
character's feelings. Occasionally, we also develop forms for the observers
that tell them what to look for and give them a place to write it down.
Films, novels, and short stories make excellent sources for problem situations. Problem stories or outlines of problem situations are also useful.
Problem stories, as their name implies, are short narratives that describe
the setting, circumstances actions, and dialogue of a situation. One or more
of the characters faces a dilemma in which a choice must be made or an action taken. The story ends unresolved.
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102
Many resource materials now commercially available include stories or

problem stories whose endings can be omitted or changed. The books by
the Shaftels (1967) and by Chesler and Fox (1966) each contain a section of
problem stories.
APPLICATION
The role-playing model is extremely versatile and applicable to several important educational objectives. Through role playihg, students can increase
their abilities to recognize their own and other people's feelings, they can
acquire new behaviors for handling previously difficult situations, and they
can improve their problem-solving skills.
In addition to its many uses, the role-playing model carries with it an
appealing set of activities. Because students enjoy both the action and the
acting, it is easy to forget that the role play itself is a vehicle for developing
the content of the instruction. The stages of the model are not ends in themselves, but they help expose students' values, feelings, attitudes, and solutions to problems, which the teacher must then explore.
ROLE PLAYING AND THE CURRICULUM

There are two basic reasons why a teacher might decide to use role playing, with a group of children. One is to begin a systematic program of social
education in which a role-playing situation forms much of the material

to be discussed and analyzed; for this purpose, a particular ,kind of problem story might be selected. The second reason is to counsel a group of children to deal with an immediate human relations problem; role playing can
open up this problem area to the students' inquiry and help them solve the
problem.
Several types of social problems are amenable to exploration with the
aid of this model, including:
1. Interpersonal conflicts. A major use of role playing is to reveal conflicts

between people so that students can discover techniques for overcoming them.
2. Intergroup relations. Interpersonal problems arising from ethnic and

racial stereotyping or from authoritarian beliefs can also be explored
through role playing. These problems involve conflict that may not be
apparent. Role-playing situations of this type might be used to uncover
stereotypes and prejudices or to encourage acceptance of the deviant.
3. Individual dilemmas. These arise when a person is caught between two
contrasting values or between his or her own interests and the interests
of others. Such problems are particularly difficult for young children to
deal with, since their moral judgment is still relatively egocentric. Some
of the most delicate and difficult uses of role playing make this dilemma
ccessib1e to children and help them understand why it occurs and what
to do about it. Individual dilemmas that might be explored are ones in
which a person is caught between the demands of the peer group and
those of his or her parents, or between the pressures of the group and
his or her own preferences.
4. Historical or contemporary problems. These include critical situations,
past or present, in which policymakers, judges, political leaders, or
statespeople have to confront a problem or person and make a decision.
Regardless of the particular type of social problem, students will focus

naturally on the aspects of the situation that seem important to them. They
may concentrate on the feelings that are being expressed, the attitudes and
values of the role players as seen through their words and actions, the problem solution, or the consequences of behavior. It is possible for the teacher
to emphasize any or all of these areas in the enactments and discussions.
In-depth curriculum sequences can be based on each of the following

focuses:
Exploration of feelings
Exploration of attitudes, values, and perceptions
Development of problem-solving attitudes and skills
Subject-matter exploration
We have found that a single role-playing session is often extremely rich.
Discussion can go in many directionstoward analyzing feelings, consequences, the roles themselves and ways to play them, and alternative solutions. After several years of working with this model, we have come to
believe that if any one of these ideas, or objectives, is to be developed adequately, the teacher must make a concerted effort to explore one particular
emphasis. Because all these aspects tend to emerge in the role-playing

process, it is easy to consider them only superficially. One difficulty we are
faced with, then, is that an in-depth treatment of any one focus requires
time. Especially in the beginning, when students are getting accustomed to
the model and to exploring their behavior and feelings, we feel it is important to select one major focus, or perhaps two, for any one session. Other
aspects, of course, may also need to be considered in the development of
ideas, but their place should be secondary. For example, the feelings of the
characters will be discussed even when the teacher is trying to get the
students to concentrate on alternative solutions to the problem, but in
this case, the feelings will tie in to a consideration and evaluation of the
solutions.
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104
By choosing one or perhaps two emphases for the enactment, carefully

questioning and responding to stucients' ideas, and building on the ideas of
the previous phases, the teacher gradually develops each phase so that it
supports the particular objectives that have been selected for that session.
This is what we mean by developing a focus (see Table 7.2).
SELECTING A PROBLEM SITUATION

The adequacy of the topic depends on many factors, such as the age of
the students, their cultural background, the complexity of the problem situation, the sensitivity of the topic, and the students' experience with role
playing. In general, as students gain experience with role playing and develop a high degree of group cohesiveness and acceptance of one another,
as well as a close rapport with the teacher, the more sensitive the topic can
be. The first few problem situations should be matters of concern to the stu-
TABLE 7.2 POSSIBLE FOCUSES OF A ROLE-PLAYING SESSION
I. Feelings
A. Exploring one's own feelings
B. Exploring others' feelings
C. Acting out or releasing feelings
D. Experiencing higher-status roles in order to change the
perceptions of others and one's own perceptions
II. Attitudes, values, and perceptions
A. Identifying values of culture or subculture
B. Clarifying and evaluating one's own values and value
conflicts
III. Problem-solving attitudes and skills
A. Openness to possible solutions
B. Ability to identify a problem
C. Ability to generate alternative solutions
D. Ability to evaluate the consequences to oneself and others
of alternative solutions to problems
E. Experiencing consequences and making final decisions in
light of those consequences
F. Analyzing criteria and assumptions behind alternatives
G. Acquiring new behaviors
IV. Subject matter

A. Feelings of participants
B. Historical realities: historical crises, dilemmas, and
decisions
CHAPTER 7
/ ROLE PLAYING
dents but not extremely sensitive issues. Students themselves may develop
a list of themes or problems they would like to work on. Then the teacher
can locate or develop specific problem situations that fit the themes.
The gender of the students and their ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds influence their choice of topic and, according to Chesler and Fox
(1966), their expectations for the role play. Different cultural groups experience different sets of problems, concerns, and solutions. Most teachers account for these differences in their curricula all the time. Problems that are
typical for a particular ethnic or age group, gender, or socioeconomic class
can become the basis of problem situations.
Other ideas for problem situations can be derived from: (1) the age and
developmental stage of the student, such as personal and social concerns;
(2) value (ethical) themes, such as honesty, responsibility; ( .)problem behaviors, such as aggression, avoidance; (4) troublesome situationsfor example, making a complaint at a store, meeting someone new; and (5) social
issues, such as racism, sexism, labor strikes. These various sources of problem situations are summarized in Table 7.3.
Another consideration in choosing a problem situation is its complexity, which may be a result of the number of characters or the abstractness
of the issues. There are no definite rules about levels of difficulty in problem situations, but intuitively it seems that the following sequenceis a reasonable guide: (1) one main character; (2) two characters and alternative
solutions; (3) complex plots and many characters; (4) value themes, social
issues, and community issues.
INSTRUCTIONAL AND NURTURANT EFFECTS

Role playing is designed specifically to foster: (1) the analysis of
personal values and behavior; (2) the development of strategies for solving
interpersonal (and personal) problems; and (3) the development of empathy toward others. Its nurturants are the acquisition of information about
social problems and values, and comfort in expressing one's opinions (see
Figure 7.1).
TABLE 7.3 SOURCES OF PROBLEM SITUATIONS
1. Issues arising from developmental stages

2. Issues arising from sexual, ethnic, or socioeconomic class
3. Value (ethical) themes
4. Difficult emotions
5. Scripts or "games people play"
6. Troublesome situations
7. Social issues
8. Community issues
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PART II
I THESOCIALFAMILY
FIGURE 7.1
Instructional and nurturant effects: role-playing model.
Syntax
Phase One: Warm Up the Group
Identify or introduce problem.

Make problem explicit.
Interpret problem story, explore issues.
Explain role playing.
Phase Two: Select Participants
Analyze roles.
Select role players.
Phase Three: Set the Stage
Set line of action.
Restate roles.
Get inside problem situation.
Phase Four: Prepare the Observers

Decide what to look for.
Assign observation tasks.
Phase Five: Enact.
Begin role play.
Maintain role play.
Break role play.
Six: Discuss and Evaluate

Review action of role play (events, positions, realism).
Discuss major focus.
Develop next enactment.
Phase
Phase Seven: Reenact

Play revised roles.
Suggest next steps or behavioral alternatives.
Phase Eight: Discuss and Evaluate
As in phase six.
Phase Nine: Share Experience and Generalize

Relate problem situation to real experience and current problems.
Explore general principles of behavior.
Social System
The model is moderately structured. The teacher is responsible for initiating the phases and guiding students through the activities within each
phase. The particular content of the discussions and enactments is determined largely by the students.
Accept all student responses in a nonevaluative manner. Help students
explore various sides of the problem situation and compare alternative
views.
Increase students' awareness of their own views and feelings by reflecting, paraphrasing, and summarizing their responses.
Use the concept of role, and emphasize that there are different ways to
play a role.
Emphasize that there are alternative ways to resolve a problem.
Support System
Role playing is an experience-based model and requires minimal support
material outside the initial problem situation.
107
C H A PT E R
JURISPRUDENTIAL
INQUIRY
Learning to Think about
Social Policy
There is a cognitive basis for prejudice in lack of knowledge, poor reasoning
skills, and shallow commitment to basicdemocratic norms and values.
Jim Shaver, writing about the teaching of the social studies, 1995
SCENARI0
Pat Salcido's senior civics class is examining current cases before the
U.S. Supreme Court and the contemporary debates among politicians about
social policy. The governor of California has recently made an executive
order dismantling the state's provisions for affirmative action. One morning, a few days later, one of the students brings in an article from the New
York Times discussing the Bakke case. (This case dealt with admission to
higher education institutions. Bakke claimed that special preference given
to minority candidates had discriminated against him.)
"This case bothers me personally," comments Tammy. "You know a
number of us are applying for colleges, and my college board scores aren't
too high. It seems to me, though, the important thing is that the actual
scores I have are changed depending on how I'm looked at. If I'm looked at
as an anonymous person, then my scores are what they are. In some colleges I would be looked at as a woman, and the scores would be higher if
they wanted to increase the number of women. In some other places they
would be lower because I don't belong to a minority group."
"Wait a minute," says one of the other students, "the Bakke case invlved a law student. Are the same kind of issues involved in undergraduate college admissions?"
"You bet they are," comments one of the black students. "We've been
shut out of a lot of private universities for years."
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PART II / THESOCIALFAMILY
"Do medical schools dothis kind of thing?" asks another. "Do they admit
unqualified doctors?"
"Now just a minute," says one of the other students, "just because some
groups are given a break doesn't mean that they are unqualified."
"Well, what is the story on test scores?" asks another.
"OK, OK," says Pat. "This is obviously going to be a complicated case.
It's important in so many ways. I think we'd better sort out the public issues
and see where we stand on them."
"Well, how do we begin?" asks Miguel.
"I think we ought to begin by collecting some information. Let's have
one group find an abstract of the case to see how it was argued in the lower
courts. You can go up to the law library at the university, and I'll call the reference librarian before you get there. Then let's have another group collect
what the newspapers have said about it since the case first came to public
attention. A third group can collect editorials from the newspapers. I think
it would be worthwhile if a fourth group talked to the counselors to find out
what information they have about college admissions. Another group might
arrange to have one of the college admissions officers talk with us about
how they handle scores. Can anybody think of anything else?"
"Yes," adds Sally. "Do the people who sell tests have representatives we
can talk to?"
"That's a wonderful idea," says Pat. "Now let's organize ourselves into
those groups and begin to get the facts. Then each group can take the material they've collected and start identifying sme of the issues. I think it's
going to take us quite a long time just to get the issues identified. Then we
can proceed to identify the value questions that underlie those issues. Finally we can look at the implications for public policy and try to come up
with a statement about where we stand as individuals and possibly as a
group."
For the senior civics class at Mervyn Park High School, this discussion initiates exposure to jurisprudential inquiry, which the class later used to re-
solve their differences over the dance program. During the intervening
months, Pat exposed the class to several more important public issues and
taught them the framework for jurisprudential inquiry.
Donald Oliver and James P. Shaver (1966/1974) created the jurisprudential inquiry model to help students learn to think systematically about
contemporary issues. It requires them to formulate these issues as public
policy questions and to analyze alternative positions about them. Essentially, it is a high-level model for citizenship education.
As our society undergoes cultural and social changes, the jurisprudential inquiry model is especially useful in helping people rethink their positions on important legal, ethical, and social questions. The citizenry needs
to understand the current critical issues and share in the formulation of

policy. By giving them tools for analyzing and debating social issues, the
CHAPTER 8 / JURISPRUDENTIAL INQUIRY
jurisprudential approach helps students participate forcefully in the redefinition of social values (Shaver, 1995).

This model is based on a co ception of society in which people differ in
their views and priorities and in which social values legitimately conflict
with one another. Resolving complex, controversial issues within the context of a productive social order requires citizens who can talk to one another and successfully negotiate their differences.
Such citizens can intelligently analyze and take a stance on public issues.
The stance should reflect the concepts of justice and human dignity, two values fundamental to a democratic society. Oliver and Shaver's image of a skill-
ful citizen is very much that of a competent judge. Imagine for a moment
that you are a Supreme Court justice hearing an important case. Your job is
to listen to the evidence presented, analyze the legal positions taken byboth
sides, weigh these positions and the evidence, assess the meaning and provisions of the law, and finally, make the best possible decision. This is the role
students are asked to take as they consider public issues.
To play the role, three types of competence are required. Thefirst is familiarity with the values of the American creed, as embedded in the principles of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. These
principles form the values frameworkthe basis for judging public issues
and for making legal decisions. If policy stances are to be truly derived from
ethical considerations, one must be aware of and understand the key values
that form the core of our society's ethical system.
The second area of competence is a set ofskills for clarifying and resolving issues. Usually, a controversy arises because two importantvalues
conflict or because public policies, when examined closely, do not adhere to
the core values of our society. Whenever a conflict of value arises, three
kinds of problems are likely to be present.
The first kind of problem (value problem) involves clarifying which values or
legal principles are in conflict, and choosing among them. The second kindof
problem (factual problem) involves clarifying the facts around which the conflict has developed. The third kind of problem (definitional problem) involves
clarifying the meanings or uses of words which describe the controversy. (Oliver
and Shaver, 1966/1974, p. 89)
The process of clarifying and resolving issues involves clarifying definitions, establishing facts, and identifying the values important to each issue.
The third area of competence is knowledge of contemporary political
and public issues, which requires that students be exposed to the spectrum
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PART II
/ THE SOCIAL FAMILY
of political, social, and economic problems facing American society. Although a broad understanding of the history, nature, and scope of these
problems is important, in the jurisprudential inquiry model, students explore issues in terms of a specific legal case rather than in terms of a general study of values.
OVERVIEW OF THE
TEACHING STRATEGY
Oliver and Shaver's work encompasses many ideas: they present us with a
model of society, a conception of values, and a conception of productive dialogue. They also detail curriculum and pedagogical considerations (see
Oliver and Shaver, 1971, p. 7). It is possible to extrapolate several models of
teaching from their work. However, to us, the strategy that seems most reflective of their goals and thinking is one built around a confrontational, or
Socratic, mode of discussion. In Socratic dialogue, the students take a position and the teacher challenges the position with questions. The teacher's
questions are designed to push students' thinking about their stance and to
help them learn:
Does it hold up well against positions reflecting alternative values?
Is it consistent across many situations?
Are the reasons for maintaining the position relevant to the situation?
Are the factual assumptions on which the position is based valid?
What are the consequences of this position?
Will the student hold on to this stance in spite of its consequences?
In the sample Socratic discussion that follows, students have been examining a voting rights issue. The policy question is: Should the federal gov-
ernment compel Southern states to give blacks equal voting rights? The
setting for this session is a ninth-grade public school classroom in Philadelphia in 1962. The teacher has oriented the class to the case, and the students
have identified the values in conflict as states' rights versus equality of opportunity One student, Steve, has volunteered to state his position and defend it. His position is that blacks should have the right to vote. The teacher
and students are exploring Steve's stance; throughout the discussion the
teacher uses several patterns of reasoning to challenge his position.
T: What do you think, Steve?
S: I think that the police power of Steve takes a position.

local government can go only so fax
that the constitutional rights of votingmaybe the Blacks should have

them.
Blacks should have the right to Teacher explores the stance by pointvote even though there may be all kinds
of violence and resistance? We should
ing out undesirable consequences of

the position (Pattern 3).
send troops into the South and protect

every individual's right to vote?
S: I'm not saying that. I don't think Steve qualifies his position.
that we would have to send down
troops.
Teacher continues probing.

1 But what if it did go that far?
S: Probably, yes.
T: Suppose people called the Blacks Teacher checks to determine the point
who intended to vote on the phone and at which the value is violated (Patsaid, "If you vote tomorrow, something tern 1).
might very well happen to your kids."
Do you think we should send the FBI
down there to investigate these intimidations?
S: No.
1' Why not?

S: If the threat is carried out, then I Steve establishes the point at which the
value is violated.
1'. After something has happened Teacher checks consistency of Steve's
to the courageous Black's family, then position (Principle of Reaction).
you would send someone down to stop
it? You don't go along with the notion
would send down troops or the FBI.
that, if there. is an atmosphere of fear

and intimidation, we should do some-
thing to change the atmosphere so

that people will be free to vote? We
shouldn't do anything until there is actual violence?
S: In the case of Blacks, yes.
T: Why?
S: Because I don't want to give them Steve changes his position.

complete power to vote. This is taking
a little of it away.
'I You want to deny some Blacks the Teacher tests the new position for conright to vote, a right you are willing to sistency (Principle of Reaction).
give to whites?
S: Yes.
T: Why?
S: Because I feel that Blacks are infe- Steve gives underlying assumption for
his position..
rior to whites.
T: In what respect?
S: In intelligence, in health, in crime
rates.
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PARTIE
/ THESOCIALFAMILY
T: You are suggesting that if a person Teacher uses an analogy to test Steve's
is tubercular or sick, you should deny position (Pattern 2).

him the right to vote?
S: No.
T: If a Black person is sick, we don't

let him vote?
S: Let him vote, sure. It is just that

they are inferior for these reasons. I'm
not saying because of these reasons I'm
not going to let him vote.
T: Then for what reasons aren't you

going to let him vote?
S: Because I think they are inferior Student then laughs, self-consciously,

because of these reasons.
(Oliver and Shaver, 1966/1974.
aware of his inconsistency.
pp. 150152)
By having to take a stand and defend a position, students usually become emotionally involved in the analysis, making the discussions intense
and personal. It is hoped that with more practice, their positions will become more complex and well formulated.
MAJOR CONCEPTS
SOCRATIC DIALOGUE
In the Socratic style, the teacher asks the students to take a position on
an issue or to make a value judgment, and then he or she challenges the assumptions underlying the stand by exposing its implications. For example,
if a student argues for freedom in some situation, the teacher will test
whether the argument is meant to apply to all situations. The function of
the teacher is to probe the students' positions by questioning the relevance,

consistency, specificity, and clarity of the students' ideas until they become
clearer and more complex.
Most characteristic of the Socratic style is the use of analogies as a

means of contradicting students' general statements. For example, if a student argues that parents should be fair with children, the teacher may wonder if the parents' function is being compared to that of a court. Analogous
situations that test and define the logic and limits of positions are chosen
PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES
Public controversies tend to fill many pages of our newspapers and

many hours of television coverage. A public policy issue is a way of synthesizing a controversy or case in terms of a decision for action or choice.
A PUBLIC POLICY ISSUE is a questionrnvolving a choice or a decision for ac-
tion by citizens or officials in affairs that concern a government or community.

Policy issues can be phrased as general questions: "Should the United States
stay in Vietnam?" "Should capital punishment beabolished?" "Should Government regulate automobile design?"
Public policy issues can also be phrased as choices for personal action:
"Should I write my-Congressman to protest the draft laws?" "Should I petition

the Governor to commute a criminal's death sentence?" "Should I write a candidate asking him to pledge support for auto design" regulations?" (Oliver and
Newman, 1967, p. 29)
One of the most difficult tasks for the teacher is to assist students in integrating the details of a case into a public policy question.
A FRAMEWORK OF VALUES
Political and social values, such as personal freedom, equality, and justice, concern Oliver and Shaver (1966/1974, p. 64) in their strategy because
these are "the major concepts used by our government and private groups
to justify public policies and decisions." When we speak of a framework of
values for analyzing public issues, we imply the legal-ethical framework that
governs American social policies and decisions. A partial list of these principles of American government as found in the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution of the United States is shown in Table 8.1.
TAB 8.1 THE LEGAL-ETHICAL FRAMEWORK: SOME BASIC SOCIAL

VALUES
Rule of law. Actions carried out by the government have to be authorized

by law and apply equally to all people.
Equal protection under the law. Laws must be administered fairlyand
cannot extend special privileges or penalties to any one person or group.
Due process. The government cannot deprive individual citizens of life,
liberty, or property without proper notice of impending actions (right to a
fair trial).
Justice. Equal opportunity.
Preservation of peace and order. Prevention of disorder and violence
(reason as a means of dealing with conflict).
Personal liberty. Freedom of speech, right to own and control property,
freedom of religion, freedom of personal associations, right of privacy.
Separation of powers. Checks and balances among the three branches of
government.
Local control of local problems. Restriction of federal government power
and preservation of states' rights.
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/ THESOCIALFAMILY
Resolving
a controversy involves screening the details of the case
through this legal-ethical framework and identifying the values and policies
in question. Social values help us to analyze controversial situations because they provide a common framework that transcends any one particular controversy. However, in most controversial situations, two general rules
of ethical conduct conflict with each other. Thus although a framework of
social values permits us to speak of diverse conflict situations in common
terms, it does not tell us how to go about resolving controversies.
Recent years have witnessed many social problems, frequently involving conflicting values. Some of these problem areas and their underlying
value conflicts are listed in Table 8.2. As you read over these topics, note
that although the values are identified, the controversies remain. Alternative policy stances are possible on any topic, and most issues can be argued
on a number of grounds.
TABLE 8.2 SOME GENERAL PROBLEM AREAS
Problem Areas
Racial and
ethnic
conflict
Sample Unit Topics
Conflicting Valuesa
School desegregation
Equal protection
Civil rights for nonwhites and Due process
ethnic minorities
Brotherhood of man
Housing for nonwhites and
v.
ethnic minorities
Peace and order
Job opportunities for
Property and contract
nonwhites and ethnic
rights
minorities
Personal privacy and
association
Immigration policy
Religious and Rights of the Communist

Freedom of speech and
party in America
conscience
ideological
conflict
v.
Religion and public
education
Equal protection
Control of "dangerous" or
Safety and security of
"immoral" literature
democratic institutions
Religion and national
security: oaths,
conscientious objectors
Taxation of religious property
Security of the Crime and delinquency
individual
Standards of freedom
Due process
v.
Peace and order

Community welfare
TABLE 8.2 (continued)
Problem Areas
Conflict
among
economic
groups
Sample Unit Topics
Organized labor
Business competition and
monopoly
"Overproduction" of farm
goods
Conservation of natural
resources
Adequate medical care: for

the aged, for the poor
and welfare Adequate educational
opportunity
Old-age security
Job and income security
Health,
education,
Security of the Federal loyalty-security

nation
programs
Foreign policy
Conificting Valuesa
Equal or fair bargaining

Power and competition
General welfare and
progress of the
community
v.

rights
Equal opportunity
Brotherhood of man
v.

rights
Freedom of speech,
conscience, and
association
Due process
Personal privacy
v.
Safety and security of

democratic institutions
aThe v. in the listing of values suggests that the top values conflict with
the bottom values. Although this is generally true, there are, of course,
many exceptions. One can argue, for example, that a minimum-wage
law violates property and contract rights and that it is also against the
general welfare. Source: Donald Oliver and James P. Shaver, Teaching
Public Issues in the High School (Boston: Houghton Muffin Company,
1966), pp. 142143.
Definitional, Value, and Factual Problems. Most arguments center
on three types of problems: definitional, value, and factual. Participants in

a discussion need to explore these three kinds of assumptions in one another's positions to assess the strength of alternative stances. The processof
clarifying and resolving issues by solving these problems is called rational
consent.
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118
A basic problem in discussions of social issues is the ambiguous or confusing use of words. Unless we recognize common meaning in the words we
use, discussion is difficult and agreement on issues, policies, or actions is
virtually impossible. To resolve these definitional disagreements, it is necessary first to determine whether participants in a discussion are using the
same term in a different way or different terms for the same referent, and
second to establish a common meaning for terms. Then, to clarify communication, participants may: (1) appeal to common usage by finding out how
most people use a word or by consulting a dictionary, (2) stipulate the mean-
ing of the word for purposes of discussion by listing the agreed criteria,
and/or (3) obtain more facts about an example to see if it meets the agreed
criteria for a definition.
Valuing means classifying things, actions, or ideas as good or bad, right
or wrong. If we speak of something as a value (such as honesty), we mean
that it is good. As people make choices throughout their lives, they are constantly making value judgments, even if they cannot verbalize their values.
The range of items or issues over which each of us makes value judgments
is vastart, music, politics, decoration, clothes, and people. Some of these
choices seem less important than others, and the degree of importance has
something to do with whit we mean by a value. Choices that are not so important are personal pref'erences, not valties. Value issues such as art or the
physical environment involve artistic taste or judgment of beauty, and many
such choices of ideas, objects, or actions do become subjects of discussion
in our society and communities.
People make decisions on issues involving values because they believe:
(1) certain consequences will occur, (2) other consequences will be avoided,
or (3) important social values will be violated if the decision is not made. In
a values conflict there is often disagreement about the predicted consequences, which can be partially resolved by obtaining evidence to support
the prediction; however, to some extent it is always a matter of speculation.
"Affirmative action laws will equalize employment opportunity" is an example of predicted consequences. Although there is some evidence that
equal employment opportunity results from affirmative action, this is partly
a prediction based on logical, grounds.
When two values conflict, Oliver and Shaver suggest that the best solution is one in which each value is compromised somewhat, or put another
way, each value is violated only minimally (see the following soction on balancing values). When the value issues conflict because of predicted consequences, the disagreement becomes a factual problem.
The reliability of a factual claim can be established in two ways: (1) by
evoking more specific claims, and (2) by relating it to other general facts
accepted as true (Oliver and Shaver, 1966/1974, pp. 103104). In both approaches, evidence is used to support the truth of a factual claim. For exathple, suppose we claim that lowering the speed limit will reduce accidents
and save gas. The first way we might support the statement is to look at
more specifIc claims. We might find that:
1. In cities that have adopted the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit, accidents

have decreased.
2. Gasoline consumption decreased under the 55-mile-per-hour speed
limit, while the number of miles driven remained the same.
The greater the number of specific claims we can identify to support

the conclusion we are trying to prove, the more reliable the cnclusion
becomes.
A second way to support the claim is to relate it to other general facts
accepted as true. In this example, we might find that cars traveling at 55
miles per hour can stop 25 percent faster than cars traveling at 65 miles per
hour.
Balancing Values: The Best Policy Stance. Oliver and Shaver emphasize that values can be used on a dimensional as well as an ideal basis.
If social values are constructed as ideals, they have to be dealt with on an
absolute basis; either one lives up to a value or one does not. For example,
if you approve of equality of all races before the law in the ideal sense, you
feel it either has or has not been achieved. If you see values on a dimensional basis, you judge degrees of desirable conditions on a continuum. For
instance, you can accept a compromise that ensures racial equality for some
people but not everyone. Politically, you might choose such a position, hoping to gain more in the future.
Using the example of free speech, Oliver and Shaver suggest that if we
see free speech as a total idealsomething to be preserved at all costS and
in all situationsthen we are unable to cope with situations in which

it might he desirable to abrogate free speech temporarily in deference to
public safety. For instance, a speaker might be prevented from continuing a speech before a hostile, potentially violent crowd. In such a case,
one might restrict free speech to provide for the speaker's safety and prevent the crowd from destructive action. The dimensional basis enables
such a policy to be considered, although citizens may well prefer an ideal

basis.
Oliver and Shaver feel that the best stance on an issue is to maintain a
balance of values in which each value is only minimally compromised. To
achieve such a balance, each party in a controversy should try to understand
the reasons and assumptions behind the other's position. Only by rational
consent can useful compromises be reached.

SYNTAX
Although the exploration of students' stances through confrontational

dialogue is the heart of the jurisprudential inquiry model, several other ac-
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PART II I THESOCIALFAMILY
tivities are especially important, such as helping students formulate the

stance they eventually defend and helping them revise their position after
the argumentation. The basic model includes six phases: (1) orientation to
the case; (2) identifying the issues; (3) taking positions; (4) exploring the
stances underlying the positions taken; (5) refining and qualifying positions;
and (6) testing assumptions about facts, definitions, and consequences (see
Tble 8.3).
In phase one, the teacher introduces the students to case materials by
reading a story or historical narrative out loud, watching a filmed incident
depicting a value controversy, or discussing an incident in the lives of the
students, school, or community. The second step in orienting students to the
case is to review the facts by outlining the events in the case, analyzing who
did what and why, or acting out the controversy.
In phase two, the students synthesize the facts into a public issue, characterize the values involved (for example, freedom of speech, protecting the
general welfare, local autonomy, or equal opportunity), and identify conflicts
between values. In the first two phases, the students have not been asked to
express their opinions or take a stand.
In phase three, they are asked to articulate positions on the issue and
state the basis for their positions. In a school finance case, for example, a
student might take the position that the state should not legislate how much
each school district can spend on each pupil because this would constitute
an unacceptable violation of local autonomy.
In phase four, the positions are explored. .The teacher now shifts to a
confrontational style as he or she probes the students' positions. In enacting the Socratic role, the teacher (or a student) may use one of four patterns
of argumentation:
1. Asking the students to identify the point at which a value is violated.
2. Clarifying the value conflict through analogies.
3. Asking students to prove desirable or undesirable consequences of a
position.
4. Asking students to set value priorities: asserting priority of one value
over another and demonstrating lack of gross violation of the second
value.
Phase five consists of refining and qualifying the positions. This phase
often flows naturally from the dialogue in phase four, but sometimes the
teacher may need to prompt students to restate their positions.
While phase five clarifies the reasoning in a value position, phase six
further tests the position by identifying the factual assumptions behind
it and examining them carefully. The teacher helps the students check
whether their positions hold up under the most extreme conditions

imaginable.
The six phases of the jurisprudential inquiry model can be divided into
analysis (phases one, two, and three) and argumentation (phases four,
CHAPTER 8 I JURISPRUDENTIAL INQUIRY
TABLE 8.3
SYNTAX OF JURISPRUDENTIAL INQUIRY MODEL
Phase One:
Orientation to the Case
Teacher introduces materials.

Teacher reviews facts.
Phase Three:
Taldng Positions
Students articulate a position.

Students state basis of position in
terms of the social value or
consequences of the decision.
Phase Five:
Refining and Qualifying
the Positions
Students state positions and

reasons for positions, and examine
a number of similar situations.
Students qualify positions.
Phase Two:
Identifying the Issues
Students synthesize facts into a

public policy issue(s).
Students select one policy issue for
discussion.
Students identify values and value
conflicts.
Students recognize underlying
factual and definitional questions.
Phase Four:
Exploring theStance(s),
Patterns of Argumentation
value
Establish the point at
is violated (factual).
Prove the desirable or undesirable
consequences of a position
(factual).
Clarify the value conflict with
analogies.
Set priorities. Assert priority of one
value over another and demonstrate
lack of gross violation of second
value.
Phase Six:
Testing Factual Assumptions
Behind Qualified Positions
Identify factual assumptions and

determine if they are relevant.
Determine the predicted
consequences and examine their
factual validity (will they actually
occur?).
which occur in the form of careful

five, and six). The analysis activities,
discussion of values and issues, prepare the material for exploration. The
argumentation carried out in a confrontational style, seeks to produce the
strongest possible stance.
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PART II
/ THESOCIALFAMILY
SOCIAL SYSTEM
The structure in this model ranges from high to low. At first, the teacher
initiates the phases; moving from phase to phase, however, is dependent on
the students' abilities to complete the task. After experience with the model
the students should be able to carry out the process unassisted, thereby
gaining maximum control of the process. The social climate is vigorous and
confrontational.
The teacher's reactions, especially in phases four and five, are not
evaluative in the sense of being approving or disapproving. They probe
substance: the teacher reacts to students' comments by questioning relevance, consistency, specificity or generality, and definitional clarity. The
teacher also enforces continuity of thought, so that one thought or line of
reasoning is pursued to its logical conclusion before other argumentation
begins.
To play this role well, the teacher must anticipate student value claims
and must be prepared to challenge and probe. In the Socratic role, the
teacher probes one student's opinion at length before challenging other
students. Because a Socratic dialogue can easily become a threatening
cross-examination or a game of "guess what the teacher's right answer is,"
the teacher must make it clear that the clarification of issues and the
development of the most defensible position are the objectives. The
questioning of evidence and assumptions must be tempered with support-
iveness. The merits of the case, not of the students, are the basis for
evaluation.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
The major material supports for this model are source documents that
focus on a problem situation. There are some published case materials,
but it is relatively easy to develop one's own case materials. The distin-
guishing feature of this approach is that the cases are accounts of real
or hypothetical situations. It is essential that all pertinent facts of the situation be included in the case material so the case will not be vague and
frustrating.
A controversial case describes a specific situation that has conflicting
ethical, legal, factual, or definitional interpretations. The case may consist
of a classic historical or legal situation, such as Plessy v. Ferguson in race relations, or the Wagner Act or the Kohier strike in labor relations; or it may
be a short story or fictionalized account of a social controversy, such as

Orwell's Animal Farm. Generally, each page of the daily newspaper contains
three or four articles that either explicitly or implicitly present an important
public policy question. Usually some facts of the situation are presented,
but the original situation that provoked the controversy is not described in
full detail.
APPLICATION
In developing their alternative framework for teaching social studies
courses in high schools, Oliver and Shaver were concerned with both the
substance of what is taught and the methods of teaching it. Consequently,
the model provides a framework for developing contemporary course content in public affairs (cases involving public issues) and for developing a
process to deal with conflict in the public domain, leading students to an examination of values.
The model is tailored to older students and must be modified considerably for use at the junior high school and middle school levels, even with
the most able students. We have successfully carried out the model with extremely able seventh- and eighth-grade students but have had little success
with younger children.
The confrontational dialogue that surrounds the argumentation of social issues is apt to be threatening at first, especially to less-verbal students.
We have had small groups (three or four students) formulate a stand and
collectively argue the stand with another small group. The format allows for
time out, reevaluating the stance with one's group, and discussing the issue
again. Initially, we presented the case, and after students had selected the
policy issue, we asked them to take an initial stand. On this basis we divided
them into small groups and told each group to come up with the strongest
possible case. The students understood that regardless of the group they
were in at first, they might well choose a different stance at the end of the
discussion.
Neither the skills of reasoning nor the confidence to take a stance and
discuss it are acquired easily or quickly. Teachers should let a single case
continue for a long period of time, giving students the opportunity to
acquire information, reflect on their ideas, and build their courage. It is
self-defeating to set up short, one-time debates over complex questions.
Formal instructional sessions teaching students directly about analytic
and argumentative techniques may be useful, but these should be introduced naturally and slowly. The initial case materials should be relatively
simple and require little previous background. Some should be drawn
from the students' experiences, perhaps in the classroom or at home.
There are a great many sources of cases that have been adapted for school
use. The magazine Social Education frequently contains reviews. The
Social Science Education Consortium has developed a number of historic
cases with extensive background material (Giese, 1988; Glade and Giese,
1989; Greenawald, 1991). Many of the Jackdaws contain suitable material
for the upper grades and secondary schools. At the Ontario Institute for
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PARTII / ThESOCIALFAMILY
Studies in Education, a number of faculty members, particularly Malcohrf
Levin and John Isenberg, have developed interesting cases for use with the
jurisprudential inquiry model. Many of these cases are set in Canada and
can be quite exciting for students not only because the issues are excellent
but because of the somewhat different context and legal system. In addition, their publication, Ethics in Education, covers a large number of issues that can stimulate the development of cases and the study of public
issues. The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education has a number of
well-developed Canadian cases.
For many years instructors have organized social studies courses

around cases; the jurisprudential inquiry model heightens the vigor and intensity with which such cases are studied. Of course, cases must havt public
issues qr value conflicts embedded in them to lend themselves readily to the
jurispridential approach. But unless social studies courses deal with values,
both personal and public, they will have missed the vital mainstream of
social concern.
Once students become fluent in the use of the jurisprudential inquiry
model, theS' can apply it to conflicts that occur in and around their own
lives. The scenario at the beginning of this chapter is an example of stu-
dents' exploration of an issue that touched their own concerns. Without

such application, we speculate that the study of public issues, even vigor.
ously pursued, can seem abstract and irrelevant to the lives of students. Be-
cause students live in communities where issues abound, their study of

values should not be confined to cases far removed from them, but should
be applied to the dynamics of their own lives and the community around
them. Issues within their experience, such as whether bicyclists should
wear helmets, whether communities should be able to impose curfews on
young people, whether there is gender equity in athletic participation, and
the like, can get students involved quickly. Issues such as whether citizens
should be able to purchase and keep assault weapons are contemporary
and relevant. The current concern with "affirmative action" revisits the issues of the Bakke case and brings students into the debate about current
policy issues.
AGE-LEVEL ADAPTATION
This model is not easily applied below the junior high level. It does seem
possible to introduce some highly verbal upper elementary students to

aspects of the model, such as identifying issues and alternative value
positions.
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ADAPTATIONS
Initially, the jurisprudential inquiry model requires a fair amount of

teacher-directed activity and direct instruction. Gradually, as students be-
come competent, the phases of the model should blend into studentdirected discussions.

Mastery of the framework for analyzing issues is the major direct
learning outcome. This includes skill in identifying policy questions; application of social values to policy stances; the use of analogies to explore
issues; and the ability to identify and resolve definitional, factual, and
value problems.
The ability to carry on forceful dialogue with others is another important outcome. It nurtures the capacity for social involvement and arouses
the desire for social action.
Finally, the model nourishes the values of pluralism and a respect
for the point of view of others. It also advocates the triumph of reason
over emotion in matters of social policy, although the strategy itself

strongly brings into play the students' emotional responses (see Figure 8.1).
FIGURE 8.1
Instructional and nurturant effects: jurisprudential inquiry model.
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PART II
/ THE SOCIAL FAMILY
Syntax
Phase One: Orientation to the Case
Introduce materials.
Review facts.
Phase Two: Identifying the Issues
Synthesize facts into a public policy issue or issues.
Select one policy issue for discussion.
Identify values and value conflicts.
Recognize underlying factual and definitional questions.
Phase Three: Taking Positions
Articulate a position.
State the basis of the position in terms of the social value or consequences of the decision.
Phase Four: Exploring the Stance(s); Patterns of Argumentation
Establish the point at which value is violated (factual).
Prove the desirable or undesirable consequences of a position (factual),
Clarify the value conflict with analogies.
Set priorities. Assert priority of one value over another and demonstrate
lack of gross violation of second value.
Phase Five: Refining and Qualifying the Positigns

State position and reasons for position, and examine a number of similar situations.
Qualify position.
Phase Six: Testing Factual Assumptions behind Qualified Positions
Identify factual assumptions and determine if they are relevant.
Determine the predicted consequences and examine their factual validity (will they actually occur?).
Social System
The model has moderate to high structure, with the teacher initiating and
controlling the discussion; however, an atmosphere of openness and intellectual equality prevails.
Maintain a vigorous intellectual climate where all views are respected;
avoid direct evaluation of students' opinions.
See that issues are thoroughly explored.
CHAPTER 8 I JURISPRUDENTIAL INQUIRY
Probe the substance of students' thinking through
questioning relevance,
consistency, specificity, generality, definitional clarity, andcontinuity.
Maintain dialectical style: use confrontational dialogue, questioning students' assumptions and using specific instances (analogies) to contradict
mOre general statements.
Avoid taking a stand.
Support System
Source documents that focus on a problem situation are needed.
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CHAPTER
ADAPTING TO
INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCES
Conceptual Systems Theory
Resonate to the learners. Feel their vibes. If you let them, they'll pull you in
the right direction.
David Hunt to Bruce Joyce, as the latter prepared to teach, October 1973
Our inquiry now focuses on the studentsin the continuous quest to understand the students and modulate, in one of David's favorite terms, to get
in rhythm with them. We examine a framework that can be used to understand some of the important ways that students respond differently to the
world. This framework also provides guidelines for adapting the environment to make it more likely that individual differences will be capitalized
on rather than being hindrances to learning.
Conceptual systems theory was developed by David Hunt and his associates (Harvey, Hunt, and Schroeder, 1961; Schroeder, Driver, and Streufert,
1967). The theory describes human development in terms of increasingly

complex systems for processing information about people, things, and
events. Growth is "an interactive function of the person's level of personality .development (or stage) and the environmental conditions he encountered" (Hunt, 1970b, p. 4).
Optimal development occurs when the environment facilitates the "conceptual work necessary for the person's conceptual growth. When environ-
mental conditions are not optimal, then some form of arrestation is
assumed to occur" (Hunt, 1 970b, p. 4). In other words, as the Individual

becomes more complex, the environment needs to change with him or her
if growth isto continue at an optimal rate. One of Hunt's purposes is to help
us plan environments to keep people growing conceptually. Also, since
people at different tages of development respond differently to various
models of teaching, he wants to help us shape teaching strategies to match
the learner's development. Theoretically, the closer a teaching strategy is
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tailored to the learner's conceptual level, the more learning will take place
(Hunt, 1970b, p. 2).
The focus of conceptual systems theory is on the learner's cognitive

complexity (the complexity of his or her information-processing system).
Our first task is to examine the construct of conceptual level (CL). Then we
explore its implications for the identification of optimal training environments. Finally, we discuss how to select and modify models of teaching according to the theory.
This information-processing view of personality development focuses
on the structuresthat is, the programs or sets of rulesby which individuals relate to their environment. Some individuals relate to the environment
through relatively few lensesthey see fewer dimensions of a situation, and
those few are not well integrated with one another. At the opposite end of
the continuum are individuals who view the environment through many dimensions and manifest a high level of integrative complexity in their relationships to it. The more dimensions one has available, the more likely
integration is present. Highly integrated information-processing systems
have many more conceptual connections between rulesthat is, "they have
more schemata for forming new hierarchies, which are generated as alternative perceptions, or further rules for comparing outcomes. High integration structures contain more degrees of freedom, and are more subject to
change as complex changes occur in the environment" (Schroeder, Driver,
and Streufert, 1967, p. 7).
With the conceptual systems view, therefore, we can discriminate individuals in terms of the number of dimensions they use for relating to the
(nvironment and the interrelationships of these dimensions. For example,
figure 9.1 illustrates the relationships among rules in situations of low and
high integration (Schroeder, Drivei-, and Streufert, 1967, p. 8). Individual A
obtains information through three dimensions but reduces them to one integrated dimension. Individual B also uses three dimensions but processes
the data he or she receives in complex ways.
FIGURE 9.1 Variation in level of conceptual structure. (From Schroder, Driver, and
Streufert, Human In formation Processing 1967 by Holt, Rinehart &
Winston. Reprinted by permission of the publisher and authors.)
A. Low integration index
B. High integration index
CHAPTER 9 / ADAPTING TO INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
To illustrate concretely, let us consider an interpersonal relations situation. Natalie would tend to respond to ideas that conflict with hers either
by incorporating them into her own as if there were no difference, or by rejecting them completely. Will would dissect the ideas, balancing them
against his own, perhaps rejecting portions and accepting others, perhaps
modifying his own. Thus, it is easier for Will to be productive in complex
social models, for he can more easily receive ideas from others and more
easily adapt his expressions to meet the frame of reference of the others. Na-
talie will need much more guidance to develop the capacity that Will has
come by through natural development.
FOUR LEVELS OF INTEGRATIVE

COMPLEXITY
Particular behavior patterns are characteristic of different levels of integrative complexity. Schroeder, Driver, and Streufert identify and describe four
levels: low complexity, moderate complexity, moderately high complexity,
and high complexity.
LOW COMPLEXITY
Categorical, black-white thinking. The discrimination of stimuli along dimensions is minimally graduated; for example, if a person holds an extremely concrete attitude toward an ethnic group, that group will be "lumped" into one
category (for example, "bad") and contrasted with others, A structure that depends upon a single fixed rule of integration reduces the individual's ability to
think in terms of relativeness, of "grays" and "degrees."
Minimizing conflict. Stimuli either fit into a category or are excluded from
consideration. There is no conceptual apparatus that can generate alternatives;
the result is fast "closure" in choice or conflict situations. (Schroeder, Driver,
and Streufert, 1967, pp. 1617)
MODERATE COMPLEXITY
The major characteristics of this second structural level are: The presence of a
conceptual apparatus that is able to generate alternate organizations of dimensions. That is, if there are three dimensions, such a structure would provide at
least two possible rules for combining these dimensions.
This moderately low level of organization is characterized by the delineation
of several alternative ways of structuring the world. Although such conceptual
properties are not effective for relating or organizing differentiated sets of rules
for decision-making processes, they do usher in the problem of choice and probability
Some of the consequences of moderately low structural properties include: A
movement away from absolutism. Because of the availability of alternate

schemata, "right" and "wrong" are not fixed as they were in structures with low
integration index. (Schroeder, Driver, and Streufert. 1967, p. 19)
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A good deal of negativism is also present, because the individual is
struggling against his or her old rules and, hence, against those who expose
them. He or she especially resents parents and authority figures or any

other controlUng figures.
MODERATELY HIGH COMPLEXITY

Moderately high complexity is described as follows:
The system is less deterministic. Combining and using two alternate systems of
interpretation greatly increase the number of alternative resolutioms that can be
generated. Even when the individual closes on a particular decision, he is still
open to a number of alternative pressures. At this level, abstractness (that is,
lack of fixity) becomes a formal rule of the system....
The environment can be tracked in many more ways. While moderately low
integration index structure permits different ways of traGl g or interpreting an
environment at different times, moderately high integration index structure can
vaiy combinations of alternate schemata. A person who is functioning at this
level may view a social situation in terms of two points of view, see one in relationship to the other, perceive the effects of one upon the other. He is able to
generate strategic adjustment processes, in which the effects of behavior from
one standpoint are seen as influencing the situation viewed from another vantage point. This implies, for example, that a person can observe the effects of
his own behavior from several points of view; he can simultaneously weigh the
effects of taking different views. The adaptive utilization of alternate schemata
here is much less compartmentalized than at moderately low levels. (Schroeder,
Driver, and Streufert, 1967, pp. 21, 23)
HIGH COMPLEXITY
High level structure includes additional and more complex potentialities for organizing additional schemata in alternate ways. At the fourth level, comparison
rules can be further integrated. Alternate complex combinations provide thepotential for relating and comparing different systems of interacting variables. As
with other system differences, the difference between the moderately high and
the high levels is one of degree. In the latter, the potential to organize different
structures of interacting schemata opens up the possibility of highly abstract
function.
This very abstract orientation should be highly effective In adapting to a

complex, changing situation. It is certainly much more effective than a structure that is dependent upon external conditions for building rules and upon past
experiences for predicting events. (Schroeder, Driver, and Streufert, 1967,
pp. 22, 23)
In using the social models, one of our goals is to help studentsprogress

toward greater integrative complexity. To facilitate this, we modify the environment to increase the probability that development will take place.
OPTIMAL ENVIRONMENTS
The best procedure for inducing an individual to progress toward complexity and flexibility is to match that person's present stage of personality development to an environment tailored to the characteristics of that stage,
but in such a way as to pull the individual toward the next stage of development (Harvey, Hunt, and Schroeder, 1961). The following chart summarizes the four conceptual levels described earlier and indicates in general
terms the matching training environment:
CHARACTERISTICS OF STAGE
OPTIMAL ENVIRONMENT
I. This stage is characterized by ex-
To
individual tends to see things evaluativelythat is, in terms of rights and

wrongsand he or she tends to categorize the world in terms of stereotypes. The individual prefers unilateral
social relationshipsthat is, those that
sonably well structured, because this

kind of person will become even more
produce development from this
tremely fixed patterns of response. The stage, the environment needs to be rea-
concrete and rigid in an overly open social system. At the same time, however,
the environment has to stress delineation in such a way that the individual
are hierarchical and in which some develops a self-image separate from his
people are on top and others are on the or her beliefs and begins to recognize
bottom. The individual also tends to re- that different people, including himself
ject information that does not fit in or herself, have different vantage
with his or her present belief system or points from which they look at the
to distort the information in order to world, and that the rights and wrongs
store it in existing categories.
in a situation and the rules in a situation can be negotiated. In summary

the optimal environment for this individual is supportive, structured, and
fairly controlling, but with an emphasis on self-delineation and negotiation.
II. In this stage the individual breaks The delineation of self that is suggested
away from the rigid rules and beliefs is now taking place, and the individual
that characterized his or her former needs to begin to reestablish ties with
stage. He or she is in a state of active re-
sistance to authority and tends toresist

control from all sources, even nonauthoritative ones. This person still tends
to dichotomize the environment. He or
she has difficulty seeing the points of
view of others, and difficulty in maintaining a balance between task orientation and interpersonal relations.
others, to begin to take on the points of

view of others, and to see how they op-
erate in situations. Consequently, the

environment needs to emphasize nego-
tiation in interpersonal relations and

divergence in the development of rules
and concepts.
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Ill. At this stage, the individual is be- The environment at this point should
ginning to reestablish easy ties with strengthen the reestablished interperother people and to take on the point of sonal relations, but an emphasis should
view of the other. In his or her new- also be placed on tasks in which the
found relationships with other people, individual as a member of the group
this person has some difficulty main- has to proceed toward a goal as well as
taining a task orientation because of a maintain himself or herself with other
concern with the development of inter- individuals. If the environment is too
personal relations. He or she is, how- protective at this point, the individual
ever, beginning to balance alternatives could be arrested at this stage, and aland to build concepts bridging differ- though he or she might continue to deing points of view and ideas that ap- velop skills in interpersonal relations,
parently contradict each other.
the person would be unlikely to develop
further skill in conceptualization or to
maintain himself or herself in taskoriented situations.
The individual is able to maintain Although this individual is adaptable,

a balanced perspective with respect to he or she no doubt operates best in an
task orientation and interpersonal rela- interdependent, information-oriented,
tions. He or she can build new con- complex environment.
structs and beliefs, or belief systems,
as these are necessary in order to adapt
to changing situations and new information. In addition, this individual is
able to negotiate with others the rules
or conventions that will govern behav-
ior under certain conditions, and he

or she can work with others to set out
programs of action and to negotiate
with them conceptual systems for approaching abstract problems.
CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE

SOCIAL MODELS OF TEACHING
Thus, we can search for the amount of structure the student needs, and we
can modify models to increase or decrease their structure to fIt the level at
which the student operates best. The teacher has three important tasks in relation to the conceptual system of the child. First, the teacher should learn
to differentiate among children according to levels of development. Second,
inasmuch as individuals of varying levels of integrative complexity perform
differently in different environments, the teacher must create an environ-
ment that is matched to the complexity of the student. Third, environmen-
tal prescriptions can be made to increase the integrative complexity of the

individualthat is, the optimal environments for growth in personality can
be identified.
Let us look closely at each of these three tasks. Discriminating the conceptual level of individuals is extremely important because of the effect of
conceptual level on the perceptual world. The "real" world of a person of
low complexity (who regards his or her environment as fixed, prefers hierarchical relationships, is evaluative, and becomes rigid under even moder-
ate stress) is very different from the real world of a person of high
complexity (who can generate many alternative avenues for dealing with
stress and opposition, accepts the responsibility for creating rules in new
situations, and can easily build conceptual. bridges between himself or herself and problem situations). The first individual is not likely to be adaptive
or flexible, whereas the latter individual is likely to-have the capacity to generate new solutions to problems and to adapt to changing conditions. This.
would be true whether the individual is young or old. For example, mature
physicists of about equal knowledge who differ greatly in integrative complexity could be expected to face problem situations very differently. Simi-
larly, an elementary school youngster of very low complexity would be

expected to perceive civil disorder differently from an individual of high
complexity (Hunt and Hardt, 1967).
The very different performance of individuals who differ in conceptual
complexity under different conditions makes the second taskcreating an
environment matched to the student's complexityan interesting challenge
for the teacher. For example, when Hunt divided groups of youngsters according to their levels of integrative complexity, teachers found that the
groups of low complexity had difficulty carrying on discussions. A discussion technique simply was not appropriate for individuals who view the
world as fixed and rules as unchanging and permanent. On the other hand,
individuals of moderate structure who were engaged in delineating themselves sharply from authority were easy to engage in debate, although the
debate was terribly vigorous and difficult to control.
In other words, for optimal growth in complexity, the student needs to
be exposed to an environment matched to the characteristics of his or her
world. An environment in which a complex individual will flourish would
create unbearable stress for a person of low complexity. There are considerable implications here for educational theory and practice. Hunt's research on the Upward Bound programs in the United States validated the
position that personality and training environment should be related. Hunt
examined a sample of Upward Bound programs and found that when environment and trainee personality were matched (high structure with low
complexity, and vice versa), the greatest growth took place (Hunt and Hardt,
1967).
The third task is to provide environments that will help individuals become more complex, and the hypothesis that makes the most sense at this
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PART II
I THE SOCIAL FAMILY
time is to attempt to lead the person's present state of development
slightlythat is, when an individual is at a low level of complexity, one

would want to have a moderate amount of complexity in the environment,
but not too much. The tasks presented to the individual, for example, should
involve some negotiating about rules, but not total negotiation as, for example, under Rogerian conditions.
Hunt's model is really a plan for changing social systems to match the
complexity of the learnerthat is, it suggests principles for behaving in relation to the student, depending on the kind of person he or she is. For stu-
dents of low conceptual level, tasks or educational approaches of low

complexity, with high sequence and a clear establishment of rules, would be
indicated. For students of high complexity, a very emergent structure, with
higher task complexity and an interdependent social system, would be indicated; For students of low conceptual level, we need to provide structure,
be clear in directions, and be supportive but fairly direct. When dealing with
students of high conceptual level, the teacher needs to be much more interdependent and mutual, placing much more of the burden for learning on
the students and helping them develop their own structure.
Thus, a social studies teacher who can match students and environment
should be more effective at teaching the social studies and have a more
comfoftable time in managing the students than a teacher who does not
make such a match. For example, students with a high preference for structure could be very uncomfortable under conditions of low structure and
might not learn as much as they would in highly structured environments.
Hunt, Joyce, and others have engaged in a series of investigations to determine the relationship between conceptual level and student response to
a variety of teaching models. These are described in some detail in a series
of papers by Hunt and in a lengthy review (Joyce, Peck, and Brown, 1981).
In most of the investigations, students who varied considerably in conceptual level were taught using models of teaching representing different struc-
tures. It was expected, for example, that the high-CL students would
perform more effectively at first in the relatively unstructured models such
as group investigation than would the low-CL studdnts. Generally speaking,
the results of Hunt's theories were confirmed by these investigations. Conceptual level definitely affects student behavior when different models of
teaching are used, and the directions of the differences in behavior generally confirmed conceptual systems theory. Student learning from various
models of teaching is also affected by conceptual level. For example, in experiments with the inductive thinking model, students of higher conceptual
level formed more concepts, but factual learning was about equal. Apparently, more flexible students function more effectively as the cognitive de-
mands of the model increase, resulting in the development of greater

conceptual activity and hence increased numbers of concepts learned.
Hunt takes the optimistic view that even though conceptual level may
predict student responsiveness, the differences in responsiveness can be
CHAPTER 9 I ADAPTING TO INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
compensated for to some extent by effective training and by modifying the

teaching strategy. From this point of view, differences in conceptual level
rather than prohibiting students.
help to identify needed types of training
from participating in certain kinds of education (see Hunt and Sullivan,
1974).
SKILL TRAINING FOR SPECIFIC MODELS

OF TEACHING
Hunt's optimism led us to consider how we can increase the range of models from which students can profit. It is surelytrue that students react differently to various models of teaching, and everybody finds that certain
her. But nearly everyone
ways of learning are most comfortable for him or
there
are very few students
learns something from each model of teaching;
that
they
cannot
profit to some exwhose characteristics are so pronounced
students need to learn
tent from any given model. And, just as important,
A student needs to learn how
to profit from a wider range of environments.
order
to
profit
from them in terms of selfto exploit the social models in
achievement,
and
the ability to study social
esteem, social skills, academic
values and issues.
Some students, however, experience discomfort when first exposed to
complex social models, Others are somewhat uneasy if there is too much
control of their behavior, such as the conditions that prevail in game-type
simulations and training models.
Rather than excluding students from experiences with those models, we
find that we can adapt the teaching strategy so that most students can be
relatively comfortable using them. We should be optimistic about students'
abilities to learn from a variety of models of teaching. A major goal of education is to help students develop the skills they need to react productively
to learning.
to an increasingly broad spectrum of approaches
when
we are teaching is diThus, a considerable portion of our energy
learn"
so that they will berected toward helping students learn "how to
versatile, and productive. We take the
come increasingly independent, productively to any model of teaching is
position that the ability to respond
more a matter of skills on the part of the learner than it is a matter of any
teachers is to identify the

kind of immutable characteristic. Our task asfind
out which ones our stu-
skills necessary to use the model productively,

dents possess, and teach them the others. For example, role playing requires
take the part of another in the
the ability to analyze a problem situation, to
enactment, and to empathize with alternative points of view. In addition it
requires skill in expressing one's value position and in developing concepts
that build bridges between one's own values and those of others.
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Some of the instruction in model-relevant skills can take place in the

course of using a given model. Inquiry training, for example, is built on the
premise that students need to learn skills of inquiry. We do not expect a high
level of performance the first time students attempt to engage in the inquiry
process. However, those early attempts provide us with the opportunity to
learn which skills the students need so that we can teach them directly. Also,
students learn through practice. For example, when engaging in the enactments of role playing for the first time, students are often "stagey" and ar.tificial. With successive enactments, however, they learn that role playing
depends on involvemnt, and they begin to overcome their awkwardness

and shyness and play the roles more spontaneously.
Generally speaking, the more complex the social action required by a
model and the more demanding its intellectual tasks, the more initial difficulty
students will have with that approach to teaching. A lack of familiarity also
increases initial difficulty. For example,. students who have never engaged
in directing their own learning activities will have considerable difficulty

with group investigation as the teacher relinquishes control and increasingly asks the students to direct their own educational activities. After a
time, however, the students will become more accustomed to taking responsibility and learn the skills of setting their own objectives, reflecting on
their own experiences, and accepting feedback from the teacher. Thus, practice with the model gives the students a chance to learn some of the skills it
requires. Those not acquired by practice we can teach directly.
The skills involved in accepting responsibility for growth, such as setting goals, making personal plans, and reflecting on them, are critical. Similarly, skills in stating needs are crucial, for if individuals are unable to make
their needs known, it is difficult for them to set goals or make realistic plans.
At the same time, the skill of analyzing one's own behavior has to be developed if the student is to come to the increasing self-awareness necessary to
conduct his or her own education.
The skills in the social models include practical interpersonal skills such
as negotiating goals and plans with others, but also include the far more
complex skills necessary to clarify one's values, analyze one's role in group
situations, and take the view of others. There are also substantive skills involved in debating alternatives and in negotiating goals and plans. Until the
learner has skill in perceiving his or her own behavior in the group, social
models are not very satisfying.
Additional skills important to group investigation include collecting

and organizing information, generating and testing hypotheses and theories, and moving back and forth from data to more abstract concepts and
ideas. Unless these skills are developed, the student is extremely dependent
on the teacher. At ceitain times within teaching episodes, skills are concentrated on and practiced. It is not difficult to present the students with
relatively simple problems and then demonstrate to them how one follows
up another person's line of inquiry Many basic skills can be taught simply
by interrupting the sequence of activities and concentrating on a particular skill.
Training sessions can be organized for students who have special skill
needs. An experiment to verify a hypothesis may be easy for some students
and not for others. We can provide time to work more closely with the stu-
dents whose skill deficits are greatest and ease them through the early
stages of training.
ADAPTING THE MODEL

Similarly, the teacher can take a more active role in structuring activities in
the areas in which students are having difficulty. Nearly all learners, from
children to adults, are unaccustomed to engaging in the problem-solving activities characteristic of group investigation. Thus, when students are first
learning to engage in group investigation we can provide more structure,
taking a more active leadership role, so that students are not asked to engage in activities beyond their independent capabilities. As they become
more familiar with the model, we simply loosen the structure, turning increasing amounts of control over to the learners. Throughout the process,
we continuously adjust the activities to the ability levels of th students as
they gradually learn the model.
In all models, the teacher should be open with the students. Part of their
task is not simply to learn the material under consideration but to become
increasingly capable of directing their own activities. The students, in other
words, gradually learn the model itself.
LEVELS OF STRUCTURE
In general, then, we work to help students develop the skills necessary to
profit from the approaches to teahing that we use, and we gradually teach
them to assume control. The first time that students are exposed to part-
nerships we make elaborate preparations to acquaint them with the

process, its purpose, and its rules, and we lead them step by step through
the activities. After several such experiences, students should take an active
role in orienting themselves, identifying the goals and rules, and governing
their own activities.
Classroom discipline is thus a matter of teaching students how to relate
to instruction and helping them assume greater responsibility for their own
learning. In the best-disciplined classrooms, students know what they are
doing, how to go about it, and how to govern themselves. Until this stage
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has been achieved, we cannot say that discipline is complete, in any sense
of the word that relates to the purposes of the school. Thus, we begin with
relatively high levels of structure. Gradually we reduce that structure as the
students become increasingly capable of governing their own affairs.
As indicated earlier, the best way to identify the skills students need is
to let them practice with the method and observe their behavior. In partnerships engaged in inductive teaching, for example, if students are having
trouble collecting data, instruction can be provided to help them become
more effective. Similarly, students working with group investigation may be
relatively good at negotiating goals and fairly poor at clarifying values. We
can teach much more effectively if we take the time to diagnose the skills
our students need to carry out the models of instruction being employed.
THE INFORMATIONPROCESSING
FAMILY
Learning to Think by Thinking
Old fencing masters used to tell their students that you grip the sword as
you would hold a sparrow. If you hold it too tightly, it cannot breathe. If you
hold it too loosely, it will fly away.
Good thinking bears analogy to the fencer's grip. It combines discipline

with flexibility. If we are to nurture it, we must master that paradox and create environments that offer strength without strangulation.
We are dreaming about creating a school where the study of human

thought is a central mission, where the cultivation of the intellect is comfortably woven with the study of values, the mastery of information, and
training in the basic subjects.
In our school, science and social sciences are taught with the methods
of their parent disciplines. Reading, literary analysis, and writing draw on
criticism and nurture productive thinking. Theater introduces the craft and
special metaphors of the stage. Domestic and international perspectives are
illuminated by philosophy. The atmosphere draws talent into bloom.
The core of good thinking is the ability to solve problems. Theessence
of problem solving is the ability to learn in puzzling situations. Thus, in the
school of these particular dreams, learning how to learn pervades what is
taught, how it is taught, and the kind of place in which it is taught (Downey,
1967). The students gather around learning problems and study how they
think and make a conscious effort to learn to think more effectively.
Through the ages our dream has had different forms in the minds of our
most powerful thinkers. The variety of embodiments of just a few of them
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PART III
/ THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
is wonderful to think about. Plato and Aristotle spun different webs around
the subject. In the Middle Ages, Aquinas created his version out of Catholic
philosophy; it was echoed later, in Renaissance terms, by John Amos Come-
nius. With secular logic Newton wove his discipline of thought. Martin
Luther spoke for the Reformation; Jefferson, Franklin, and Rousseau for the
democratic revolution. Dewey and James pulled the methods of science toward the psychology of thought. The distinctive orientations of Montessori,
Hutchins, Adler, Bruner, Schwab, and the other academic reformers followed and are now mixed with the current arguments about how to bring
electronic technology into play. The worldviews embraced by these peaple
have a wide span. They emphasize different aspects of thinking and recommend different ways of teaching it. But they all agree that there is life after
school and that learning to think (learning to learn) is what school is all
about.
As we enter a period where this theme is again being made prominent,
this time with an emphasis on the skills of thinking, we need to ponder why
a dream so universally affirmed has so rarely been fulfilled in the realities
of schooling.
We believe that a serious bad habit shares the majority of the blame.
(The enemy, as usual, is us.) It is the habit of setting different approaches
against each other and persuading ourselves that they are incompatible.
UNNECESSARY DICHOTOMIES
The most familiar wrangles are between the emphasis on basic school subjects, most commonly the "basic skills," and on the nurturance of thinking.
The argument is usually carried on as if to do one would sacrifice the other.
Otherwise reasonable people argue that if we teach the sciences inductively,
we will lose coverage of the subjects, or that we will undermine values if we
encourage students to think about them, or even that drill and practice will
always and surely dull the mind. These arguments reductio ad absurdum,
riding on deeply felt emotions and expressed in hyperbole, are hangers-on
from the poverty of our past, when it seemed almost too much to afford the
barest education. Now, when any but the fullest education will deprive our
children of important parts of the achievements of this new worldwide civilization, we must put away the luxury of dichotomous thinking. The skills
of reading, the study of values, the analytic tools of scholars, and the nurture of intuition are compatible, and we can and should teach them simultaneously. As we enter this period of renewed emphasis on the teaching of
thinking, let us not pit the cultivation of the mind against the acquisition of
skills and knowledge as if these goals were adversaries.
To succeed, we need to infuse the curriculum with intellectual activity
so that learning to think is an important component of every activity. Students learn more traditional substance but the method is not traditional
it is generated by models that also produce intellectual growth. Similarly,
PART III
the development of citizenship is enhanced by the analysis of social values

and the clarification of social issues. Learning how to be a committed and
self-aware person is enhanced by learning to think about one's growing self

and to analyze one's development and social milieu. The construction of
knowledge is the overarching theme.
MODELS OF TEACHING, THINKING

SKILLS, AND CURRICULUM
Various kinds of thinking are enhanced by particular models of teaching.
Some models, for instance, are designed to teach students to:
Attack problems inductively (concept formation)
Attain concepts and analyze thinking strategies (concept attainment)
Analyze social issues and problems (jurisprudential and role playing)
Break set and think divergently (synectics and group investigation)
Work together to generate and test hypotheses (group investigation and
scientific inquiry)
Reason causally (inquiry training, scientific inquiry, synectics, group
investigation, simulation)
Master complex bodies of information (memory scientific inquiry,

group investigation)
For maximum effect, these models are used in combinations. They are
also used to teach process with process. First, the core outcome of using a
model of teaching is that students learn how to reason in a certain fashion.
When we use a model to enhance memory, we teach students to think in
such a way that they will increase their ability to memorize. Similarly, when
we use inductive models, we teach students how to learn inductively by
thinking inductively. When we use group investigation, we teach students to
work together to gather information, set and test hypotheses, and balance
one another's perspectives for approaching a problem area. In other words,
the overarching thinking skills are metacognitions.
A certain loss of control occurs the more disciplined is the attempt to
develop reasoning power. We cannot teach students to reason inductively
and then reject the ideas they develop. Encouraged to think creatively, students will develop solutions we have not thought of. We have to expect this
and learn to love, the uncertainty it creates for us.
143
CHAPTER
THINKING
INDUCTIVELY
Collecting, Organizing, and
Manipulating Data
Thinking inductively is inborn and lawful. This is revolutionary work,
because schools have decided to teach in a lawless fashion, subverting
inborn capacity.
Hilda Taba to a group sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, 1966
SCENARIO
At the Motilal Nehru School of Sports in the state of Haryana, India, two
groups of 10th-grade students are engaged in the study of a botany unit that
focuses on the structure of plant life. One group is studying the textbook
with the tutorial help of their instructor, who illustrates the structures with
plants found on the school grounds. We will call this group the presentationcum-illustration group. The other group, which we will call the inductive
group, is taught by Bharati Baveja, an instructor at Delhi University.

This group is presented with a large number of plants labeled with their
names. Working in pairs, Bharati's students build classifications of the
plants based on the structural characteristics of their roots, stems, and
leaves. Periodically, the pairs share their classifications and generate labels
for them. Occasionally, Dr. Baveja employs concept attainment to introduce
a concept designed to expand the students' frame of reference and induce
more complex classification. She also supplies the scientific names for the
categories the students invent. Eventually Dr. Baveja presents thestudents
with some new specimens and asks them to see if they can predict the struc-
ture of one part of the plant from the observation of another part (for example, the root structure from the observation of the leaves). Finally, she
asks them to collect more specimens and fit them to the categories they
have developed so they can determine how comprehensive their categories
have become. They discover that most of the new plants will fit into exist-
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PART III
ing categories but that new categories have to be invented to hold some of
them.
After two weeks of study, the two groups take a test over the content of
the unit and are asked to analyze more specimens and name their structural
characteristics.
The inductive group has gained twice as much on the test of knowledge
and can correctly identify the structure of eight times more specimens than
the presentation-cum-illustration group.
SCENARI0
Jack Wilson is a first-grade teacher in Lincoln, Nebraska. He meets daily
for reading instruction with a group of children who are progressing quite
well. He is concerned, however, that they have no trouble attacking new
words unless they are unable to figure out the meaning from context. If they
are able to figure out what the word means from the rest of the sentence,
they seem to have no difficulty using principles they have learned to sound
the words out. He has concluded that they don't have full control over phonetic and structural analysis concepts and principles. He plans the following activity, which is designed to help them develop concepts of how words
are structured and to use that knowledge in attacking words unknown to
them.
Jack prepares a deck of cards with one word on each card. He selects
words with particular prefixes and suffixes, and he deliberately puts in
words that have the same root words but different prefixes and suffixes. He
picks prefixes and suffixes because they are prominent structural characteristics of wordseasy to identify (He will later proceed to more subtle
phonetic and structural features.) Jack plans a series of learning activities
over the next several weeks using the deck of cards as a database. Here are
some of the words:
set
run
reset
rerun
heat
set
preheat
preset
plant
plan
replant
preplan
When the group of students convenes on Monday morning, Jack gives

several cirds to each student. He keeps the remainder, counting on gradually increasing the amount of information students get. Jack has each student read a word on one of the cards and describe something about the
word. Other students can add to the description. In this way the structural
properties of the word are brought to the students' attention. The discussion brings out features like initial consonants (begins with an "s"), vowels,
pairs of consonants ("p1"), and so on.
After the students have familiarized themselves with the assortment of
words, Jack asks them to put the words into groups. "Put the words that go
CHAPTER 10
/ THINKING INDUCTIVELY
cards,
together in piles," he ilistructs. The students begin studying their
At first the
passing them back and forth as they sort out the commonalities.
students' card groups reflected only the initial letters or the meanings of the
words, such as whether they referred to motion or warmth. Gradually, they
noticed the prefixes, found out how they were spelled, and looked up their
meanings in the dictionary, discovering how the addition of the prefixes affected the meanings of the root words.
When the students finished sorting the words, Jack asked them to talk
about each category, telling what the cards had in common. Gradually, because of the way Jack had selected the data, the students could discover the
major prefixes and suffixes and reflect on their meaning, Then he gave them
sentences in which words not in their deck began and ended with those prefixes and suffixes and asked them to figure out the meanings of those words,
applying the concepts they had formed to help them unlockthese meanings.
The inductive activity was continued many times as, by selecting different sets of words, Jack led the students through the categories of consonant and vowel sounds and structures they would need to attack unfamiliar
words.
SCENARIO
Eight-year-old Seamus is apparently playing in his kitchen. In front of
him are a number of plates. On one is a potato, cut in quarters. Another contains an apple, similarly cut. The others contain a variety of fruits and vegetables. Seamus pushes into the segments of potato a number of copper and
zinc plates that are wired together and to a tiny lightbulb. He nodswith satisfaction as the bulb glows. He disconnects the bulb, attaches a voltmeter,
examines it briefly, and then reattaches the bulb. He repeats the process
with the apple, examining thebtilb and voltmeter again. Then come the
raspberries, lemon, carrot, and so on. His father enters the room and Seamus looks up. "I was right about the raspberries," he says. "We can use them
as in a battery. But some of these other things. .
Seamus
is, of course, classifying fruits and vegetables in terms of
whether they can interact with the metals to produce electric current.
SCENARI0
Diane Schuetz has provided her first-grade students with sets of tulip
bulbs, which they classify according to size, whether two are joined together
("Some have babies on them"), whether they have "coats," or whether they
have the beginnings of what look like roots. Now they are planting them,
trying to find out whether the variation in attributes will affect how they will
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PART HI / THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
grow. ("Will the big ones grow bigger?" "Will the babies grow on their own?"
and so on.) Ms. Schuetz has designed the science curriculum area around
the basic processes of building categories, making predictions, and testing
their validity.
SCENARI0
Dr. Makibbin's social studies class is examining data from a large demographic base on the nations of the world. One group is looking at the
base on Africa, another is studying Latin America, and the others are poring over the data from Asia arid Europe. They are searching for correlations
among variables, such as trying to learn whether per capita income is associated with life expectancy and whether educational level is associated
with rate of increase in population, and so forth. As they share the results
of their inquiry, they will compare the continents, trying to learn whether
the correlations within each are comparable to the other.
TEACHING THINKING
The late curriculum theorist Hilda Taba developed a series of teaching
strategies designed to help develop inductive mental processes, especially
the ability to categorize and to use categories.
LEARNING TO CLASSIFY
We begin with models that teach students to classify data and thus form categories, because it is generally believed that concept formation is the basic
higher-order thinking skill and that all other analytic and synthetic skills depend on the development of the distinctions that result in categories.

Thirty years ago, Taba was largely responsible for popularizing the term
teach ing strateg and her work in the Contra Costa, California, schools
provided a first-rate example of a teaching strategy designed to improve
the students' ability to handle information. In fact, her strategy formed the
backbone of an entire social studies curriculum (Taba, 1966), enabling
the design of courses, units of study, and lessons where the teaching of
thinking was integrated with the study of content.
CHAPTER 10 / THINKING INDUCTIVELY
THINKING PROCESSES
She built her approach around three assumptions:
1. Thinking can be taught. Teaching, as used by Taba, means helping the
students, through practice, to develop inductive thinking ability.
2. Thinking is an active transactiOn between the individual and data. This
means that the students are presented with sets of data from a particular domain (poems, rocks, counfries). They organize the data into conceptual systems, relating points in the data to each other, generalizing
from relationships they discover, and making inferences to hypothesize,
predict, and explain phenomena. Mental operations cannot be taught
directly in the sense of being "given by a teacher" or be acquired by absorbing someone else's thought products. The teacher can, however, assist students by providing tasks requiring complex mental processes, by
modeling, and by offering progressively less direct support as the kids
become more proficient.
3. Processes of thought evolve by a sequence that is "lawful. "Taba postulates
that to master certain thinking skills, a person must first master certain
earlier ones, and this sequence cannot be reversed. Therefore, "this concept of lawful sequences requires teaching strategies that observe these
sequences" (Taba, 1966, pp. 34, 35). One can argue with this assumption, but she built a logical series of strategies by applying it.
THREE TEACHING STRATEGIES

Taba identifies three inductive thinking skills and then describes three
teaching strategies to develop them. The first is concept formation (the basic
teaching strategy), the second is the interpretation of data, and the third is
the application of principles. All these are illustrated in the scenarios that
began the chapter.
CONCEPT FORMATION
This stage involves (1) identifying and enumerating the data relevant to
a topic or problem, (2) grouping these items into categories whose members have common attributes, and (3.) developing label., for the categories.
To engage students in each of these activities, Taba invented teaching moves
in the form of tasks given to the students. For example, asking students to
"look up the data on per capita income and population growth for 12 countries from each of the major regions of the world" will induce the students
to create a data file. The task "Decide which countries are most alike" is
likely to cause people to group the things that have been listed. The question "What would we call these groups?" begins a task likely to induce people to develop labels or categories.
An illustration of the concept formation strategy is the second-grade

unit of Taba's Contra Costa social studies curriculum The unit attempts to
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PART III
I THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
develop the main idea that a supermarket needs a place, equipment, goods,
and services (Taba, 1967). The unit opens by asking the students to visit supermarkets and. study what is found there. The children can be expected to
identify individual food items, stock people, cashiers, equipment, a building (or place), and deliveries of food. Their responses can be recorded and
the listing continued until several categories are represented. After the enumerated list has been completed, the children are asked, perhaps on another
day, to group the items on the basis of similarity. "What belongs together?"
Presumably, if the enumeration is rich enough, the children will identify

"things the market sells" and "things done for the supermarket owner."
These concepts can then be labeled goods and services.
Each overt activity elicited by the teaching strategy reflects mental operations that are hidden from view, which Taba referred to as "covert." Table
10.1 illustrates the relationship between the overt activities in the concept
formation model, the mental operations that the students presumably perform during the activity, and the eliciting questions teachers use to lead the
students through each activity.
INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Taba's second teaching strategy (interpretation of data) is built around

the mental operations she refers to as interpreting, inferring, and generalizing. Table 10.2 shows the overt and covert activities involved in the interpretation of data and the questions a teacher can use to elicit the activities.
Essentially, students build hypotheses about relationships, inferring causation, and explore these hypotheses to build generalizations.
In the first phase, the teacher's questions lead students to identify critical aspects of the data. For example, after students classify dountries as de-
TABLE 10.1 CONCEPT FORMATION
Overt Activity
Covert Mental Operations
Eliciting Questions
Differentiation (identifying
separate items)
What did you see?

hear? note?
2. Grouping
Identifying common
properties, abstracting
What belongs together?

On what criterion?
3. Labeling,
Determining the
hierarchical order of items
(super- and subordination)
'How would you call

these groups? What
belongs to what?
1.
Enumeration,
listing
categorizing
Source: Hilda Taba, Teacher's Handbook for Elementary Social Studies

(Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., 1967), p. 92.
TABLE 10.2 INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Overt Activity
1.
Identifying
critical
relationships
2. Exploring
relationships
3. Making
inferences
Eliciting Questions
Differentiating
What did you notice?

see? find?
Relating categories to each

other
Determining cause-andeffect relationships
Why did this happen?
Going beyond what is given

Finding implications,
extrapolating
What does this mean?

What picture does it
create in your mind?
What would you
conclude?

(Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley PublishingCo., Inc., 1967), p. 101.
scribed above, they might read about their economic and political systems
and try to identify their salient aspects (such as which ones depend on a few
agricultural or mining products, which ones depend on commerce or manufacturing, and which ones combine all of these).
Second, students are to explore relationships. Here the teacher asks
questions concerning causes and effects. For example, he or she might simply ask, "Do you think the differences in the economic systems are related
to differences in per capita income or educational levels?"
APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES
The third task is that of applying principles to explain new phenomena

(predicting consequences from conditions that have been established, such
as predicting which countries have similar interests that might affect how
they would vote on relevant issues in the United Nations Assembly). This
strategy follows the first two: a unit or course would lead the students from
concept formation activities to activities requiring interpretation of data
and then to activities requiring application of principles. At each stage, students would be required to expand their capacities to handle information,
first developing new concepts, then developing new ways of applying established principles in new situations. Table 10.3 describes the overt activities, covert mental operations, and the eliciting questions for this teaching
strategy.
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PART III
TABLE 10.3
APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES
Overt Activities
Eliciting Questions
Predicting
consequences,
explaining
unfamiliar
phenomena,
hypothesizing
Analyzing the nature of

the problem or situation,
retrieving relevant
knowledge
What would happen
2. Explaining and/or
Determining the causal

links leading 'to
prediction or hypothesis
Why do you think this

would happen?
Using logical principles

or factual knowledge to
determine necessary and
sufficient conditions
What would it take

for this to be
generally true or
probably true?
1.
supporting the
predictions and
hypotheses
3. Verifying the
prediction
if...?

(Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing C')., Inc., 1967), p. 109.
The first phase of the strategy requires students to predict consequences, explain unfamiliar data, or hypothesize. We might continue our
previous example by asking students to predict how the numbers of people
sharing various cultures are likely to be altered when population growth
data are considered.
In the second phase, students attempt to explain or support the predictions or hypotheses. For example, i someone feels that a fixed currency rate
for all countries should be established and held for a long time, that person
would attempt to explain why he or she thought this system would work and
how it would fare with such factors as the relative prosperities or production ratios within the countries. In the third phase, students verify these predictions or identify conditions that would verify the predictions.

SYNTAX
These three teaching strategies strongly resemble each other. Each is

built around a mental operation: concept formation, interpretation of data,
and application of principles or ideas. In each case, the strategy involves
overt activities that assume students must go through certain covert operations to perform the activities. Thus, the sequence of activities forms the
syntax of the teaching strategies and is presumably accompanied by underlying mental processes. In each case, the teacher moves the strategy along
by means of eliciting questions to guide the student from one phase of activity into the next, at the appropriate time. In the case of concept formation strategy, for example, the grouping of data would be premature if the
data had not been identified and enumerated. But to delay too long before
moving to the next phase would be to lose opportunities and interest.
To teach students to respond to the model, we advise teachers to begin
by leading the students through activities based on data sets presented to
them and in later lessons to teach the students how to create and organize
data sets.
SOCIAL SYSTEM
In all three strategies, the atmosphere of the classroom is cooperative,
with a good deal of pupil activity. Since the teacher is generally the initiator of phases, and the sequence of the activities is determined in advance,
he or she begins in a controlling, though cooperative, position. However, as
the students learn the strategies, they assume greater control.
Taba provides the teacher with rather clear guidelines for reacting and
responding within each phase. When using cognitive tasks within each
strategy, the teacher must be sure that the cognitive tasks occur in optimum
order, and also at the "right" time. Regulating the tasks requires that studying the data set is done thoroughly before categorization proceeds and that
seeking for relationships follows thorough categorization. The teacher's primary mental task in the course of the strategies is to monitor how students
are processing information and then to use appropriate eliciting questions.
The important task for the teacher is to sense the students' readiness for
new experience and new cognitive activity with which to assimilate and use
those experiences.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
These strategies can be used in any curricular area that has large
amounts of raw data that need to be organized. For example, in studying
the economic aspects of various nations, students would need large quanti-
ties of data about the economics of those countries and statistics about
world affairs. Then the teacher's job is to help them process the data in increasingly complex ways and, at the same time, to increase the general capacities of their systems for processing data.
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PART III I THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
APPLICATION
Since each of Taba's teaching strategies is built on a particular mental, or
cognitive, task, the primary application of the model is to develop thinking
capacity. However, in the course of developing thinking capacity the strategies obviously require students to ingest and process large quantities of in-
formation. The model can be used in every curriculum area and from
kindergarten through high school. The third strategy, by inducing students

to go beyond the given data, is a deliberate attempt to increase productive
or creative thinking. Inductive processes thus include the creative processing of information, as well as the convergent use of information to solve
problems.
The concept formation strategy can be used with students of all ages,
from nursery school through graduate study.
The model causes students to collect information and examine it closely,
to organize it into concepts, nd to learn to manipulate those concepts.

Used regularly, the strategy increases the students' abilities to form concepts
efficiently and also the perspectives from which they can view information.
For example, if a group of students regularly engage in inductive activ-
ity, the group can be taught more and more sources of data. The students
can learn to examine data from many sides and to scrutinize all aspects of
objects and events. Imagine students studying communities, for instance.
We can expect that at first their data will be superficial, but their increasingly sophisticated inquiry will turn up more and more attributes that they
can use for classifying the data. Also, if a classroom of students works in
groups to form concepts and data, and then the groups share the categories
they develop, they will stimulate each other to look at the information from
different perspectives.
The students can learn to categorize categories, too. Imagine students
who have classified poems or short stories. They can build concepts that
further cluster those categories.
Another example may serve to pull these ideas together in practical
terms. As we have discussed, sometimes we create and organize data sets
for our students to classify and sometimes we help them create and organize sets. In the following example we have organized a set from writing
samples produced by the students themselves.
SCENARIO
ADVERBS: AN INDUCTIVE EXERCTSE
INVOLVING STUDENT WRITING
The students have watched a scene from the film Out of Africa in which
three new friends amuse themselves with witty conversation and telling
and stories. Then the students were instructed to create a sentence about the scene, beginning each sentence with an adverb. (They are
studying the use of adverbs because it was discovered that they are more
awkward using adverbs than adjectives.)
They opened their sentences in the following ways (the rest ofthe sentences are omitted to create a focus on the use of adverbs in openings):
anecdotes
1. Profoundly looking into one another's eyes...

2. Intently listening to one another's words...
3. wonderingly and as if by magic the love began to flow...
4. With relaxed and forthright honesty they shared a part of themselves...
5. Anxiously the husband watched as his normally taciturn wife...
6. Passionately I gazed at my two companions...
7. Playfully at first, but with growing intensity...
8. Tentatively, like three spiders caught in the vortex of the same web,...
9. With heated anticipation, the three formed a web of mystery and emotion.
10. Quietly listening they were engulfed by the tale.
11. With awe and a certain wonderment...

12. Tenderly, in the midst of warm caidlelight, they...
13. Skillfully she met the challenge...
14. Boldly they teased one another with their mutual love of language.
15. Effortlessly her practiced mind...
16. Awkwardly, like children just learning to walk...
17. Softly, slowly, but glowing like the candles about them, they negoti-
ated...
18. Boldly she drew them into the fabric of her story.
19. Suspended by the delicate thread of her tale...
20. Instinctively she took his cue...
Before reading further, read the passages and make notes about the attributes of the writing. Then classify the sentences. (If you are alone or in a
small group studying the model, classify them independently. If you are in
a group of eight or more, classify them with a partner. Then share your classifications, discussing the basis each of you used and the attributes you focused on.)
Now, let's turn to some of the categories developed by our class.
One group classified the sentences by the form of the adverbs, placing
single words together (such as profoundly from number 1, anxiously from
5), phrases together (such as "with relaxed and forthright honesty" from 4),
and the single clause (number 19) by itself. A second group reported that it
had classified them according to the mood or tone that was evoked. For example, numbers 12, 17, 19, 11, 3, and 7 were placed together because the
group members decided that they all shared the creation of a gentle, loving
mood, whereas 5 and 16 emphasized the awkwardness of strangers.
The class then used their categories to experiment with writing, changing single words into phrases and clauses and vice versa, substituting words
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PART III
to change the mood evoked, and so on. For example, one pair experimented
with 6, trying "with passion," and "passion flowed as I gazed
Another
changed number 8 to "tentatively and spiderlike . ." and decided the
change altered the mood. One changed boldly to skillful/v in number 18 and
judged that it helped the development of the mood.
Fhe episode was followed by a foray into several books of short stories,
and the members of the class created a data set of sentences in which authors had made use of adverbs. Classifying them, they proceeded to create
categories of adverb use by expert writers and to experiment with them in
their own writing.
Thus, the phases of the model built on one another to generate more
and more complex mental activity and to increase the likelihood that the
study of language would have a yield for their skill in writing. The second
inductive activity built on the first as the students added the study of expert
writers and tried to learn from them.
The model is adaptable to a wide range of learning styles. Joyce, Peck,
and Brown (1981) explored inductive processes with both relatively rigid
and flexible students; they found that both groups were able to engage in
the inductive process but that the more flexible students made the greatest
gains initially. More important, they found that practice and training increased effectiveness and that the students could learn to carry on inductive
activity independently.
Here are a number of tips for teaching inductively that Bruce Joyce
wrote to a group of teachers in June 1995.
1. Practice, practice, practiceanxiety reduces practicelet go and have

fun. Build a learning com.munity around the modeldesigning a weekly
lesson won't accomplish that.
2. Study how the kids thinkthe process gives us a bit of a window into
their minds. The better the handle on their minds, the more we can adjust what we do.
3. Keep up front that we are trying to help the kids learn to learn. A common mistake in teaching is to ask questions without teaching the kids
how to answer themor, even better, to ask them themselves and then
seek the answers. Teaching comprehension in reading is an example.
Many folks ask the kids questions about what they have read to learn if
they have comprehendedor ask them to make predictions. Neither
teaches the kids how to comprehend or make predictions based on understanding. They need models to followexposing how we comprehend and make predictions.
4. The inductive process brings kids into the exploration of a domain as a
learning community trying to master that domain. For example, suppose that initial consonants is the domain for beginning readers. They
need to explore a heap of initial consonants, distinguishing the letters
and sounds from one another. Giving them a set with the "letter of the
week" in it and hoping they will focus on that letter subverts the inquiry.
We learn phonics by comparing and contrasting letters and their asso-
ciated soundslearning them one at a time without comparison makes

life difficult for them. Remember that the customary ways of teaching
reading leave 30 percent of the kids virtually unable to read. They need
to inquire actively into phonetic and structural analysis and comprehension skills.
5. Except for very specific concentration on phonetic elements and newly
learned vocabulary, words should be presented in sentences that provide context clues and a kind of "doze" activity carried on to ensure that
meaning is established. We are producing a nation of "word callers"
who don't know how to extract meaning from text or who give up easily in the face of demanding text.
6. Use the model in the curriculum areasto teach substance. Not a rainy
day activity.
7. Make sure the data set has the attributes present, both for concept for-
mation and concept attainment. I probably overuse the example of

"food groups." Kids can memorize what food goes in what group and
take our word for the meaning of nutrition. They cannot use inductive
methods to discover the groups. Biochemists can; However, if the data
presented are rich enough they can, by the fourth grade, classify the nations of the world by demographic characteristics because no arcane
scientific knowledge or process is indicated.
8. Be careful how you teach "complete" and "incomplete" sentences. Teach
subject and predicate first. A complete sentence is simply an expression
that has an explicit or implied subject and predicate.
9. Distinctions between fact and opinion are probably not appropriate for
short explorationsdata sets containing each will only work if the kids
already know which are facts and opinionsin which case there is no
new learning. The distinction requires inference from context or, more
often, verification from an authoritative source.
10. In science, try to concentrate on stuff where the kids can collect raw
data. With respect to rocks, for example, they can study density, hardness, pH, and homogeneity by visual inspection, but they have to consuit authoritative sources to find out how the rocks got that way. They
can't tell whether a rock was produced from a volcanic process unless
they already know or get the information from.an authoritative source.
Suggestion for the "forest unit." Find a nearby grove with variety in
it and have the kids observe the trees for a year, building categories as
they go. They can also consult resource books for data about other trees,
using the ones they have observed as "anchors" for information gained
through print and other media sources.
11. Yes! Kids can create or attain multiple-attribute categories.
12. Teaching concepts like adverb, adjective, phrase, clauseremember that
there are many subcategories of all of these. If a data set contains one
each of five or six categories of adverbs, it can be tough for the kids.
Consider sets where they discover the various subcategories.
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PART III
13. "Squeeze"
the meaning out of complex sets, such as poems. The kids
want to approach these with the idea of learning everything about them.
14. Studying attributes of things like characters in stories provides inter-
esting problems. Usually, learning what a character is like involves

mining the context. You might consider data sets where clues referring
to various characteristics are concentrated onsuch as physical description and temperament. Again, teach the kids how to answer the
question.
15. Back on charactersif they are going to classify characters, they need
20 or so in the set.
16. Figure out the higher-order objective at the beginning. A good example
is the log describing an exercise where the kids classified pictures of

clouds and then were given the scientific terms for clouds that have par-
ticular appearances. The question was "how do I know when we're

done?" That question is not unique to the inductive modelit would
apply to a unit taught in any fashion. The answer is to figure out what
they are going to do with their newfound knowledge and design an application task that starts them on their way. For example, have them
take a minute at the beginning of several days to look at the sky and
write or dictate a description. Or have them look up information about
weather or examine a number of weather forecasts and find concepts in
them.
The accompanying summary chart outlines elements of the concept formation strategy All the strategies have relatively clear syntaxes, with the re-
actions of the teacher coordinated with the phases, a cooperative but (at
first) teacher-centered social system, and support systems that require
ample sources of raw ungrouped data. Their applicability is extremely wide,
and the classroom teacher should consider a repertoire of basic inductive
strategies such as these to be an essential tool.
Syntax
Strategy One: Concept Formation
Phase One: Enumeration and Listing
Phase Two: Grouping
Phase Three: Labeling, Categorizing
Strategy Two: Interpretation of Data
Phase Four: Identifying Critical Relationships
Phase Five: Exploring Relationships
Phase Six: Making Inferences
Strategy Three: Application of Principles
Phase Seven: Predicting Consequences, Explaining Unfamiliar Phenomena, Hypothesizing

Phase Eight: Explaining and/or Supporting the Predictions and Hypotheses
Phase Nine: Verifying the Prediction
Social System
The model has high to moderate structure. It is cooperative, but the
teacher is the initiator and controller of activities.
Teacher matches tasks to students' level of cognitive activity, determines
students' readiness.
Support System
Students need raw data to organize and analyze.
Instructional and Nurturant Effects

The inductive-thinking model (Figure 10.1) is designed to instruct students in concept formation and, simultaneously, to teach concepts. It nurtures attention to logic, to language and the meaning of words, and to the
nature of knowledge.
FIGURE 10.1
Instructional and nurturant effects: inductivethinking model.
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CHAPTER
ATTAINING CONCEPTS
The Basic Thinking Skills
What that kid did made the point so everybody could hear it. Four times last
week -he was inconcept attainment lessons taught by the student teachers.
So he said we owed him one. If we'd get him some second-graders to teach,
he'd make a data set and teach the same kind of lesson. And he wanted to be
videotaped like the student teachers were. So we got him the kids and he
taught the lesson and he did a great job. So now everybody understands that
the whole point is to teach the kids the model, and practice will do it.
Kay Vandergrift to Bruce Joyce, November 1969
SCENARIO
We happen on a classroom in Hong Kong. Dr. Ora Kwo is teaching a lesson on English to her students. She has a chart in the front of the room. We
will follow her as she leads her students through an exercise that employs
it. The headings on the chart are:
Positive Exemplars
Negative Exemplars
She puts the following two words under the headings on the chart:
clean
help
"Take a look at these two words. How are they alike and how are they different? Clean has the attributes of our category. Help does not." She places
cards containing two more words on the chart.
clear
trim
"Now examine this pair. Clear has the attributes we are concerned with. Help
does not. What do clear and clean have in common that help and trim do
not?"
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Dr. Kwo asks the students to work singly during this phase of the exercise. She presents two more words and asks the students to compare and
contrast them, trying to discover what the positive exemplars have in common that they do not share with the negative exemplars.
clip
hip
"Now, what do you see? Please write down your hypothesis at this point.
What attributes do you think, the 'positive' words have in common that they
do not share with the words I have identified as 'negative'?" After a few seconds, she proceeds to the next pair of words.
clap
lap
"Did any of you have to change your ideas?" She looks around the room and
finds that several did. Then, in the same fashion, she presents several other
pairs of words:
cling
climb
club
ring
limb
tree
Dr. Kwo Continues until she has presented a dozen more pairs. Then she
presents a word and asks the students whether they believe, on the basis of
their hypothesis, that it is positive or negative.
lip
Of the students, 30 correctly identify the word as a negative exemplar.
Six do not. She infers that the 30 were concentrating on the "cl," while the
others were still not sure whether having either a "c" or an "I" would qualify it. Therefore, she presents the following series to them:
clue
clarify
clack
flue
rarify
lack
Then she asks the question again. "What do you think of this one?"
crack
All the students identify the word as negative. Thus, she presents the next
one.
clank
CHAPTER 11
/ ATTAINING CONCEPTS
They all identify it as positive. She proceeds to present them with a half
dozen positive and negative exemplars and, when they can identify them
correctly, asks them to share their current hypotheses. ("The positives begin
with 'cl' and sound like [imagine the sound].") She has them identify what
is not critical (meanings, endings, and so on) and then asks them how they
would make negatives positive (transforming "an" to "clan" and so forth,
until she is satisfied that the idea is clear).
Dr. Kwo then sends them to scour a couple of stories, looking for positive exemplars, and gives them a list of words to classify on the basis of the
attributes of the category.
We have, of course, looked in on a phonics lesson for students for whom
English is a second language. The lesson is designed according to the concept attainment model of teaching and teaches concepts useful in both writing and spelling.
SCENARIO
Mrs. Stern's eighth-grade class in Houston, Texas, has been studying the
characteristics of the 14 largest cities in the United States. The class members have collected data on size, population, ethnicity, types of industry, location, and proximity to natural resources.
Working in committees, the students have collected information and
summarized it on a series of charts now pasted up around the room. One
Wednesday in November, Mrs. Stern says, "Today let's try a series of exercises designed to help us understand these cities better. I have identified a
number of concepts that help us compare and contrast them. I am going to
label our charts either yes or no. If you look at the information we have and
think about the populations and the other characteristics, you will identify
the ideas that I have in mind. I'm going to start with the city that's a yes and
then one that's a no, and so forth. Think about what the yeses have in common. Then write down after the second yes the idea that you think connects
those two places, and keep testing those ideas as we go along." "Let's begin
with our own city," she says. "Houston is a yes."
The students look at the information about Houston, its size, industries,
location, ethnic composition. Then she points to Baltimore, Maryland.
"Baltimore is a no," she says. Then she points to San Jose, California.
"Here is another yes," she comments.
The students look for a moment at the information about San Jose. Two
or three raise their hands.
"I think I know what it s," one offers.
"Hold on to your idea," she replies. "See if you're right." She then selects
another yesSeattle, Washington; Detroit, Michigan, is a no. Miami,

Florida, is a yes. She continues until all students think they know what the
concept is, and then they begin to share concepts.
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PART III
"What do you think it is, Jill?"

"The yeses all have mild climates," says Jill. "That is, it doesn't get very
cold in any of them."

"It gets pretty cold in Salt Lake City," objects another.
"Yes, but not as cold as in Chicago, Detroit, or Baltimore." another student counters.
"I think the yeses are all rapidly growing cities. Each one of them increased more than 10 percent during the last 10 years." There is some discussion about this.
"All the yeses have lots of different industries," volunteers another.
"That's true, but almost all of these cities do," replies another student.
Finally the students decide the yeses are all cities that are growing very
fast and have relatively mild climates.
"That's right," agrees Mrs. Stern. "That's exactly what I had in mind.
Now let's do this again. This time I want to begin with Baltimore, Maryland,
and now it is a yes.'
The exercise is repeated several times. Students learn that Mrs. Stern
has grouped the cities on the basis of their relationship to waterways, natural resources, ethnic composition, and several other dimensions.
The students are beginning to see patterns in their data. Finally she
says, "Now, each of you try to group the cities, in a way that you think is important. Then take turns and lead us through this exercise, helping us to see
which ones you place in which category. Then we'll discuss the ways we can
look at cities and how we can use different categories for different purposes.
Finally, we'll use the inductive model and you can see how many relationships you can find."
In this scenario Mrs. Stern is teaching her students how to think about
cities. At the same time she is teaching them about the process of categorizing. This is their introduction to the model of teaching we call concept
attainment.
CATEGORIZING, CONCEPT FORMATION,

AND CONCEPT ATTAINMENT
Concept attainment is "the search for and listing of attributes that can be
used to distinguish exemplars from nonexemplars of various categories"
(Bruner, Goodnow, and Austin, 1967, p. 233). Whereas concept formation,
which is the basis of the inductive model described in the previous chapter,
requires the students to decide the basis on which they will build categories,
concept attainment requires a student to figure out the attributes of a category that is already formed in another person's mind by comparing and contrasting examples (called exemplars) that contain the characteristics (called
CHAPTER 11
/ AT1AINING CONCEPTS
attributes) of the concept with examples that do not contain those attri-
butes. To create such lessons we need to have our category clearly in mind.
As an example let us consider the concept adjective. Adjectives are words,
so we select some words that are adjectives (these become the positive exemplars) and some that are not (these become "negative" exemplarsthe
ones that do not have the attributes of the category adjective). We present
the words to the students in pairs. Consider the following four pairs:
triumphant
large
broken
painful
triumph
chair
laugh
pain
It is probably best to present the words in sentences to provide more

information, because adjectives function in the context of a sentence. For
example:
Yes: Our triumphant team returned home after winning the state
championship.
No: After her triumph, Senator Jones gave a gracious speech.
Yes: The broken arm healed slowly
No: His laugh filled the room.
Yes: The large truck backed slowly into the barn.
No: She sank gratefully into the chair.
Yes: The painful separation had to be endured.
No: He felt a sharp pain in his ankle.
To carry on the model, we need about 20 pairs in allwe would need
more if the concept were more complex than our current example, adjectives.
We begin the process by asking the students to scrutinize the sentences

and to pay particular attention to the underlined words. Then we instruct
them to compare and contrast the functions of the positive and negative exemplars. "The positive exemplars have something in common in the work
they do in the sentence. The negative exemplars do different work."
We ask the students to make notes about what they believe the exemplars have in common. Then we present more sets of exemplars and ask
them whether they still have the same idea. If not, we ask what they now
think. We continue to present exemplars until most of the students have an
idea they think will withstand scrutiny. At that point we ask one of the students to share his or her idea and how he or she arrived at it. One possible
response is as follows: "Well, at first I thought that the positive words were
longer. Then some of the negatives were longer, so I gave that up. Now I
think that the positive ones always come next to some other word and do
something to it. I'm not sure just what."
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PART III
Then other students share their ideas. W provide some more examples.
Gradually the students agree that each positive exemplar adds something to
the meaning of a word that stands for an object or a person, or qualifies it
in some way.
We continue by providing some more sentences and by asking the students to identify the words that belong to our concept. When they can do
that, we provide them with the name of the concept (adjective) and ask them
to agree on a definition.
The final activity is to ask the students to describe their thinking as they
arrived at the concepts and to share how they used the information given.
For homework we ask the students to find adjectives in a short story we
assign them to read. We will examine the exemplars they come up with to
be sure that they have a clear picture of the concept.
This process ensures that the students learn the attributes that define a
concept (the defining attributes) and can distinguish those from other important attributes that do not form the definition. All the words, for example, are composed of letters. But the presence of letters does not define the
parts of speech. Letters are important characteristics of all items in the data
set, but are not critical in defining the category we call adjective. The students learn that it is the function of the word that is the essence of the concept, not what it denotes. Pain and painful both refer to trauma, but only
one is an adjective.
As we teach the students with this method, we help them becomemore
efficient in attaining concepts. They learn the rules of 'the model.
Let us look at another example, this time language study for beginning
readers.
Teacher: (Presents 6-year-old students with the following list of words

labeled yes or no.)
fat
fate
Yes
mat
mate
rat
rate
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
I have a list of words here. Notice that some have yes by them and
some have no by them. (The children observe and comment on the
format. The teacher puts the list aside for a moment.) Now, I have
an idea in my head, and I want you to try to guess what I'm thinking of. Remember the list I showed you. (Picks up the list.) This will
help you guess my idea because each of these is a clue. The clues
work this way. If a word has a yes by it (points to first word), then
it is an example of what I'm thinking. If it has a no by it, then it is
not an example.
CHAPTER 11
(The teacher continues to work with the students so that they un-
derstand the procedures of the lesson and then turns over the task
of working out the concept to them.)
Teacher: Can you come up with a name for my idea? Do you know
what my idea is? (The students decide what they think the teacher's
idea is. She continues the lesson.)
Teacher: Let's see if your idea is correct by testing it. I'll give you some
examples, and you tell me if they are a yes or a no, based on your
idea. (She gives them more examples. This time the students supply
the nos and yeses.)
kite
No
cat
Yes
Yes
hat
Well you seem to have it. Now think up some words you believe are
yeses. The rest of us will tell you whether your example is right. You
tell us if we guessed correctly.
(The exercise ends with the students generating their own examples
and telling how they arrived at the concept.)
In this lesson if the children simply identified the concept as the at vowelconsonant blend and correctly recognized cat and hat as a yes, they had attained the concept on a simple level. If they verbalized the distinguishing
features (essential attributes) of the at sound, they attained the concept on
a harder level. Bruner outlines these different levels of attainment: correctly
distinguishing examples from nonexamples is easier than verbalizing the attributes of the concept. Students will probably be able to distinguish examples correctly before they will be able to explain verbally either the concept
name or its essential characteristics.
Concept teaching provides a chance to analyze the students' thinking
processes and to help them develop more effective strategies. The approach
can involve various degrees of student participation and student control,
and material of varying complexity.
RATIONALE
We have used terms such as exemplar and attribute to describe categorizing activity and concept attainment. Derived from Bruner's study of concepts and how people attain them, each term has a special meaning and
function in all forms of conceptual learning, especially concept attainment.
EXEMPLARS
Essentially the exemplars are a subset of a collection of data or a data

set. The category is the subset or collection of samples that share one or
more characteristics that are missing in the others. It is by comparing the
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PART III
positive exemplars and contrasting them with the negative ones that the
concept or category is learned.

ATTRIBUTES
All items of data have features, and we refer to these as attributes. Nations, for example, have areas with agreed-on boundaries, people, and governments that n deal with other nations. Cities have boundaries, people,
and governments also, but they cannot independently deal with other countries. Distinguishing nations from cities depends on locating the attribute
of international relations.
Essential attributes are attributes critical to the domain under consideration. Exemplars of a category have many other attributes that may not
be relevant to the category itself. For example, nations also have trees and
flowers, but these are not relevant to the definition of nationalthough

they, too, represent important domains and can be categorized and subcategorized as well. However, with respect to the category "nation," trees and
flowers are not essential.
Another important definition is that of attribute value. This refers to the
degree to which an attribute is present in any particular example. For instance, in any given situation, everyone has some rationality and irrationality mixed together. The question is when is there enough rationality
that we can categorize someone as "rational" or enough irrationality that
"irrational" is an appropriate description. For some types of concepts
triangle, for exampleattribute values are not a consideration. For others,
they are. When creating a data set for instruction, it is wise to begin with
exemplars where the value of the attribute is high, dealing with the more
ambiguous ones after the concept has been well established. Thus, when
classifying nations according to wealth, beginning with the very rich and
the very poor makes it easier for the students. As we categorize things, we
have to deal with the fact that some attributes are present to various degrees. We have to decide whether any amount of presence of an attribute is
sufficient to place something in a particular category and what the range of
density is that qualifies something to belong to a category. For example,
consider the category poisonous. We put chlorine in water precisely because
chlorine is poison. Yet we judge the amount that will kill certain bacteria
and still not harm us. So tap water in a city is not an exemplar of poisonous
water because it does not contain enough poison to harm us. But if we
added enough chlorine, it would affect us. In this case, if the value of the attribute is low enough, its presence does not give the water membership in
the category poisonous to humans.
Now consider the category short person. How short is short enough to
be so categorized? People generally agree on a relative value, just as they do
for tall. When is something cold? Hot? When is a person friendly? Hostile?
These are all useful concepts, yet the categorization issue turns on matters
of degree, or what we call attribute value.
CHAPTER 11 / ATtAINING CONCEPTS
In other cases, value is not a consideration. To be a telephone, an instrument simply must have certain characteristics. Yet there are degrees of
quality. A question such as, "When is a sound machine a high-fidelity instrument?" puts us back into the consideration of attribute values.
Once a category is established, it is named so that we can refer to it symbolically. As the students name the categories, they should do so in terms of
attributes. Thus, in the scenario at the very beginning of the chapter, they
will describe the category as words beginning with "cV' and sounding like
(imagine the sound of "cI" at the beginning of a word). Then, if there is a
technical term (adjective in one of the other examples above), we supply it.
However, the concept attainment process is not one of guessing names. it is
to get the attributes of a category clear. Then the name can be created or
supplied. Thus, the name is merely the term given to a category Fruit, dog,
government, ghetto are all names given to a class of experiences, objects,
configurations, or processes. Although the items commonly grouped together in a single category may differ from one another in certain respects
(dogs, for example, vary greatly), the common features cause them to be referred to by the same general term. Often we teach ideas that students al-
ready know intuitively without knowing the name itself. For instance,
young children often put pictures of fruit together for the reason that they
are "all things you can eat." They are using one characteristic to describe
the concept instead of the name or label. If students know a concept, however, they can easily learn the name for it, and their verbal expressions will
be more articulate. Part of knowing a concept is recognizing positive instances of it and also distinguishing closely related but negative examples.
Just knowing terms will not suffice for this. Many people know the terms
metaphor and simile but have never clarified the attributes of each well
enough to tell them apart or apply them. One cannot knowingly employ
metaphoric language without a clear understanding of its attributes.
Multiple attributes are another consideration. Concepts range from

cases in which the mere presence of a single attribute is sufficient for membership in a category to those in which the presence of several attributes is
necessary. Membership in the category red-haired boys requires the presence
of maleness and red hair. Intelligent, gregarious, athletic red-haired boys is a
concept that requires the presence of several attributes simultaneously. In
literature, social studies, and science we deal with numerous concepts that
are defined by the presence of multiple attributes, and sometimes attribute
value is a consideration also. Consider the theatrical concept romantic comedy. A positive example must be a play or film, must have enough humor to
qualify as a comedy, and must be romantic as well. Negative exemplars include plays that are neither funny nor romantic, are funny but not romantic, and are romantic but not funny.
To teach a concept, we have to be very clear about its defining attributes
and about whether attribute values are a consideration. We must also select
our negative exemplars so that items with some but not all the attributes
can be ruled out.
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We call concepts defined by the presence of one or more attributes conjunctive concepts. The exemplars are joined by thepresence of one or more
characteristics. Two other kinds of concepts need to be considered. Disjunctive concepts are defined by the presence of some attributes and the
absence of others. Inert gases, for example, have the properties of all other
gases but are missing the property of being able to combine with other
elements. Bachelors, for instance, have the characteristics of other men
and women, but are identified by an absence of somethinga spouse.
Lonely people are defined by an absence of companionship. Prime numbers are defined by the absence of a factor other than one and the number
itself.
Finally, some concepts require connection between the exemplar and
some other entity. Parasites, for example, have hosts, and the relationship
between the parasite and its host is crucial to its definition. Many concepts
of human relationships are of this type. There are no uncles without
nephews and nieces, no husbands without wives, and no executives without

organizations to lead.
STRATEGIES FOR CONCEPT ATFAINMENT

What goes on in the minds of students when they are comparing and contrasting sets of exemplars? What kinds of hypotheses occur to them in the
early stages and how do they modify and test them? To answer these questions, three factors are important to us. First, we can construct theconcept
attainment exercises so that we can study how our students think. Second,
the students can not only describe how they attain concepts, but they can
learn to be more efficient by altering their strategies and learning to use new
ones. Third, by changing the way we present information and by modifying
the model slightly, we can affect how students will process information.
The key to understanding the strategies students use to attainconcepts
is to analyze how they approach the information available in theexemplars.
In particular, do they concentrate on just certain aspects of the information
(partistic strategies), or do they keep all or most of the information in mind
(holistic strategies)? To illustrate, suppose we are teaching concepts for an
alyzing literary style by comparing passages from novels and short stories.
The first set of positive exemplars includes the following passage:
A new country seems to follow a pattern. First come the openers, strong and
brave and rather childlike. They can take care of themselves in a wilderness, but
they are naive and helpless against men, and perhaps that is why they went out
in the first place. When the rough edges are worn off the new land, businessmen and lawyers come in to help with the developmentto solve problems of
ownership, usually by removing the temptations to themselves. And finally
cofries culture, which is entertainment, relaxation, transport out of the pain of
living. And culture can be on any level, and is. (Steinbeck, 1952, p. 249)
CHAPTER 11 I ATTAINING CONCEPTS
The students know that this passage will be grouped with the others to
come, on the basis of one or more attributes pertaining to style.

Some students will concentrate on just one kind of attribute, say the use
of declarative sentences or the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas about the
opening of the frontier. Others will scan the details of the passage, noting
the presence or absence of metaphors, the use of evocative language, the author's stance of being an observer of the human scene, and so on.
When comparing this passage with ajiother positive one, a partist

(someone who focuses on just one or two aspects of the use of language)
will in some sense appear to have an easier taskjust looking to see if the
attribute present in the first is also present in the second, and so on. However, if the student's focus does not work out, he or she must return to the
earlier examples and scan them for something else on which to concentrate.
A holist, on the other hand, has to keep many attributes in mind and has to
eliminate nondefining elements one at a time. But the holistic strategy
places the learner in a good position to identify multiple attribute concepts,
and the loss of a single attribute is not as disruptive to the overall strategy
There are two ways that we can obtain information about the way our
students attain concepts. After a concept has been attained, we can ask
them to recount their thinking as the exercise proceededby describing the
ideas they came up with at each step, what attributes they were concentrating on, and what modifications they had to make. ("Tell us what you
thought at the beginning, why you thought so, and what changes youhad
to make.") This can lead to a discussion in which the students can discover
one another's strategies and how they worked out.
Older students can write down their hypotheses, giving us. (and them) a
record we can analyze later. For example, in a study of the classification of
plants conducted by Baveja, Showers, and Joyce (1985), students worked in
pairs to formulate hypotheses as pairs of exemplars (one positive and one
negative) were presented to them. They recorded their hypotheses, the
changes they made, and the reasons they made them. The students who operated holistically, painstakingly generated multiple hypotheses and gradually eliminated the untenable ones. The students who selected one or two
hypotheses in the early stages needed to review the exemplars constantly
and revise their ideas in order to alTive at the multiple-attribute concept
that was the goal. By sharing their strategies and reflecting on them, the students were able to try new ones in subsequent lessons and to observe the effect of the changes.
If we provide students with a large number of labeled exemplars (ones
identified as positive and negative) to commence a 1esson, they are able to
scan the field of data and select a few hypotheses on which to operate. If we
provide the exemplars pair by pair, however, the students are drawntoward
holistic, multiple-attribute strategies.
Many people, on first encountering the concept attainment model, ask
about the function of the negative exemplars. They wonder why we shDuld
not simply provide the positive ones. Negative exemplars are important
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PART III
because
they help the students identify the boundaries of the concept. For
example, consider the concept impressionism in painting. Impressionistic
styles have much in common with other painting styles. It is important for
students to "see" examples that have no traces of impressionism for them
to be absolutely certain about the defining attributes. Likewise, to identify
a group of words as a prepositional phrase, we need to be able to tell it from
a clause. Only by comparing exemplars that contain and do not contain certain attributes can we identify the characteristics of the attributes precisely,
and over time. The concept attainment model is designed to produce longterm learning. Having struggled our way, for example, to precise definitions
of prime number, element, developing nation, irony, and so on, we should rec-
ognize members of their categories positively and surely when we encounter them in the future.
Tennyson and his associates (Tennyson and Cocchiarella, 1986) have
conducted important research into concept learning and developed a num-
ber of models that can be used to improve instructional design. In the

course of their explorations, they have dealt with a number of questions that
can help us understand the model we are presenting in this chapter They
have compared treatments where students induce attributes and definitions, much as we have been describing the process with conditions where
the definition is discussed before the list of exemplars is presented. In both
cases the students developed clearer concepts and retained them longer
when the examination of the exemplars preceded the discussion of attributes
and definitions. Tennyson and Cocchiarella also discovered that .the first
positive exemplars presented should be the clearest possible prototypes, es-
pecially with multiple-attribute concepts. In other words, the teacher
should not try to "fake out" the students with vague exemplars, but should
take care to facilitate concept learning by arranging the data sets so that
less-clear exemplars are dealt with in the phases where the principlesare
applied.
Tennyson and his associates also have concluded that students develop
procedural knowledge (how to attain concepts) with practice, and also that
the more procedural knowledge the students possess, the more effectively
they attain and can apply conceptual knowledge. Thus, the analysis of
thinking to facilitate learning the metacognitions of concept attainment ap-
pears to be very important.

The idea of learning concepts and then clarifying attributes and definitions runs counter to much current teaching practice. We have learned that
some teachers, when first using concept attainment, have an urge to provide definitions and lists of attributes, and it is important to remember that
the appropriate time for clarification is after the students have abstracted
the concepts.
Data are presented to the students in the form of sets of items calledexenplars, for instance, a set of poems. These are labeled "positive" if they
have characteristics or attributes of the concept to be taught (forexample,
the sonnet form). The exemplars are labeled "negative" if they do not con-
CHAPTER 11 / ATTAINING CONCEPTS
the attributes of the concept (for example, poems that do not have all
the attributes of "sonnet").
By comparing the positive and negative exemplars, the students develop
hypotheses about the nature of the category. They do not, however, share
their hypotheses at this point. When most of the students have developed a
hypothesis, some unlabeled exemplars are presented to them and they indicate whether they can successfully identify positive exemplars. They may
be asked to produce some of their own (as by scanning a set of poems and
picking out some positive and negative ones).
tam
Then they are asked to share their hypotheses and describe the pro-
gression of their ideas during the process. When they have agreed on the hy-
potheses that appear most likely, they generate labels for them. Then the
teacher supplies the technical label, if there is one (sonnet, for example).
To consolidate and apply the concept, the students then search for more
items of the class (poems, in this case) and find which ones most closely
match the concept they have learned.

The phases of the concept attainment model are outlined in Table 11.1.
TABLE 11.1 SYNTAX OF THE CONCEPT ATFAINMENT MODEL
Phase One:
Presentation of Data and
identification of Concept
Teacher presents labeled

examples.
Students compare attributes in
positive and negative examples.
Students generate and test

hypotheses.
Students state a definition
according to the essential
attributes.
Phase Two:
Testing Attainment of the Concept
Students identify additional

unlabeled examples as yes or no.
Teacher confirms hypotheses,
names concept, and restates
definitions according to essential
attributes.
Students generate examples.
Phase Three:
Analysis of Thinking Strategies
Students describe thoughts.

Students discuss role of hypotheses and attributes.
Students discuss type and number of hypotheses.
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PART III
SYNTAX
Phase one involves presenting data to the learner. Each Unit of data is a
separate example or nonexample of the concept. The units are presented in
pairs. The data may be events, people, objects, stories, pictures, or any other
discriminable units. The learners are informed that all the positive examples have one idea in common; their task is to develop a hypothesis about
the nature of the concept. The instances are presented in a prearranged

order and are labeled yes or no. Learners are asked to compare and justify
the attributes of the different examples. (The teacher or students may want
to maintain a record of the attributes.) Finally, learners are asked to name
their concepts and state the rules or definitions of the concepts according
to their essential attributes. (Their hypotheses are not confirmed until the
next phase; students may not know the names of some concepts, but the
names can be provided when the concepts are confirmed.)
In phase two, the students test their attainment of the concept, first by
correctly identifying additional unlabeled examples of the concept and then
by generating their own examples. After this, the teacher (and students)
confirm or disconfirm their original hypotheses, revising their choice of
concepts or attributes as necessary
In phase three, students begin to analyze the strategies by which they
attain concepts. As we have indicated, some learners initially try broad constructs and gradually narrow the field; others begin with more discrete constructs. The learners can describe their patternswhether they focused on
attributes or concepts, whether they did so one at a time or several, at once,
and what happened when .their hypotheses were not confirmed. Did they
change strategies? Gradually, they can compare the effectiveness of different strategies.
SOCIAL SYSTEM
Prior to teaching with the concept attainment model, the teacher
chooses the concept, selects and organizes the material into positive and
negative examples, and sequences the examples. Most instructional materials, especially textbooks, are not designed in a way that corresponds to the
nature of concept learning as described by educational psychologists. In
most cases teachers will have to prepare examples, extract ideas and materials from texts and other sources, and design them in such a way that the
attributes are clear and that there are, indeed, both positive and negative ex-
amples of the concept. When using the concept attainment model, the
teacher acts as a recorder, keeping track of the hypotheses (concepts) as
they are mentioned and of the attributes. The teacher also supplies additional examples as needed. The three major functions of the teacher during
concept attainment activity are to record, prompt (cue), and present additional data. In the initial stages of concept attainment, it is helpful for the
CHAPTER 11
ezrnples to be very structured. However, cooperative learning procedures
an also be used successfully (see Part I of this book).
PRiNCIPLES OF REACTION
During the flow of the lesson, the teacher needs to be supportive of the
students' hypotheses_emphasizing. however, that they are hypothetical in
natureand to create a dialogue in which students test their hypotheses
against each others'. In the later phases of the model, the teacher must turn
the students' attention toward analysis of their concepts and their thinking
strategies, again being very supportive. The teacher should encourage

analysis of the merits of various strategies rather than attempting to seek
the one best strategy for all people in all situations.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
Concept attainment lessons require that positive and negative exemplars be presented to the students. It should be stressed that the students'
job in concept attainment is not to invent new concepts, but to attain the
ones that have previously been selected by the teacher. Hence, the data
sources- need to be known beforehand and the attributes visible. When students are presented with an example, they describe its characteristics (attributes), which can then be recorded.
APPLICATION
The use of the concept attainment model determines the shape of particular learning activities. For instance, if the emphasis is on acquiring a new
concept, the teacher will emphasize through his or her questions or comments the attributes in each example (particularly the positive examples)
and the concept label. If the emphasis is on the inductive process, the
teacher might want to provide fewer clues and reinforce students for participating and persevering. The particular content(concept) may be less important than participating in the inductive process; it may even be a concept
the students already know (as it was in Bruner's original experiments).If the
emphasis is on the analysis of thinking, a short sample concept attainment
exercise might be developed so that more time can be spent onthe analysis
of thinking.
The concept attainment model may be used with chil4renof all ages and
grade levels. We have seen teachers use the model very successfully with
kindergarten children, who love the challenge ci the inductive activity. For
young children the concept and examples must be relatively simple, and the
175
176
PART UI
lesson
itself must be short and heavily teacher-directed. The typical cur-
riculum for young children is filled with concrete concepts that readily lend
themselves to concept attainment methodology. The analysis-of-thinking
phase of the strategy (phase three) is not possible with very young children,
though most upper elementary students will be responsive to this kind of
reflective activity.
When the model is used in early childhood education, the materials for
examples are often available and require little transformation for their use
as examples. Classroom objects, Cuisinaire rods, pictures, and shapes can
be found in almost any early childhood classroom. Although helping children work inductively can be an important goal in itself, the teacher should
also have more specific goals in mind in using this model.
As with all models, we encourage teachers to take the essence of this
model and incorporate its features into their natural teaching styles
and forms. In the case of concept attainment, it is relatively easy (and
intellectually powerful) to incorporate Bruner's ideas about the nature of

concepts into instructional presentations and assessment activities. We
have seen our own students make these ideas a natural part of their concept teaching.
The concept attainment model is an excellent evaluation tool when
teachers want to determine whether important ideas introduced earlier
have been mastered. It quickly reveals the depth of students' understanding
and reinforces their previous knowledge.
The model can also be useful in opening up a new conceptual area by
initiating a sequence of individual or group inquiries. For example, a unit
exploring the concept of culture could begin with a series of concept attainment lessons followed by a simulation activity, in which students experience the problems that persons of one culture have when they are first
introduced to members of a different culture. From this experience, students would be prepared to read about different cultures.
Thus, the concept attainment model can not only introduce extended series of inquiries into important areas, but it can also augment ongoing inductive study. Concept attainment lessons providing important concepts in
social studies unitsconcepts such as democracy, socialism, capitalism, and
due processcan be interjected periodically into units that otherwise depend on student reading and reporting. If a concept is controversial, the
teacher can present several interpretations of it, which the students can
then debate. Debates are usually great motivators for further inquiry into
any subject matter in question.
INSTRUCTIONAL AND NURTURANT

EFFECTS
The concept attainment strategies can accomplish several instructional
goals depending on the emphasis of the particular lesson. They are designed
CHAPTER 11
1. ATTAINING CONCEPTS
for instruction on specific concepts and oti the nitqredf concts. Theyalso
provide practice in inductive reasoning and' dppotunitie for altering and
teshiiy, espec7ally with abimproving students' c
builcUng
stract concepts, the strategies 'nurturean awareness' of alternative perspectives, a sensitivity to logical reasoning in communication, and, a tolerance
of ambiguity (see Figure 11.1).
Robert Gagn's '1965 article thoroughly discusses a similar approach to
concept attainment. Merrill and Tennyson (197) describe a similar approach without, however, an extensive analysis of the thinking processes.
McKinney, Warren, Larkins, Ford, and Davis (1983) have reported a series
of interestin studies comparing the Merrill/Tennyson approches with
Oagns and a recitation procedure. Their work illustrates the complexity of

designing studies to meaningfully compare sets of models built on the same
premises but differing in details of execution. However, the differences in
approach and the research to build better models are probably of less importance to teachers than the fact that there are models that do a good job
of teaching conceptsones more powerful than the way conceptshave tra-
ditionally been taughtand therefore represent useful additions to the

teaching!Iarning repertoire. The model we have been discussing is one of
'
'
them.
FIGURE 11.1
Instructional and nurturant effects: concept attainment model.
.177
178
IRT III
Syntax
The syntax proceeds from presentation of the exemplars to testing and
naming concepts to application.
Social System
The model has moderate structure. The teacher controls the sequence,
but open dialogue occurs in the latter phases. Student interaction is encouraged. The model is relatively structured, with students assuming
more initiative for inductive process as they gain more experience (other
concept attainment models are lower in structure).
1. Give support but emphasize the hypothetical nature of the discussion.
2. Help students balance one hypothesis against another.
3. Focus attention on specific features of examples.
4. Assist students in discussing and evaluating their thinking strategies.
Support System
Support consists of carefully selected and organized materials and data
in the form of discrete units to serve as examples. As students become
more sophisticated, they can share in making data units, just as in phase
two they generate examples.
CHAPTER
SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY
AND INQUIRY
TRAINING
The Art of Making Inferences
There's an aesthetic dimension to everything. Every school environment,
every teaching act, every setting you create to spend time in, enhances or
diminishes the quality of life. Whether you're teaching science orart, the
challenge is to make it beautiful.
Eliot Eisner, to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development,
Spring 1990
SCENARI0
In London, Ontario, Mr. Hendricks's fourth-grade students enter their
classroom after lunch to find an array of glasses, bottles, bells, wooden
boxes of different sizes (with holes in them), tuning forks, xylophones, and
small wooden flutes. These objects are spread about the room, and the students spend a few minutes playing with them, creating a most horrendous
sound. Mr. Hendricks watches.

After a few minutes the students begin to settle down and one of them
asks, "What's going on here, Mr. Hendricks? It looks like you've turned the
place into an orchestra."
"Well, in a way," he smiles. "Actually, for the next few weeks this is going
to be our sound laboratory." He moves across the room and picks up an instrument made of wood and wires and plucks one of the wires. At the same
time he uses a spoon to strike a soft drink bottle on the desk next to him.
"Do you notice anything about these sounds?" he asks, and repeats his
plucking and striking.

"Hey," says one of the girls, "they sound the same, but different."
"Do it again," suggests one of the students, and Mr. Hendricks obliges.
Soon all of the students have noticed that the sound is at the same pitch or
level.
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180
PART III
'Your problem," explains Mr. Hendricks, "is to find out what makes
sound vary and to describe that variation. Given the limitations of the devices we have in this room, I want you to organize yourselves to conduct
some experiments and present me with sets of principles that you think describe the variations. When you're finished, I want you to be able to describe
to me how you would design an instrument with certain capabilities. I'll tell
you what I want the instrument to be able to do, and you can tell me how
to make it. Then we'll begin to test your ideas. Now, I think we ought to organize ourselves into groups and decide how we're going to go about this.
Does anybody have any ideas?"
"Well," Sally ventures, "I've noticed that the things are made out of five
different kinds of materials. Maybe we could get into five groups and each
group would experiment with those for a while. Then we could share what
we've learned and trade around and check out the thinking of the other
groups. After that we could decide what to do next."
Someone joins in with another suggestion, and the class spends the next
half hour planning how the study will begin.
From the early 1950s to the late 1960s, innovation in American education
was propelled mainly by the Academic Reform movement, an effort to revise the conventional curriculum areas of the school around conceptions of
the major ideas and research methods of the academic disciplines. In the
area of mathematics, for example, the curriculum designers attempted to
influence the way students would think about mathematics, both the major
ideas and the methods they would use to inquire into mathematics, Similarly, the science curricula reflected both the major ideas of the sciences and
the research methods and attitudes of the scientific community. In other
words, curricula were built around the information-processing systems of
the academic disciplines.
Two straightforward examples were the Biological Sciences Curriculum
Study (BSCS) (Schwab, 1965), which produced curricular and instructional
patterns for use in high school biology, and the Michigan Social Science
Curriculum Project, which teaches the use of social psychology methods to
study human relations (Lippitt, Fox, and Schaible, 1969a). In this chapter
we use the BSCS model to represent the group of models.

The essence of the BSCS approach is to teach students to process informa
tion using techniques similar to those of research biologiststhat is, by
identifying problems and using a particular method to solve them. BSCS
emphasizes content and process. The first emphasis is on human behavior
in the ecology of earth:
CHARTER 12 I SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AND INQUIRY TRAINING
The
problems created by growing human populations, by depletion of
resources, by pollution, by regional development, and the like, all require intelligent government or community action. These are, in part at least, biologicalecological problems, and every citizen should have some awareness of their
background." (Schwab, 1965, p. 19)
The second emphasis is on scientific investigation:

Although one of the major aims of this version (of the course) is to describe the
major contributions modern molecular biology has made to the general understanding of scientific problems, a second aim will also be apparent. Measured
by almost any standard, science has been and continues to be a powerful force
in our society. A difficulty has arisen, however. This difficulty, expressed by C. P.
Snow in his book, Two Cultures, arises from the fact that although many people
may understand the products of science, at the same time they may be very ignorant of the nature of science and its methods of inquiry. It is probably a safe
generalization to say that the understanding of the products of science cannot
be attained unless the process is also understood. It is apparent that in a free
society such as ours, much will depend on the average citizen's evaluation of science. (Schwab, 1965, pp. 2627)
To help students understand the nature of science, the strategies developed by the BSCS committee introduce students to the methods of biology
at the same time that they introduce them to the ideas and facts. The committee put it rather pungently:
If we examine a conventional high school text, we find that it consists mainly
or wholly of a series of unqualified, positive statements. "There are so many
kinds of mammals." "Organ A is composed of three tissues." "Respiration takes
place in the following steps." "The genes are the units of heredity." "The function of A is X."
This kind of exposition (the statement of conclusions) has long been the standard rhetoric of textbooks even at the college level. It has many advantages, not
the least of which are simplicity and economy of space. Nevertheless, there are
serious objections to it. Both by omission and commission, it gives a false and
misleading picture of the nature of science.
A rhetoric of conclusions has two unfortunate effects on the student. First, it
gives the impression that science consists of unalterable fixed truths Yet this
is not the case. The accelerated pace of knowledge in recent years has made it
abundantly clear that scientific knowledge is revisionary. It is a temporary

codex, continuously restructured as new data are related to old.
A rhetoric of conclusions also tends to convey the impression that science is
complete. Hence, the fact that scientific investigation still goes on, and at an
ever-accelerated pace, is left unaccounted for to the student.
The sin of omission by a rhetoric of conclusions can be stated thus: It fails to
show that scientific knowledge is more than a simple report of things observed,
that it is a body of knowledge forged slowly and tentatively from raw materials.
It does not show that these raw materials, data, spring from planned observa-
tions and experiments. It does not show that the plans for experiments and
181
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PART III
observations rise from problems posed, and that these problems, in turn, arise
from concepts which summarize our earlier knowledge. Finally, of great importance, is the fact that a rhetoric of conclusions fails to show that scientists,
like other men, are capable of error, and that much of inquiry has been concerned with the correction of error.
Above all, a rhetoric of conclusions fails to show that our summariixig con-
cepts are tested by the fruitfulness of the questions that they suggest, and
through this testing are continually revised and replaced.
The essence, then, of a teaching of science as inquiry, would be to show some
of the conclusions of science in the framework of the way they arise and are
tested. This would mean to tell the student about the ideas posed, and the experiments performed, to indicate the data thus found, and to follow the inter-
pretation by which these data were converted into scientific knowledge.

(Schwab, 1965, pp. 3940)
The BSCS uses several techniques to teach science as inquiiy First, it

uses many statements that express the tentative nature of science, such as,
"We do not know," "We have been unable to discover how this happens,"
and "The evidence about this is contradictory" (Schwab, 1965, p. 40). Current theories, it is pointed out, may be replaced by others as time goes by.
Second, in place of a rhetoric of conclusions, BSCS uses what is called a
narrative of inquiry, in which the history of major ideas in biology is described and the course of inquiry in that area is followed. Third, the laboratory work is arranged to induce students to investigate problems, rather
than just to illustrate the text. As they put it, "They {scientists] treat problems for which the text does not provide answers. They create situations in
which the students can participate in the inquiry" (Schwab, 1965, p. 40).
Fourth, the laboratory programs have been designed in blocks that involve
the student in an investigation of a real biological problem. At first students
may be presented with materials already familiar to scientists and problems
whose solutions are already disclosed, but "as the series of problems pro-
gresses, they come nearer and nearer to the frontier of knowledge"

(Schwab, 1965, p. 41). Thus, the student simulates the activity of the research scientist. Finally, there is the use of what are called Invitations to En-
quiry. Like the functioning of the laboratory, the Invitations to Enquiry

involve the siudent in activities that enable him or her to follow and partic-
ipate in the reasoniri related to a front-line item of investigation or to a

methodological problem in biology.
In this chapter we present the Invitations to Enquiry as the model of

teaching drawn from the BSCS materials.
INVITATIONS TO ENQUIRY
Credited to Schwab, this strategy was designed
to show students how knowledge arises from the interpretation of data. . . to
show students that the interpretation of dataindeed, even the search for
dataproceeds on the basis of concepts and assumptions that change as our
CHAPTER 12 / SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AND INQUIRY TRAINING
grows.. . tc show students that as these principles and concepts

change, knowledge changes too. . . to show students that though knowledge
changes, it changes for a good reasonbecause we know better and more than
knowledge
we knew before. The converse of this point also needs stress: The possibility that
present knowledge may be revised in the future does not mean that present
knowledge is false. Present knowledge is science based on the best-tested facts
and concepts we presently possess. It is the most reliable, rational knowledge of
which man is capable. (Schwab, 1965, p. 46)
Each Invitation to Enquiry (or lesson) is a case study illustrating either

a major concept ot a method of the discipline. Each invitation "poses example after example of the process itself [and] engages the participation of
the student in the process" (Schwab, 1965, p. 47).
In each case a real-life scientific study is described. However, omissions,
blanks, or curiosities are left uninvestigated, which the student is invited to
fill: "This omission maS' be the plan of an experiment, or a way to control
one factor in an experiment. It may be the conclusion to be drawn from

given data. It may be an hypothesis to account for data given" (Schwab,
1965, p. 46). In other words, the format of the invitation ensures that the
student sees biological inquiry in action and is involved in it, because he or
she has to perform the missing experiment or draw the omitted conclusion.
The Sets of invitations are sequenced in terms of difficulty to gradually
lead the students to more sophisticated concepts. We can see this sequencing in the first group of Invitations to Enquiry, which focus on topics related
to methodologythe role and nature of general knowledge, data, experiment, control, hypothesis, and problems in scientific investigation. The subjects and topics of the invitations in Group 1 appear in Table 12.1.
Invitation 3 in Group 1, an example of this model, leads students to deal
with the problem of misinterpretation of data,
INVITATION 3
(Subject: Seed Germination)

(Topic: Misinterpretation of Data)
(It is one thing to take a calculated risk in interpreting data. It is another thing
to propose an interpretation for which there is no evidencewhether based on
misreading of the available data or Indifference to evidence. The material in this
Invitation is intended to illustrate one ot the most obvious misinterpretations.
It also introduces the role of a clearly formulated problem in controlling interpretation of the data from experiments to which the problem leads.)
To the student: (a) An investigator was interested in the conditions under

which seeds would best germinate. He placed several grains of corn on moist
blotting paper in each of two glass dishes. He then placed one of these dishes in
a room from which light was exciuded. The other was placed in a well-lighted
room. Both rooms were kept at the same temperature. After four days the investigator examined the grains. He found that all the seeds in both dishes had
germinated.
What interpretation would you make of the data from this experiment? Do
not include facts that you may have obtained elsewhere, but restrict your interpretation to those from this experiment alone.
183
184
PART fl / THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
TABLE 12.1
Invitation
INVITATIONS TO ENQUIRY, GROUP 1, SIMPLE ENQUIRY: THE

ROLE AND NATURE OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE, DATA,
EXPERIMENT, CONTROL, HYPOTHESIS, AND PROBLEMS IN
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION
Subject
The cell nucleus
The cell nucleus
Seed germination
Plant physiology
Topic
Interpretation of
simple data
Interpretation of
variable data
Misinterpretation of
data
Interpretation of
complex data
Interim Summary 1, Knowledge and Data
5
Measurement in general
Systematic and
6
7
8
Planning of
experiment
Control of experiment
"Second-best" data
11
Plant nutrition
Plant nutrition
Predator-prey; natural
populations
Population growth
Environment and disease
Light and plant growth
12
Vitamin deficiency
13
Natural selection
9
10
random error
The problem of
sampling
The idea of hypothesis
Construction of
hypotheses
"If. . , then
analysis
Practice in hypothesis
Interim Summary 2, The Role of Hypothesis
14
Auxins and plant movement
15
Neurohormones of the heart
16
Discovery of penicillin
Discovery of anaphylaxis
1 6A
Hypothesis;
interpretation of
abnormality
Origin of scientific
problems
Accident in inquiry
Accident in inquiry
Source: Joseph J. Schwab, supervisor, BSCS, Biology Teachers' Handbook
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1965), p. 52. By permission of the
Biological Sciences Curriculum Study.
CHAPTER 12 I SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AND INQUIRY TRAINING
the light factor. The Invitation is

(Of course the experiment is designed to test students a chance to say that
intended, however, to give the inadequately logical
the experiment suggests that moisture is necessaryfor the sprouting of.grains.
Others may say it shows that a warm temperature is necessary. If such suggestions do not arise, introduce one as a possibility. Do so with an attitude that will
unwarranted interpretatiofl if such exists among
encourage the expression of
the students.)
(If such an interpretation is forthcoming, you can suggestits weakness by asking the students if the data suggest that corn grains require a glass dish in order
to germinate. Probably none of ybur students will accept this. You should have
little difficulty in showing them that the data some of them thought were
evidence for the necessity of moisture or warmth are no different from the data
available about glass dishes. In neither case are the data evidence for such a
conclusion.)
To the student: (1,) What factor was clearly different in the surroundings of the
two dishes?' In view of your answer, remembering that this was a deliberately
planned experiment, state as precisely as you can the specific problem that led
to this particular plan of experiment.
should be apparent now that th ex(If it has not come out long before this, it
periment was designed to test the necessity of light as a faclor in germination.
began with a very general
As to the statement of the problem,seeds
the Invitation
germinate
best?" This is not the most
question: "Under what conditions do
because it does not indicate
useful way to state a problem for scientific inquiry,
where and how to look for an answer. Only when the "question" is made specific enough to suggest what data are needed to answerit does it become an immediately useful scientific problem. For example, "Will seeds germinate better
to what data are required.
with or without light?" is a question pointing with
clearly
germination
in the dark is
A comparison of germination in the light
is converted into an imneeded. So we can say that a general "wonderment"
mediately useful problem when the question is made sufficiently specific to suggest an experiment to be performed or specific data to be sought. We do not
"wonderments" are bad. On the contrary, they are
mean to suggest that general
indispensable. The point is only that they must lead to something elsea solvable problem.)
To the student: (c) In view of the problem you have stated, look at the data
again. What interpretation are we led to?
(it should now be clear that the evidence indicates that light is not necessary
for the germination of some seeds. You may wish to point out that light is necLettuce] and may inessary for some other seeds [for example, Grand Rapids
varieties
of onion].)
hibit the germination of others [for example, some
deal
with
the
ideas
of
data,
evidence, and
(N.B.: This Invitation continues to
interpretation. It also touches on the new point dealt with under paragraph (b),
that general euriosity must be conthe idea of a problem. It exemplifies the fact
verted into a specific problem.)
more than one
(It also indIcates that the problem posed in an inquiryIthas
converts
a wonder
function. First, it leads to the design of the experiment.
data. This is indicated in
into a plan of attack. It also guides us in interpreting
sound interpretation than it is in (a),
(c), where it is so much easier to make a
185
186
PART III
where we are proceeding Without a clear idea of what problem led to the particular body of data being dealt with.)
(If your students have found this Invitation easy or especially stimulating, you
may wish to carry the discussion further and anticipate to some extent the topic
of Invitation 6 [planning an experiment]. The following additions are designed
for such use.) (Schwab, 1965, pp. 5758)
The format of this investigation is fairly typical. The students are intro-
duced to the problem the biologist is attacking, and they are given some information about the investigations that have been carried on. The students
are then led to interpret the data and to deal with the problems of warranted
and unwarranted interpretations. Next, the students are led to try to design
experiments that would test the factor with less likelihood of data misinterpretation. This syntaxto pose a problem about a certain kind of inves-
tigation, and then to induce students to attempt to generate ways of

inquiring that will eliminate the particular difficulty in the areais used
throughout the program.
Let's look at another Invitation to Enquirythis time, with a more
concept-oriented topic. The following illustration is from the Invitation to
Enquiry group dealing with the concept of function. The topic has been
structured so that it is approached as a methodological problem. How can
we infer the function of a given part from its observable characteristics
(what is the evidence of function)? In this model the question is not posed
directly. Rather the student is guided through an area of investigation, which
in this invitation has been framed to embed the methodological concern and
the spirit of inquiry. Questions are then posed so that the student himself or
herself identifies the difficulty and later speculates on the ways to resolve it.
INVITATION 32
(Subject: Muscle Structure and Function)

(Topic: Six Evidences of Function)
(We concluded Interim Summary 3 by pointing out that the oncept of causal
lines has no place for the organism as a whole. Instead, the concept treats the
organism simply as a collection of such causal lines, not as an organization of
them. Each causal line, taken separately, is the object of investigation. The web
formed by these lines is not itivestigated. The conception of function is one of
the principles of inquiry which brings the web, the whole organism, back into
the picture.)
(This Invitation introduces the student to the idea of function. This concept
involves much more than the idea of causal factor. It involves the assumption
that a given part [organ, tissue, and so on] encountered in an adult organism is
likely to be so well suited to the role it plays in the life of the whole organism
that this role can be inferred with some confidence from observable characteristics of the part [its structure, action, and so on]. As we shall indicate later, this
assumption, like others in scientific research, is a working assumption only. We
do not assume that organs are invariably perfectly adapted to their functidns.
We do assume that most or many of the organs in a living organism are so well
adapted [because of the process of evolution] that we proceed farther in studying an organ by assuming that it is adapted to its function than by assuming
that it is not.)
the student: (a) Which of the various muscle masses of the human body
would you say is the strongest?
(Students are most likely to suggest the thigh muscles, or the biceps, on the.
grounds that they are the largest single muscle in the body. If not, suggest the
thigh muscle yourself, and defend your suggestion on grounds of size.)
To
To the student: (b) We decided that the thigh muscle was probably the
strongest of our body muscles, using size as our reason for choosing it. Hence
size seems to be the datum on which we base this decision. But why size, rather
than color or shape? Behind our choice of size as the proper criterion, are there
not data of another sort, from common experience, that suggest to us that larger
muscles are likely to be stronger muscles?
(In considering this question students should be shown that their recognition
and acceptance of this criterion of muscle strength is derived from associations
from common experience. A drop-kick sends a football farther than a forward
pass, a weight lifter has bulkier musculature than a pianist, and so on.)
To the student: (c) Now a new point using no infonnation beyond common experience. What can you say happens to a muscle when it contracts?
(The question here is not what a muscle does to other parts of the 'boay, but
what the muscle itself doesits change of shape in a certain waybecoming
shortened, thicker, firmer by contraction. Have the students feeltheir arm muscles as they lift or grasp.)
To the student: (ci) To the fact that the motion of muscleis as you have found
it to be, add'two further facts: Many muscles are attached to some other parts
of the body, and many such muscles are spindle-shaped, long, narrow, and tapering. From these data alone, what do you think muscles do?
(The motion, attachment, and shape taken together suggest that muscles in
general move one or all of the other parts of the body to which they may be attached. Such inferences about function are only probable. But so arepractically
all inferences in science In [e] and later queries, we shall make a point of the
doubtful character of functional inference.) (Schwab, 1965, pp.174l 76)
The example continues in this vein.

The essence of the model is to involve students in a genuine problem of
inquiry by confronting them with an area of investigation, helping them
identify a conceptual or methodological problem within that area of investigation, and inviting them to design ways of overcoming that problem.
Thus, they see knowledge in the making and are initiated into the commu-
nity of scholars. At the same time, they gain a healthy respect for knowledge
and will probably learn both the limitations of current knowledge and its
dependability (Schaubel, Klopfer, and Raghaven, 1991).
SYNTAX
The syntax takes a number of forms (see Table 12.2). Essentially it contains the following elements or phases, although they may occur in a num-
187
188
PART III
TABLE 12.2 SYNTAX OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE INQUIRY MODEL
Phase One
Area of investigation is posed to

student.
Phase Three
Students identify the problem in

the investigation
Phase 1\vo
Students structure the problem.

Phase Four
Students speculate on ways to

clear up the difficulty.
ber of sequences: In phase one, an area of investigation is posed to the student, including the methodologies used in the investigation. In phase two,
the problem is structured so that the student identifies a difficulty in the investigation. The difficulty may be one of data interpretation, data generation, the control of experiments, or the making of inferences. In phase three,
the student is asked to speculate about the problem, so that he or she can
identify the difficulty involved in the inquiry. In phase four, the student is
then asked to speculate on ways of clearing up the difficulty, by redesigning
the experiment, organizing data in different ways, generating data, developing constructs, and so on.
SOCIAL SYSTEM
A cooperative, rigorous climate is desired. Because the student is to be
welcomed into a community of seekers who use the best techniques of science, the climate includes a certain degree of boldness as well as humility. The
students need to hypothesize rigorously, challenge evidence, criticize research
designs, and so forth. In addition to accepting the need for rigor, students
must also' recognize the tentative and emergent nature of their own knowledge as well as that of the discipline, and in doing so develop a certain humility with respect to their approach to the well-developed scientific disciplines.
The teacher's task is to nurture the inquiry by emphasizing the process
of inquiry and inducing the students to reflect on it. The teacher needs to
becareful that the identification of facts does not become the central issue
and should encourage a good level of rigor in the inquiry. He or she should
aim to turn the students toward the generation of hypotheses, the interpretation of data, a9d the development of constructs, which are seen as emergent ways of interpreting reality.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
A flexible instructor skilled in the process of inquiry, a plentiful supply
of "real" areas of investigation and their ensuing problems, and the required
data sources from which to conduct inquiry into these areas provide the
necessary support system for this model.
APPLICATION
A number of models for teaching the disciplines as processes of inquiry
exist, all built around the concepts and methods of the particular disciplines.
The Michigan Social Science Curriculum Project, directed by Ronald

Lippitt and Robert Fox, is based on an approach that is potentially very
powerful but that is startling in its simplicity. The strategy is to teach the research techniques of social psychology directly to children using human re-
lations content, including their own behavior. The result presents social
psychology as a living discipline whose concepts and method emerge
through continuous application to inquiry into human behavior. Another
result is a direct demonstration of the relevance of social science to human
affairs. This curriculum illustrates how elementary school children can use
scientific procedures to examine social behavior.
Both the conception of social psychology held by these curriculum

makers and their teaching strategy which is essentially to lead the children
to practice social psychology, are probably best illustrated by looking

at their materials and the activities they recommend. They have prepared seven "laboratory units" developed around a resource book or text
and a series of project books. The seven units begin with an exploration
of the nature of social science, Learning to Use Social Science," and pro-
ceed to a series of units in which the students apply social science
procedures and concepts to human behavior: "Discovering Differences,"

"Friendly and Unfriendly Behavior," "Being and Becoming," "Influencing
Each Other."
The first unit is structured to introduce students to social science methods such as:
1. "What Is a Behavior Specimen?" (How do we obtain samples of behavior?)
2. "Three Ways to Use Observation" (Introduces the children to description, inference, and value judgment, and the differences among them.)
3. "Cause and Effect" (Introduces the inference of cause, first in relation
to physical phenomena, then in relation to human behavior.)
4. "Multiple Causation" (Teaches how to deal with several factors simultaneously. For example, the children read and analyze a story in which a
central character has several motivations for the same action.) (Lippitt,
Fox, and Schaible, l969a, pp. 2425)
The children compare their analyses of the samples so that they check
observations and inferences against one another and come to realize problems of obtaining agreement about observations. They also learn how to analyze interaction through the technique of circular analysis.
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/ THE INFORMATIONPROCESSING FAMILY
Finally, a series of activities introduces the children to experiments by

social psychologists that have generated interesting theories about friendly
and unfriendly behavior and cooperation and competition.
This approach focuses the children's study on human interaction, provides an academic frame of reference and techniques for delineating and
carrying out inquiry, and involves the student in the observation of his or
her own behavior and that of those around him. Theoverall intertion is that
the student will take on some of the characteristics of the soci4l scientist.
Thus, the instructional values are in the interpersonal as well as the academic domain.
This model has wide applicability, but unfortunately it is dependent
on inquiry-oriented materials (areas of investigation), which are rare in
most classrooms, since the didactic text is the standard. However, every subject area has at least one text series that is inquiry-oriented or one that is
easily adapted to this model. An instructor with a clear understanding of
the model will easily discern instructional material that, with a little re-
arrangement, might provide suitable areas for investigation. Instructors

who are quite knowledgeable in their particular disciplines can probably
construct their own materials.

The biological science inquiry model (Figure 12.1) is designed to teach the
processes of research biology to affect the ways students process information, and to nurture a commitment to scientific inquiry It probably also
nurtures open-mindedness and an ability to suspend judgment and balance
alternatives. Through its emphasis on the community of scholars, it also
nurtures a spirit of cooperation and an ability to wirk with others.
Scientific-inquiry models have been developed for use with studeitts of
all ages, from preschool through college (Metz, 1995). The core purpose is
to teach the essential process of science and, concurrently, major concepts
from the disciplines along with the information from which these have been
developed.
Research on these models has usually focused on entire curricula that
have been implemented for one or more years, using the models consistently
with appropriate materials of instruction. Two types of findings are of particular interest to us. The first is that teachers who would use them need to
engage in intensive study both of the academic substance and of these models of teaching. Otherwise, they tend to withdraw from inquiry-based
instruction. The second is that where these models have been well implemented with adequate attention to the teachers' study of academiccontent
and teaching process, the results have been impressive (Bredderman, 1981;
El-Nemr, 1979). The students have learned the scientific process, have mastered the major concepts of the disciplines, have acquired basic information
about science, and have developed positive views of science.
CHAPTER 12 / QlEtLTJE1C INQUIRY AND INQUIRY TRAINING
FIGURE 12.1
Instructional and nurturant effects: biological science inquiry model.
SUMMARY
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE
C H A R T INQUIRY
MODEL
Syntax
Phase One: Pose Area of Investigation to Students
Phase Two: Students Structure the Problem
Phase Three: Students Identify the Problem in the Investigation
Phase Four: Students Speculate on Ways to Clear Up the Difficulty
So'cial System
The model has moderate structure and a cooperative, rigorously intellectual climate.
Teacher nourishes inquiry, turning students toward inquiry process
rather than identification efforts.
Support System
The model requires a flexible instructor skilled in the process of inquiry
and a supply of problem areas of investigation.
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THE FUTURE OF INDUCTIVE MODELS

OF TEACHING
A number of lines of inquiry are currently in progress that will probably advance thinking about how students can learn to build categories, make in-
ferences, and develop more effective causal reasoning and synthesizing

skills. Papert and others are experimenting with a number of nascent strategies. Theories about "multiple intelligences" may give rise to other ways of
thinking about thinking.
Computers are making large databases available to students that will
make much more complex types of concept formation easier to research
and will permit the development of more intricate and probably more powerful support systems.
INQUIRY TRAINING
FROM FACTS TO THEORIES
One morning, as Mrs. Harrison's fourth-grade students are settling
down to their arithmetic workbooks, she asks for their attention. As they
raise their eyes toward her, a lightbulb directly over Mrs. Harrison's desk
blows out and the room darkens.
"What happened?" asks one child.
"Can't you see?" remarks another. "The lightbulb blew out."
"Yeah," inquires another, "but what does that mean?"
"What do you mean, 'What does that mean?"
"Just that we have all seen a lot of lightbulbs blow out, but what does
that really mean? What happens?"
Mrs. Harrison unscrews the lightbulb and holds it up. The children
gather around, and she passes it among them. After he gets it back, she
says,. "Well, why don't you see if you can develop a hypothesis about what
happened?"
"What's inside the glass?" asks one of the children.
"I'm afraid I can't answer that," she replies. "Can you put it another
way?"
"Is there air inside the glass?" one questions.

"No," says Mrs. Harrison.
"Is there a gas inside?" asks another.
"Yes," says Mrs. Harrison. The children look at one another in puzzlement. Finally, one asks, "Is it inert?"
"Yes," nods Mrs. Harrison.
"What is that little wire made of?" asks another student.

"I can't answer that," says Mrs. Harrison. "Can you put it another way?"
"Is the little wire made of metal?"

"Yes," she responds.
Asking questions such as these, the children gradually identify the materials that make up the lightbulb and the events that took place. Finally,
they begin to venture hypotheses about what happened. After they have generated four or five of these, they search through reference books in an effort to verify them.
Mrs. Harrison's class has been prepared to carry out a model of teaching that we call inquiry training. Normally, the class uses inquiry training to
explore preselected areas. That is, either Mrs. Harrison organizes a unit of
instruction, or the children identify a topic that they are going to explore.
In this case, the children used the techniques of inquiry training to formulate theories about an event that was familiar to all of them and yet puzzled
them, for none of them had previously developed ideas about what really
went on when a lightbulb blew out.
Inquiry training was developed by Richard Suchman (1962) to teach
students a process for investigating and explaining unusual phenomena.
Suchman's model takes students through miniature versions of the kinds of
procedures that scholars use to organize knowledge and generate principles. Based on a conception of scientific method, it attempts to teach students some of the skills and language of scholarly inquiry
Suchmai developed his model by analyzing methods employed by creative research personnel, especially physical scientists. As he identified the
elements of their inquiry processes, he built them into the instructional

model called inquiry training.
RESEARCH
Inquiry training is designed to bring students directly into the scientific
process through exercises that compress the scientific process into small
periods of time. What are the effects? Schlenker (1976) reported that inquiry training resulted in increased understanding of science, productivity
in creative thinking, and skills for obtaining and analyzing information. He
reported that it was not 1nore effective than conventional methods of teaching in the acquisition of information, but that it was as efficient as recitation or lectures accompanied by laboratory experiences. Ivany (1969) and
Collins (1969) reported that the method works best when the confrontations
are strong, arousing genuine puzzlement, and when the materials the students use to explore the topics under consideration are especially instructional. Both elementary and secondary students can profit from the model
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PART III
1982). In an intriguing study, Elefant (1980) successfully carried out

the model with deaf children, which suggests that the method can be powerful with students who have severe sensory handicaps.
(Voss,

Inquiry training originated in a belief in the development of independent learners; its method requires active participation in scientific inquiry.
Children are curious and eager to grow, and inquiry training capitalizes on
their natural energetic explorations, giving them specific directions so that
they explore new areas more forcefully. The general goal of inquiry training
is to help students develop the intellectual discipline and skills necessary to
raise questions and search out answers stemming from their curiosity.
Thus, Suchman is interested in helping students inquire independently, but
in a disciplined way. He wants students to question why events happen as
they do and to acquire and process data logically, and he wants them to develop general intellectual strategies that they can use to find out why things
are as they are.
Inquiry training begins by presenting students with a puzzling event.
Suchman believes that individuals faced with such a situation are naturally
motivated to solve the puzzle. We can use the opportunity provided by natural inquiry to teach the procedures of disciplined searching.
Like Bruner and Taba, Suchman believes that students can become increasingly conscious of their process of inquiry and that they can be taught
scientific procedures directly. All of us often inquire intuitively; however,
Suchman feels we cannot analyze and improve our thinking unless we are
conscious of it.
Suchman believes, further, that it is important to convey to students the
attitude that all knowledge is tentative. Scholars generate theories and explanations. Years later, these are pushed aside by new theories. There are no
permanent answers. We can always be more sophisticated in our explanations, and most problems are amenable to several plausible explanations.
Students should recognize and be comfortable with the ambiguity that genuine inquiry entails. They should also be aware that the point of view of a
second person enriches our own thinking. The development of knowledge
is facilitated by help and ideas from colleagues if we can learn to tolerate
alternative points of view. Thus, Suchman's theory is that:
1. Students inquire naturally when they are puzzled.
2. They can become conscious of and learn to analyze their thinking

strategies.
3. New strategies can be taught directly and added to the students' exist-
ing ones.
4. Cooperative inquiry enriches thinking and helps students to learn about
the tentative, emergent nature of knowledge and to appreciate alternative explanations.
OVERVIEW OF THE TEACHING STRATEGY

Following Suchman's belief that individuals have a natural motivation
to inquire, the inquiry training model is built around intellectual confrontations. The student is presented with a puzzling situation and inquires
into it. Anything that is mysterious, unexpected, or unknown is grist for a
discrepant event. Because the ultimate goal is to have the students experience the creation of new knowledge, the confrontation should be based on
discoverable ideas. In the following example, bending a metallic strip held
over a flame begins the inquiry cycle.
The strip is made of a lamination of unlike strips of metal (usually steel and
brass) that have been welded together to form a single blade. With a handle at
one end it has the appearance of a narrow knife or spatula. When this apparatus is heated, the metal in it expands, but the rate of expansion is not the same
in the two metals. Consequently, half of the thickness of this laminated strip becomes slightly longer than the other half and since the two halves are attached
to each other the internal stresses force the blade to assume a curve of which
the outer circumference is occupied by the metal which has expanded the most.
(Suchman, 1962, p. 28)
Suchman deliberately selects episodes that have sufficiently surprising

outcomes to make it difficult for students to remain indifferent to the encounter. Usually things that are heated do not bend into a big curve. When
this metal strip does, the students naturally want to know why. The learners
cannot dismiss the solution as obvious; they have to work to explain

the situation, and the products of that work are new insights, concepts, and
theories.
After the presentation of the puzzling situation, the students ask the
teacher questions. The questions, however, must be answered by yeses or
nos. Students may not ask the teacher to explain the phenomenon to them.
They have to focus and structure their probes to solve the problem. In this
sense, each question becomes a limited hypothesis. Thus, the student may
not ask, "How did the heat affect the metal?" but must ask, "Was the heat
greater than the melting point of the metal?" The first question is not a specific statement of what information is wanted; it asks the teacher to do the
conceptualizing. The second question requires the stt.p1ent to put several
factors togetherheat, metal, change, liquid. The student had to ask the
teacher to verify the hypothesis that he or she has developed (the heat
caused the metal to change into a liquid).
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The students continue to ask questions. Whenever they phrase one that
cannot be answered by a yes or a no, the teacher reminds them of the rules
and waits until they find a way of stating the question in proper form. Comments such as "Can you restate this question so that I can answer it with a
yes or a no?" are common teacher responses when students slip out of the
inquiry mode.
Over time, the students are taught that the first stage in inquiry is to ver-
ify the facts of the situationthe nature and identity of the objects, the
events, and the conditions surrounding the puzzling event. The question
"Was the strip made of metal?" helps verify the factsin this case, a property of the object. As the students become aware of the facts, hypotheses
should come to mind and guide further inquiry. Using their knowledge
abOut the behavior of the objects, students can turn their questions to the
relationships among the variables in the situation. They can conduct verbal
or actual experiments to test these causal relationships, selecting new data
or organizing the existing data in new ways to see what will happen if things
are done differently. For example, they could ask, "If I turn the flame down,
will the bend still occur?" Better yet, they could actually do this! By intro-
ducing a new condition or altering an existing one, students isolate variables and learn how they affect one another.
It is important for students and teachers to recognize the difference between questions that attempt to verify "what is" and questions or activities
that "experiment" with the relationships among variables. Each of these is
essential to theory development, but fact gathering should precede hypothesis raising. Unless sufficient information about the nature of the problem
situation and its elements is verified, students are likely to be overwhelmed
by the many possible causal relationships.
If the child immediately tries to hypothesize complex relationships among all
the variables that seem relevant to him, he could go on testing indefinitely without any noticeable progress, but by isolating variables and testing them singly,
he can eliminate the irrelevant ones and discover the relationships that exist between each relevant independent variable (such as the temperature of the blade\)
and the dependent variable (which in this case is the bending of the blade).
(Suchman, 1962, pp. 1516)
Finally, the students try to develop hypotheses that will fully explain
what happened. (For instance, "The strip was made of two metals that were
fastened together somehow. They expand at different rates, and when they
were heated, the one that expanded the most exerted pressure on the other
one so that the two bent over together.") Even after lengthy and rich verification and experimentation activities, many explanations may be possible,
and the students are encouraged not to be satisfied with the first explanation that appears to fit the facts.
CHAPTER12 / SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY AND INQUIRY TRAINING
Inquiry cannot be programmed, and the range of productive inquiry

strategies is vast. Thus, students should
experiment freely with their own questions, structuring and sequencing [the in-
quiry session].... Nevertheless, inquiry can be divided into broad phrases

which, on the whole, should be taken in logical order simply because they build
upon one another. Failure to adhere to this order leads either to erroneous assumptions or to low efficiency and duplication of effort. (Suchman, 1962, p. 38)
The emphasis in this model is clearly on becoming aware of and mastering the inquiry process, not on the content of any particular problem sit-
uation. Although the model should also be enormously appealing and

effective as a mode of acquiring and using information, the teacher cannot
be too concerned with subject-matter coverage or "getting the right answer."
In fact, this would violate the whole spirit of scientific inquiry which envisions a community of scholars searching together for more accurate and
powerful explanations for everyday phenomena.

SYNTAX
Inquiry training has five phases (see Table 12.3). The first phase is the
student's confrontation with the puzzling situation. Phases two and three
are the data-gathering operations of verification and experimentation. In
these two phases, students ask a series of questions to which the teacher
replies yes or no and they conduct a series of experiments on the environment of the problem situation. In the fourth phase, students organize the information they obtained during the data gathering and try to explain the
discrepancy. Finally, in phase five, students analyze the problem-solving
strategies they used during the inquiry.
Phase one requires that the teacher present the problem situation and
explain the inquiry procedures to the students (the objectives and the procedure of the yes/no question). The formulation of a discrepant event such
as the bimetallic strip problem requires some thought, although the strategy can be based on relatively simple problemsa puzzle, riddle, or magic
trickthat do not require much background knowledge. Of course, the ultimate goal is to have students, especially older students, experience the creation of new knowledge, much as scholars do. However, beginning inquiries
can be based on very simple ideas.
The distinguishing feature of the discrepancy is that it involves events
that conflict with our notions of reality. In this sense, not every puzzling situation is a discrepant event. It may be puzzling because we do not know the
answer, but we do not need new concepts to understand it, and therefore we
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TABLE 12.3
SYNTAX OF THE INQUIRY TRAINING MODEL
Phase One:
Confrontation with the Problem
Explain inquiry procedures.

Present discrepant event,
Phase Three:
Data Gathering
Experimentation
Isolate relevant variables.

Hypothesize (and test) causal
relationships.
Phase Two:
Data GatheringVerification
Verify the nature of objects and

conditions.
Verify the occurrence of the problem
situation.
Phase Four:
Organizing, Formulating an
Explanation
Formulate rules or explanations.
Phase Five:
Analysis of the Inquiry Process
Analyze inquiry strategy and

develop more effective ones.
do not need to conduct an inquiry. We mention this because occasionally

teachers do not pick problems that are truly puzzling to the student. In these
cases, the learning activity does not progress beyond a "20-questions" format. Even though the questioning activity has value for its own sake, it
should not be confused with the notion of scientific inquiry.
Phase two, verification, is the process whereby students gather information about an event they see or experience. In experimentation, phase
three, students introduce new elements into the situation to see if the event
happens differently. Although verification and experimentation are described as separate phases of the model, the students' thinking and the types
of questions they generate usually alternate between these two aspects of
data gathering.
Experiments serve two functions: exploration and direct testing. Explorationchanging things to see what will happenis not necessarily guided
by a theory or hypothesis, but it may suggest ideas for a theory. Direct testing occurs when students try out a theory or hypothesis. The process of converting a hypothesis into an experiment is not easy and takes practice. Many
verification and experimentation questions are required just to investigate
one theory. We have found that even sophisticated adults find it easier to
say, "I think it has something to do with
than to think of a series of
questions that will test the theory Also, few theories can be discarded on
the basis of one experiment. Although it is tempting to "throw away" a variable if the first experiment does not support it, it can be very misleading to
do so. One of the teacher's roles is to restrain students whenever they assume that a variable has been disproven when it has not.
A second function of the teacher is to broaden the students' inquiry by
expanding the type of information they obtain. During verification
they may
ask questions about objects, properties, conditions, and events. Object
questions are intended to determine the nature or identity of objects. (Is the
knife made of steel? Is the liquid water?) Eventquestions attempt to verify
the occurrence or nature of an action. (Did the knife bend upward the second time?) Condition questions relate to the state of objects or systems at a
particular time. (Was the blade hotter than room temperature when the
teacher held it up and showed that it was bent? Did the color change when
the liquid was added?) Property questions aim to verify the behavior of objects under certain conditions as a way of gaining new information to help
build a theory (Does copper always bend when it is heated?) Because students tend not to verify all aspects of the problem, teachers can be aware of
the type of information needed and work to change the questioning pattern.
In phase four, the teacher calls on the students to organize the data and
to formulate an explanation. Some students have difficulty making the intellectual leap between comprehending the information they have gathered
and constructing a clear explanation of it. They may give inadequate explanations, omitting essential details. Sometimes several theories or explanations are possible based on the same data. In such cases, it is often useful
to ask students to state their explanations so that the range of possible hypotheses becomes obvious. Together the group can shape the explanation
that fully responds to the problem situation. Finally, in phase five, the students are asked to analyze their pattern of inquiry They may determine the
questions that were most effective, the lines of questioning that were productive and those that were not, or the type of information they needed and
did not obtain. This phase is essential if we are to make the inquiry process
a conscious one and systematically try to improve it.
SOCIAL SYSTEM
Suchman's intention is that the social system be cooperative and rigorous. Although the inquiry training model can be quite highly structured,
with the social system controlled largely by the teacher, the intellectual environment is open to all relevant ideas; teachers and students participate as
equals where ideas are concerned. Moreover, the teacher should encourage
students to initiate inquiry as much as possible. As the students learn the
principles of inquiry, the structure can expand to include the use of resource
material, dialogue with other students, experimentation, and discussion

with the teacher.
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After a period of practice in teacher-structured inquiry sessions, students can undertake inquiry in more student-controlled settings. A stimulating event can be set up in the room, and students can inquire on their
own or in informal groups, alternating between open-ended inquiry sessions and data gathering with the aid of resource materials. In this way, the
students can move back and forth between inquiry sessions and independent study. This utilization of the inquiry training model is especially suited
to the open-classroom setting, where the teacher's role is that of instructional manager and monitor.
In the initial stages of inquiry the teacher's role is to select (or construct)
the problem situation, to referee the inquiry according to inquiry procedures, to respond to students' inquiry probes with the necessary information, to help beginning inquirers establish a focus in their inquiry, and to
facilitate discussion of the problem situation among the students.
The most important reactions of the teacher take place during the second and third phases. During the second phase the teacher's task is to help
he students to inquire but not to do the inquiry for them. If the teacher is
asked questions that cannot be answered by a yes or no, he or she must ask
the students to rephrase the questions so as to further their own attempts
to collect data and relate them to the problem situation. The teacher can, if
necessary keep the inquiry moving by making new information available to
the group and by focusing on particular problem events or by raising questions. During the last phase, the teacher's task is to keep the inquiry directed
toward the process of investigation itself.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
The optimal support is a set of confronting materials, a teacher who understands the intellectual processes and strategies of inquiry, and resource
materials bearing on the problem.
APPLICATION
Although inquiry training was originally developed for the natural sciences,
its procedures are usable in all subject areas; any topic that can be formulated as a puzzling situation is a candidate for inquiry training. In literature,
murder mysteries and science fiction stories or plots make excellent puzzling situations. Newspaper articles about bizarre or improbable situations
may be used to construct stimulus events. One of the authors was at a

Chinese restaurantriot too long ago and puzzled over the question, "How is
the fortune put into the fortune cookie, since it does not appear burned or
cooked in any way?" It occurred to us that this would make an excellent inquiry-training topic for young children. The social sciences also offer numerous possibilities for inquiry training.
The construction of puzzling situations is the critical task, because it
transforms curriculum content into problems to be explored. When objects
and other materials are not available or appropriate to the problem situation, we recommend that teachers make up a problem statement for students
and a fact sheet for themselves. The problem, statement describes the discrepant event and provides the information that is shared initially with the
students. The fact sheet gives the teacher further information about the
problem, and the teacher draws on it to respond to the students' questions.
Two examples of this process follow.
EXAMPLE ONE
In anthropology, students have the problem of reconstructing cultural
events. For a social studies class, an instructor composed a problem state-
ment and a student fact sheet based on an anthropological issue. The

teacher passed the following statement out to his students:
PROBLEM STATEMENT
This map shows an island in the middle of a lake. The island is connected to the
shore by a causeway made of stones piled on the bottom of the lake until the
pile reached the surface. Then smoothed stones were laid down to make a road.
The lake is surrounded by mountains, and the only flat land is near the lake.
The island is covered with buildings whose walls are still standing, although the
roofs are now gone. It is completely uninhabited.
MAP 12.1
,) I
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PART vi / THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
Your task is to discover what happened to the people who lived there. What
caused the place to be empty of human beings?
As the students conducted their inquiry, the instructor drew on the following fact sheet:
INSTRUCTOR FACT SHEET
1. The lake is 500 feet deep, 600 feet across.

2. The lake is 6,500 feet above sea level. The mountains rise to 11,000 feet.
3. The causeway is made of dumped rocks.
4. The houses are close together. Each one is about 20 by 25 feet and has
more than one room. They are made of limestone blocks.
5. Some broken tools and pottery have been found in the homes.
6. The edifice in the center is made of marble and has three levels. At the
bottom it is six times larger than the houses. At the top level of the ed-
ifice, you can sight the planets and stars through a hole slit in a stone.
You can sight Venus at its lowest rise, which occurs on December 21.
7. There is evidence that the islanders fished with traps. They also had livestock such as sheep, cows, and chickens.
8. Apparently there was no art, but evidence of graphic writing has been
found.
9. Cisterns have been found under limestone streets.
10. There is no habitation within 80 miles.
11. The island has been uninhabited for about 300 years.
12. The area was discovered in 1900.
13. It is located in a subtropical area of South America where there is plenty
of drinking water and where every available area was farmed. There is
evidence of irrigation but no evidence of crop rotation. In general, the
land is marginal for farming.
14. There is a thin layer of topsoil over a limestone shelf.
15. About 1,000 to 1,500 people lived on the island.
16. The mountains around the island can be crossed, but with difficulty.
17. There is a stone quarry in nearby mountains and a burial ground across
the lake.
18. Dead bodies with hands folded have been found.
19. There is no evidence of plague, disease, or war.
EXAMPLE TWO
An English teacher using inquiry training based a discrepant event on
Chapter 6 of Kurt Vonnegut's Venus on the Half Shell (published under the
pen name of Kilgore Trout). She formulated the following problem situatkn and then read a short excerpt from the book:
Simon, a space traveler from Earth, visited the planet Shaltoon. He was dis-
concerted to find that the Shaltoonians had different voices and personalities
every day. Apparently they were different people every day, except for their phys-
ical appearance, which remained unchanged.
The students were asked to explain the principle behind the unusual
phenomenon.
AGE-LEVEL ADAPTATION
Inquiry training can be used with children of all ages, but each age
group requires adaptation. We have seen the method be successful with
kindergarten children but encounter difficulty with third-graders. As with
many other aspects of teaching, each group and each student are unique.
However, the model can be simplified in several ways until students are able
to engage in all phases.
For very young children, it is best to keep the content of the problem
simpleperhaps with more emphasis on discovery than on a pnnciple of
causation. Problem situations like "What is in this box?" or "What is this
unusual thing?" or "Why does one egg roll differently from the other?" are
appropriate. One teacher we know showed her students a picture of a flying squirrel from a magazine for science teachers. Since most of us believe
mammals do not fly, this was truly a discrepant event. She asked the students to come up with an explanation for this phenomenon using inquiry
procedures.
Bruce and Bruce (1992) provide a very large number of discrepant
events for use in the social studies, items that can be used with all grades
and over a wide range of common social studies topics.
Numerous children's science books are filled with simple science experiments, many of them suitable for primary grades. Mystery stories and
riddles work well as stimuli for young children. Another way to adapt inquiry training to young children is to use visual materialprops giving
clueswhich simplifies the stimuli and lessens the requirements for memory It is useful to aim for only one or two specific objectives in a single inquiry training session. Initially (with students of all ages) it is good to start
off with a simple game that requires yes/no questions. This game will give
students confidence that they can formulate questions and avoid direct theory questions. Some teachers we know use the mystery bag; others play "I'm
thinking of something I'm wearing. Guess what it is." Simple guessing

games like this also give the students practice in distinguishing theory questions ("Is it your shirt?") from attribute questions ("Is it made of cotton?").
We recommend that teachers introduce and stress each element of inquiry
separately. At first the teacher could pose all yes/no questions. Then they can
ask students to convert their theory questions into experiments. One by one
the teachers can tighten the constraints of the inquiry as they teach the
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PART III
students each of the elements. Trying to explain and enforce all the elements
at once will only frustrate both students and teachers.

Older students are better able to handle the inquiry process itself, and
their subject matterespecially sciencemore readily lends itself to inquiry training. Although there are more suitable discrepant events in the
upper elementary and secondary curricula, it is usually necessary for the
teacher to convert available materials from an expository mode into the inquiry modethat is, to create a discrepant event.
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ADAPTATIONS

Like many other models, especially information-processing models,
inquiry training can be taught in a teacher-directed setting or incorporated into more self-directed, learning-center environments. Discrepant
events can be developed through print, film, or audio means, and task
cards directing students to respond according to the model can be developed. The inquiry can be conducted over a period of several days, and the
results of other students' inquiries can be shared. Students should have
access to appropriate resources, and they may work together in groups.
Students may also develop discrepant events and conduct inquiry sessions
for peers.

EFFECTS
The model promotes strategies of inquiry and the values and attitudes that
are essential to an inquiring mind, including:
Process skills (observing, collecting, and organizing data; identifying

and controlling variables; formulating and testing hypotheses and
explanations; inferring)
Active, autonomous learning
Verbal expressiveness
Tolerance of ambiguity, persistence
Logical thinking
Attitude that all knowledge is tentative
The chief learning outcomes of inquiry training are the processes in

volved__observing collecting and organizing data identifying and control
ling variables making and testing hypotheses formulating explanations
and drawing inferences (see Figure 12 2) The model splendidly integrates
these several process skills into a single, meaningful unit of experience.
FIGURE 12.2 Instructional and nurturant effects: inquiry training model.
The format of the model promotes active, autonomous learning as the

students formulate questions and test ideas. It take courage to ask questions, but it is hoped that this type of risk will become second nature to the
students. They will also become more proficient in verbal expression as well
as in listening to others and remembering what has been said.
Although its emphasis is on process, inquiry training results, too, in the
learning of content in any curriculum area from which problems are selected. For example, Suchman developed entire curricula in economics and
geology In our opinion, it is adaptable to all elementary and secondary
curriculum areas.
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PART III
Syntax
Phase OneS Confrontation with the Problem
Explain inquiry procedures
Present discrepant event.
Phase Two: Data GatheringVerification
Verify the nature of objects and conditions.
Verify the occurrence of the problem situation.
Phase Three: Data GatheringExperimentation

Isolate relevant variables.
Hypothesize (and test) causal relationships.
Phase Four: Organizing, Formulating an Explanation

Formulate rules or explanations.
Phase Five: Analysis of the Inquiry Process
Analyze inquiry strategy and develop more effective ones.
Social System
The inquiry training model can be highly structured, with the teacher
controlling the interaction and prescribing the inquiry procedures. However, the norms of inquiry are those of cooperation, intellectual freedom,
and equality. Interaction among students should be encouraged. The intellectual environment is open to all relevant ideas, and teachers and students should participate as equals where ideas are concerned.
1. Ensure that questions are phrased so they can be answered with yeses
or nos, and that their substance does not require the teacher to do tle
inquiry.
2. Ask students to rephrase invalid questions.

3. Point out unvalidated pointsfor example, "We have not established
that this is liquid."
4. Use the language of the inquiry processfor instance, identify student
questions as theories and invite testing (experimenting).
5. Try to provide a free intellectual environment by not evaluating Student theories.
6. Press students to make clearer statements of theories and provide support for their generalization.
7. Encourage interaction among students.
Support System
The optimal support is a set of confronting materials, a teacher whotinderstands The intellectual processes and strategies of inquiry and resource materials bearing on the problem.
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CHAPTER
MEMORIZATION
Getting the Facts Straight
The only way people come to appreciate the real power of the link-word
method is to learn to use it themselves to learn new stuffthe more abstract
and unfamiliar the better. Folks can't just put it forward as something that is
"good for the kids." You have to feel it to be able to teach it well. Come to
think of it, maybe that's true of all the models.
Mike McKibbin to Bruce Joyce, August 1980
SCENARI0
The Phoenix High School social studies department has develQped a set
of mnemonics that are combined with inductive activities to teach the students the names and locations of the Planet Earth's 177 countries plus basic
demographic knowledge about each of thempopulation, per capita GNP,
type of government, and life expectancy. The students work in groups using
mnemonics like the following one, which is designed to teach the names
and locations of the Central American countries.
The exercise begins with the blank map of Central America with the
countries numbered (see Map 13.1). The leader describes an imaginary tour
they are about to take:
"Imagine that we're about to take a tour of Central America. Our group
has learned that there has been a great deal of Spanish influence on the language and the dissemination of a religion based on the Christian Saviour
thus, we will see many signs in Spanish and will see mission churches with
their distinctive bell towers. We know that the Spanish came for riches and
that they expected to find a rich coast. We also know we will have to be careful about the water, and we will carry a lot of nickels that we will use to buy
bottled water. We are going to drive little Hondas, rather than taking a bus,
and we will wear Panama hats for identifying our tour group members."
Then the leader points to the first country Panama, shows the first cartoon, and says, "The link word for Panama is Panama hat" (see Cartoon
13.1). The group repeats the link word. The leader then points to the second
country and shows the second cartoon, saying "This country stands for the
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PART Ill I THE INFORMATIONPROCESSING FAMILY
THE TOUR
Imagine that were about to take a tour of Central America. Our group has learned that
there has been a great deal of Spanish influence that has affected the language and the
religion based on the Christian savior (we wiilsee mission churches with their distinctive
bell towers). We also know that they came for riches. We also know that we have to be
careful about the water, except in Panama, and we will carry nickels we will use to buy
bottled water. We are going to drive little Hondas and wear Panama hatsfor identification.
Thus
1. PanamaPanama hat
2. Costa Ricarich coast
3. Nicaraguanickel water
4. El Salvadorsavior
5. HondurasHonda race
6. Guatemalagotta lotta
7. BeIizebelleeeeeezzz
LJ
CENTRAL AMERICA
MAP 13.1
Source: Developed by Beverly Showers and Bruce Joyce with the
Richmond County, Georgia, Staff Development Cadre. Drawings on this

page and on pages 211213, 219221, and 225226 are by Jenna Beard,
Eugene, Oregon.
CHAPTER 13 I MEMORLZATION
rich coast the Spanish '.ere looking for, which is Costa Rica. The link.wora
for Costa Rica is rich coast" (see cartoon 13.2). The group repats the link
word and the names of the countries as the leader points to them: "Panama,
Panama hat, Costa Rica, rich coast." The exercise, continues. The link word
for Nicaragua is "icke1 water" or 'niche1 agua" (see Cartoon 13.3), and El
Salvador is "Savior" (see cartoon 13.4). The group repeats the names of the
countries and the link words in order as the leader points to the country
The leader proceeds to introduce the iiik word for Honduras by saying,
"We get bored a little and decide to have a 'Hon4a Race' in our little cars"
(see Cartoon 13.5). Guatemala is next; the leaderpoints out that it has the
largest population in Central America and that the link word is "gotta lotta"
(see Cartoon 13.6). Finally, pointing to the seventh country, the leader re-
minds them about the bell towers and that the sound from them is
"belleeeezzz" (see Cartoon 13.7). The group then names the countries and
the link words as the leader points to them in turn.
CARTOON 13.1
4T
CARTOON 13.2
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CARTOON 13.3
CARTOON 13.4
CARTOON 13.5
CARTOON 13.6
CHAPTER 13 / MEMORIZATIOF'
CARTOON 13.7
Over the next couple of days the group members study the map, the
names of the countries, and the link words until they know them backward
and forward. They also consult a database containing information on population, birth and death rates, per capita income, health care, and such, and
classify the countries seeking correlations among those variables. (Are level
of education and life expectancy correlated? and so forth.)
In this way they proceed to examine the regions of the world, comparing and contrasting the countries and learning the names and locations of
enough of them that the atlas will seem a familiar place. Eventually, of
course, the study goes beyond names, locations, and demographics and proceeds to rich information about a sample of the countries.
SCENARI0
John Pennoyer is bilingual coordinator of Las Pulgas school distnct He
works with the teachers to ensure that all the students learn Spanish and
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/ THE iNFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILV
English simultaneously. Half thestudents come to school with English as
their primary language; the other half speak Spanish. The students work
together to generate link words and pronunciation guides for the two
languages.
One of the fifth-grade classes has generated the following list as part of
an introduction to Spanish for several students who have newly transferred
to their school.
SPANISH WORDS II
por favor (poor faBORE) PLEASE [for favor]

gracias (GRA see ahs) THANK YOU [grace to you]
est bin (essTA bee EN) ALL RIGHT; OK [it's be good]
adios (ahdyOHS) GOODBYE
buenos dias (BWEnos DEEahs) GOOD MORNING [bonnie day]
buenos tardes (BWEnos TARdays) GOOD AFTERNOON [bonnie late
day]
buenos noches (BWEnos NOchays) GOOD EVENING [bonnie night]
hasta maana (AHstah manYAHna) until tomOrrow [no haste, man]
The phonetic pronunciation guides are in parentheses, followed by

English equivalents. The link words are in brackets and are designed to provide the flavor Of the sounds in English and a sense of the meanings. The
new students study the words, associating the new (to them) Spanish words
with the English equivalents and the link words.
SCENARIO
Imagine a group of students who are presented with the task of learning the nanies of the presidents of the United States and the order in which
they served. Previously, the students have learned to count from 1 to 40
mnemonically. That is, each number is represented by a rhyming word that
has an image attached to it. "One" is "bun," "two" is "shoe," and so on. Also,
each set of n.umber decades (1 to 10, 11 to 20) is connected to a location or
setting. Thedecade 1 to 10 is represented by a spring garden scene, 11 to 20
by a summer beach scene, 21 to 30 by a fall football scene, and 31 to 40 by
a winter snow scene.
Now, capitalizing on this system of number associations, the name and
order of each president are presented to the students in terms of the scene,
the mnemonic for the number, and a wordcalled a link wordassociated
with the president's name. Thus Lincoln (link), number sixteen (sticks), is
preseftted with an illustration of a sand castle on a beach encircled by a set
of sticks linked together. Similar illustrations are used for the other presidents. The students study the pictures and the words. They are given a test
right after they study and again 60 days later.
CHAPTER 13 / MEMORIZATION
How effective was this experience? Did the students learn more than
other students who tried to memorize the names and their order using the
usual procedures for the same length of time? The answer is yes. In this and
other studies, students are being taught unfamiliar material much more
quickly than usual through the application of various mnemonic devices
(Pressley, Levin, and Delaney, 1982, p. 83).
The humble task of memorizing is with us throughout our lives. From the
moment of birth, a world of new artifacts and events is presented to us and
has to be sorted out. Moreover, many of the elements of our world have been
named by those who have come before us. We have to learn large quantities
of words, and we have to learn to connect them to the objects, events, ac
tions, and qualities that they represent. In other words, we have to learn a
meaningful language.
In any new area of study, a major task is learning the important words
and definitionsthe languages, if you willthat pertain to the area. To deal
with chemistry we have to learn the names of the elements and their structural properties. To study a continent we have to learn the names of its
countries, its major geographical features, the important events in its history, and so on. Initial foreign language learning involves developing a vocabulary of words that look and sound unfamiliar.
The study of memory has a long history. Although the goal of a unified
coherent and generally satisfying theory of human memory" (Estes, 1976,
p. 11) has not yet been achieved, progress has been made. A number of instructional principles are being developed whose goals are both to teach
memorization strategies and to help students study more effectively.
For instance, the material on which a particular teacher chooses to

focus will affect what information the students retain: "Many items are presented to an individual in a short time, and only those to which attention is
directed enter into memory and only those receiving rehearsal are maintained long enough to secure the processing necessary to establish a basis
for long-term recall" (Estes, 1976, p. 7). In other words, if we do not pay attention to something, we are not likely to remember it. Also, we need to attend to it in such a way that we are rehearsing later recall of it. For example,
as we wander through a forest, if we do not look carefully at the tree trunks,
we are unlikely to remember them, although some visual images may be retained in a haphazard fashion. Even if we notice them, we need to use the
information, for example by comparing different trees, to remember it.

When we rehearse, we develop retrieval cues, which are the basis for sorting through our memories at later times and locating information.
Short-term memories are often associated with sensory experiences of
various kinds. When we are exposed to the wine called Chablis, we may remember it as straw-colored and tasting a certain way. For long-term recall we
may associate things according to episodic cuesthat is, having to do with
the sequences of experience to which we have been exposed. We may re-
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PART III
member Andrew Johnson, for instance, as the president who followed Abraham Lincoln. They are connected in time, and their episodes in history are
connected to one another. Categorical cues, on the other hand, involve conceptualizations of the material. When we compare tree trunks, for example,
we form concepts that provide a basis for describing the individual trunks in
relation to one another. In other words, we replace specific items with categories, and this categorization provides us with the basis for memoiy
Both scholarly and popular sources agree that the ability to remember
is fundamental to intellectual effectiveness. Far from being a passive, trivial activity memorizing and remembering are active pursuits. The capacity
to 'take information, to integrate it meaningfully, and later to retrieve it at
will is the product of successful memory learning. Most important, individuals can improve this capacity to memorize material so that they can recall
it later. That is the objective of this model.

Our recollection of our early years in school usually includes an image
of struggles to master lists of unstructured material such as new words, new
sounds, the days of the week, the 50 states, and the nations of the world.
Some of us became effective at memorizing. Some did not. As we look back,
it is easy to dismiss much of this information as trivial. However, imagine
for a moment what our world would be like without the information we acquird in those years of school. We need information.
One of the most effective forms of personal power comes from compe-
tence based on knowledge; it is essential to success and a sense of wellbeing. Throughout our lives, we need to be able to memorize skillfully. To
improve this ability increases learning power, saves time, and leads to a better storehouse of information.
THE LINK-WORD METHOD

Over the last 10 years an important line of research has been conducted
on what is termed the link-word method. The result is a considerable advance in knowledge about memorization as well as the development of a
system that has practical implications for the design of instructional materials for classroom teaching and tutoring, and for students.
The method has two components, assuming that the learning task is to
master unfamiliar material. The first component provides the students with
familiar material to link with the unfamiliar items. The second provides an
association to establish the meaning of the new material. For example,
when the task involves new foreign language words, one link ties the sounds
to those of English words. The second ties the new word to a representation
of its meaning. For example, the Spanish word carta (postal letter) might be
CHAPTER 13 1 MEMORIZATION
linked to the English word cart and a picture showing a letter inside a shopping cart (Pressley, Levin, and Delaney, 1981, P. 62).
An important finding from the research is that people who master material more quickly and who retain it longer generally use more elaborate
strategies for memorizing material. They use mnemonicsassists to memorization. The less-effective memorizers generally use "rote" procedures.
They "say" what is to be memorized over and over again until they believe
it is implanted in their memories.
A second important finding is that devices like the link-word method are
even more elaborate than the methods used by the better "natural" memorizersthat is, they require more mental activity than do the rote procedures. When first confronted with the presidential illustrations discussed
earlier, many teachers respond, "But why add all the extra stuff? Isn't it hard
enough to master the names of the presidents and their order? Why add
words like link and stick and pictures of sand castles on a summer beach?"
The answer is that the additional associations provide a richer mental
context, and the linking process increases the cognitive activity. The combination of activity and associations provides better "anchors" within our
information-processing systems.
Does the key-word method help students who are ordinarily good, poor,
and average memorizers? Apparently so (Pressley and Dennis-Rounds,

1980). Further, it appears to help students who are below average in verbal
ability. who might have been expected to have greater difficulty with complex learning strategies. In addition, as students use the method, they seem
to transfer it to other learning tasks. In other words, mnemonics can be
taught so that students can use them independently of the teacher. The students, in other words, can develop systems for making up their own links.
Finally, even young (kindergarten and first-grade) students can profit
from mnemonics (Pressley et al., 1981 a). Obviously, they have greater diffi-
culty generating their own links, but they can benefit when links are provided to them.
The effect sizes from this research are impressive. Even in Atkinson's
(1975) early studies, the link-word method was about 50 percent more effective
than conventional rote methods. That is, students learned half again more
material in the same time period as students not using link words. In some of
the later studies, it has been twice as efficient or more (Pressley, 1977; Pressley, Levin, and Miller, 1981a, 1981b). Just as important, retention has been
facilitated. That is, more is remembered longer when link words are used.
As we stated earlier, this research has two obvious uses. The first is to
arrange instruction so as to make it as easy as possible for students to make
associations and to discourage isolated rote drill. The second is to teach students to make their own links when they are studying new material.
Some of the other models can help us here. Concept attainment provides categories that associate exemplars on the basis of attributes and induce students to make contrasts with the nonexemplars. Inductive teaching
causes students to build associations on the basis of common characteris-
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PART III / THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
tics. Advance organizers provide an "intellectual scaffolding" that ties ma-
terial together, and comparative organizers link the new with the old. The
scientific inquiry methods provide an experiential base for terms and an intellectual structure to "glue" material together.
In an interesting study, Levin and Levin (1990) applied the method to
teach what are generally considered "higher-order" objectivesin this case,
a hierarchical system for classifying plants. They compared the effectiveness of using links to familiar concepts with a traditional graphic representation, with the hierarchy presented in a chart featuring boxes connected by
lines. The links not only facilitated the learning and remembering of the hierarchical scheme, but also affected problem solving.
For the teacher, the major labor is preparation. Generating the links,
and in some cases creating visual materials or working with students to create them, are the chief activities involved. Once the presentations have been
prepared, the delivery is straightforward. Let us look at an example accompanied by cartoon figures.
This exercise is similar to the one described in the Central America scenario at the beginning of the chapter and is part of a global literacy program. The link words are phonetic and are created in a sequence following
a made-up story of a career woman in the United States. We begin with the
map of the Middle East with seven of the countries numbered in the order
in which they will be memorized (see Map 13.2).
Our career woman is recounting the beginning of her day. "I got up,"
she says, and "I ran downstairs." The I ran and its accompanying cartoon
are the links to Iran (see Cartoon 13.8). Then she says, "I took the dishes
from the rack." Rack, with its accompanying cartoon, are links to Iraq (see
Cartoon 13.9). She continues, "I fixed the children bowls of Serios." Serios,
with the accompanying cartoon, are links to Syria (see Cartoon 13.10). "I
fixed myself some English muffins and took out the jar of jam." Jar of janz,
with its cartoon, are the links to Jordan (see Cartoon 13.11). "I also fixed
myself a cup of tea and sliced a lemon for it." Lemon is the link, with its cartoon, for Lebanon (see Cartoon 13.12).
"Finally, I ran for the railroad train." Railroad, with its cartoon, is the
link for Israel (see Cartoon 13.13).
"When I got to my office, I was so hot and thirsty I ran straight to the
vending machine and got a soda to pick me. up." Soda (sody) is the link for
Saudi Arabia (see Cartoons 13.14 and 13.15).
These are phonetic links, which, with the illustrations, help the students
connect the words (new to them) with known words and phrases and visu-
alizations to help anchor the new material in association with familiar

words, pictures, and actions. The somewhat humorous and absurd tone
helps make the links vivid.
OTHER MEMORY-ASSIST SYSTEMS

ft number of popular "memory systems" have been developed, none of
them backed by the research that Pressley, Levin, and their associates have
CHAPTER 13 I MEMORIZATION
MIDDLE EAST
MAP 13.2
generated. However, some of these systems use sensible principles congruent with that research. Lorayrie and Lucas's The Memoty Book (1974) is one
example, and we have drawn on it for some suggestions of procedures to
Use with children.
We repeat first the important maxim that before we can remember

something we must first attend to it. An effective memory model must induce attention to what is to be learned. Because entities we can see, feel,
touch, smell, or taste generate powerful associations for remembering, we
remember best those ideas that are represented to several of our sensory
channels. Each channel contains old material we can associate with the
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CARTOON 13.8
CARTOON 13.9
CARTOON 13.10
CAOON 13.11
CARTOON 13.12
CARTOON 13.13
CARTOON 13.14
CARTOON 13.15
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PART III / THE INffORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
new. If we "see" a flower, for example, as a visual image, something that
feels a certain way, has a distinctive smell, and makes a crunchy noise
when its Stem is cut, we are linked to it through several types of perception. The likelihood of remembering it (or its name) is greater than if we
observe it through one sense only. Lorayne and Lucas (1974) quote Aristotle: "It is the image-making part of the mind which makes the work of
the higher processes of thought possible. Hence the mind never thinks
without a mental picture. The thinking faculty thinks of its form in pictures" (p. 22).
Lorayne and Lucas built their model to increase (1) attention to what
is to be learned, (2) the senses involved in attending, and (3) the associations we make between the new material and things that have previously
been learned. A sense of how this is done can be seen in the following
vignette:
Boris, who is running for student body president of the elementary
school, has prepared a speech to deliver before his schoolmates. But he is

having difficulty remembering his speech, so he appeals to his teacher for
help and support. The teacher encourages him to use the memory strategies
they have applied to other seemingly simple learning tasks such as learning
new words and the names of African and Latin American countries. Informally, she guides him through the stages of the model much the same way
Lorayne and Lucas do with their clients.
First, the teacher has Boris identify (attend to) the main thoughts of his
speech. He carefully numbers each different and main idea. Next she has
him identify one word from each main idea that reminds him of the entire
thought. One by one Boris isolates ideas and underlines a key word (one that
can stand for the point to be made).
Next the teacher has Boris identify familiar words that have vivid meaning for him and connect those words with the key words. He picks his sister Kate for the term qualifications and pear for peer. To help him remember
those two ideas, she asks him to imagine them in any silly way he can. Boris
thinks for a minute and then relays the picture of a gigantic pear chasing
his sister Kate. He is on his way to remembering! With each pair of key
words and substitute words, Boris imagines some outrageous event combining the two.
After he has gone through all of the key thoughts and generated appropriate images, the teacher has Boris repeat words and describe the images
several times. Then she asks him to test his memory by giving the whole
speech. He is able to go through it comfortably. He has attended to his major
points, visualized the key words and substitutes, and associated the key
points with vivid sensory images.
If Boris had been learning new vocabulary or important science concepts, the teacher would have asked him to relate the new material to other
related material he had learned previously, and she would have suggested
that he put the new material to use immediately. This active repetition in a
natural setting would help Boris retain the material over the long term.
However, Boris's speech is a one-time activity requiring only short-term re-
tention, so it is necessary only to review the associations and test his memory by giving the speech several times.
CONCEPTS ABOUT MEMORY

The following concepts are essentially principles and techniques for enhancing our memory of learning material.
AWARENESS
Before we can remember anything we must give attention to, or concentrate on, the things or idea to be remembered: "Observation is essential
to original awareness" (Lorayne and Lucas, 1974, p. 6). According to Lo-
rayne and Lucas, anything of which we are originally aware cannot be

forgotten.
ASSOCIATION
The basic memory rule is, "You Can Remember Any New Piece of Information If It Is Associated with Something You Already Know or Remember" (Lorayne and Lucas, 1974, p. 7). For example, to help students
remember the spelling of piece, teachers will give the cue a piece of pie,
which helps with both spelling and meaning.
The major limitation of these devices is that they apply only to one specific thing. We can't use the phrase a piece of pie for more than the spelling
of piece. In addition, we usually need to remember a number of ideas. To be
broadly applicable, a memory system should apply more than once and
should link several thoughts or items.
LINK SYSTEM
The heart of the memory procedure is connecting two ideas, with the
second idea triggering yet another one, and so on. Although generally we
only expend energy to learn meaningful material, an illustration with material that is not potentially useful helps us see how the method works. Suppose, for example, you want to remember the following five words in order:
house, glove, chair, stove, tree. (There is no earthly reason why you would
want to.) You should imagine an unusual picture, first with a house and a
glove, then with a glove and a chair. For example, in the first picture you
might imagine a glove opening the front door of a house, greeting a family
of gloves. The second picture might be a huge glove holding a tiny chair.
Taking the time to concentrate on making up these images and then to visualize them will develop associations that link them in order.
Many memory problems deal with the association of two ideas. We
often want to associate names and dates or places, names and ideas, words
and their meaning, or a fact that establishes a relationship between two
ideas.
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RIDICULOUS ASSOCIATION
Even though it is true that association is the basis of memory, the

strength of the association is enhanced if the image is vivid and ridiculous,
impossible, or illogical. A tree laden witir gloves and a family of gloves are
examples of ridiculous association.
There are several ways to make an assOciation ridiculous. The first is to
apply the rule of substitution. If you have a car and a glove, picture the glove
driving the car. Second, you can apply the out-of-proportion rule. You can
make small things gigantic or large things miniaturefor example, a gigantic baseball glove driving along. The third means is the rule of exaggeration,
especially by number. Picture millions of gloves parading down the street.
Finally, get action into the association. In the examples discussed earlier, the
glove is ringing the doorbell and parading down the street. Imagining ridiculous associations is not at all difficult for us when we are young children, but
making these images gets harder for us as we get older and more logical.
SUBSTITUTE-WORD SYSTEM
The substitute-word system is a way of making "an intangible, tangible

and meaningful" (Lorayne and Lucas, 1974, p. 21). It is quite simple. Merely
take any word or phrase that seems abstract and "think of something. . . that sounds like, or reminds you of, the abstract material and can
be pictured in your mind" (Lorayne and Lucas, 1974, p. 22). As a child you
may have said "I'll ask her" to remember the state of Alaska. If you want to
remember the name Darwin you might visualize a dark wind. The concept
of force can be represented by a fork. The pictures you construct represent
words, thoughts, or phrases. Cartoons 13.16 and 13.17 illustrate substitute
link words and graphics that we use when introducing students to the
names of the European countries.
KEY WORD
The essence of the key-word system is to select one word to represent a

longer thought or several subordinate thoughts. Boris's speech is an example of one word's being used to trigger many verbal statements. Boris chose
key-word qualifications to represent a list of his superior qualities. If, as in
his case, the key word is abstract, is it necessary to use the substitute-word
system before inventing a memorable image.

The model of teaching that we have developed from the work of Pressley,
Levin, and their associates includes four phases: attending to the material,
developing connections, expanding sensory images, and practicing recall.
CARTOON 13.16
225
226
PART III
CARTOON 13.17
These phases are based on the principle of attention and the techniques for
enhancing recall (see Table 13.1).
SYNTAX
Phase one calls for activities that require the learner to concentrate on
the learning material and organize it in a way that helps that learner remember it. Generally, this includes focusing on what needs to be rememberedthe major ideas and examples. Underlining is one way to do this.
Listing the ideas separately and rephrasing them in one's ownwords is another task that forces attention. Finally, reflecting on the material, comparing ideas, and determining the relationship among the ideas is a third
attending activity.
Once the material to be learned has been clarified and evaluated, several memory techniques should be used to develop connections with what
is to be learned. Phase two includes using such techniques as the link words,
substitute words (in the case of abstractions), and key words for long or
complex passages. The notion is to connect the new material to familiar
words, pictures, or ideas, and to link images or words.
Once the initial associations have been identified, the images can be enhanced (phase three) by asking the student to associate them with more
than one sense and by generating humorous dramatizations through ridiculous association and exaggeration. At this time the images can be revised
for greater recall power.
In phase four the student is asked to practice recall of the material.
TABLE 13.1 SYNTAX OF MEMORY MODEL
Phase One:
Attending to the Material
Use techniques of underlining,

listing, reflecting.
Phase Three:
Expanding Sensory Images
Use techniques of ridiculous

association and exaggeration,
Revise images.
Phase Two:
Developing Connections
Make material familiar and

develop connections using keyword, substitute-word, and
link-word system techniques.
Phase Four.
Practicing Recall
Practice recalling the material

until it is completely learned.
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228
PART III
SOCIAL SYSTEM
The social system is cooperative; the students and teacher work as a

team to shape the new material for commitment to memory.
PRINCIPLES OF kEACTION
The teacher's role in this model is to help the student work the material.
Working from the student's frame of reference, the teacher helps him or her
identify key items, pairs, and images.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
Pictures, concrete aids, films, and other audiovisual materials are especially useful for increasing the sensory richness of the associations. However, no special support system is required for this model.
APPLICATION
Mastropieri and Scruggs (1991) provide a large number of applications, including developed materials for a number of areas that have been difficult
for students, such as geographical and historical places and people.
The memory model is applicable to all curriculum areas where material
needs to be memorized. It can be used with groups (a chemistry class mas-
tering the table of elements) or individuals (a student learning a poem,

story, speech, or part in a play).
Although it has many uses in teacher-led "memory sessions," it has its
widest application after students have mastered it and can use it independently. Thus, the model should be taught so that dependence on the teacher
is decreased and students can use the procedures whenever they need to
memorize. The students are taught the following steps:
1. Organizing information to be learned. Essentially, the more information
is organized the easier it is to learn and retain. Information can be organized by categories. The concept attainment, inductive, and advance
organizer models facilitate memorization by helping students associate
the material in the categories. Consider the following list of words from
a popular spelling series, in the order in which the spelling book presents them to the children:
soft
trust
cost
plus
luck
lot
cloth
club
son
frost
sock
won
song
pop
Suppose we ask the students to classify the words by beginnings, endings, and the presence of vowels. The act of classification requires the
CHAPTER 13 / MEMORIZAflQN
students to scrutinize the words and associate words containing similar elements. They can then name the categories in each classification
(the "c" group and the "Sf' group), calling further attention to the common attributes of the group. They can also connect words that fit together ("pop song," "soft cloth," and so on). They can then proceed to
rehearse the spellings of one category at a time. The same principle
operates over other types of material_say, number facts. Whether cat-
egories are provided to students or whether they create them, the
purpose is the same. Also, information can be selected with categories

in mind. The above list is, to outward appearances, almost random.
A
list that deliberately and systematically provides variations would be
easier to organize (it would already have at least implicit categories
within it).
2. Ordering information to be learned. Information learned in series, especially if there is meaning to the series, is easier to assimilate and retain.
For example, if we wish to learn the names of the states of Australia, it
is easier if we always start with the same one (say, the largest) and proceed in the same order. Historical events by chronology are more easily
learned than events sorted randomly. Order is simply another way of organizing information. We could have the students alphabetize their list
of spelling words.
3. Linkthg information to familiar material (sounds and meanings are both
given consideration). Suppose we are learning the names of the states.
We can cOnnect "Georgia". to "George," "Louisiana" to "Louis," "Maryland" to "Marry" or "Merry" and so on. Categorizing the names of the
states or ordering them by size, or ordering them within region, provides more associations.
4. Linking in formaion to.visualrepresentations. Maryland can be linked to
a picture of a marriage, Oregon to a picture of a gun, Maine to a burst
water main, and so forth. Letters and numerals can be linked to something that evokes both familiar sounds and images. For example, "one"
can be linked to "bun" and a picture of a boy eating a bun, "b" to a bee
and a picture of a bee. Those links can be used ovr and over. "April is
the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land" is more easily
remembered thinking of an ominous metal spring, coiled malevolently
over the Spring flowers.
5. Linking information to associated information. A person's name, linked
to information such as a well-known person having the same name, a
sound-alike, and some personal information, is easierto remember than
the name rehearsed by itself. Louis (Louis Armstrong) "looms" over
Jacksonville (his place of birth). Learning the states of Australia while
thinking of the points of the compass and the Britishorigins of many of
the names (New South Wales) is easier than learning them in order
alone.
6. Devices that make the information vivid are also useful. Lorayne and
Lucas favor "ridiculous association," where information is linked to ab-
229
230
R'iRT Ill / ThE INFORMATION.PROCESSING FAMILY
surd associations ("The sffly two carries his twin two on his back
so they
are really four"). Others favor the use of dramatization and vivid illustrations (such as counting the basketball players on two teams to illustrate that five and five equal ten).
7. Rehearsal (practice) is always usefzd and students benefit from knowledge
of results. Students who have not had past success with tasks requiring
memorization will benefit by having relatively short assignments and
clear, timely feedback as they have success.

EFFECTS
The memory model is specifically designed to increase the capacity to store
and retrieve information. It should nurture a sense of intellectual power
a growing consciousness of the ability to master unfamiliar material,as well
as imagery skills and attention to one's environment (see Figure 13.1).
One of the most important outcomes of the model is the students' recognition that learning is not a mysterious, innateprocess over which they have
no control. As Ian Hunter (1964) points out:
The mastery of some simple mnemonic system may lead some people to realize, for the first time, that they can control and modify theirown mental activities. And this realization may encourage them to undertake that self-critical
experimentation with their own learning and remembering procedures which is
such an important part of intellectual development. (p. 302)
FIGURE 13.1
Instructional arid nurturant effects: memory model.
Attending
Faculties
Thus, awareness of how to learn and how to improve learning results in a
sense of mastery and control over one's future.

A second outcome is the improvement of imaging capacity and the realization that creative forms of thinking are an essential part of more convergent, information-oriented learning. In training for imagery creativity is
nourished, and ease with playful, creative thought is encouraged.
Imaging requires that we observe and attend to the world around us.
Consequently, the use of imaging as part of memory work disciplines us to
attend to our surroundings automatically.
Finally, of course, our capacity for remembering particular material is
strengthened by this modelwe become more effective memorizers.
Syntax
Phase One: Attending to the Material
Use techniques of underlining, listing, reflecting.
Phase Two: Developing Connections
Make material familiar and develop connections using key-word, substitute-word, and link-word system techniques.
Phase Three: Expanding Sensory images

Use techniques of ridiculous association and exaggeration. Revise images.
Phase Four: Practicing Recall
Practice recalling the material until it is completely learned.
Social System
The social system is cooperative. Teacher and students become a team
working with the new material together. The initiative should increasingly
become the students' as they obtain control over the strategy and use it to
memorize ideas, words, and formulas.
The teacher helps the student identify key items, pairs, and images, offering
suggestions but working from the students' frames of reference. The familiar elements must be primarily from the students' storehouse of material.
Support System
All of the customary devices of the curriculum areas can be brought into
play. Pictures, concrete aids, films, and other audiovisual materials are es
pecially useful for increasing the sensory richness of the associations.
231
CHAPTER
SYNECTICS
Enhancing Creative Thought
Of all the models, synectics has got to give the most immedi#e pleasure
when you're leading the exercises. We've been teaching kids (both elementary
and secondary) to lead synectics. I have to admit that I always have a little
touch of green when I turn it over to them, because they're going to have the
fun, now.
Letter from Bruce Joyce to Bill Gordon, January 1971
CENARI0
A junior high school class is creating a book of short stories and poems.
Their English teacher, Martin Abramowitz, has gradually become aware
that some stories and many of the poems are hackneyed and ordinary. He
has, been helping individuals rewrite their poems and stories, and some of
them have been improved, but on the whole he is disappointed with the
work.
Then Abramowitz runs across the work of William Gordon of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who believes that creativity can be enhanced by a series of group exercises. These exercises are designed to help us understand
the process of creativity more completely and to use new metaphors and
analogies, to "break set" and generate new alternatives. AbramowitZ decides

to try Gordon's methods. One morning, he has each of his students read a
poem and a short story. He then says, "Today we're going to try something
new that I hope will help us see our stories and poems in a different light.
For the next 15 or 20 minutes I want us to play with ideas and then have
end
you go back to your work and see what you can do to improve it. At the
of this exercise, I'm going to ask you to rewrite part or all of your poems
and stories." He begins by asking what a poem is. The children give a variety of answers, from which Abramowitz selects key words and writes them
on the board.
"It doesn't have to rhyme."
"It lets your feelings come out."
"It uses different kinds of words."
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PART III
He then asks, "How is a poem like an automobile?" The children are

puzzled. Then one ventures, "It takes you on a trip. It's a word trip, and you
have to have the road in your imagination."
Someone else observes, "It is self-propelled-you just get in it and it
goes."
Another student comments, "When you're writing one, sometimes you
have trouble getting the motor started"
After a time, Abramowitz says "Pick an animalany animal." "How
about a giraffe?" someone suggests. "OK," the teacher asks, "how is a poem
like a giraffe?"
"It has a lot of parts fastened together in funny ways," one student
laughs.
"It kind of stands above everything else and looks at things in a different way," another adds.
The exercise goes on. After a time, Abramowitz asks the students to select one of the words they have dealt with in discussing a poem. They select
the word above.
"How does it feel," he asks, "to be above?"
"You feel different," replies one. "You can see things you don't ordinarily even notice," says another.
"You'll start feeling superior if you don't watch out," says a third student.
And so it goes. Finally, Abramowitz asks the students to make lists of
words they have been dealing with that seem to be opposite in some fashionwords that apply tension to each other. The students pick giraffe and
snail, for they feel that both are animals but that they are very different in
the way they live and move.
"Well," Abramowitz says, "let's come back to your poems and short stories. Think of them as giraffes and snails together; write your poems or stories as if they were a giraffe and a snail holding hands, going through the
woods together."
Here are three products of that exercise.
THE GREAT JUNG

The great king stares out over his kingdom watching admiringly. The king stares
out over his subjects, the seagulls, fish, crabs, and everything else in the safe un-
derwater home of his bottomless stomach. He lets out another breeze of his
salty breath that can be smelled miles away. Another crash of his arm pushes
away the sand to make damp mud that seagulls love, His ever-stretching body
wraps around the world of his presence for he is king of earth. He opens
his heart to the people who take meaningful walks on his beach as if paying
CHAPTER 14 / SYNECTICS
gratitude for everything he has done. Another crash sends a seagull flying as if
he was a royal messenger. The Ocean, the king, stares and is proud of what he
sees.
Genevieve
THE MOTORCYCLE
It sounds like an enraged mountain lion.
It looks like a steel horse.
It shifts gears and changes notes.
It goes very fast.
The sound of the motorcycle
breaks the stillness
of the night.
THE ADVENTURES OF SAMUAL O'BRIAN,

SECRET SPY
It all happened when Samual Watkins O!Brian an average blond-haired 35-year-
old chemist, was working in Laboratory 200, Hartford, Connecticut, for the
government. While mixing chemicals in a beaker, the substance started glowing
strangely. It also became very hot. At that moment he dropped it to the floor. He
turned to run, but before he had time to take a step It crashed to the floor,
followed by a blinding explosion! As he started to run, he felt his skin
shrinking. As he ran he shrank to a height of 5.5 inches, one-tenth his normal
height!
His superior ran in with a fire extinguisher yelling, "What happened in here,
Sam?"
While jumping up and down, Sam yelled, "I've shrunk! I've shrunk!" His superior made no reply. He again yelled out his cry for help. Then Sam, realizing
that his yelling was useless over the roar of the fire that had now started, tugged
at his superior's giant shoelace. His superior bent down to see what was happening with his shoelace, and he saw a very small and scared Samual O'Brian.
Samual yelled, "Hey Jack, pick me up carefully!"
His superior's reply was "Cripes! What happened to you?" Sam explained the
story in Jack's ear while Jack ran swiftly with Sam in the palm of his hand to
the guard on the second floor.
Jack said (when they got there), "Seal off the building! I have Top Secret
government personnel and speed it up!!!" Because of the excitement, Sam
fainted.
The next thing he knew he was in the Central Security President's office lying
in a marble ashtray, filled with warm water (and plenty of bubbles, of course).
He found himself staring into the face of David Shields, President of C.S.
235
236
Sam stated that he was so sorry to clutter up the President's desk but... . Then
David broke in "Oh, it's nothing, people shrink every day around here, but I
guess you wouldn't know because you can't see the rings around the bathtub. . . er, uh, ashtray."
David presented Sam with a small box of cigars and a custom-fitted suit,
James Bond style (if you know what I mean). Sam got dressed and David said,
"We'd like you to work for us, Sam."
Martin Abramowitz has introduced metaphoric thinking to his students.

Synectics, designed by William J. J. Gordon and his associates (1961a),
is a very interesting and delightful approach to the development of
innovations. The initial work with synectics procedures was to develop
"creativity groups" within industrial organizationsthat is, groups of people trained to work together to function as problem solvers or product
developers. Gordon has adapted synectics for use with schoolchildren, and
materials containing many of the synectics activities are now being published. .(For a complete list of synectics materials write to Synectics Education Systems. 121 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.) The chief
element in synectics is the use of analogies. In synectics exercises, students
"play" with analogies until they relax and begin to enjoy making more and
more metaphoric comparisons, as did Abramowitz's students. Then they
use analogies to attack problems or ideas.
Ordinarily, when we are confronted with a tasksay a problem to be
solved or a piece of writing to be producedwe consciously become logical. We prepare to write by making an outline of the points to be made. We
analyze the elements of a problem and try to think it through. We use our
existing storehouse of words and phrases to set down our ideas; we use our
storehouse of learned solutions to face a problem.
For most problems and tasks of expressing ourselves our logic works
well enough. What do we do when our old solutions or ways of expressing
ourselves are not sufficient to do the job? That is when we use synectics. It
is designed to lead us into a slightly illogical worldto give us the opportunity to invent new ways of seeing things, expressing ourselves, and approaching problems.
For example, school officials struggle with the problem of how to deal
with absenteeism. When a student repeatedly fails to come to school, what
do they do? Frequently, they turn to punishment. And what punishment is
available? Frequently, suspension. That is logical, isn't it? To choose a severe
punishment to match what is regarded as a severe infraction? The trouble

with the solution is that it imposes on the student as a penalty exactly the
same condition that the student had chosen in lieu of school. Synectics Is
used to help us develop fresh ways of thinking about the student, the student's motives, the nature of penalties, our goals, and the nature of the prob.
lem. We have to develop empathy with someone who is in conflict with us.
We have to deliberately avoid what appears to be logical thought because it
CI-APTER14 / SYNECTICS
leads us to an inadequate conception of the problem and thus an absurd (if
logical) solution.
Through analogies we might conceive of our absentee as an "unhappy
lark," as on a "destructive vacation," and the problem as one of ending an
"empty feast." Our own needed behaviors may be ones of "seductive strictness," "strong lovingness," and "dangerous peacemaking."
If we can relax the premises that have blocked us, we can begin to generate new solutions. We can consider that we have been taking responsibil-
ity for the students in areas where they may need to be responsible for
themselves. We can wonder whether the solution lies as much in our
administration of the rules as it does in how we teach. We may wonder
whether communities of peers might not create the energy and sense of belongingness that would attack the problem from a different perspective.
The social and scientific world in which we live abounds with problems
for which new solutions are needed. Problems of poverty, international law,
crime, just taxation, and war and peace would not exist if our logic did not
fail us.
Striving for appropriate selfexpressionLrying to learn how to write
and speak lucidly and compellinglybedevils all of us. Two problems are
persistent: grasping the subject clearly and comprehensively and generating
appropriate forms of expression.
Let us consider another example from Martin Abramowitz's classroom
in New York City.
SCENARI0
Now, Martin Abramowitz's 7th-grade class, which we met earlier, is
preparing a campaign in opposition to a change in Forest Service regulations that would permit a large grove of redwood trees to be cut down as
part of a lumbering operation. They have made posters that they intend to
display around their community and send to the members of the stage legislature. They have the rough sketches for the posters and their captions,
and they are examining them...
"Well, what do you think?" asks Priscilla.

"Well, they're OK," says Tommy. "They sure say where we stand. Actually, though, I think they're a little dull."
"So do I," adds Maryann. "A couple of them are OK, but the others are
real preachy and stiff."
"There's nothing really wrong with them," chimes in another, "they're
just not very zingy."
After some discussion, it is obvious that nearly everybody feels the same
way. They decide that two or three of the posters are well designed and convey their message, but they need some others thatwould be more poignant.
"Let's try synectics," suggests one of the children.
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238
PART III
"With pictures and captions?" asks one of the other children. "I thought
we could only use synectics with poetry Can we use synectics with stuff like
this?"
"Why sure we can," says Priscilla. "I don't know why I didn't think of it.
We've been doing it with poetry all year long."
"Well we sure have nothing to lose," adds Tommy. "How would it work?"
"Well," says Priscilla, "we could see these posters we've done as the beginning point ad then go through a synectics training exercise and see if it
gives us some ideas for pictures and captions. We could think of redwood
trees in terms of various personal and direct analogies and compressed

conflicts."
"Well let's try it," chimes in George.
"Let's start right now," says Sally. "We could go through our exercises
and then have, lunch time t, think about the posters."
"r I- be the leader?" asks Marsha. "I've got some super ideas for some
stretching exercises."
"Is that OK?" says Priscilla.
The children agree and Marsha begins.
"Hew' is a redwood tree like a. toothpick?" she asks.
"You use the tree to pick the teeth of the gods," laughs George. Everyone joins in the laughter and they are off.
It's clear that Mr. Ahrarnowitz has spent enough tine using synectics
that the students internalized the process and purpose. They can proceed
on their own, drawing on the model when they find it helpful.
SCENARI0
One of the present authors struggled for a month to write a single page
that would introduce a book on school improvement. The introduction has
to express the complexity of the, situation the school occupies in society and
to convey that it needs improvement, but it had to do so in an upbeat and
not discouraging fashion. Finally, after an afternoon of synectics, he produced the following passages:
Richly connected to its social milieu, tightly clasped by tradition and yet the
medium of modern ideas and artifacts, the school floats paradoxically in its
ocean of social forces. It is a cradle of social stability and the harbinger of cultural change. Throughout history its critics have found it both too backward
and too advanced. It falls behind the times and fails to keep us in simultaneous
cadence.
Its missions are elusive. Basic education is prized but so are creativity, problem solving, academic excellence, and vocational skills, sometimes by the same
people, sometimes not. Liberals and conservatives alike seek to make the school
the instrument of social policy. It is the sword of the militant and the warm
bosom of the humanist. Its students are varied. Talents and handicaps mingle,
sometimes in the same minds and bodies.
The inner city and rural hinterland make their claims on creaky old schoolhouses while shiny suburban schools grope for a coherent mission. Powerful
self-concepts march through the front door of the school while timid souls slip
in by the back stairs. Cultural differences are mixed together, with problems of
identity and adaptation surfacing chaotically to be dealt with.
Technologies strengthen the school's potential and threaten to replace it. Its
personnel receive very little training but are asked to manage one of the most
complex professional tasks in our society. They have little status but awesome
responsibility both for individual children and for the health of the society as a
whole.
Because education exerts great influence on the young, society places great
constraints on its schools so that they will reflect the prevailing social attitudes
and will fit current views about how its children should be trained. Its very size
draws attention. (In the United States there are more than 2,000,000 education
professionals and about 8 percent of the gross national product is directly or indirectly consumed by the enterprises of education.) The public watches its in-
vestment carefully, scrutinizing educational practices, both traditional and

innovative.
Efficiency is highly prized, but innovations are watched wits apprehension.
Our societal patterns of schooling, established in the early 1800s, have become
familiar and comfortable, and we want our children to have an education that
has continuity with our own. Thus most citizens are cautious about educational
innovation. People like the familiar old schoolhouse as much as they criticize
it. They tend to believe that current problems in education are caused by
changes (perceived as a "lowering of standards") rather than because the old
comfortable model of the school may be a little rusty and out-of-date. In fact,
our society has changed a great deal since the days when the familiar and comfortable patterns of education were established, and many schools have become
badly out of phase with the needs of children in today's world (Joyce, Hersh, and
McKibbin, 1983, pp. 34).
This passage is by no means perfect, but it is much better than the

prosaic passages that were its early drafts (for instance, "The public is some-
what ambivalent about the schools. In some ways they want a forwardlooking education for their children and in others they want a familiar, stable education.").

Gordon grounds synectics in four ideas that challenge conventional
views about creativity. First, creativity is important in everyday activities.
Most of us associate the creative process with the development of great
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240
PART III / THE INFORMATION-PROCESSiNG FAMILY
works of art or music, or perhaps with a clever new invention. Gordon em-
phasizes creativity as a part of our daily work and leisure lives. His model
is designed to increase problem-solving capacity, creative expression, empathy, and insight into social relations. He also stresses that the meanings
of ideas can be enhanced through creative activity by helping us see things
more richly.
Second, the creative process is not at all mysterious. It can be described
and it is possible to train persons directly to increase their creativity. Traditionally, creativity is viewed as a mysterious, innate, and personal capacity
that can be destroyed if its processes are probed too deeply. Incontrast, Gordon believes that if individuals understand the basis of the creativeprocess,
they can learn to use that understanding- to increase the creativity with
which they live and work, independently and as members of groups. Gordon's view that creativity is enhanced by conscious analysis led him to describe it and create training procedures that can be applied in schools and
other settings.
Third, creative invention is similar in all fieldsthe arts, the sciences,
engineering_and is characterized by the same underlying intellectual
processes. This idea is contrary to common belief. In fact, to many people,
creativity is confined to the arts. In engineering and the sciences, however,
it is simply called by another name:, invention. Gordon maintains that the
link between generative thinking in the arts and in the sciences is quite
strong.
Gordon's fourth assumption is that individual and group invention
(creative thinking) are very similar. Individuals and groups generate ideas
and products in much the same fashion. Again, this is very different from
the stance that creativity is an intensely personal experience, not to be

shared.
THE CREATIVE STATE AND THE SYNECTICS PROCESS

The specific processes of synectics are developed from a et of assumptions about the psychology of creativity. First, by bringing the creative
process to consciousness and by developing explicit aids to creativity,
we can directly increase the creative capacity of both individuals and groups.
A second assumption is that the "emotional component is more impor-
tant than the intellectual, the irrational more important than the rational"
(Gordon, 1961 a, p. 6). Creativity is the development of new mental patterns.
Nonrational interplay leaves room for open-ended thoughts that can lead to
a mental state in which new ideas are possible. The basis for decisions, however, is always the rational. The irrational state is the best mental environ-
ment for exploring and expanding ideas, but it is not a decision-making

stage. Gordon does not undervalue the intellect; he assumes that a logic is
used in decision making and that technical competence is necessary to the
formation of ideas in many areas. But he believes that creativity is essen-
CHAPTER M / SYNECTICS
tially an emotional proc.ss, one that requires elements of irrationality and

emotion to enhance intellectual processes. Much problem solving is rational and intellectual, but by adding the irrational we increase the likelihood
that we will generate fresh ideas.
The third assumption is that the "emotional, irrational elements must
be understood in order to increase the probability of success in a problem
solving situation" (Gordon, 1961 a, p. 1). In other words, the analysis of cer-
tain irrational and emotional processes can help the individual and the
group increase their creativity by using irrationality constructively. Aspects
of the irrational can be understood and consciously controlled. Achievement of this control, through the deliberate use of metaphor and analogy
is the object of synectics.
METAPHORIC ACT WITY

Through the metaphoric activity of the synectics model, creativity becomes a conscious process. Metaphors establish a relationship of likeness,
the comparison of one object or idea with another object or idea by using
one in place of the other. Through these substitutions the creative process
occurs, connecting the familiar with the unfamiliar or creating a new idea
from familiar ideas.
Metaphor introduces conceptual distance between the student and the
object or subject matter and prompts original thoughts. For example, by
asking students to think of their textbook as an old shoe or as a river, we
provide a structure, a metaphor, with which the students can think about
something familiar in a new way. Conversely, we can ask students to think
about a new topic, say the human body, in an old way by asking them to
compare it to the transportation system. Metaphoric activity thus depends
on and draws from the students' knowledge, helping them connect ideas
from familiar content to those from new content, or view familiar content
from a new perspective. Synectics strategies using metaphoric activity are
designed, then, to provide a structure through which people can free themselves to develop imagination and insight into everyday activities. Three
types of analogies are used as the basis of synectics exercises: personal analogy, direct analogy, and compressed conflict.
PERSONAL ANALOGY
To make personal analogies requires students to empathize with the

ideas or objects to be compared. Students must feel they have become part
of the physical elements of the problem. The identification may be with a
person, plant, animal, or nonliving thing. For example, students may be instructed, "Be an automobile engine. What do you feel like? Describe how
you feel when you are started in the morning; when your battery goes dead;
when you come to a stoplight."
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PART III / THE INFORMATION.PROCESSING
FAMILY
The emphasis in personal analogy is on empathetic
involvement. Gordon gives the example of a problem situation in which the chemist
personally identifies with the molecules in action. He might ask, "How would
I feel
if I were a molecule?" and then feel
himself
being
part
of
the
"stream
of
dancing molecules."
Personal analogy requires loss of self as one transports oneself into another space or object. The greater the conceptual distance created by loss of
self, the more likely it is that the analogy is new and that the students have
been creative or innovative. Gordon identifies four levels of involvement in
personal analogy:
1. First-person description of facts. The person recites a list of well-known
facts but presents no new way of viewing the object or animal and
shows no empathetic involvement. In terms of the car engine, the person might say, "I feel greasy" or "I feel hot."
2. First-person identification with emotion. The person recites common
emotions but does not present new insights: "I feelpowerful" (as the car
engine).
3. Empathetic identification with a living thing. The student identifies emotionally and kinesthetically with the subject of the analogy: "When you
smile like that, I smile all over."
4. Empathetic identification with a nonhiving object. This level requires the
most commitment. The person sees himself or herself as an inorganic
object and tries to explore the problem from a sympathetic point of
view: "I feel exploited. I cannot determine when I start and stop. Someone does that for me" (as the car engine).
The purpose of introducing these levels of personal analogy is not to

identify forms of metaphoric activity but to provide guidelines for how well
conceptual distance has been established. Gordon belieyes that the usefulness of analogies is directly proportional to the distance created. The greater
the distance,. the more likely the student is to come up with new ideas.
DIRECT ANALOGY
Direct analogy is a simple comparison of two objects or concepts. The

comparison does not have to be identical in all respects. Its function is simply to transpose the conditions of the real topic or problem situation to another situation in order to present a new view of an idea or problem. This
involves identification with a person, plant, animal, or nonliving thing. Gordon cites the experience of the engineer watching a shipwrm tunneling
into a timber. As the worm ate its way into the timber by constructing a tube
for itself and moving forward, the engineer, Sir March Isumbard Brunel, got
the notion of using caissons to construct underwater tunnels (Gordon,

l961a, pp. 4041). Another example of direct analogy occurred when a
group was attempting to devise a can with a top that could be used to cover
CHAPTER 14 / SYNECTIC3
the can once it had been opened. In this instance, the analogy of the pea pod
gradually emerged, which produced the idea of a seam placed a distance

below the top of the can, thus permitting a removable lid.
COMPRESSED CONFLICT
The third metaphorical form is compressed conflict, generally a twOword description of an object in which the words seem to be opposites or
to contradict each other. Tiredly aggressive and friendly foe are two examples.
Gordon's examples are life-saving destroyer and nourishing flame. He also

cites Pasteur's expression; safe attack. Compressed conflicts, according to
Gordon, provide the broadest insight into a new subject. They reflect the
student's ability to incorporate two frames of reference with respect to a single object. The greater the distance between frames of ftference the greater
the mental flexibility.
STRETCHING EXERCISES USING METAPHORS

These three types of metaphors fOrm the basis of the sequence of actiVities in this model of teaching. They can also be used separately with groups,
as a warm-up to the creative processthat is, to problem solving. We refer
to this use as stretching exercises.
Stretching exercises provide experience with the three types of metaphoric activity, but they are nOt related to any particular problem situation,
nor do they follow a sequence of phases. They teach students the process of
metaphoric thinking before asking them to use it to solve a problem, create
a design, or explore a concept. Students are sithply asked to respond to

ideas such as the following:
DIRECT ANALOGIES
An orange is like what living thing?
How is a school like a sald?

How are polar bears like frozen yogurt?
Which is softera whisper or a kitten's fur?
PERSONAL ANALOGIES
Be a cloud. Where are you? What are you doing?

How do you feel when the sun comes out and dries you up?
Pretend you are your favorite book. Describe yourself.
What are your three wishes?
COMPRESSED CONFLICTS
How is a computer shy and aggressive?

What machine is like a smile and a frown?
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PART Hi
/ THE INFORMATION.PROCESSING FAMILY

SYNTAX
There are actually two strategies or models of teaching based on synectics procedures. One of these (creating something new) is designed to make
the familiar strange, to help students see old problems, ideas, or products
in a new, more creative light. The other strategy (making the strange familiar) is designed to make new, unfamiliar ideas more meaningful. Although
both strategies employ the three types of analogy, their objectives, syntax,
and principles of reaction are different. We refer to creating somethingnew
as strategy one, aiid making the strange familiar as strategy two.
Strategy one helps students see familiar things in unfamiliar ways by
using analogies to create conceptual distance. Except for the final step, in
which the students return to the original problem, they do not make simple
comparisons. The objective of this strategy may be to develop a new understanding; to empathize with a show-off or bully; to design a new doorway or city; to solve social or interpersonal problems, such as a garbage
strike or two students fighting with each other; or to solve personal prob-
lems, such as how to concentrate better when reading. The role of the
Phase One:
Description of Present Condition
Phase Thro:
Direct Analogy
Teacher has students describe

situation or situation as they see it
Students suggest direct analogies,

select one, and explore (describe)
it further.
now.
Phase Three:
Personal Analogy
Students "become" the analogy

they selected in phase two.
Phase Five:
Direct Analogy
Students generate and select

another direct analogy, based on
the compressed conflict.
Phase
Compressed Conflict
Students take their descriptions

from phases two and three,
suggest several compressed
conflicts, and choose one.
Phase Six:
Reexamination of the Original Task
Teacher has students move back

to original task or problem and
use the last analogy andlor the
entire synectics experience.
teacher is to guard against premature analyses and closure. The syntax of
strategy one appears in Table 14.1.

The following transcript of a synectics session shows a teacher helping
students to see a familiar concept in fresh ways. At the beginning, the students pick the concept of "The Hood," to be described later in a writing composition. The lesson illustrates the six phases of the model (Gordon, 1971,
pp. 711):
1. Teacher: Now the problem is how 1. Phase One: Describing the Problem
to present this hood so that he's the or Present Condition. Teacher asks stuhoodiest of hoods, but also a special, dents to discuss the familiar idea.
individualized person.
Student: He robs the Rabbinical

School.
Student: Let's name him.

Student: Trog.
Student: Al.
Student: Slash.
Student: Eric.
Teacher: His names don't matter all

that much. Let's call him Eric. What
can we say about Eric?
Student: Black, greasy hair. They all

have black, greasy hair.
Student: Long, blonde hairbleached
peroxidedwith baby-blues. Eyes, I
mean.
Student: Bitten fingernails.

Student: He's short and muscular.
Student: Maybe he should be scrawny.
Student: Bow-legged and yellow

teeth and white, tight Levis.
2. Teacher: Is there anything her 2. Teacher has students state the probthat's original? If you wrote that and lem. . . and define the task.
backed off and read it, what would you
think?
Class: No! Stereotyped! Standard!

No personality! Very general! Same old
stuff!
Teacher: I agree. Eric, so far, is like

every other hood. Now we have a problem to attack!
Teacher: We must define a personality for this hood, for Eric.
Student: He's got to be individualized.
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PART III
THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING LW
Student: He has to have a way of getting money.
3. Teacher: That's still an overgen- 3. Phase Two: Direct Analogy. Teacher

eral idea of Eric. Let's put some strain
moves the students into analogies. He

into this idea. Hold it. Suppose I ask asks for a direct analogy He also specyou to give me a direct analogy some- ifies the nature of the analogythat is,
thing like Eric, but it's a machine. Tell a machinein order to assure getting
me about a machine that has Eric's one of some distance (organic-inorqualities as you see him. Not a human ganic comparison).
being, a machine.
Student: He's a washing machine. A

dishwasher.
Student: An old beat-up car.
Student: I want him to be a rich

hood.
Student: A beer factory.

Student: A pinball machine in a dive.
Student: Roulette.
4. Teacher: You're focusing on the 4. Teacher reflects to students what
kinds of machines that Eric plays with. they are doing so that they can be
What is the thing that has his qualities pushed to more creative analogies.
in it?
Student: An electric can opener.

Student: A vacuum cleaner.
Student: A neon sign.
Student: A jello mold.
5. Teacher: What is the machine that 5. Teacher lets students select the analwould make the strangest comparison ogy to develop, but he provides the
between it and Eric? Go ahead and vote.
(The class voted for the dishwasher.)
criterion for selection: "strangest comparison."
6. Teacher: First of all, how does a 6. Teacher moves students simply to

dishwasher work?
explore (describe) the machine they se-
Student: People put in the dirty lected before making comparisons to

dishes and the water goes around and their original source.
around and the dishes come out clean.
Student: There's a blower in the one
that's in the common room.
Student: It's all steam inside. Hot!
Student: I was thinking that if you

want to make an analogy between the
washer and the joy...

7. Teacher: Hold it. Just stay with 7. Teacher controls responses to keep
me. Don't look backward and make an students from pushing to a comparison
analogical comparison too soon... too soon. No comparisons to original
and now is probably too soon.
source are made before moving on to
another analogy.
CHAPTER 14 / SYNECTCS
8. Teacher: OK. Now, try being the 8. Phase Three: Personal Analogy.
dishwasher. What does it feel like to be
Teacher asks for personal analogy.
a dishwasher? Tell us. Make yourself

the dishwasher.
Student: Well, all these things are
given to me. Dishes are dirty. I want to

get them clean. I'm trying. I throw off
some steam and finally I get them

clean. That's my duty.
9. Teacher: Come on now people! 9. Teacher reflects to students the fact

You've got to put yourselves into the that they are describing the dishdishwasher and be it. All Lee's told us washer, not what it feels like to be a
is what we already know about a dishdishwasher.
washer. There's none of Lee in it. It's
hard, but try to be the dishwasher.
Student: It's very discouraging.
You're washing all day long. I never get
to know anybody. They keep throwing
these dishes at me, and I just throw the
steam at them. 1 see the same type of
dishes.
Student: I get mad and get the dishes
extra hot, and I burn people's fingers.
Student: I feel very repressed. They

keep feeding me dishes. All I can do is
shut myself off.
Student: I get so mad at everybody

maybe I won't clean the dishes and
then everybody will get sick.
Student: I just love garbage. I want

more and more. The stuff that falls off
the dishes is soft and mushy and good
to eat.
10. Teacher: Let's look at the notes 10. Phase Four: Compressed Conflict.
I've been making about your responses. Teacher asks for compressed conflict
Can you pick two words that, argue as outgrowth of the personal analogy:
"Can you pick two words that argue
with each other?
with each other?
Student: "Used" vs. "clean."
Student: "Duty" vs. "what you want
to do."
Teacher: How can we put that more

poetically?
Student: "Duty" vs. "inclination."

Student: "Duty" vs. "whim."
Student: "Discouraging fun."
Student: "Angry game."
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PART III
/ THE INFORMATION.PROCESSING FAMILY
11. Teacher: All right. What one do 11. Teacher ends enumeration of posyou like best? Which one has the truest sible compressed conflicts and asks
ring of conflict?
them to select one. The teacher furClass: "Angry game."
nishes the criterion: "Which has the

truest ring of conflict?"
12. Teacher: All right. Can you 12. Phase Five: Direct Analogy. Recy-
think of a direct analogy an example cling the analogies; compressed confrom the animal world, of "angry flict is not explored but serves as the
game?"
basis of the next direct analogy, an ex-
Student: A lion in the cage at the cir- ample from the animal world of "angry
cus.
Student:
Student:
Student:
Student:
Student:
Student:
Student:
Student:
Student:
Student:
Student:
Student:
Student:
Rattlesnake.
A pig ready for slaughter.
A bear when it's attacking.
Bullfrog.
A bird protecting its young.
Bullfight.
A fish being caught.
A skunk.
A horse.
A charging elephant.
A fox hunt on horseback.
Rodeo.
Porcupine.
game." There is no mention of the original.
Teacher: Does anyone know where

we are?
Student: We're trying to put person-
ality into Eric, trying to make him

more original.
13. Teacher: All right. Which of all 13. Teacher ends the enumeration of
the things you just thought of do you direct analogies. Again, he has the stuthink would make the most exciting di- dents select one but he gives the criterect analogy? (Class chooses the bull- rion: "Which of all the things you just
fight.)
thought of do you think would make
Teacher: Now we go back to Eric. the most exciting direct analogy?"

How can we get the bullfight to de-
scribe Eric for us. Does anyone know

what I mean by that?
14. (Class doesn't respond.)
14. Students are not into the analogy
of the bullfight yet.
15. Teacher: All right. What do we 15. Teacher gets students to explore
know about a bullfight?
the characteristics of the bullfight, the
Student: He'll have to be the bull or analogy
the matador. I say he's the bull.
Student: Bull runs into the ring and

he's surrounded by strangeness.
CHAPTER 14 I SYNECTICS
Student: They stick things into him

and goad him...
Student: . . . from horses and from
the ground.
Student: But sometimes he doesn't

get killed.
Student: And everytime the bull is

downgraded the crowd yells.
16. Teacher What happens at the 16. Teacher tries to obtain more infor-
end?
mation about the analogy.
Student: They drag him off with

horses.
Student: How do they finish him

off?
Student: A short sword.
17. Teacher How can we use this 17. Phase Six: Reexamination of the
information to tell us something about Task. Getting students to make comEric? How will you talk about Eric in parisons; return to the original probterms of the material we've developed lem or task.
about a bullfight?
Student: He's the bull.
Student: He's the matador.
Student: If he's the bull, then the

matador is society.
Teacher Why don't you write something about Eric in terms of the bullfight? Talk about his personality and
the outward signs of it. The reader
opens your story about Eric, and he
reads. It is your reader's first introduc-
tion to Eric. (A pause while the students write.)
Teacher. All finished? All right, let's

read your stuff, from left to right.
Here are a few examples of the students' writing.
In rage, running against a red .neon flag and blinded by its shadow, Eric threw
himself down on the ground. As if they were going to fall off, blood throbbed in
his ears. No use fighting anymore. The knife wound in his side; the metallic jeers
that hurt worse than the knife; the flash of uniforms and the flushed faces of the
crowd made him want to vomit all over their clean robes.
He stood there in the middle of the Street staring defiantly at the crowd.
Faces leered back at him. Scornful eyes, huge red mouths, twisted laughs; Eric
looked back as the crowd approached and drew his hand up sharply as one man
began to speak. "Pipe down Kid. We don't want any of your nonsense."
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PART tU / THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
He was enclosed in a ring. People cheering all around for his enemy. He has
been trained all his life to go out and take what he wanted and now there was
an obstacle in his course. Society was bearing down and telling him he was all
wrong. He must go to them and he was becoming confused. People should cheer
at the matador.
The matador hunts his prey. His claim to glory is raised by the approaching
approval of the crowd. For although they brought all their holiday finery, the
bull is goaded, and the matador smiles complacently. You are but my instrument and I hold the sword. (Gordon, 1970, pp. 711)
The synectics model has stimulated the students to see and feel the
original idea (a gangster or hood, described in stereotypic terms) in a
variety of fresh ways. If they had been solving a problem, we would expect
that they would see it more richly and increase the solutions they could
/ explore.
By contrast, strategy two, making the strange familiar, seeks to
increase the students' understanding and internalization of substantially

new or difficult material. In this analogy, metaphor is used for analyzing,
not for creating conceptual distance as in strategy one. For instance,

the teacher might present the concept of culture to her class.. Using
familiar analogies (such as a stove or a house), the students begin to
define the characteristics that are present and those that are lacking in
the concept. The strategy is both analytic and convergent: students
constantly alternate between defining the characteristics of the more
familiar subject and comparing these to the characteristics of the unfamiliar topic.
In phase one of this strategy, explaining the new topic, the students are
provided with information. In phase two the teacher, or the students, suggest a direct analogy. Phase three involves "being the familiar" (personalizing the direct analogy). In phase four, students identify and explain the
points of similarity between the analogy and the substantive material. In
phase five, students explain the differences between analogies. As a measure
of their acquisition of the new information, students can suggest and ana-
lyze their own familiar analogies in phases six and seven. The syntax of
strategy two appears in Table 14.2.
The following is an illustration of strategy two as it has been used in a
programmed workbook. The students are asked to make a comparison

between democracy (new topic) and the body (familiar topic). The sample
presented here does not include the personal analogy (phase three), which
we recommend as part of the strategy. We feel that asking the students to
"be the thing" before asking them to make intellectual connections will
increase the richness of their thinking. In this example, the students are first
presented with a short, substantive paragraph:
Democracy is a form of government that is based on the highest possible
respect for the individual. All individuals have equal rights, protected by law.
Since each person has a vote, when the people so desire they can change the
TABLE 14.2
SYNTAX 1OR MAKING THE STRANGE FAMILIAR,

STRATEGY TWO
Phase Two:
Direct Analogy
Phase One:
Substantive Input
Teacher provides information on

new topic.
Teacher suggests direct analogy

and asks students to describe the
analogy.
Phase Four:
Comparing Analogies
Phase Three:
Personal Analogy
Teacher has students "become"

the direct anaolgy.
Students identify and explain the

points of similarity between the
new material and the direct
analogy.
Phase Six:
Phase Five:
Explaining Differences
Students explain where the

analogy does not fit.
Exploration
Students reexplore the original

topic on its own terms.
Phase Seven:
Generating Analogy
Students provide their own direct

analogy and explore the
imiIarities and differences.
law to further protect themselves. The role of education in a democracy is

critically important because the right toe-vote carries with it the responsibility
to understand issues. An uneducated voting public could be led by a powerhungry political group into voting away their right to freedom. Thus demo-
cracy puts all its faith in the individual, in all the people. . . democracy's
respect for the individual is expressed in the right of individuals to own property such as industries whose purpose is to make profit in competition with
others.
Next the students are told:

List the connections you see between the description of democracy and the
human body Certain elements of the human body are written in the left-hand
column. In the right-hand column jot down the elements in the paragraph on
democracy that you think are parallel.
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PART III
BODY
DEMOCRACY
each cell
each individual
muscles
education
brain
law
body as whole
democratic country
disease
loss of freedom
After the students have filled in their connection list, they are asked to
"write a short paragraph showing your analogical connections. Be sure to
point out where you think the body analogue fits and where it doesn't."
A sample response:
Each body cell is an individual. It may not look like it to the naked eye, but that's
how it looks under a microscope. The muscles are educated because they must
be taught (except for automatic things such as blinking and digestion, and there
may be teaching here that we don't know about) to do certain actswalking,

games, knitting, etc. The brain is the law. If I do something wrong, my mind tells
me and my brain is in my mind. The body as a whole is democratic because it

depends on the health of all the cells. When there is disease the body loses freedom and a power-hungry disease takes over. The body dies when the disease
takes over all the cells. In democracy the people control the government by voting, and then they can always repair bad laws. You can't always repair a body
that is growing older. . . it will finally die.
So far in this sample exercise the students have been held by the hand.
An analogue was presented to them, and all they had to do was make the
connections as they saw them. The final skill taught in this exercise is application. The students' program tells them:
Now think up your own analogue for democracy. Draw on the non-living
world to make sure that your analogue is not like the body analogue. Write
your choice of analogue on the line below. If your analogue doesn't fit, pick a
new one. Remember that analogues never fit exactly, they are just a way of
thinking.
Use this list form to get you going. Fill in the elements of your analogue and
add more elements about democracy if you want.
YOUR ANALOGUE
DEMOCRACY
automobile
democracy
each individual
each part
education
car itself
no gas
design of parts
democracy
loss of freedom
In the final phase of the programmed exercise the students are told:
Now write your connections in the best prose you can. First get your connective thoughts down; then go back and worry about grammar. Don't let grammar
get in your way while you are trying to say what you mean Grammar is a skill
that makes it easier for your reader; so do it later. Try not to write more than
the following lines allow. Quality not quantity. Remember, show the fits and nonfits.
A student writes:
All parts of a car are like the individuals in a democracy. When they are all in
good shape, they are free and the car runs well. The wayeach part was made was
its education. God gave men the right to be free, and God gave the car's engine
the right to runhow the gases explode in the engine is God's gift. If democracy
is neglected, then no freedom. If the car runs out of gas, then no freedom.
One further small phase is necessary to make sure the students realize
that analogues are not exact parallels.. . . The students are told: "On the
lines below, explain where your analogue doesn't fit."
A sample response:
In a democracy, all the people must not neglect the country. In a car, it is the
owner who neglects when he forgets to fill her up. Also I tried to find "profit" in
a carand couldn't. Any competition is a race in a carnot like competition in
a democracy. Also, there are so many freedom laws in a democracy, and the only
law I can think of for a car is the science law that makes the engine run.
The major difference between the two strategies lies in their use of analogy. In strategy one, students move through a series of analogies without
logical constraints; conceptual distance is increased, and imagination is free
to wander. In strategy two, students try to c Dnnect two ideas and to identify
the connections as they move through the analogies. The strategy the
teacher selects depends on whether he or she is trying to help students create something new or to explore the unfamiliar.
SOCIAL SYSTEM
The model is moderately structured, with the teacher initiating the sequence and guiding the use of the operational mechanisms. The teacher
also helps the students intellectualize their mental processes. The students,
however, have freedom in their open-ended discussions as they engage in
metaphoric problem solving. Norms of cooperation, "play of fancy," and intellectual and emotional equality are essential to establishing the setting for
creative problem solving. The rewards are internal, coming from students'
satisfaction and pleasure with the learning activity.
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PART III
Instructors note the extent to which individuals seem to be tied to regularized patterns of thinking, and they try to induce psychological states
likely to generate a creative response. In addition, the teachers themselves
must use the nonrational to encourage reluctant students to indulge in irrelevance, fantasy, symbolism, and other devices necessary to b1 ak out of
set channels of thinking. Because teachers as models are probably essential
to the method, they have to learn to accept the bizarre and the unusual. Instructors must accept all student responses to ensure that students feel no
external judgments about their creative expression. The more difficult the
problem is, or seems to be, to solve, the more necessary it is for teachers to
accept farfetched analogies so that individuals develop fresh perspectives on
problems.
In strategy two teachers should guard against premature analyses. They
also clarify and summarize the progress of the learning activity and, hence,
the students' problem-solving behavior.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
The group most of all needs facilitation by a leader competent in synectics procedures. It also needs, in the case of scientific problems, a labora-
tory in which it can build models and other devices to make problems
concrete and to permit practical invention to take place. The class requires
a work space of its own and an environment in which creativity will be

prized and utilized. A typical classroom can probably provide these necessities, but a classroom-sized group may be too large for many synectics activities, and smaller groups would need to be created.
APPLICATION
USING SYNECTICS IN THE CURRICULUM
Synectics is designed to increase the creativity of both individuals and
groups. Sharing the synectics experience can build a feeling of community
among students. Students learn about their fellow classmates as they watch
them react to an idea or problem. Thoughts are valued for their potential
contribution to the group process. Synectics procedures help create a community of equals in which simply having a thought is the sole basis for status. This norm and that of playfulness quickly give support to even the most
timid participant.
Synectics procedures may be used with students in all areas of the cur-
riculum, the sciences as well as the arLs. They can be applied to both
teacher-student discussion in the classroom and to teacher-made materials
for the students. The products or vehicles of synectics activity need not
always be written: they can be oral, or they can take the form of role
plays, paintings and graphics, or simply changes in behavior. When using
synectics to look at social or behavioral problems, you may wish to notice
situational behavior before and after synectics activity and observe changes.
It is also interesting to select modes of expression that contrast with

the original topic, such as having students paint a picture of prejudice or
discrimination. The concept is abstract, but the mode of expression is
concrete.
Some possible uses of the creative process and its accompanying emotional states are discussed in the following paragraphs.
CREATIVE WRITING
Strategy one of the synectics model can be directly applied to creative

writing, not only because it stimulates the uses of analogies but because it
helps "break set" as writers seek to expand the range of devices they can use
to approach expressive tasks in expository and persuasive as well as the narrative genre.
EXPLORING SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Strategy one provides an alternative for exploring social issues, especially ones where the students are vested in definitions and solutions. The
metaphor creates distance, so the confrontation does not threaten the

learner, and discussion and self-examination are possible. The personal
analogy phase is critical for developing insight.
PROBLEM SOLVING
The objective of strategy two is to break set and conceptualize the problem in a new way in order to suggest fresh approaches to it in personal life
as well as in the classroom. Social relations in the classroom nflict resolution, how to overcome math anxiety, how to feel better about wearing
glasses, how to stop making fun of peoplethe list is endless.
CREATING A DESIGN OR PRODUCT
Synectics can also be used to create a product or design. A product is

something tangible, such as a painting, a building, or a bookshelf, whereas
a design is a plan, such as an idea for a party or a new means of transportation. Eventually, designs or plans become real, but for the purposes of
this model they remain as sketches or outlines.
BROADENING OUR PERSPECTIVE OF A CONCEPT
Abstract ideas such as culture, prejudice, and economy are difficult to

internalize because we cannot see them in the same way we can see a table
or building, yet we frequently use them in our language. Synectics is a good
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PART III
way to make a familiar idea "strange" and thereby obtain another perspec-
tive on it.
We have found that synectics can be used with all ages, though with very
young children it is best to stick to stretching exercises. Beyond this, ad'fistments are the same as for any other approach to teachingcare to work
within their experience, rich use of concrete materials, attentive pacing, and
explicit outlining of procedures.
The model often works effectively with students who withdraw from
more "academic" learning activities because they are not willing to risk
being wrong. Conversely, high-achieving students who are only comfortable
giving a response they are sure is "right" often feel reluctant to participate.
We believe that for these reasons alone, synectics is valuable to everyone.
Synectics combines easily with other models. It can stretch concepts
being explored with the information-processing family; open up dimensions
of social issues explored through role playing, group investigation, or jurisprudential thinking; and expand the richness of problems and feelings
opened up by other models in the personal family.
The most effective use of synectics develops over time. It has short-term
results in stretching views of concepts and problems, but when students are
exposed to it repeatedly, they can learn how to use it with increasing skill
and they learn to enter a metaphoric mode with increasing ease and completeness.
Gordon, Poze, and their associates have developed a wide assortment of
materials for use in schools, especially in the language development areas
(Gordon and Poze, 1976). The strategy is universally attractive, and its fortunate combination of enhancing productive thinking and nurturing empathy and interpersonal loseness finds it many uses with all ages and most
curriculum areas.

EFFECTS
As shown in Figure 14.1, the.synectics model contains strong elements of
both instructional and nurturant values. Through his belief that the creative
process can be communicated and that it can be improved through direct
training, Gordon has developed specific instructional techniques. Synectics
is applied, however, not only to the development of general creative power
but also to the development of creative responses over a variety of subjectmatter domains. Gordon clearly believes that the creative energy will en-
hance learning in these areas. To this end, he emphasizes a social

environment that encourages creativity and uses group cohesion to generate energy that enables the participants to function interdependently in a
metaphoric world.
Another approach to the stimulation of creativity through metaphoric
activity is presented by Judith Sanders and Donald Sanders (1984). Their
FIGURE 14.1
Instructional and nurturant effects:

synectics model.
book is particularly useful for the range of explicit applications it includes.

We have noticed that many educators are not automatically aware of the
spectrum of useful applications for models designed to induce divergent
thinldng. For some reason, many people think of "creativity" as an aptitude
that defines talent in the arts, especially writing, painting, and sculpture,
whereas the creators of these models believe that this aptitude can be improved and that it has applications in nearly every human endeavor and
thus in every curriculum area. The Sanderses provide illustrations in the
setting of goats, the development of empathy, the study of values, a variety
of areas of problem solving, and the increase of perspectives for viewing
topics.
Newby and Ertner (1994) have conducted a nice series of studies where
they taught students to use analogies to approach the learning of advanced
physiological concepts by college students. Their results confirm the experience we have had with K12 students: the analogies both enhanced immediate and long-term learning and increased the pleasure the students had
in learning the material.
Baer (1993) reports a set of studies exploring specific and general divergent-thinking skills that confirms that general creathity-inducing strategies probably apply across many domains but that domain-specific training
may be helpful in some domains. Glynn (1994) has reported a study in sci-
ence teaching that suggests that using analogies in textual material enhances both short- and long-term learning. The inquiry continues!
ENLARGING CONCEPTS
The following transcript illustrates the use of synectics to enlarge on an
academic concept. It was preceded by two concept attainment lessons, one
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on the concept of oxymorons and the other on the concept of small, wealthy
countries. Thus, although this was the students' first experience with synectics, they understood the characteristics of oxymorons and were able to con-
struct them in Phase IV of the lesson.
SCENARIO
Teacher's Lesson Plan:
Phase I. Ask students to write a brief characterization of the world's small,

wealthy countries. (Students have just finished analyzing a statistical data
set on these countries.)
Phase II. Direct analogies (and examples of student responses).
How is the Panama Canal like a bathtub? [drains]
How is the Panama Canal like,a videotape? [long, encased, continuous, viewed]
How is a videotape like a book? [information, pictures]
How is viewing a videotape like dancing? [action, movement]
How is a dream like a skateboard? [falling, adventurous, excalating]
How is a skateboard like a blender? [spinning, wipe-out]
Phase III. Personal analogies (and examples of student responses).

Be the Panama Canal. It's midnight and a long string of ships has just begun their
passage front the Pacific to the Atlantic. How do you feel? [wet, sleepy]
A huge ship, just barely able to clear both sides of the locks, enters the first lock.
How do you feel? [nervous, stop!]
Pilots are getting on and off of ships. How do you feel about the pilots? [friends,
protectors]
The tide is coming in with the ships from the Pacific. How do you feel about the
tides? [smelly, regulai necessary]
Be a raincloud. You're moving into a cleaz blue sky. Inside you are hundreds of
little people with buckets. How do you feel about these little people?
[(laughter), "go for it"]
You move nearer a town. What are you thinking? {Gottcha]
At a signal from you, all the little people begin emptying their buckets. How do
you feel? [relieved, light]
You're almost empty. You're starting to break up and you see a little wisp of
yourself disappearing on the breeze. How do you feel? [nostalgic, sad]
Phase II' Form oxymorons (actual student responses).

lonely friendship
apprehensive relief
archaically new
descending escalation
accustomed newness
encased adventure
friendly enemy
fictional facts
CHAPTEA 14 / SYNECTICS
Phase
V New direct analogies (and student responses).
What's an example of a "lonely friendship"? [trying to resume a friendship after

an argument or fight]
What is a "fictional fact"? [a fantasy, like "Alice in Wonderland"]
Phase VI. Reexamination of the original task.

Think of our small, wealthy nations in terms of "apprehensive relief". [In
the case of Kuwait, Hussein is out but it could happen again; Hong Kong
is prosperous but worried about China and 1997; Qatar could be swallowed
up, they're so small they need a bodyguard; their wealth is based on oil,
which could run out or the world market could change with new kinds of fuels;
etc.]
The use of synectics foiiowing analysis of data on the world's small,

wealthy countries enabled students to elaborate their understanding of
these countries. Initial data analysis left the students with an impression
that these countries have no problems (with the exception of Kuwait). The
synectics process moved students toward a more differentiated view of the
countries that enabled them to hypothesize weaknesses as well as strengths
iji their relative world positions.
SCENARIO
Indian students, aged 1417, break set on a social concept.
Another use of synectics is the development of alternative points of yew
toward social issues, the "breaking of set" when considering solutions. The
lesson described below occurred in India with a group of secondary students who were asked to consider the issue of "Career Women" in their
modern culture. Often this topic does not even come up for discussion because the traditional cultural prescriptions for male and female roles are so
powerful. Ironically, because access to higher education is based solely on
merit, women comprise about half the college and university populations of
India, although few women attempt to pursue a career after marriage. Since
virtually all Indian women marry an enormous human resource is being
lost to a nation that sorely needs it.
[Note: This lesson was conducted in English, a second language for all
the students in the session. Their native tongues were either Hindi or
Marathi.]
Teacher's Lesson Plan:
Phase I. Write a paragraph about "Career Women" in India.
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PART III
Phase II.
Direct analogies (and sample student responses).
How is a feather like a butterfly? [attractive, soft, flight, pursued]

How are scissors like a cactus? [sharp, sting]
How is a snake like a pillow? [slippery gives you nightmares]
How is Ping-Pong like getting married? [risk, battle, ups and downs]
Phase III. Personal analogies (and sample student responses).

Be a tiger. Good morning, tigers, how do you feel? [grand, kingly, hungry majestic, untrustworthy]
As you walk through the forest, you come upon a large body of water. You look
out over the water and see a whale. What are you thinking, tigers? [greedy,
breakfast, threatened, dumbstruck]
Be a feather. Tell me about yourselves, feathers. [no worries, fragile, independent, tramp]
Phase IV Forming compressed conflicts (oxymorons).

Using words you've generated, construct word pairs that seem to fight each
other, word pairs that have a lot of tension or incongruity.
carefully threatened
beautiful nightmare
dangerously attractive
attractive tramp
grandly majestic
majestically greedy
Now select one or two word pairs that have a great deal of incongruity.
beautiful nightmare
dangerously attractive
Phase V. New direct analogies.

What is an example of a beautiful nightmare?
What is dangerously attractive?
Phase VI. Revisiting the original topic.

Write another paragraph on "Career Women," using the point of view of one of
our oxymorons. You don't have to use the actual words of the compressed conflicts but try to capture the meaning of the word pairs.
Here are some of the results, comparing the original (pre) writing with
those produced at the end of the exercise:
Pre: If the career woman is married, then the couple gets along with each other
only if the husband too pursues an equally good career. Otherwise they
tend to split up as the men try to dominate the women, but the women
don't like it so they must pursue a career only if it does not interfere with
the bringing up of the children.
Post: A career woman can succeed if she is dangerously attractive, especially if
she is in the science department. People tend to feast their eyes with her
in their sight and leave their stubbornness behind. Then the customer or
client realizes later that he has had a beautiful nightmare if the material
or the product from the dangerously attractive woman proves to be unworthy of being bought.
Pre: Usually a woman should decide before taking up a career because especially in India if a woman decides to take up a career she's obstructed by
her family. I think you can't look after your own family and a career together and usually men do not want their wives to have a career.
Post: A career woman can be equally dangerous and attractive. She can be dangerous to people in the sense that she threatens them and when she get a
task accomplished she can be equally sweet or attractive to them.
Pre: What do men feel about career women? They generally think,rather chauvinistically, that women are stupid, inefficient, miserable, subordinate coworkers. So, it is natural for men to feel when that come face to face with
career women that they have been brought down to earth. [An]inferiority
complex is expressed, giving vent to anger, jealousy, envy and irritation.
But it takes time to realize that career women are generally much more
determined and ambitious to make large strides in a severely male-dominated world and once this is realized I think men and women can really
work together in one efficient team.
Post: A career woman does give most men beautiful nightmares, some because
they have to work in close contact with her and some because theydo not
want to have a female boss. A career woman has, in my opinion, aninbuilt
tendency to be charmingly attractive and complimentary when presented
with well done tasks and dangerous when work is performed inefficiently
and haphazardly.
Participation in a synectics group invariably creates a unique shared experience that fosters interpersonal understanding and a sense of communityMembers learn about one another as each person reacts to the common
event in his or her unique way. Individuals become acutely aware of their
dependence on the various perceptions of other group members. Each
thought, no matter how prosaic, is valued for its potential catalytic effect on
one's own thoughts. Simply having a thought is the sole basis for status in
this community and the playfulness of synectics activities encourages even
the most timid participant.
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RRT III I ThE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
Syntax of Strategy One: Creating Something New

Phase One: Description of the Present Condition
Teacher has students describe situation or topic as they see it now.
Phase Two: Direct Analogy
Students suggest direct analogies, select one, and explore (describe) it
further.
Phase Three: Personal Analogy
Students "become" the analogy they selected in phase two.
Phase Four: Compressed Conflict
Students take their descriptions from phases two and three, suggest
several compressed conflicts, and choose one.
Phase Five: Direct Analogy
Students generate and select another direct analogy based on the compressed conflict.
hase Six: Reexamination of the Original Task
Teacher has students move back to original task or problem and use the
last analogy and/or the entire synectics experience.
Social System
The model is moderately structured. Teacher initiates phases, but students' responses are quite open. Norms of creativity and "play-of-fancy"
are encouraged. Rewards are internal.
Encourage openness, nonrational, creative expression. Model, if necessary
Accept all student responses.
Select analogies that help students stretch their thinking.
Support System
No special support system.
Syntax of Strategy Two: Making the Strange Familiar
Phase One: Substantive Input

Teacher provides information on new topic.
Phase Two: Direct Analogy
Teacher suggests direct analogy and asks students to describe the analogy.
Phase Three: Personal Analogy

Teacher has students "become" the direct analogy.
Phase Four: Comparing Analogies

Students identify and explain the points of similarity between the new
material and the direct analogy.
Phase Five: Explaining Differences
Students explain where the analogy does not fit.
Phase Six: Exploration

Students reexplore the original topic on its own terms.
Phase Seven: Generating Analogy
Students provide their own direct analogy and explore the similarities
and differences.
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CHAPTER
LEARNING FROM
PRESENTATIONS
Advance Organizers
So why not provide the scaffold (of ideas) at the beginning (of the course)?
Let the student in on the secret of the structure, including an understanding
of how it continually emerges through further inquiry, so that the mind can
be active as the course progresses.
David Ausubel to Bruce Joyce, November 1968
SCENARI0
A guide, beginning a tour of an art museum with a group of high school
students, says, "I want to give you an idea that will help you understand the
paintings and sculpture we are about to see. The idea is simply that art, al-
though it is a personal expressidn, reflects in many ways the culture and

times in which it was produced. This may seem obvious to you at first when
you look at the differences between Oriental and Western art. However, it is
also true that, within each culture, as the culture changes, so the art will
changeand that is why we can speak of periods of art, The changes are
often reflected in the artists' techniques, subject matter, colors, and style.
Major changes are often reflected in the forms of art that are produced."
The guide then points out examples of one or two changes in these charac
teristics. She also asks the students to recall their elementary school days
and the differences in their drawings when they were five and six, and when
they were older. She likens the different periods of growingup to different
cultures.
In the tour that follows, as the students look at paintings and sculpture,
the guide points out to them the differences that result from changing limes.
"Do you see here," she asks, "that in this painting the body of the person is
almost completely covered by his robes, and there is no hint of a human in-
side his clothes? In medieval times, the church taught that the body was
unimportant and that the soul was everything." Later she remarks, "You see
in this painting how the muscularity of the man stands out through his
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/ ThE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
clothing and how he stands firmly on the earth. This represents the Renaissance view that man was at the center of the universe and that his body,
his mind, and his power were very important indeed."
The docent is using an advance organ izerin this case, a powerfulconcept

used by art historians. This organizer contains many subordinate ideas that
can be linked to the particular characteristics of the art objects being

viewed. In this scenario, the teather has thus provided students with what
David Ausubel calls an "intellectual scaffolding" to structure the ideas and
facts they encounter during their lesson.
SCENAR
Wendy and Keith open their course on chemistry by using a combination of inductive and mnemonics models to teach their students the table of
elements, The students learn the names of the elements and their atomic
weights and categorize them in terms of their states at 10 degrees Celsius.
They learn the concepts element, atomic weight, and chemical bond.
These concepts and the knowledge of the table itself serve as the con-
ceptual structure of their course. The information to be studied will be

linked to this structure, and the concepts themselves will be refined and extended as the course proceeds.
SC E N AR JO
Kelly Young Is introducing his students to the difference between the literal and figurative meanings of words, or the difference between denotative
and connotative language. He begins by presenting an organizer, which is
simply to point out that words represent things, actions, states of beings,
and so on, and, while doing so, often suggest things. He uses examples. The
word puppy refers to a young dog, but 1t also suggests playfulness and cuddliness because we think of puppies as playful and cuddly. Limousine refers
to a car, but it suggests status, wealth, and perhaps snobbishness and conspicuous consumption.
He then presents students with a set of short stories and asks them to
read them and pick out words that have, in their opinion, only literal or referential meanings and words that also suggest things they do not refer to
directly. They develop lists of words and then discuss why some words have
only literal and others have literal and figurative meanings. They build categories and then continue their exploration, looking at the works of favorite
authors and continuing to develop their lists.
CHAPTER 15 / LEARNING FROM PRESENTATIONS
ORIENTATiON TO THE MODEL

David Ausubel is an unusual educational theorist. First, he directly addresses the goal of learning subject matter. Second, he advocates the improvement of presentational methods of teaching (lectures and readings) at
a time when other educational theorists and social critics are challenging
the validity of these methods and finding fault with the "passiveness" of expository learning. In contrast to those who advocate discovery methods of
teaching, "open education," and experience-based learning, Ausubel stands
unabashedly for the mastery of academic material through presentation.
Ausubel is also one of the few educational psychologists to address learning, teaching, and currkuIum simultaneously. His theory of meaningfu' ver-
bal learning deals with three concerns: (1) how knowledge (curriculum
content) is organized, (2) how the mind works to process new information
(learning), and (3) how teachers can apply these ideas about curriculum and
learning when they present new material to students (instruction).

Ausubel's primary concern is to help teachers organize an4 convey large
amounts of information as meaningfully and efficiently as possible. He believes that the acquisition of information is a valid, indeed an essential, goal
of schooling, and that certain theories can guide teachers in their job of
transmitting bodies of knowledge to their students. His stance applies to situations in which the teacher plays the role of organizer of subject matter
and presents information through lectures, readings, ahd providing tasks to
the learner to integrate what has been learned. In his approach, the teacher
is responsible for organizing and presenting what is to be learned. The

learner's primary role is to master ideas and information. Whereas inductive approaches lead the students to discover or rediscover concepts, the advance organizers provide concepts and principles to the students directly.
Interestingly, Ausubel believes that students have to be active constructors
of knowledge, but his route is to teach them the metalevel of the discipline
and the metacognitions relative to how to respond to instruction productively, rather than beginning with their perceptual world and leachng them
to induce the structures,
The advance organizer model is designed to strengthen students' cognitive structurestheir knowledge of a particular subject at any given time
and how well organized, clear, and stable that knowledge is (Ausubel, 1963,
p. 27), In other words, cognitive structure has to do with what kind of

knowledge of a field is in our minds, how much of it there is, and how well
it is organized.
Ausubel maintains that a person's existing cognitive structure is the

foremost factor governing whether new material will be meaningful and
how well it can be acquired and retained. Before we can present new material effectively, we must increase the stability and clarity of our students'
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PART III
structures. This is done by giving them concepts that govern the informa-
tion to be presented to them. The preceding example of the art gallery

where the docent presented the idea that art reflects culture and cultural
change, is intended to provide the intellectual scaffolding that will enable
the students to see the information in the paintings more clearly. Opening
the chemistry course as Wendy and Keith did is another examplethe students have little knowledge of chemistry so the organizing concepts provide
a conceptual structure on which the course can be built. Strengthening students' cognitive structure in this way facilitates their acquisition and retention of new information. Ausubel rejects the notion that learning through
listening, watching, or reading is necessarily rote, passive, or nonmeaningful. It can be, of course, but it won't be if the students' minds are prepared
to receive and process information. If their minds are not prepared, the students must fall back to learning by rote (repeating material over and over),
which is arduous and highly subject to forgetting. Any poorly executed

teaching methods can lead to rote learning. Expository teaching is no exception. Well done, it promotes the active processing of information.
WHAT IS MEANINGFUL?
According to Ausubel, whether or not material is meaningful depends

more on the preparation of the learner and on 'the organization of the material than it does on the method of presentation. If the learner begins with
the right "set," and if the material is solidly organized, then meaningful
learning can occur.
IS RECEPTIVE LEARNING PASSIVE?
Ausubel says "No!" provided the proper conditions are set up. During a
lecture or other form of expository teaching, the listeners' or watchers' minds
can be quite active. But they must be involved in relating material to their own
cognitive structure. Ausubel speaks about the learners' struggle with the materiallooking at it from different angles, reconciling it with similar or perhaps contradictory information, and finally translating it into their own frame
of reference and terminology However, this does not happen automatically.
ORGANIZING INFORMATION: THE STRUCTURE OF THE

DISCIPLINE AND COGNITIVE STRUCTURE
According to Ausubel there is a parallel between the way subject matter
is organized and the way people organize knowledge in their minds (their
cognitive structures). He expresses the view that each of the academic disciplines has a structure of concepts (andlor propositions) that are organized
hierarchically (Ausubel, 1963, p. 18). That is, at the top of each discipline
are a number of very broad, abstract concepts that include the more concrete concepts at lower stages of organization. Figure 15.1 illustrates the hierarchical structure of the discipline of economics, with the more abstract
concepts at the top of the pyramid of concepts.
CHAPTER 15 I LEARNING FROM PRESENTATIONS
Structure/Function
Free Competition
Private Ownership
Profits and Profit Motive
Mixed Economy
Political Democracy
Hunting and Gathering

Shifting Cultivation
Subsistence Agriculture
Capitalist Economy
Socialist Economy
Communist Economy
Corporate Economy
Supply
Demand
Price
Capital Goods
Consumer Goods
Basic Types
Principle of Supply and Demand Scarcity

6
Wants and Needs
.
Goods and Services __________ 0
Consumers _________________
FIGURE 15.1 Structure of the discipline of economics. Based on Clinton Boutwell,

Getting It All Together (San Rafael, Calif.: Leswing Press, 1972).
Like Jerome Bruner, Ausubel believes that the structural concepts of each
discipline can be taught to students, for whom they become an informationprocessing systemthat is, they become an intellectual map that students
can use to analyze particular domains and to solve problems within those domains. For example, students can use economic concepts to analyze events
from an economic point of view. Suppose we present filmed case studies depicting activities on a farm, in a grocery store, in a suburban household, and
in a brokerage house. Each case contains many pieces of information. The
students see people engaged in various activities, observe many behaviors,
and listen to several conversations. If the students were then to make an economic analysis of these cases, they would catalog the behaviors and activities
of the people in terms of such concepts as supply and demand, wants and
needs, goods and services, consumers and producers. These concepts help in
several ways. They enable students to make sense of large amounts of data
and to compare the four case studies, discovering the underlying commonalities in the apparent differences.
Ausubel describes the mind as an information-processing and

information-storing system that can be compared to the conceptual structure of an academic discipline. Like the disciplines, the mind is a hierarchically organized set of ideas that provides anchors for information and ideas
and that serves as a storehouse for them. Figure 15.2 shows the hierarchy of
cognitive structure in the discipline of economics. The shaded concepts are
the most inclusive. They have been "learned" and exist in a hypothetical
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PART III
Economic Analysis
Supply and
Demand
Supply
Goods/
Scarcity Wants/Needs Services
Demand
Existing cognitive structure

Potentially meaningful concepts
Capital
Goods
Others
Consumer
Goods
Q Not relevant to existing structure

FIGURE 15.2
An individual's cognitive structure with respect to economics. Based on

Clinton Boutwell, Getting It All Together (San Rafael, Calif.: Leswing
Press, 1972, pp. 180280).
learner's cognitive structure. The unshaded concepts are potentially meaningful because they can be linked to the existing concepts. The black circles
arc not yet potentially meaningful concepts because suitable anchors for
them are not yet incorporated into the cognitive structure. As this information-processing system acquires new information and new ideas, it reorganizes itself to accommodate those ideas. Thus, the system is in a continuous
state of change.
Ausubel maintains that new ideas can be usefully learned and retained
only to the extent that they can be related to already available concepts or
propositions that provide ideational anchors. If the new material conflicts
too strongly with the existing cognitive structure or is so unrelated that no
linkage is provided, the information or ideas may not be incorporated or retained. To prevent this from occurring, the teacfier must sequence the m,terial to be learned and present it in such a way that the ideational anchors
re provided. In addition, the learner must actively reflect on the new material, think through these linkages, reconcile differences or discrepancies,
and note similarities with existing information.
IMPLICATIONS FOR CURRICULUM

Ausubel's ideas about subject matter and cognitive structure have important and direct implications for the organization of curriculum and for
instructional procedures. He uses two principles, progressive differentiation
and integrative reconcjliation, to guide the organization of content in the
subject fields in such a way that the concepts become a stable part of a student's cognitive structure and to describe the student's intellectual role.
Progressive differentiation means that the most general ideas of the dis-
cipline are presented first, followed by a gradual increase in detail and

specificity. Integrative reconciliation simply means that new ideas should be
consciously related to previously learned content. In other words, the sequence of the curriculum is organized so that each successive learning is
carefully related to what has been presented before. If the entire body of material has been conceptualized and presented according to progressive differentiation, integrative .econciliation follows naturally, though. it requires
the learner's active cooperation. Gradually, as a result of both principles, the
discipline is built into the mind of the learner.
Both the discipline and the sequence of instruction are built from the
top down, with the most inclusive concepts, principles, and propositions
presented first. Ausubel points out that the organization of most textbooks
puts each topic in a separate chapter or subchapter, all at the same level of
abstraction and generality. "In most instances," therefore, "students are required to learn the details of new and unfamiliar disciplines before they
have acquired an adequate body of relevant subsumers at an appropriate
level of inclusiveness" (Ausubel, 1968, p. 153).
IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

Advance organizers are the primary means of strengthening cognitive
structure and enhancing retention of new information. Ausubel describes
advance organizers as introductory material presented ahead of the learning task and at a higher level of abstraction and inclusiveness than the learn-
ing task itself. Their purpose is to explain, integrate, and interrelate the
material in the learning task with previously learned material (and also to
help the learner discriminate the new material from previously learned material) (Ausubel, 1968, p. 148). The most effective organizers are those that
use concepts, terms, and propositions that are already familiarto the learners, as well as appropriate illustrations and analogies.
Suppose, for example, a teacher wants students to acquire information
about current energy problems. The teacher provides learning material containing data about possible power sources, general information about U.S.
economic growth and technology, and alternative policies on the energy crisis and future planning. The learning material is in the form of newspaper
articles, a lecture, and perhaps a film. The learning task for the students is
to internalize the informationthat is, to remember the central ideas and
perhaps the key facts. Before introducing students to the learning material,
however, the teacher provides introductory material in the form of an advance organizer to help them relate to the new data.
In this example, the concept of energy might be used as the basis of the
organizer, and related concepts such as energy efficiency and energy conservation can provide auxiliary organizers. Other possibilities are the concept of ecology and its various subsystems dealing with the environment,
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272
the economy, the political arena, and social structures. This second set of
organizers would focus students' attention on the impact of old and new energy sources on the subsystems of our ecological system, whereas the first
set would encourage them to process the data through a consideration of
energy efficiency and energy conservation.
The organizer is important content in itself and needs to be taught. It
may be a concept or a statement of relationship. In either case, teachers
must take time to explain and develop the organizer, because only when it
is fully understood can it serve to organize the subsequent learning material. For example, students must, fully understand the concept of culture before the teacher can use it effectively to organize factual information about
different culture groups. Advance organizers are generally based on the

major concepts, propositions, generalizations, principles, and laws of a discipline. For instance, a lesson or text describing the caste system in India
might be preceded by an organizer based on the concept of social stratification. Similarly, the generalization, "Technological changes can produce
major changes in society and culture" could be the basis for an organizer
preceding the study of several historical periods and places.
Usually, the organizer is tied closely to the material it precedes. However, the organizer can also be created from an analogy from another field
in order to provide a new perspective. For instance, the concept of balance
or form, though generic to the arts, may be applied to literature, tomathematics, to the functioning of the branches of government, or even to our
daily activities. A study of churches can be viewed under the rubric of many
different organizers: those focusing on the economic implications of the

church, cultural or sociological perspectives, or architectural perspectives.
There are two types of advance organizersexpository and comparative.
Expository organizers provide a basic concept at the highest level of abstraction and perhaps some lesser concepts. These represent the intellectual scaffold on which students will "hang" the new information as they encounter it.
Expository organizers are especially helpful because they provide ideational
scaffolding for unflimiliar material. Thus the basic concepts of economics
would be presented prior to the study of the economic condition of a city.
Comparative organizers, on the other hand, are typically used with relatively familiar material. They are designed to discriminate between the old
and new concepts in order to prevent confusion caused by their similarity.
For example, when the learner is being introduced to long division, a ccmparative organizer might be used to point out the similarities and differ-
ences between division facts and multiplication facts. Whereas in
multiplication, the multiplier and multiplicand can be reversed without

changing the productthat is, 3 times 4 can be changed to 4 times 3the
divisor and dividend cannot be reversed in division without affecting the
quotientthat is, 6 divided by 2 is not the same as 2 divided by 6. The comparative organizer can help the learner see the relationship between multiplication and division and clarify the differences between the two. The
learner can then borrow from knowledge about multiplication when learning division without being confused by the differences.
As described in Chapter 3, Ausubel and others have conducted a variety

of studies exploring the general theory, and the Lawton (1977a) studies are
interesting not only with respect to learning and retention of material but
also with respect to the theory's potential for influencing logical operationsthat is, to help develop thinking ability.
In general, Lawton's study seems to support the notionthat what is taught
will be learned. If we present material to students, some of it will be learned.
be
If it is presented with an organizing structure, somewhat moreofwill
think-
learned. If we use a process that helps students develop certain ways

ing, some of those ways of thinking will be learned. Thus, if we avoid using
those models of teaching that provide certain intellectual structures and employ certain thinking processes, we decrease the chances of those structures
and thinking processes being acquired. Generally speaking, the development
of an intellectual structurewhether through presentational or inductive
methodsincreases the probability that students will learn those structures
and the thinking processes associated with them, andthat they will retain material more fully. The effects are strongest with respect to older children.

The model of teaching developed here is based on Ausubel's ideas about
subject matter, cognitive structure, active reception learning, and advance
organizers.
SYNTAX
The advance organizer model has three phases of activity. Phase one is
the presentation of the advance organizer, phase two is the presentation of
the learning task or learning material, and phase three is the strengthening
of cognitive organization. Phase three tests the relationship of the learning
material to existing ideas to bring about an active learning process. A summary of the syntax appears in Table 15.1.
The activities are designed to increase the clarity and stability of the new
learning material so that fewer ideas are lost, confused with one another, or
left vague. The students should operate on the material as they receive it by
relating the new learning material to personal experience and to their existing cognitive structure, and by taking a critical stance toward knowledge.
Phase one consists of three activities: clarifying the aims of the lesson,
presenting the advance organizer, and prompting awareness of relevant
knowledge.
Clarifying the aim of the lesson is one way to obtain students' attention
and to orient them to their learning goals, both of which are necessary to
facilitate meaningful learning. (Clarifying aims is also useful to the teacher
in planning a lesson.)
As mentioned earlier, the organizer is not just a brief, simple statement;
it is an idea in itself and, like the learning material, must be explored intel-
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274
TABLE 15.1
SYNTAX OF THE ADVANCE ORGANIZER MODEL
Phase One:
Presentation of Advance Organizer
Clarify aims of the lesson.

Present organizer:
Identify defining attributes.
Give examples.
Provide context.
Repeat.
Prompt awareness of learner's
relevant knowledge and experience.
Phase iWo:
Presentation of Learning Task or
Material
Present material.
Maintain attention.
Make organization explicit.
Make logical order of learning
material explicit.
Phase Three:
Strengthening Cognitive Organization
Use principles of integrative

reconciliation.
Promote active reception learning.
Elicit critical approach to subject
matter.
Clarify
lectually. It must also be distinguished from introductory comments, which
are useful to the lesson but are not advance organizers. For instance, when
we teach, many of us begin our instruction by asking students to recall what
we did last week or last year or by telling them what we are going to do tomorrow. In this way, we give them a context or orientation for our presen-
tation. Or we may ask students to recall a personal experience and then

acknowledge that what we are about to say resembles that situation or will
help students understand a previous experience. We may also tell them the
objectives of the sessionwhat we hope they will get out of the presentation or discussion. None of the just-described techniques are advance organizers. However, all are part of a well-organized presentation, and some
reflect principles that are central to Ausubel's theory of meaningful verbal
learning and are part of the model of teaching.
The actual organizer, however, is built around the major concepts andlor
propositions of a discipline or area of study. First, the organizer has to be
constructed so that the learner can perceive it for what it isan idea distinct
from and more inclusive than the material in the learning task itself. The
chief feature of an organizer is thus that it is at a higher level of abstraction
and generality than the learning material itself. This higher level of abstraction is what distinguishes organizers from introductory overviews, which
aEe written (or spoken) at the same level of abstraction as the learning material because they are, in fact, previews of the learning material.
Second, whether thc organizer is expository or comparative, the essential features of the concept or proposition must be pointed outand carefully
explained. Thus, the teacher and students must explore the organizer as well
as the learning task. To us, this means citing the essential features, explaining them, and providing examples. The presentation of an organizer need not
be lengthy, but it must be perceived (the learner must be aware of it), clearly
understood, and continually related to the material it is organizing. This
means the learner must already be familiar with the language and ideas in
the organizer. It is also useful to illustrate the organizer in multiple contexts
and to repeat it several times, particularly any new or special terminology
Finally, it is important to prompt awareness of the learner's prior knowl-
edge and experiences that might be relevant to this learning task and
organizer.
Following the presentation of the advance organizer in phase one, in

phase two the learning material is presented in the form of lectures, discussions, films, experiments, or reading. During the presentation, the organization of the learning material needs to be made explicit to the students
so that they have an overall sense of direction and can see the logical order
of the material and how the organization relates to the advance organizer.
The purpose of phase three is to anchor the new learning material inthe
students' existing cognitive structurethat is, to strengthen the student's
cognitive organization. In the natural flow of teaching, some of these procedures may be incorporated into phase two; however, we want to emphasize that the reworking of new material is a separate teaching task, with its
own set of activities and skills. Ausubel identifies four activities: (1) promoting integrative reconciliation, (2) promoting active reception learning,
(3) eliciting a critical approach to the subject matter, and (4) clarification.
There are several ways tO facilitate reconciliation of the new material
with the existing cognitive structure. The teacher can: (1) remind students
of the ideas (the larger picture), (2) ask for a summary of the major attributes of the new learning material, (3) repeat precise definitions, (4) ask for
differences between aspects of the material, and (5) ask students to describe
how the learning material supports the concept or proposition that is being
used as organizer
Active learning can be promoted by: (1) asking students to describe how
the new material relates to the organizer, (2) asking students for additional
examples of the concept or propositions in the learning material, (3) asking
students to verbalize the essence of the material, using their own terminology and frame of reference, and (4) asking students to examine the material from alternative points of view.
A critical approach to knowledge is fostered by asking students to recognize assumptions or inferences that may have been madein the learning
material, to judge and challenge these assumptions and inferences, and to
reconcile contradictions among them.
It is not possible or desirable to use all these techniques in one lesson.
Constraints of time, topic, and relevance to the particular learning situation
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276
PART UI / THE INFORMATION-PROCESSING FAMILY
will guide their use. However, it is important to keep in mind the four goals
of this phase and specific techniques for effective expository teaching.
Ideally, the initiation of phase three is shared by teachers and students.
At first, however, the teacher will have to respond to the students' need for
clarification of some area of the topic and for integration of the new material with existing knowledge.
Essentially, Ausubel has provided us with a method for improving not
only presentations, but also students' abilities to learn from them. The more
we teach students to become activeto look for organizing ideas, reconcile
information with them, and generate organizers of their own (engaging in
inductive activity while reading or watching)the greater their potential for
profiting from presentations becomes.
SOCIAL SYSTEM
In this model the teacher retains control of the intellectual structure,
since it is continually necessary to relate the learning material to the organizers and to help students differentiate new material from previously
learned material. In phase three, however, the learning situation is ideally
much more interactive, with students initiating many questions and comments. The successful acquisition of the material will depend on the learners' desire to integrate it with prior knowledge, on their critical faculties,
and on the teacher's presentation and organization of the material.
The teacher's solicited or unsolicited responses to the learners' reactions
will be guided by the purpose of clarifying the meaning of the new learning
material, differentiating it from and reconciling it with existing knowledge,
making it personally relevant to the students, and helping to promote a critical approach to knowledge. Ideally, students will initiate their own questions in response to their own drives for meaning.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
Well-organized material is the critical support requirement of this
model. The effectiveness of the advance organizer depends on an integral
and appropriate relationship between the conceptual organizer and the content. This model provides guidelines for building (or reorganizing) instructional materials.
APPLICATION
INSTRUCTIONAL USES
The advance organizer model is especially useful to structure extended
curriculum sequences or courses and to instruct students systematically in
the key ideas of a field. Step by step, major concepts and propositions are
and integrated, so that at the end of a period of instruction, the

learners should gain perspective on the entire area being studied.
We would expect an increase, too, in the learners' grasps of factual inexplained
formation linked to and explained by the key ideas. For instance, the
concept of socialization can be drawn on repeatedly in the study of socialization patterns in different cultures and subcultures. This advance organizer thus aids in expanding students' knowledge about cultures.
The model can also be shaped to teach the skills of effective reception
can be explained to
learning. Critical thinking and cognitive reorganization
orderly
thinking
and in the
the learners, who receive direct instruction in
apply
these
technotion of knowledge hierarchies. Ultimately, they can
In
other
words,
this
model
can
inniques independently to new learning.
films,
and
in
other
"reception"
crease effectiveness in reading and watching
activities.
Other modets are also useful for evaluating or applying the material
presented by the advance organizer. For example, the advance organizer
model, after introducing new material in a deductive, presentational way,
attainment activities that reinforce the
can be followed by inductive concept
material or that informally evaluate students' acquisition of the material.

EFFECTS
The probable instructional values of this model seem clearthe ideas theminformation preselves that are used as the organizer are learned, as well as
lectures,
and other
sented to the students. The ability to learn from reading,
interest
in
inquiry
media used for presentations is another effect, as are an
and precise habits of thinking (see Figure 15.3).
Structures
Organizer
Model
Meaningful Assimilation
of Information and Ideas
ierest in inquiryj
[abits of Precise I
Thinking
InstwcUonal
Nurturant
FIGURE 15.3 Instructional and nurturant effects: advance

organizer model.
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278
Syntax
Phase One: Presentation of Advance Organizer
Clarify the aims of the lesson.
Present organizer:
Identify defining attributes.
Give examples or illustrations where appropriate.
Provide context.
Repeat.
Prompt awareness of learner's relevant knowledge and experience.
Phase Two: Presentation of Learning Task or Material

Present material.
Make logical order of learning material explicit.
Link material to organizer.
Phase Three: Strengthening Cognitive Organization

Use principles of integrative reconciliation.
Elicit critical approach to subject matter.
Clarify ideas.
Apply ideas actively (such as by testing them).
Social System
Highly structured.
However, requires active co1labortion between teacher and learner.
1. Negotiation of meaning.
2. Responsively connecting organizer and material.
Support System
Data-rich, well-organized material.
(Caution: Many textbooks do not feature conceptually organized material.)
CHAPTER
THE DEVELOPING
INTELLECT
Adjusting Models to.
Cognitive Development
"DevelopmentallY appropriate" instruction is always just above the current
stage the kids are in. If eve,ything fits the current level just right, we can
actually arrest development. The kids can come to think, that concrete
operations are just fine, which is right just as long as you doft have to solve
new problems or dezl with moral issues.
Larry Kohlber to. Bruce Joyce, January 1964
SCENARIO
A high school in Seattle, Washington, has arranged a minicourse to help
junior students identify the higher education options available and learn
how to apply to junior colleges, business schools. colleges, and universities.

The minicourse has included discussions with college admissionS oftic'ers and the reading of Barron's Guide to Colleges. In addition, representatives of local business and trade schools have spoken to the group.
In the course of their exploration, the students have discovered that
to minority persons to increase

some colleges give preferential treatment
schools.
One of the students, howthe racial and ethnic balances at their
Bakke
ever, has brought in a newspaper clipping about deliberations in the school
c,ase, in which an applicant to law school has challenged whether a
has the right to admit students who belong to racial and ethnic minorities
while denying admission to Caucasian students whose credentials may exceed those of the admitted students.
This precipitates a discussion about the problems differential admisthe issue should be desions policies may create. Some students feel thatschool
and test scores.
cided strictly on the basis of achievement in high
else
is
unfair.
What the heck
"That's the only way," says one. "Anything
are we working for anyway?"
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280
Some students feel that the only way to bring about a better balance in
the professions is to have admissions quotas. Others feel that the problem
is one of economic opportunity and that there would be plenty of qualified
minority students if there were enough scholarships to go around.
Mr. Jones, the guidance counselor, concludes that although many students are arguing from a "right-and-wrong" orientation, a few students
seem to have the attitude that if the system works for them they are not
going to worry about the issues involved. Some students feel that prior
achievement ought to be enough for admission regardless of the social
consequences, while others feel that equality must be achieved regardless
of the feelings of individuals who believe they are victims of "reverse

discrimination."
Since he has respdnsibility for a weekly seminar on general issues of adjustment and personal development, Mr. Jones decides to use this opportu-
nity to help students develop a more complex view of the moral issues
involved. He comments, "I'd like to see if each of you can think this problem out in terms of principles you're willing to live with for a long time to
come. Let's suppose that you are responsible for the admission of students
to colleges. As a group, let's decide on the issues. Then each of you, as an
admissions officer, will prepare an argument about the issuesyou will decide where you stand on the issues, and you will develop admissions principles with which you think you can live."
Mr. Jones has used the framework developed by Lawrence Kohlberg to analyze the stages of students' moral development. He is applying the model
to help students rise toward the next, more complex, level of development.
How do we adjust teaching to the intellectual development of our students?
One of the most important areas of psychology is devoted to the study
of how humans learn to think. It focuses on the question of development
that is, on what kinds of thinking characterize us as infants and on what

changes occur as we mature. Especially important for teachers is the study
of how we can influence the development of thinking and how we can
match instruction to the developmental levels of our students.
In this chapter we concentrate on the work of Swiss psychologist Jean
Piaget (Piaget, 1952), who published his first studies in the mid-1920s and
whose active work spanned 50 years. Recently, Piaget's philosophy of development has gained increasing popularity with educators. Currently, the
most widespread applications of Piaget are in the areas of curriculum for
young children and in the organization of educational environment-for students of all ages. Two strategies are used to apply developmental psychology to teaching. One strategy matches the curriculum to the student's level
Qf development, which necessarily involves accurately assessing the studeiit's stage of growth. Another calls for instruction that accelerates intel-
CHAPTER 16
/ THE DEVELOPING INTELLECT
lectual development, making it occur more rapidly than if teaching did not
take lace. The framework presented here adjusts instruction to the

learner's stage of development.
In our discussion about Piaget we draw heavily on the work of those
who have summarized Piaget's theory and have explained its application, especially Flavell (1963), Hunt (1971), Furth (1969), Sigel and Hooper (1968),
and Wadsworth (1978).
THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT:
INTELLECTUAL STAGES
Piaget believes that human beings develop increasingly more complex levels of thinking in definite stages. Each stage is characterized by the posses-
sion of certain concepts or intellectual structures, which he refers to as

schemas. Schemas organize the world in some way; they are programs or
strategies that individuals use as they interact with the environment. (The
early schemas, for example, are very egocentric and place the student at the
center of the universe.)
In the course of life, students acquire experience. They assimilate this
experience to their present patterns of behavior. After a while, however,
their present patterns become inadequate to explain their new experiences,
and then they develop new schemas by accommodating to the new information. The process of assimilation, is the incorporation of new experience.
Accommodation is changing one's structure to fit the new experiences that
occur.
The schemas mediate between the child and his or her environment.
Furth uses the example of a baby who has acquired the ability to grasp
objects. The baby moves about the environment relating to many things
by grasping themthat is, by reaching out a hand and closing it over
them. Thus, much experience that the baby receives during a certain
period is in terms of grasping behavior, which is his or her schema, or strategy, for relating to his or her surroundings. The child's intellectual capaci-
ties grow through the development of more complex schemas for

assimilating the environment. The major mechanism by which this occurs
is accommodation.
Experience slowly supplies the child with information that cannot be
handled adequately through the existing structures; the schemas gradually
accommodate, and new ones develop. For instance, children ...hopping with
their mothers in the supermarket gradually learn that there is an order to
the aisles in which the goods are stacked. Enc''intering this order again and
again, and learning that certain objects are always in the same places are
likely, together with other experiences, to result in an understanding of

order. Prior to acquiring such an appreciation, the child sees any collection
of objects as unordered. After that, he or she is able to perceive their order.
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282
PART III
The child is now intellectually able to assimilate new information, such as
that baseball players run to first base first, whereas before that the schema
to assimilate that information was missing.
At each stage of development the human organism is, for a while, in a
state of equilibriumthat is, the experiences assimilated are compatible
with the schemas in operation. After a certain period the child has assimilated new experiences that cannot be handled by the existing schema, and
this sets up an imbalance between the data being assimilated from the environment and the existing cognitive structure. When this point is reached
a cognitive reorganization is necessary In a sense, pressure has built up,
and intellectual movement must take place: new shape of development is
entered.
Piaget's stance is that the development of the schemas or structures occurs in the same order in all of us and at a relatively predetermined rate
a rate governed by our physiological maturation. Until the requisite

neurological structures are developed, these schemas cannot appear.
Piaget thus classifies intellectual development in terms of stages that are
characterized by the way the schemas permit the organism to relate to the
world. At any given stage, one is able to perform certain kinds of thinking
and not others. The earlier stages, however, lay the basis for future development. The stages are:
1. Sensorimotor stage (0 to 2 years)

2. Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)
a. Preconceptual thought (2 to 4 years)
b. Intuitive thought (4 to 7 years)
3. Operational stage (7 to 16 years)
a. Coicrete operational thought (7 to 11 years)
b. Formal operational thought (11 to 16 years)
According to Edmund Sullivan:
Sensorimotor thought (birth to about 2 years) refers to those behaviors which
are preverbal and are not mediated by signs or symbols. At birth the child mediates with the world with inborn reflex schemas and has no conception of object permanence. During this period the child is concerned with objects as
objects. Thus, when a toy is hidden from his view, he shows no searching movements, since he has no internal representation of the objective world (i.e., object schemas) when not perceiving it. Gradually object permanence develops
through repeated experiences with the world. As the child constructs object permanence through experience, primitive concepts of space, time, causality, and
intentionality, which were not present at birth,
develop and are incorporated
into present patterns of behavior.
The second stage involves preoperational thought (about age 2 to 7 years).
This stage is further divided into two substages: preconceptual thought (transductive), which extends from age 2 to about 4, and intuitive thought, which extends from about age 4 to 7.
CHAPTER 16 / THE DEVELOPING INTELLECT
(a) The substage of prconceptual thought marks the beginning of what Piaget (1960) calls conceptual intelligence. In contrast to sensorimotor intelligence, adaptations are now beginning to be mediated by signs and symbols,
particularly words and images. During this period, the child develops what Pi-
aget calls the "symbolic function," or imagery. The main concern during this period will be with such activities as imitation, play, and the preconcepts shown
in language behavior.
(b) The substage of intuitive thought appears at approximately age 4 and

marks the halfway house between preconceptual thought and the more advanced stage of concrete operations. The thought exemplified in this stage is il-
lustrated in the following problem. The child is presented with two small
glasses, Al and A2, which are identically the same in height and dimensions.
The child places one bead in each glass alternatively until both are filled.
Glass A2 is emptied into a taller but thinner glass B. The child in the preconceptual stage thinks that the amount of beads has changed in the process, even
though he says no beads were removed or added. The child says that there are
more beads in B, since it is taller than A, or that there are more beads in Al,
since it is wider than B. The child is centered on one aspect of the situation,
"height" or "width." Because the child cannot hold the centering simultaneously,
he is unable to solve the conservation problem. The child in the intuitive stage
still remains prelogical, but decenterings occur where previous centerings led
to absurd conclusions. Thus the child who estimated that there are more beads
in the taller glass because the level has been raised centers his attention on
height and ignores width. If the experimenter continues to empty the beads into
the thinner and taller glass,there will be a time when the child replies that there
are fewer beads in the taller glass, since it is too narrow.
The stage of operational thought marks the advent of rational activity in the
child. Up to this time the child demonstrates a logic (transductive) which is
quite different from that of the adult members of his species (i.e., inductive and
deductive).
(a) Concrete operational thought. The first substage of operational thought is
labelled "concrete operations." Piaget (1960) defines an operation as an internalized action which can return to its starting point, and which can be integrated with other actions alsO possessing this feature of reversibility. Operations
are "mental acts" which were formerly actions with reversible properties. Piaget
calls the operational structures between the ages of 7 and 11 years "concrete"
because their starting point is always some real system of objects and relatiorf.
that the child perceives; that is, the operations are carried out on concrete objects. The emergence of concrete operations is often a sudden phenomenon in
development. Piaget (1960) attributes their emergence to a sudden thawing of
intuitive structures which were up to now more rigid, despite their progressive
articulation.
(b) Formal operational thought. The substage of formal operations (11 to 16
years) marks the emergence of vertical decalages, that is, the ability to make vertical separations by solving problems at a level which transcends concrete ex-
perience (the area of horizontal decalages). Formal thinking marks the

completion of the child's emancipation from reliance on direct perception and
action. In contrast to the concrete action-oriented thought of the child, the adolescent thinker goes beyond the present and forms theories about everything.
This thought is considered "reflective" since the adolescent reasons on the basis
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PART III
of purely formal assumptions. He can consider hypotheses as eithel- true or false

and work out inferences which would follow if the hypotheses were true. (Sullivan, 1967, pp. 49)
To summarize the major points covered so far: (1) Intelligence is defined
as operations for transforming data from the environment. These operations change with age and are described as logical structures (or schemas)
for processing information. (2) Development is associated with passage
from one stage of operation to another. (3) Development is a function of ex-
perience and maturation.
ADJUSTING LEARNING ACTIVITIES TO

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Whereas Piaget concentrated his work on describing the stages of intelli-
gence, American educators have been interested in the factors that

might affect development. Barry Wadswoi-th has provided a summary of
their ideas on teaching and learning, which affect how we review Piaget's
framework.
The first notion is that teaching is the creation of environments in which
students' cognitive structures can emerge and change. The goal is to provide
learning experiences that give the student practice with particular operations. Piaget believes that cognitive structures will grow only when students
initiate their own learning experiences; learning must be spontaneous. The
assumption is that students will initiate learning experiences that optimally
match their cognitive structures, provided the opportunity exists in the environment, because students intuitively know what activities they need. Piaget believes that if we teach too far above the students, learning is not
possible. Each person must construct his or her own knowledge, which cannot be absorbed ready-made from adults. He feels that we may alter students' verbal responses and behaviors as a result of direct teaching and
reinforcement, but he does not consider verbal fluency to be "real knowledge" that cn occur only as a result of developmentthat is, when the task
is useful to the student, and when he or she is psychologically ready.
The student's role in the learning experience muse be active and selfdiscovering, and the experiences themselves must be inductive. In learning
new operations children must be given extensive opportunity to manipulate
the environment. For young children the materials we use should be concrete instead of symbolic representations (for example, blocks or bottle caps
instead of numbers). The environment should be rich in sensory experiences. Piaget sees important symbolic meaning in the manipulation, play,
and aesthetic behaviors of children, activities that have much to tell us
about children's intellectual development. The teacher's function is to

arrange for learning experiences that facilitate stage-relevant thinking and
to organize instruction so that students can initiate the activity and discover
for themselves the logical connections between objects or events (for

example, three marbles plus two marbles equals two marbles plus three
marbles).
The second principle is based on Piaget's distinction among three tyjs
of knowledge: physical, social, and logical. The demands of the learning situation are different for the three types of knowledge. Physical knowledge
refers to learning about the nature of matter (for example, cotton is soft,
metal is hard and often unbendable, balls drop to the ground when you release them). Social knowledge is obtained through feedback from other people. It provides a framework for determining the effects of social actions and
social connections (for instance, most people say hello when they first see
each other, and celebrate their birthdays each year). Social knowledge must
come through free interaction with other people in the environment. We

need to hear other people's views, have different role models available, and
make choices for ourselves. Logical knowledge is concerned with mathematics and logic. It is constructed by processes of reflection and abstraction. The teacher's role in physical and logical knowledge is to provide a
setting in which students construct this knowledge for themselves through
questioning and experimenting. Teachers should refrain from giving answers directly but may use prompting questions that encourage further
thought and exploration. For example, suppose a child is playing with two
eggsone hard-boilednear a bowl of water. The teacher might ask, "What

happens if you put the eggs in the water?" Or the teacher might be serving
juice to the students and ask, "How many juices do we need?" It is important to establish a climate in which wrong answers are perfectly acceptable,
even valued, because they reveal what we know and how we think.
With respect to moral development, Piaget describes children as moving in a general direction away from egocentric and individualized ways of
thinking to more socially centered, publicly validated ways of thinking. In
the egocentric stages, the children tend to judge actions solely by their consequences. For example, if someone bumps into them, they usually judge
the act by whether they are hurt. An intentional "hurt" is judged to be "bad."
As people move toward a more sociocentric organization, they begin to

judge acts by intentibns, and become concerned not only with whether injury was justified but also with whether perhaps anyone intended to hurt
them. Participation with others is more on a basis of equality and mutual
respect. The opportunity to exchange viewpoints and share personal experiences produces the cognitive conflict that is fundamental to intellectual
development. Teachers can foster social knowledge by providing many opportunities for students to interact with each other, especially by sharing
their views and cooperating on tasks. In addition, teachers themselves must
provide structured social feedback (for example, "John, we can only have
one person sharing at a time. Can you wait until Kevin is finished?") so that
social conventions are conveyed.
The last principle of teaching and learning has to do with the role of the
social environment. Piaget maintains that especially logical and social
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286
knowledge are best learned from other children. They provide a source
of motivation and information in a linguistic form that matches each

other's cognitive structures. The peer group is also a reliable source of
disequilibrium.
Given these principles, Wadsworth (1978) outlines three roles for teachers who operate from a Piagetian orientation: (1) organizer of the learning
environment; (2) assessor of children's thinking; and (3) initiator of group
activities, especially play games, and discussions.
During the past 10 years, three Piaget-derived educational models have
become prominent, particularly among early childhood educators. Each
places a different amount of emphasis on each of the three roles identified
by Wadsworth. Each model emphasizes ways of adjusting Instruction to the
cognitive development of the students.
The first model was developed by Celia Lavatelle and is referred to as a
packaged Piaget-based curriculum for children 4 to 7 years old (Lavatelle,
1970). It consists of 100 activities occurring over a 30-week period. Lavatelle
recommends that the activities be completed in 10- to 15-minute periods

with small groups of five to six children. She also outlines other activities,
especially with self-directed play. The objective of Lavatelle's curriculum is
to develop children's intellectual processes through self-directed activity
The topics include classification; number, measurement, and space operations; and seriation operations. A typical early activity might have the children identify all squares that are blue (object matching on basis of two or
more properties).
While Lavatelle accents the curriculum, in his program Project Followthrough: The Cognitively Oriented Curriculum, David Weikart (1971) in-
cludes the entire learning environment. The curriculum is' similar to

Lavatelle's, with the core areas being classification (grouping), seriation (ordering), spatial relations, and temporal relations. Weikart's activities stress
experiencing concepts first on a motoric (physical manipulation) level and
then gradually adding the verbal levelfirst the sign (objects from pictures)
and then the symbol (words alone). Each goal is implemented along all
three levels.
The third educational model is that of Kamii and DeVries (1974). Their
current model represents a shift away from specific objectives and a sequenced curriculum. The new program is based on Piaget's ideas about the
nature of knowledge and teachers' special role in relationship to each type
of knowledge.
In Kamii and DeVries's program, the long-term objectives are general
ones: intellectual inventiveness, critical thinking, and autonomous judgment. The focus is on both cognitive and socioemotional development, because they are interdependent in the learning process. Content serves as a
motivator, capturing children's interest enough to act on it as they discover
the three basic kinds of knowledge. The program developers identify this
knowledge in general terms. Physical knowledge refers to knowledge about
such attributes of everyday objects as weight, texture, and size, and knowl-
edge about a repertoire of actions, such as folding, cutting, squeezing. Social knowledge refers to knowledge of social informationfor example,
about occupational rolesand to knowledge of norms for social conduct
and social regularities. Logico-mathernatical knowledge includes knowledge
of classification, seriation, number, space, and time concepts. Kamii and

DeVries believe strongly that the child must construct his or her own knowledge but that the teacher can, through appropriate questions or comments,
facilitate this process. Finally, they stress the importance of children's play
as a learning medium and include a set of games.
Despite clear differences among these Piagetian model builders, they

generally agree about the value of concrete experiences, of play, and of problem solving. They also all deemphasize didactic instruction. Although they
disagree about how, specifically, learning experiences should be designed,
they do not dispute the need for active, inquiry-oriented experiences.
David Olson (1970) has identified three modes of instruction that can
be built around Piaget's model. The first is to develop situations that pull
the students toward a more complex level of thinking. The second is a language-oriented teaching style in which the student is presented with rules
that require a more complex level of thinking. In a sense, the teacher provides the next step of thinking to the child with the assumption that if the
child can grasp what is being said, he or she will take on the more complex
way of operating. The third strategy can be described as modeling. Essentially one demonstrates the performance of the operation for the student either in person, or through a. film or television. For example, to teach the
concept of reversibility as it is represented in the commutative property of
multiplication (a x b = b x a), a teacher might set up a three-by-four matrix
and count off concrete aids such as checkers. Then the teacher could count
the material first by threes and then by fours, thus modeling the proposition that the product is the same regardless of whether the three or the four
takes the first position.
Psychologist Irving Sigel has developed and studied the use of a model
resembling the first of Olson's alternatives. That is, the student is set up with
a situation that does not make sense at his or her level of thinking. The idea
is that, confronted with clear evidence that his or her thinking is not adequate, the student will reach toward another level of development. For
Sigel, teaching involves providing experiences that will produce a deep disequilibrium, so that the child will have to develop a new kind of logic to deal
with the experiences he or she is having. In other words, the teacher must
set up confrontations that are well matched to the child's stage of development (Sigel, 1969, p. 473). According to Sigel, the form of the confrontation
as well as its nature depend on the developmental level of the child. He

notes that "verbal and/or nonverbal techniques ranging from questions,
demonstrations, and/or environmental manipulations can be employed in
the service of confrontation" (p. 173). Thus, like Olson, Sigel acknowledges
alternative instructional approaches for setting up situations that require of
students slightly higher levels of thinking.
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PART III
For moral development, Lawrence Kohlberg stresses the importance of

an atmosphere in which open and searching discussion is the norm. In ad-
dition, he recommends that the classroom and, whenever possible, the

school model a just society in which the value of moral inquiry is strongly
nurtured. His research, in the United States and abroad, indicates that
home and school atmosphere are critically important to moral development. Thus, throughout his life, he argued for the development of schools
where the search for justice is a dominant theme.
The developmental framework is applicable to both cognitive and social
development. It cuts across all areas in which illogic or problems in thinking arise, and it can be used for diagnosis and evaluation as well as for instructional purposes. The model, inherently interwoven with developmental
considerations, can be employed to ensure that a child can operate

smoothly in his or her environment or to specify activities that will accelerate the child's cognitive growth.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Kohlberg's work on moral development is especially descriptive of older
students. He identifies three major levels of moral development: preconventional, conventional, and postconventional (principled or autonomous).
Each level has two stages. These are described here:
A. Preconventional level. At this level, the child is responsive to cultural rules
and labels of good and bad, right and wrong, but interprets these labels in
terms of either the physical or the hedonistic consequences of action (punishment, reward, exchange of favors) or in terms of the physical power of
those who enunciate the rules and labels. The level is divided into the following two stages:
1. The punishment and obedience orientation. The physical consequences of
action determine its goodness or badness regardless of the human meaning or value of these consequences. Avoidance of punishment and un-
questioning deference to power are valued in their own right, not in

terms of respect for an underlying moral order supported by punishment
and authority (the latter being stage four).
2. The instrumental relativist orientation. Right action consists of that which
instrumentally satisfies one's own needs and occasionally the needs of
others. Human relations are viewed in the terms of the marketplace. Elements of fairness, of reciprocity, and of equal sharing are present, but
they are always interpreted in a physical, pragmatic way. Reciprocity is
a matter of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours," not of loyalty or
justice.
B. Conventional level. At this level, maintaining the expectations of the individ
ual's family, group, or nation is perceived as valuable in its own right, regardless of immediate and obvious consequences. The attitude is not only
one of conformity to personal expectations and social order, but of loyalty to
itof actively maintaining, supporting, and justifying the order and of identifying with the perspns or group involved in it. At this level, there are the
following two stages:

1.
The interpersonal concordance or "good boynice girl" orientation. Good

behavior is that which pleases or helps others and is approved by them.
There is much cothormity to stereotypical images of what is majority or
"natural" behavior. Behavior is frequently judged by intention"he

means well" becomes important for the first time. One earns approval by
being "nice."
2. The "law and order" orientation. Orientation at this stage is toward au-
thorit fixed rules, and the maintenance of the social order. Right behavior consists of doing one's duty showing respect for authority and
maintaining the given social order for its own sake.
C. Postconventional, autonomous, or principled -level. At this level, there is a

clear effort to define moral values and principles that have validity and application apart from the authority of the groups or persons holding these
principles and apart from the individual's own identification with these
groups. This level again has two stages.
1. The social-contract, legalistic orientation. Generally this stage has utilitarian overtones. Right action tends to be define1 in terms of general in-
dividual rights and in terms of standards that have been critically

examined and agreed on by the whole society. There is a clear awareness
of the relativism of personal values and opinions and a corresponding

emphasis on procedural rules for reaching consensus. Aside from what.
is constitutionally and democratically agreed on, the right is a matter of
personal values and opinion. The result is an emphasis on the "legal point
of view," but with the possibility of changing law in terms of rational con-
siderations of social utility (rather than freezing it in terms of stage 4

"law and order"). Outside the legal realm, free agreement and contract
are the binding elements of obligation. This is the "official" morality of
the American government and Constitution.
2. The universal ethical principle orientation. Right is defined by the decision
of conscience in accord with self-chosen ethical principles appealing to
logical comprehensiveness, universality, and consistency. These principles are abstract and ethical (the Golden Rule, or a categorical imperative); they are not concrete moral rules like the Ten Commandments. At
heart, these are universal principles of justice, or of the reciprocity and
equality of human rights, and of respect for the dignity of human beings
as individual persons (Kohlberg, 1976, pp. 2152 16)
Kohlberg believes it is possible to influence a student's level of thinldng

and that it i essential to organize instruction with development as a guiding principle. The important conditions appear to be: (1) .exposure to the
next higher stage of reasoning; (2) exposure to situations posing problems
and contradictions for the child's current structure, leading to dissatisfaction with his or her current level; and (3), an atmosphere of interchange and
dialogue combining the first two conditions, in which conflicting moral
views are compared in an open manne' (Kohlberg, 1976, p. 190). For ex-
ample, suppose students are involved in an argument and cannot make

judgments based on general moral grounds. The teacher would try to confront them with the need to operate on a ;rnore general level. If the student
reacted to city council action only in terms of "I like that" or "I don't like
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PART III
that," the task would be to help them try to find whether general principles
underlie their judgment and to move toward a more general basis of judgment. Teachers need to be familiar with the development hierarchy and
have probing questions and countersuggestions ready.
Kohlberg stresses that matching teaching to moral levels is not a minor
point. To provide a stage-one child with stage-five tasks would be unproductive. Teaching should aim about one level above the student's level of
functioning. The optimal grouping pattern is probably one that spans two,
perhaps three stages.
In terms of specific educational practice the first task, of course, is to
learn about the children's level of moral judgment. This can be done
through the use of carefully selected tasks or more informally through observing students.' behavior in conflict situations. For example, if students
learning about the patterns of bills passed by a legislature find that pressure
groups have been getting their own way by lobbying, we can expect that the
students' responses will vary substantially in terms of moral judgment.

Some may be reluctant to believe that council members are anything but
wise and just (probably an indication of stage-four orientation: authority
and maintaining social order). Others may be quick to condemn, especially
if the majority leans that way (orientation to pleasing). In these cases the
teacher can introduce them to a more complex analysis by getting them .to
look at the general implications of their position. ('Should we say a pressure group should never have access to lawmakerswhat are the pros and
cons?" "What are the positions of otherroups in the community that have
not been able to lobby successfully?") Teachers should not preach a set of
principles for the behavior of lawmakers, however. This both denies the students the new elements they need for 'development and is ineffective as a
method.
Much research describes the stages of moral development, and the find-
ings are relatively consistent in confirming the progression through the

stages and the movement from the relatively egocentric toward the less selfcentered views of moral development. However, it should not be assumed
that all persons progress naturally through the higher stages of development. Many persons appear to be arrested in their development before or
at the stage of the "good boynice girl" orientation. Thus, the attempt to ncrease moral development is relatively critical.
EVALUATION OF DEVELOPMENrAL MODELS

Over the last 20 years there has been a considerable amount of research
to determine the effectiveness of the various, models built on developmen.
tal psychology, and a number of excellent summaries of this work have
been published. (See Rosskopf, 1971; a review by Klausmeier and Hooper,
1974; a very thorough review by Hooper, 1974; and Kohlberg, 1977. Taken
together these sources provide a thorough analysis.)
The results of short-term studies are generally positive. That is, directly
targeted instruction such as that advocated by Sigel, Olson, and Kohlberg
results in the particular types of learning desired. Interestingly enough,
some of the more general approachesputting the student in a rich environment (Kamii and DeVries; Weikart) and modeling generally more complex logical operationsappear to have much the same result as the more
narrowly focused models. We are just beginning to see the results of the first
long-term studies, which should indicate whether teaching during the early
years results in lasting increments in logical operations. (Research from the
Weikart program discussed earlier in the chapter indicates that students
now in high school show high achievement and low deviancy rates.)
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AND OTHER MODELS

OF TEACHING
One of the important uses of developmental psychology is a guide for
adjusting instruction to the developmental level of the students. We can seek

to frame instruction to the present stage of development, or we can seek the
"optimal mismatch" by pitching instruction slightly above the current operating level of the students.
Nearly all current research is with relatively young children. Improving
the cognitive development model of older children has not been explored
fully, but we feel that older, generally more able learners will probably
profit even more than younger children from developmentally appropriate
teaching.
The essence of the idea for adjusting instruction to the developmental
stages of the learner is captured in the idea of the "optimal mismatch." We
observe the learners as they react to the cognitive task demands of instructionfor example, a classification task. We attempt to determine the level
of development indicated by the responses of the students. Then we gently
nudge the students toward the next more complex level by modulating the
task demands. Over a period of weeks we should begin to see the students
push their way toward the next stages.
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THE PERSONAL
FAMILY
Focus on the Person
From birth, we are acted on by the world. Our social environment gives us
our language, teaches us how to behave, and provides love to us. But our
individual selves configure themselves relentlessly and create their own interior environments. Within those worlds each of us creates our identity.
Our personalities have remarkable continuity from early in life (White,

1980). Yet we have great capacity to change. We can adapt to a wide range
of climates and physical environments. We are incomplete without others
and can love and receive love, generating perhaps the greatest growth of
all. Paradoxically, we also have the capacity to hold tight to behavior that
doesn't workas if to force the world to yield and make our worst features
productive. We are the greatest! And we can be mulish!
Personal models of teaching share several purposes. The first is to lead
the student toward greater mental and emotional health by developing selfconfidence and a realistic sense of self and by building empathetic reactions
to others. The second is to increase the proportion of education that emanates from the needs and aspirations of the students themselves, taking
each student as a partner in determining what he or she will learn and how
he or she will learn it. The third is to develop specific kinds of qualitative
thinking, such as creativity and personal expression.
These models can be used in four ways:
First, the personal models can be used as general models of teaching,
even to design a school, when they have adopted a nondirective philosophy as the core approach to education (for example, Aspy and Roebuck,
1973; Neill, 1960) or as a major component (Chamberlin and Chamberun, 1943).
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PART IV / THE PERSONAL FAMILY
Second, they can be used to flavor a learning environment designed

around other models. For example, we can "carry around with us" concern
for the students' self-concepts, and we can think carefully about how to
shape everything we do to maximize their positive feelings about self and to
minimize the likelihood that our teaching will diminish them as people. In
other words, we can use these models to attend to the personal qualities and
feelings of our students and to look for opportunities to make them partners with us and to communicate affirmatively with them. We will concentrate on this use of the model.
Third, we can use their unique properties to counsel students when

we wish to help students learn to reach out to the world more fully and
positively.
Fourth, we can build curricula in the academic subjects around students. The "experience" methods for teaching reading, for example, use
student-dictated stories as the initial reading materials and student-selected
literature as the chief materials once initial competence has been established. Combined with other models, the personal models can design independent study courses, including resource-based programs.
In addition to the belief that enhancing the learner as a person is a
worthwhile educational goal in its own right, a major thesis of this family
of models is that better-dev'eloped, more affirmative, self-actualizing learners have increased learning capabilities. Thus, personal models will increase
academic achievement by tending the psyches of the learners. This thesis is
supported by a number of studies (Roebuck, Buhler, and Aspy, 1976) that
indicate that the students of teachers who incorporate personal models into
their repertoires increase their achievement.
From the range of personal mOdels, we have selected several to illustrate
the genre. The chapter on Carl Rogers's nondirective teaching model illustrates the philosophy and techniques of the major spokesperson for the family, and the chapter on states of growth deals with the organization of the
classroom as a self-disciplining community of learners.
CHAPTER
NONDIRECTIVE
TEACHING
The Learner at the Center
The hard part of figuring out how to teach is learning when to keep your
mouth closed, which is most of the time.
Carl Rogers, to a seminar at Columbia University, about 1960
SCENARI0
John Denbro, a 26-year-old high school English teacher in suburban
Chicago, is very concerned about Mary Ann Fortnay, one of his students.
Mary Ann is a compulsive worker who does an excellent job with literature
assignments and writes excellent short stories. She is, however, reluctant to
share those stories with other members of the class and declines to participate in any activities in the performing arts.
Mr. Denbro recognizes that the issue cannot be forced, but he wants
Mary Ann to understand why she is reluctant to allow any public display of
her talents. She will make her own decisions about participation that involves sharing her ideas.
One afternoon she asks him to read some of her pieces and give her his
opinion.
Mary Ann: Mr. Denbro, could you take a look at these for me?
Denbro: Why sure, Mary Ann. Another short story?
Mary Ann: No, some poems I've been working on. I don't think they're
very good, but I'd like you to tell me what you think.
Denbro: When did you write them?
Mary Ann: One Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks ago.
Denbro: Do you remember what started you thinking that you wanted
to write a poem?
Mary Ann: I was feeling kind of sad and I remembered last month
when we tried to read "The Waste Land," and it seemed to be trying
to say a lot of things that we couldn't say in the usual way. I liked
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296
the beginning lines, "April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out
of the dead land." (T S. Eliot, "The Waste Land")

Denbro: And this is what you wrote down?
Mary Ann: Yes. It's the first time I've ever tried writing anything like
this.
Denbro: (Reads for a few minutes and then looks up.) Mary Ann,
these are really good.
Mary Ann: What makes a poem good, Mr. Denbro?
Denbro: Well, there are a variety of ways to judge poetry. Some methods are technical and have to do with the quality of expression and
the way one uses metaphors and analogies and other literary devices. Others are subjective and involve the quality of expression,
the real beauty of the words themselves.
Mary Ann: I felt very good when I was writing them, but when I read
them over, they sound a little dumb to me.
Denbro: What do you mean?
Mary Ann: Oh, I don't know. I guess the main thing is that I feel
ashamed if anybody else sees them.
Denbro: Ashamed?
Mary Ann: I really don't know. I just know that if these were to be read
aloud, say to my class, I would die of mortification.
Denbro: You really feel that the class would laugh at these?
Mary Ann: Oh sure, they wouldn't understand.
Denbro: How about your short stories? How do you feel about them?
Mary Ann: You know I don't want anybody to see what I write.
Denbro: You really feel that you want to put them away somewhere
so nobody can see them?
Mary Ann: Yes, I really think so. I don't know exactly why, but I'm
pretty sure that no one in my class would understand them.
Denbro: Can you think of anybody else that might understand them?
Mary Ann: I don't know. I kind of think there are people out there who
might, but nobody around here, probably.
Denbro: How about your parents?
Mary Ann: Oh, they like everything I write.
Denbro: Well, that makes three of us. Can you think of anybody else?
Mary Ann: I guess I think adults would, but I'm not really so sure
about Other kids.
Denbro: Kids are somehow different from adults in this respect?

Mary Ann: Well, kids just don't seem to be interested in th4se kinds of
things. I feel they put down anybody who tries to write hything.
Denbro: Do you think they feel this way about the authors we read in
class?
Mary Ann: Well, sometimes they do, but I guess a lot of the time they
really enjoy the stories.
Denbro: Well then, why do you think they wouldn't like what you write?
Mary Ann: I guess I really don't know, Mr. Denbro. I guess I'm really
afraid, but I can't put my finger on it.
CHAPTER 17 / NONDIRECTIVE TEACHING
Denbro: Something holds you. back.

Mary Ann: In a lot of ways, I really would like to find out whether any-
body would appreciate what I write. I just don't know how to go

about it.
Denbro: How would you feel if I were to read one of your short stories but not tell them who wrote it?
Mary Ann: Would you promise?
Denbro: Of course I would. Then we could talk about how everybody
reacted. You would know that they didn't know who had written it.
Mary Ann: I don't know, but it sounds interesting.
Denbro: Depending on what happened, we could cook up some kind
of strategy about what to do next.
Mary Ann: Well, I guess you've got me right where I don't have anything to lose.
Denbro: I hope we're always where you don't have anything to lose,
Mary Ann; but there's always a risk in telling about ourselves.
Mary Anm What do you mean, telling about ourselves?
Denbro: I think I should go nowbut let me pick one of your stories
and read it next week, and then let's get together on Wednesday and
talk abOut what happened.
Mary Ann: OK, and you promise not to tell?

Denbro: I promise. I'll see you next Wednesday after school.
Mary Ann: OK. Thanks a lot, Mr. Denbro. Have a good weekend.
The nondirective teaching model is based on the work of Carl Rogers (1961,
1971) and other advocates of nondirective counseling. Rogers extended to
education his view of therapy as a mode of learning. He believed that positive human relationships enable people to grow, and therefoie that instruction should be based on concepts of human relations in contrast to concepts
of subject matter.
As we mentioned in the introduction to this section of the book, we will
concentrate on the use of the model to "flavor" teachingto keep the stu-
dents' frames of reference in mind, keep central their growth in self, and
help them solve learning problems.
From the nondirective stance, the teacher's role is that of a facilitator
who has a counseling relationship with students and who guides their
growth and development. In this role, the teacher helps students explore new
ideas about their lives, their schoolwork, and their relations with others. The
model creates an environment where students and teachers are partners in
learning, share ideas openly, and communicate honestly with one another.
The nondirective model nurtures students rather than controlling the

sequence of learning. The emphases are more with the development of effective long-term 'earning styles and the development of strong, welldirected individual personalities than they are with short-term instructional
or content objectives. The nondirective teacher is patient and does not sacrifice the long view by forcing immediate results.
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PART IV I THE PERSONAL FAMILY

We will concentrate on the elements that create a nondirective atmosphere for interacting with the students.
The nondirective teaching model focuses on facilitating learning. The
environment is organized to help students attain greater personal integration, effectiveness, and realistic self-appraisal. Stimulating, examining, and
evaluating new perceptions take a central place, because the reexamination
of needs and valuestheir sources and outcomesis crucial to personal integration. Students do not necessarily need to change, but the teacher's goal
is to help them understand their own needs and values so that they can effectively direct their own educational decisions.
The core comes from Rogers's stance toward nondirective counseling,
in which the client's capacity to deal constructively with his or her own life
is respected and nurtured. Thus, in nondirective teaching, the teacher respects the students' ability to identify their own problems and to formulate
solutions.
When operating nondirectively, the teacher attempts to see the world as
the student sees it, creating an atmosphere of empathetic communication
in which the student's self-direction can be nurtured and developed. During
interaction, the teacher mirrors students' thoughts and feelings. By using
reflective comments, the teacher raises the students' consciousness of their
own perceptions and feelings, thus helping them clarify their ideas.
The teacher also serves as a benevolent alter ego, one who accepts all
feelings and thoughts, even those the students may be afraid of or may view
as wrong or perhaps even punishable. In being accepting and nonpunitive,
the teacher indirectly communicates to the students that all thoughts and
feelings are acceptable. In fact, recognition of both positive and negative
feelings is essential to emotional development and positive solutions.
The teacher gives up the traditional decision-making role, choosing instead the role of a facilitator who focuses on student feelings. The relation-
ship between student and teacher in a nondirective interview is best
described as a partnership.. Thus, if the student complains of poor grades

and an inability to study, the teacher does not attempt to resolve the problem simply by explaining the art of good study habits. Instead, the teacher
encourages the student to express the feelings that may surround his or her
inability to concentrate, as feelings about self and others. When these feelings are fully explored and perceptions are clarified, the student himself or
herself tries to identify appropriate changes and bring them about.
The nondirective atmosphere has four qualities. First, the teacher shows
warmth and responsiveness, expressing genuine interest in the student and
accepting him or her as a person. Second, it is characterized by permissiveness in regard to the expression of feeling; the teacher does not judge or
moralize. Because of the importance of emotions, much content is discussed that would normally be guarded against in more customary student
relationships with teachers or advisors. Third, the student is free to express
feelings symbolically but is not free to control the teacher or to carry impulses into action. Fourth, the relationship is free from any type of pressure
or coercion. The teacher avoids showing personal bias or reacting in a personally critical manner to the student. Every learning task is viewed as an
opportunity to help the student grow as a person.
A "GROWTH SYNDROME"
A kind of "growth syndrome" emerges as the student (1) releases feelings, (2) develops insight, followed by (3) action and (4) integration that
leads to a new orientation (see Figure 17.1).
According to Rogers, responding on a purely intellectual basis to students' problems inhibits the expression of the feelings, which are at the root
of the problem of growth. For example, if a student is struggling with writing, an intellectual response would be, "Start by making an outline." An empathetic response would be, "When I get stuck I often feel panicky. How do
you feel?" Without the release and exploration of these feelings, students
will resect suggestions and be unable to sustain real behavior changes.
Insight is the short-term goal of the process. By expressing feelings the
student becomes able to look at a problemin the case of the scenario at

the beginning of the chapter, the problem of allowing others to experience
one's writing. Indications of insight come from statements by the students
that describe behavior in terms of cause and effect or in terms of personal
meaning. In the scenario, the student comes to realize that the problem lies
in her own fear, rather than the objective possibility of judgments by others. As they begin to understand the reasons fr their behaviors, they begin
to see other more functional ways of satisfying their needs. Through the release of emotions, the students can perceive options more clearly. New insights enable the students to select delayed goals that are more satisfying
than goals that give immediate but only temporary satisfaction.
Ultimately, the test of personal insight is the presence of actions that motivate the students toward new goals. At first, these positice actions may concern minor issues, but they create a sense of confidence and independence
FIGURE 17.1
Phases of personal growth in the nondirective interview process.
RELEASE OF
U)
New Perceptions
of the Self
INTEGRATION z
ACTION
FEELINGS INSIGHT
0
I-
Decisions: New Self-Initiated

Choice of Goals
Action
Independence
--- uJ
Confidence -
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300
in the student. The teacher in the scenario is trying to create "safe space" for
the action of sharing the writing. Gradually, the students' positive actions
lead to a new, more comprehensive orientation. This is the integration phase.
Again referring to the scenario, the long-term goal is a mature ability to share
writing derived from a better understanding of the social dynamics of sharing. In other words, the student will gradually find that the action of sharing
has more good consequences than bad ones and that satisfaction can come
from the integrated understanding of the problem of sharing.
The nondirective approach maintains that the most effective means of

uncovering the emotions underlying a problem is to follow the pattern of
the students' feelings as they are freely expressed. Instead of asking direct
questions for the purpose of eliciting feelings, the teacher lets the students
direct the flow of thoughts and feelings. If the students express themselves
freely, the problems and their underlying emotions will emerge. This
process is facilitated by reflecting the students' feelings, thereby bringing
them into awareness and sharper focus.
This is a difficult skill for most of us because we are more attuned to the
content of what people are saying than to their emotional attitudes. Unlike
other kinds of teacher-student relationships, nondirective counseling focuses
on the emotional element of the students' behavior. The nondirective strategy usually looks to three sources of student problems: (1) present feelings,
(2) distorted perceptions, and (3) alternatives that have been unexplored because of an emotional reaction to them. Elimination of these difficulties is
brought about, not by direct solutions (deciding what to do), but by getting
rid of negative feelings and distorted perceptions and beginning to experiment with new behavior, thus gaining new experienceleading, hopefully, to
insight and a new integrated perception of the problem area.
TEACHER RESPONSES IN NONDIRECTIVE TEACHING

The student and teacher share the responsibility for the discussion; how-
ever, at times the teacher must make "lead-taking" responses to direct or

maintain the conversation (see Table 17.1). Appropriate nondirective leadtaking responses are statements by the teacher that help start the discussion,
establish the direction in an open manner, or give the student some indication as to what he or she should discuss, either specifically or generally.
The essential skill is to lead without taking responsibility from the students. Nondirective lead-taking remarks are stated directly in a positive and
amiable manner. Some examples are:
"What do you think of that?"

"Can you say more about that?"
"How do you react when that happens?"
Nondirective responses to feelings are attempts to respond either to the
feelings the student expresses or to the content of the expressions. In making these comments, the teacher does not interpret, evaluate, or offer advice, but reflects, clarifies, accepts, and demonstrates understanding. The
CHAPTER 17 / NONDIRECTIVETEACHNG
TABLE 17.1 NONDIRECTIVE RESPONSES IN INTERVIEW
B. Nondirective Lead-Taking
A. Nondirective Responses
Response
to Feelings
1.
Simple acceptance
2. Reflection of feelings
3. Paraphrasing of content
Structuring
Directive questioning
Forcing student to choose and
develop a topic
4. Nondirective leads and open
questions
5. Minimal encouragements to.
1.
2.
3.
talk
purpose of these comments is to create an atmosphere in which the student
is willing to expand the ideas he or she is expressing. Usually, the responses
are short statements that are supportive and enable the student to continue
the discussion. Some examples are:
"I see."
"It's especially hard to be alone."

"Sort of like it doesn't matter what you do, it will go on the same way."
Interpretation is used sparingly but occasionally is useful in moving a

discussion forward. Interpretation sometimes helps a student who is unable
to offer any explanation for his or her behavior. Interpretative responses are
attempts to suggest to the student his or her reasons for being unable to
continue the discussion. But interpretation is given only to those feelings
that can definitely be accepted by the student. The decision to use interpretation is made cautiously by the teacher and is used only in situations in
which the teacher feels confident that interpretation will advance rather
than close a dialogue. Some examples of interpretative openers are:
"You do this because. .
"Perhaps you feel you wOn't succeed."
"It sounds like your reasons for your actions this week are. .
"You are saying to me that the problem is. .
Approval
is usually given only when genuine progress has been
achieved. It must be used sparingly, or the nondirective relationship is likely
to drift rapidly into the traditional teacher-student relationship: But

thoughts like the following may help at times:
"That's a very interesting comment and may well be worth considering

again."
"That last idea was particularly strong. Could you elaborate on it some
more?"
"I think we are really making progress together."
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Directive counseling moves are also to be used rarelythey imply a relationship in which the teacher attempts to change the ideas of the student
or influene his or her attitudes. For example, "Don't you think it would be
better if. . ." directly suggests a choice to the student. Attempts to support
the student directly are usually made to reduce apparent anxiety, but they
do not contribute to problem solving.

The nondirective stance presents some interesting problems. First, the responsibility is shared. In most models of teaching, the teacher actively
shapes events and can picture the pattern of activities that lies ahead, but
in most nondirective situations, events emerge and the pattern of activities
is more fluid. Second, counseling is made up of a series of responses that
occur in an unpredictable sequence. Thus, to master nondirective teaching,
teachers learn general principles, work to increase their sensitivity to others, master the nondirective skills, and then practice making contact with
students and responding to them, using skills drawn from a repertoire of
nondirective counseling techniques.
SYNTAX
Despite the fluidity and unpredictability of the nondirective strategy,
Rogers points out that the nondirective interview has a sequence. We have
divided this sequence into five phases of activity, as shown in Table 17.2.
In phase one, the helping situation is defined. This includes structuring
remarks by the counselor that define the student's freedom to express feelings, an agreement on the general focus of the interview, an initial problem
statement, some discussion of the relationship if it is to be ongoing, and the
establishment of procedures for meeting. Phase one generally occurs during the initial session on a problem. However, some structuring or definition by the teacher may be necessary for some time, even if this consists
only of occasional summarizing moves that redefine the problem and reflect .progress. Naturally, these structuring and definitional comments vary
considerably with the type of interview, the specific problem, and the stu
dent. Negotiating academic contracts will likely differ from working with
behavioral problem situations.
In phase two, the student is encouraged by the teacher's acceptance and
clarification to express negative and positive feelings and to state and explore the problem.
In phase three, the student gradually develops insight: he or she perceives
new meaning in personal experiences, sees new relationships of cause and effect, and understands the meaning of his or her previous behavior. In most situations, the student seems to alternate between exploring the problem itself
and developing new insight into his or her feelings. Both activities are necessary for progress. Discussion of the problem without exploration of feelings
would indicate that the student himself or herself was being avoided.
CHAPTER 17 I NONDIRECTIVE TEACHING
TABLE 17.2 SEQUENCE OF THE NONDIRECTIVE EPISODE
Phase Two:
Phase One:
Defining the Helping Situation
Teacher encourages free

expression of feelings,
Exploring the Problem
Student is encouraged to define

problem.
Teacher accepts and clarifies
feelings.
Phase Three:
Developing Insight
Student discusses problem.

Teacher supports student.
Phase Five:
Phase Four:
P,Ianning and Decision Making
Student plans initial decision

making.
Teacher clarifies possible
decisions.
Integration
Action Outside the Interview
Student gains further insight and

develops more positive actions.
Teacher is supportive.
Student initiates positive actions.
In phase four, the student moves toward planning and decision making
with respect to the problem. The role of the teacher is to clarify the alternatives.
In phase five, the student reports the actions he or she has taken, develops further insight, and plans increasingly more integrated and positive
actions.
The syntax presented here could occur in one session or, more likely, over
a series. In the latter case, phases one and two could occur in the first few
discussions, phases three and four in the next, and phase five in the last interview. Or if the encounter consists of a voluntary meeting with a student
who has an immediate problem, phases one through four could occur in only
one meeting, with the student returning briefly to report his or her actions
and insights. On the other hand, the sessions involved in negotiating academic contracts are sustained for a period of time, and the context of each
meeting generally involves some kind of planning and decision making, although several sessions devoted entirely to exploring a problem might occur.
SOCIAL SYSTEM
The social system of the nondirective strategy requires the teacher to assume the roles of facilitator and reflector. The st.udent is primarily responsible for the initiation and maintenance of the interaction process (control);
authority is shared between student and teacher. The norms are those of
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304
open expression of feelings and autonomy of thought and behavior. Re-
wards, in the usual sense of approval of specific behaviorand particularly

punishmentdo not apply in this strategy. The rewards in a nondirective
interview are more subtle and intrinsicacceptance, understanding, and
empathy from the teacher. The knowledge of oneself and the psychological
rewards gained from self-reliance are generated by the student personally.
The principles of reaction for the teacher are based on nondirective responses. The teacher reaches out to the students, empathizes with their personalities and problems, and reacts in such a way as to help them define
their problems and feelings, take responsibility for their actions, and plan
objectives and how to achieve them.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
The support system for this strategy varies with the function of the interview. If a session is to negotiate academic contracts, then the necessary
resources for self-directed learning must be made available. If the interview
consists of counseling for a behavioral problem, no resources beyond the
skills of the teacher are necessary. In both cases, the one-to-one situation requires spatial arrangements that allow for privacy, removal from other classroom forces and activities, and time to explore a problem adequately and in
an unhurried fashion. For academic curriculum areasreading, writing, literatre, science, and social sciencerich arrays of materials are necessary.
APPLICATION
The nondirective teaching model may be used for several types of problem
situations: personal, social, and academic. In the case of personal problems,
the individuals explore feelings about self. In social problems, students

explore their feelings about relationships with others and investigate how
feelings about self may influence these relationships. In academic problems,
stulents explore their feelings about their competence and interests. In

each case however, the interview content is always personal rather than
external; it centers'oj each individual's own feelings, experiences, insights,

and solutions.
To use the nondirecuve teaching model effectively, a teacher must be
willing to accept that a student can tgderstand and cope with his or her
own life. Belief in the student's capacity ta direct himself or herself is communicated through the teacher's attitude and vebal behavior. The teacher
does not attempt to judge the student. Such a stance'indicates limited confidence in the student's capabilities. The teacher does no attempt to diagnose problems. Instead, the teacher attempts to perceive the student's world
as he or she sees it and feels it. And, at the moment of the stujent's selfperception, the teacher reflects the new understanding to him or her. In this
model, the teacher temporarily sets aside personal thoughts and feelings
and reflects the student's thoughts and feelings. By doing this, the teacher
conveys understanding and acceptance of the feelings.
Nondirective counseling stresses the emotional elements of the situation more than the intellectual. That is, nondirective counseling strives
for reorganization through the realm of feeling rather than through purely
intellectual approaches. Often this view leads teachers who are considering adopting the nondirective stance to question the possibility of conflicting roles. How (they reason) can I be a disciplinarian, a referee, an
instructor, and a friendand also be a counselor- implementing nondirective principles?
In elementary schools the establishment of "open" classrooms reflects
the adoption of nondirective principles. An open classroom typically has the
following characteristics: First, its objectives include affective development,
growth of student self-concept, and student determination of learning

needs. Second, its methods of instruction are directed toward student flexi-
bility in learning. Group work that concentrates on creativity and selfknowledge is the main instructional technique. Third, the teacher's role is
that of facilitator, resource person, guide, and advisor. Fourth, the students
determine what is important to learn. They are free to set their own educational objectives and to select the method(s) for attaining their goals. Fifth,
the evaluation of progress in the classroom consists more of student selfevaluation than of teacher evaluation. Progress is measured qualitatively
rather than quantitatively.
One of the important uses of nondirective teaching occurs when a class
becomes "stale" and the teacher finds himself or herself just "pushing" the
students through exercises and subject matter. One sixth-grade teacher, exhausted by the failure of more traditional attempts to cope with the discipline problems and the lack of interest on the part of her class, decided to
experiment with student-centered teaching. She turned to nondirective

approaches to help her students take more responsibility for their learning
and to ensure that the subject matter would be related to their needs and
learning styles. She has provided an account of that experience, from which
excerpts are presented here:
MARCH 5, WE BEGIN
A week ago I decided to iii1iate a new prpgra1i in my sixth-gcade classroom,
based on student-centered teachingan unstructi'red or nondirective approach.
I began by telling the class that we were going to try an "experiment." I explained that for one day I would let them do anything they wanted to dothey
did not have to do anything if they did not want to.
Many started with art projects; some drew or painted for most of the day. Others read or did work in math and other subjects. There was an air of excitement
all day. Many were so interested in what they were doing that they did not want
to go out at recess or noon!
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306
At the end of the day I asked the class to evaluate the experiment. The comments were most interesting. Some were "confused" or distressed without the
teacher telling them what to do, without specific assignments to complete.
The majority of the class thought the day was "great," but some expressed
concern over the noise level and the fact that a few "goofed off" all day. Most
felt that they had accomplished as much work as. we usually do, and they enjoyed being able to work at a task until it was completed, without the pressure
of a time limit. They liked doing things without being "forced" to do them and
liked deciding what to do.
They begged to continue the "experiment" so it was decided to do so, for two
more days. We could then reevaluate the plan.
The next morning I implemented the idea of a "work contract." I gave them
ditto sheetS listing all our subjects with suggestions under each. There was a
space provided fr their "plans" in each area and for checking work after completion.
Each child was to write his or her contract for the daychoosing the areas in
which to work and planning specifically what to do. On completion of any exercise, drill, review, nd so on, the student was to check and correct his or her
own work, using the teacher's manual. The work was to be kept in a folder with
the contract.
I met with each child to discuss his or her plans. Some completed theirs in a
very short time; we discussed as a group what this might mean, and what todo
about it. It was suggested that the plan might not be challenging enough, that
an adjustment should be madeperhaps going on or adding another idea to the
day's plan.
Resource materials were provided, suggestions made, and drill materials
made available to use when needed.
I found I had much more time, so I worked, talked, and spent the time with
individuals and groups. At the end of the third day I evaluated the work folder
with each child. To solve the problem of grades, I had each child tell me what
he or she had learned.
MARCH 12, PROGRESS REPORT

Our "experiment" has, in fact, become our programwith some adjustments.
Some children continued to be frustrated and felt insecure without teacher
direction. Discipline also continued to be a problem with some, and I began to
realize that, although some of the children may need the program more than
others, I was expecting too much from them too soonthey were not ready to
assume self-direction yet. Perhaps a gradual weaning from the spoon-fed procedures was necessary.
I regrouped the classcreating two groups. The largest group is the nondirected. The smallest is teacher-directed, made up of children who wanted to
return to the former teacher-directed method, and those who, for varied rea-
sons, were unable to function in the self-directed situation. I would have

waited longer to see what would happen, but the situation for some disintegrated a little more each daypenalizing the whole class. The disrupting factor kept everyone upset and limited those who wanted to study and work. So
it seemed to me best for the group as a whole as well as the program to modify the plan.
Those
who continucd the "experiment" have forged ahead. I showed them
how to program their work, using their texts as a basic guide. They have learned
that they can teach themselves (and each other), and that I am available when
a step is not clear or advice is needed.
At the end of the week they evaluate themselves in each areain terms of
work accomplished,, accuracy, and so on. We have learned that the number of
errors is not a criterion of failure or success. Errors can and should be part of
the learning process; we learn through our own mistakes. We have also discussed the fact that consistently perfect scores may mean that the work is not
challenging enough and perhaps we should move on.
After self-evaluation, each child brings the evaluation sheet and work tolder
to discuss with me.
Some of the members of the group working with me are most anxious to become "independent" students. We will evaluate together each week their
progress toward that goal.
I have only experienced one parental objection so far. A parent felt that her
child was not able to function without direction.
Some students (there were two or three) who originally wanted to return to
the teacher-directed program are now anticipating going back into the self-directed program. (I sense that it has been difficult for them to readjust to the old
program, as it would be for me to do so.)

Since the activities are not prescribed but are determined by the learner
as he or she in'teracts with the teacher and other students, the nondirective
environment depends largely on its nurturant effects, with the instructional
effects dependent on its success in nurturing more effective self-development
(Figure 17.2). The model thus can be thought of as entirely nurturant

in character, dependent for effects on experiencing the nondirective environment rather than carrying content and skills through specifically designed activity.
FIGURE 17.2 Instructional and nurturant effects: nondireci'e teaching
model.
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308
Syntax
Phase One: Defining the Helping Situation
Teacher encourages free expression of feelings.

Phase Two: Exploring the Problem
Student is encouraged to define problem.
Teacher accepts and clarifies feelings.
Phase Three: Developing Insight
Student discusses problem.
Teacher supports student.
Phase Four: Planning and Decision Making

Student plans initial decision making.
Teacher clarifies possible decisions.
Phase Five: Integration
Student gains further insight and develops more positive actions.
Teacher is supportive.
Social System
The model has little external structure teacher facilitates student initi
ates; and the discussion is problem-centered.Rewards, in the usual sense
of approval Of specific behavior, and punishment do not apply in this
strategy The rewards are intrinsic and include acceptance, empathy, and
understanding from the teacher.
Teacher reaches out to. students, empathizes, reacts to help students define problems and take action to achieve solutions.
Support System
Teacher needs quiet, private place for one-to-one contacts, resource center for conferences On academic contracts.
CHAPTER
CONCEPTS OF SELF
Modeling Rich States
of Growth
We want to make the school rich, but we also want the kids to know that
they can't depend on us forever. They've got to be able to take off
on their own.
Carlene Murphy to Bruce Joyce, Summer 1990
Although people and their growth are the important substance of this book,
this is the first chapter that attempts to deal conceptually with the most important underlying element in general educationthe states of growth that
result from schooling.
We have made a number of statements about people, however, and as
we directly approach the subject it is worthwhile to summarize some of

them.
First, the research on the spectrum of models of teaching supports the
proposition that all students can learn how to learn and they can respond
to a great variety of teaching/learning environments. Students can accelerate their ability to learn in a great number of ways if we provide them with
the opportunity.
Second, the more skills students develop and the more they widen their
repertoire, the greater their ability to master an even greater range of skills
and strategies. (This is true of teachers as well. The better we get, the better we can get!)
Third, the learning community developed in the school and the classroom has great influence on how students feel about themselves, how they
interact, and how they learn. The social climate, in other words, is part of
the substance of schooling. It provides a "curriculum" that greatly affects
the results of the academic curriculum.
The important message is that students can learn, not only academic
content and social skills but how to become integrated selves that reach out
into the world and reciprocally contribute to and profit from their transactions with it.
Now we turn to modeling active states of growth for our students-. We
will examine a framework for looking at the ways children and adults in-
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310
teract with the worldfrom states of actively seeking growth to more pas-
sive interaction to states of pushirtg experience away. In many ways students become what we model for them, and part of our influence on them
depends on our own states of growthour own self-conceptsand how we
communicate them to children.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
We begin with a frame of reference that will enable us to think about individual differences in growth and particularly in the readiness to grow.
There are a number of ways of thinking about individual differences
that we can rely on at the present time. Some of these have been developed
to help us think about the learning styles of children (Dunn and Dunn, 1975;
Gregorc, 1982; McCarthy, 1981) and can be applied to adults as well. Some
are developed to distinguish various styles of thinking (for example, Myers,
1962) and examine how those styles affect problem solving. At least one current theory attempts to describe differences between children and adults as
learners (Knowles, 1978).
A number of broad conceptualizations of personality can be applied to
the behavior of teachers as instructors and as learners (Erikson, 1950; Harvey, Hunt, and Schroeder, 1961; Maslow, 1962). Conceptual systems theory
(Hunt, 1971) has been especially heavily studied and has been a useful predictor of teacher-student interaction (see Chapter 9), the breadth of styles
employed by teachers, sensitivity to students and responsiveness to them,
and (most pertinent here) aptitude to acquire the competence to use teaching skills and strategies (see Joyce, Peck, and Brown, 1981).
In this chapter we will discuss a framework developed from the study
of the professional and personal lives of teachers in the California Staff Development Study (Joyce, Bush, and McKibbin, 1982). The framework was
developed to guide practice in the organization of human resource development programs and school improvement efforts (McKibbin and Joyce,
1980; Joyce, Hersh, and McKibbin, 1983). Although it was developed from
a strictly practical orientation, the findings are correlated with the theories
of personality growth and take conceptual development, self-concept, and
psychological maturity into account. It owes a partiCular debt to the work
of Abraham Maslow (1962).
THE CONCEPT OF STATE OF GROWTH

The objective was to obtain a detailed picture of the opportunities for
growth experienced by teachers from their school setting, the district, universities, intermediate agencies (county offices of education and professional development centers), and other institutions. Case studies were made
CHAPTER 18 / CONCEPTS OF SELF
of more than 300 teachers from 21 districts in 7 counties, and more than
2,000 others were surveyed through questionnaires. In addition to information about participation in the formal systems of support (courses,
workshops, and the services of administrators and supervisors), interaction
with peers was examined, as were those aspects of personal lives that might
have implications for professional growth. Thus, data were collected on

what came to be termed the "formal," the "peer-generated," and the "personal" domains, depending on the origins of the activities that people engaged in.
The focus was the dynamic of individual interaction with the environment. The thesis was that within any given environment (say, a school in the
San Francisco Bay Area), the opportunities for productive interaction leading to growth theoretically would be about equal. That is, formal staff development systems, colleagues, and opportunities to read, attend films and
events in the performing arts, engage in athletic activity, and so on, would
be available to all personnel in profusion. Thus, differences in activity would
be a function of the individual's disposition to interact productively with the
environment. If we discovered differences, we could proceed to try to understand their origins and develop ideas for capitalizing on them.
THE FORMAL, PEER-GENERATED, AND

PERSONAL DOMAINS
The amount of interaction in all three domains varied greatly. The difference.s were vast in both urban and rural areas and among elementary and
secondary teachers. They are easily illustrated in regions like the Bay Area
and the Los Angeles Basin where literally thousands of courses and workshops are available, most principals and supervisors have been trained to
provide active clinical support, many professional development centers in
county offices and other agencies involve teachers in the selection of staff
development opportunities, and there are active organizations of teachers
of writing, science, and other curriculum areas. In addition, the opportunities for personal activity of all sorts abound in these great metropolitan
areas, which also are close to mountain ranges, waterways,and oceans. The
nature of the differences in each domain is interesting.
FORMAL STAFF DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Participation ranged from persons who experienced only the activities
sponsored and required by the district (possibly only one or two workshops
or presentations and one or two visits by supervisors or consultants) and
who were aware of vety few options, to very active, aware persons with definite plans for professional enhancement. A small number effectively exploited the opportunities in universities and the larger teacher centers.
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312
PEER-GENERATED OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH

The range here was from persons who had virtually no professional discussions with any other teachers, to persons who had close and frequent in-
teraction, who experienced mentoring relationships (on the giving or

receiving end or both), and who gathered with others to instigate the introduction of innovations or initiatives for the improvement of the school.
THE PERSONAL DOMAIN

In their personal lives some teachers were extremely active, with one or
two well-developed areas of participation, and some others made virtually
no use of the rich environments in which they lived. We found some very
active readers and others who barely skjhi the headlines of the daily paper,
some Sierra Club activists and others who had never visited Yosemite, some
members of performing arts groups and others who have not seen a film or
a live performance in 10 or more years.
STATES OF GROWTH
Somewhat to our surprise, the levels of activity were correlated across domains. That is, those who were more active professionally were also more
active personally. Looking for reasons, we concluded that the differences in
levels of activity were produced by the individuals' orientations toward their
environments, moderated by social influence.
ORIENTATIONS TOWARD THE ENVIRONMENT

The essence of the concept is the degree to which the environment is
viewed as an opportunity for satisfying growth, Thus the more active peopie view the environment as a set of possibilities for satisfying interaction.
They initiate contact and exploit the possibilities. Less-active persons are
less aware of the possibilities or more indifferent to them. The least-active
persons expend energy protecting themselves from what they see as a

threatening or unpleasant environment, avoiding contact and fending off
the initiatives of others. Also, the persons who are more active, and more
initiating are also more proactive. That is, they draw more attention from
the environment, bringing more possibilities within their reach. This phenomenon multiplies the opportunities for many peop1. It was not unusual
for us to discover that certain schools that. were characterized by a cluster
of active people (and generally by an active principal) were regularly
approached by central office personnel, teacher centers, and universities
to be the "trial" sites for everything from computer technology to community involvement programs. Those people and their schools received
more resources and training, while some schoolscharacterized by a
cluster of resistant personswere approached last, and many initiatives

passed them by.
SOCIAL INFLUENCE
Close friends and colleagues, and the social climate of the workplace
and the neighborhood, moderate the general dispositions toward growth.
Affirmative and active friends and colleagues and positive social climates
induce persons to engage in greater activity than they would if left to them-
selves. This finding provides another dimension to the general theme of

Chapter 6. The synergistic environment is not only essehtial for collective
action but to generate the kind of colleagueship that will be productive for
the states of growth of individuals.
Also, as we will emphasize later, a major goal of a human resource development system is to increase the states of growth of the personnel in
the system, potentially benefiting the individuals as well as the organization and ensuring that the children are in contact with active, seeking
personalities.
LEVELS OF ACTIVITY
Although the orientations toward growth are best represented on a continuum, people gradually, over time, develop patterns that have more clearly
discernible edges, and it is not unreasonable to categorize themprovided
we recognize that the categories blend into one another. With that caveat,
we present the following prototypes because they can be useful in explaining behavior and in planning staff development programs and organizing
faculties to exploit them vigorously.
A GOURMET OMNiVORE
Our prototypes here are mature, high-activity people who have learned
to canvass the environment and exploit it successfully. In the formal domain
they keep aware of the possibilities for growth, identify high-probability

events, and work hard at squeezing them for their growth potential.
They coristitute the hard core clientele for teacher centers and district
and intermediate-agency offerings for volunteers. They initiate ideas for
programs and find ways of influencing the policymakers. However, they
are not negative toward system initiatives. They have the complexity to
balance their personal interests with the awareness that they belong to an
organization.
Our prototype omnivores find kindred souls with whom to interact professionally They learn from informal interaction with their peers. A group
of omnivores may work together and generate initiatives or attend workshops or courses together. When computers appeared on the educational
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314
it was often groups of omnivores who learned to use them and developed the computer centers in their schools.
It is in their personal lives that our prototype omnivores become most
clearly defined. They are characterized by a general high level of awareness,
but the distinguishing feature is one or two areas in which they are enthusiastically involved. These areas vary quite a bit from person to person. One
may be an omnivorous reader; another, a theater-goer; a third, an avid backpacker or skier; a fourth, a maker of ceramics. Some run businesses. In
close consort with others, they generate activities. The spouses of omnivore
tennis players are likely to find themselves with rackets in their hands, and
the close friends of moviegoers will be importuned to share films. Because
of their proactivity, our mature omnivores have learned to fend offoppor..
tunities and protect time for their chosen avocations.
What is striking is their habit .of both exploiting and enriching whatever
environment they find themselves in. In the workplace, they strive to learn
all they can about their craft and give and take energy from their peers. In
their private lives they find opportunities for development.
scene,
They are also distinguished by their persistence. In McKibbin and

Joyce's (1980) study, they sought training that would have a high likelihood
for transfer and, once back in the workplace, they practiced and created the
conditions of peer support that enabled them to implement a remarkably
high proportion of the skills to which they were exposed. They are also more
likely than others to bring the ideas they gain in their personal lives into the
workplace and use them in their teaching.
A PASSIVE CONSUMER
About 10 percent of the persons we studied fit the profile of our gourmet
omnivores, and another 10 percent we call active consumers, also quite engaged with aspects of their environment. By far the largest number, how-
ever (about 70 percent) resembled the prototype we term the passive

consumer.
The distinguishing characteristics of our passive consumers are a more
or less amiable conformity to the environment and a high degree of dependence on the immediate social context. In other words, their degree of activity depends greatly on who they are with. In the company of other passive
consumers, our prototype is relatively inactive. We studied one school in
which all of the personnel in one "wing" of the building were passive, and
their interchange with others was amiable but involved few serious discussions about teaching and learning. They visited one another's classrooms
rarely. None attended staff development activities that were not required by
the administration. They had no objections to being required to attend

those workshops, one day in the fall and one in the spring, and they enjoyed
them but did nothing with the content.
In another wing of the school, two passive consumers found themselves
in the company of two omnivores and an active consumer and were drawn
CHAPTER 18 / CONCEPTSOFSELF
into many of the activities generated by their more enterprising colleagues.

They found themselves helping to set up computer workstations for the students, cooperating in scheduling and the selection of software, and learning
word processing and how to teach their students to use self-instructional
programs. They attended workshops on the teaching of writing with the
study group instigated by the omnivores and began revamping their writing
programs.
In personal life our prototype passive consumer is also dependent on
consort. If they have relatively inactive spouses and extended families, they
will be relatively inactive. If they are with relatives, friends, and neighbors
who initiate activity, their levels of activity will increase.
A RETICENT CONSUMER
Whereas our passive consumer has a relatively amiable, if rather unenterprising, view of the world, about 10 percent of the persons we studied expend energy actually pushing away opportunities for growth. We speak of
these persons as "reticent" because they have developed an orientation of
reluctance to interact positively with their cultural environment. We can observe this dynamic in both professional and domestic settings.
Our prototype reticent attends only the staff development that is required and is often angry about having to be there, deprecates the content,
whatever it is, and tries to avoid follow-up activities. Our reticent treats administrative initiatives and those from peers' with equal suspicion and tends
to believe that negative attitudes are justified because "the system" is inherently oppressive and unfeeling. Thus even peers who make initiatives are
deprecated "because they are naive" if they believe that they will gain administrative support for their "idealistic" notions. Hence our reticent tends
to view our omnivores as negatively as they do the hated administration.
The hard core reticent even rejects opportunities for involvement in decision making, regarding them as co-opting moves by basically malign forces.
In discussions about personal lives, the structure of attitudes was similar. Our reticents tend to emphasize what they see as defects in people, institutions, services, and opportunities in a range of fields. Film, theater,
athletic activity, state and national parks, books and newspapersall are
suffering rapid decay ("Only trash gets published these days... Movies are
full of sex and violence.") In the richness of an urban environment, they
tend to emphasize crowding as an obstacle to participation in events ("If I
. can never
could get tickets. . . . If you didn't have to wait for a court... You
).
In
the
rural
environments,
it
is lack of faget in to the good movies
cilities. that gets the blame.
Even so, our reticent is not unaffected by the immediate social context.
In affirmative school climates they do not "act out" their negative views as
much. In the company of omnivores they can be carried along in schoolimprovement efforts. Affirmative spouses who tolerate their jaundiced opinions good-naturedly involve them in a surprising number of activities. In the
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316
right circumstances they learn to take advantage of the opportunities in

their lives.
CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURE, SELFCONCEPT, AND STATES OF GROWTH

In an attempt to seek reasons for the differences in states of growth manifested by the teachers we were studying, we turned to a number of developmental theories. Two are of particular interest to us here because their
descriptions of development appear to correlate with the states of growth
we found (Joyce, McKibbin, and Bush, 1983). One is conceptual systems
theory (Harvey, Hunt, and Schroder, 1961; Hunt, 1971), and the other is selfconcept theory (Maslow, 1962).
CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT
Conceptual systems theory (Chapter 9) describes people in terms of the
structure of concepts they use to organize information about the world. In
the lowest developmental stages, people use relatively few concepts for organizing their world, tend to have dichotomous views with few "shades of
gray," and much emotion is attached to their views. They tend to reject information that does not fit into their concepts or to distort it to make it fit.
Thus people and events are viewed as "right" or "wrong." Existing concepts
are preserved.
At higher stages of development, people develop greater ability to integrate new information, are more decentered and can tolerate alternative
views better, and their conceptual structure is modified as old concepts become obsolete and new ones are developed. New experiences are tolerated
and bring new information and ideas, rather than being rejected or distorted to preserve the existing state.
For an example, let us consider individuals at the lower and higher developmental stages on a first visit to a foreign culture. People characterized
by the lower conceptual levels are suspicious of the "different" and tend to
find fault with it. ("You can't believe what they eat here.") They peer through
the windows of the tour buses with increasing gratitude that they will soon
be returning to America. They speak loudly to the "stupid" hotel personnel
who don't speak English. They clutch their wallets tokeep them away from
the conniving, dishonest natives and their unclean hands.
Their higher-conceptual-level companions are fascinated by the new
sights, sounds, ard smells. Gingerly they order the local dishes, comparing
them with the familiar, finding some new and pleasing tastes, and bargaining for a recipe. They prefer to walk, avoiding the bus unless time forbids.
They ask shopkeepers to pronounce the names of things. They brush off the
grime to get a better look at the interesting vase in the corner. They speak
quietly and wait for the hotel personnel to indicate the local custom.
There is a substantial correlation between conceptual development and

the states of growth of the teachers and administrators we studied. The omnivores are in a continual search for more productive ways of organizing information and have more complex conceptual structures as a result. Their
openness to new experience requires an affirmative view ofthe world and
the conceptual sophistication to deal with the new ideas they encounter.
Our passive consumers have more limited structures and less ability to figure out how to reach for new experience and deal with it. Our reticents are
busy protecting their present concepts and act offended by the presence of
the unfamiliar. They can be as negative toward children they do not under-
stand as they are toward the facilitators who try to bring new ideas and
techniques into their orbit. Conceptual development is correlated with variety and flexibility in teaching styles (Hunt, 1971), with ease in learning
new approaches to teaching, aiid with ability to understand students and
modulate to them (Joyce, Peck, and Brown, 1981).
A change to a more productive orientation involves a structural
changea more complex structure capable of analyzing people and events

from multiple points of view and the ability to assimilate new information
and accommodate to it.
SELF-CONCEPT
More than 35 years ago, Abraham Maslow (1962) and Carl Ro'gers
(1961) developed formulations of personal growth and functioning that
have guided attempts since then to understand and deal with individual differences in response to the physical and social environment. Rather than
coucentrating on intellectual aptitude and development, their theories focused on individuals' views of self or self-concepts. They took the position
that our competence to relate to the environment is greatly affected by the
stances we take toward ourselves.
Strong self-concepts are accompanied by "self-actualizing" behavior, a
reaching out toward the environment with confidence that the interaction
will be productive. The self-actualizing person interacts richly with the mi-
lieu, finding opportunities for growth and enhancement and, inevitably,

contributing to the development of others.
Somewhat less-developed persons feel competent to deal with the environment but accept it for what it is and are less likely to develop growthproducing relationships from their own initiatives. They work within the
environment and what it brings to them rather than generating opportunities from and with it.
The least-developed persons have a more precarious relationship with
their surroundings. They are less sure of their ability to cope. Much of their
energy is spent in efforts to ensure that they survive in a less-than-generous
world.
It is not surprising that we found a relationship between the states of
growth of the people we studied and their concepts of self. Our omnivores
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318
are self-actualizing. They feel good about themselves and their surround-
ings. Our passive consumers feel competent but are dependent on the environment for growth-producing opportunities. Our reticents feel that they
live in a precarious and threatening world. The faults that they find in their
surroundings are products not of being well-developed and able to discern
problems the rest of us cannot see, but of an attempt to rationalize their

need to protect themselves from a world of which they are afraid.
UNDERSTANDING GROWTH AND THE POTENTIAL

FOR GROWTH
The theories of conceptual growth and self-concept both help us understand ourselves as growth-oriented programs are planned and carried
out. They help us understand why people respond as they do and provide
us with a basis for creating environments that are likely to be productive,
in terms of both the content of the programs and the people for whom they
are intended.
David Hopkins (1990) and his colleagues reported on a study conducted
in England in which they studied the implementation by a group of teachers of a new curriculum in the arts for which they had volunteered to be
the forerunners. They were to master the curriculum in their classrooms
and then become the disseminators to other teachers. Hopkins and his
colleagues studied the states of growth and self-concepts of the teachers
and the organizational climates of the schools in which they worked. All
were influential, but the states of growth alone were predictors of the teach-
ers' uses of the arts curricula. Essentially, the reticent and passive consumers were unable to achieve implementation in any organizational
climate, while climate facilitated the work of the active consumers and
gourmet omnivores.
Not only were the teachers at the lower states of growth unable to profit
from the training they received, but their students were deprived of the opportunities to learn presented by the new curriculum!
DEVELOPING RICHER STATES

OF GROWTH
We want to grow as people and also to help our students develop richer orientations for growth. These are closely connected, for our primary influence
on our students is what we model as people. If we model passivity, we encourage it. If we model activity and reaching out toward the world, we encourage active states.
The good news is that we are far more likely to develop an upward pro-
gression than a downward one. Also, we develop by practicing reaching

outwe simply "do it!"
Thus, the message is that we need to reach out by developing a couple

of lines of activity in which we push ourselves for richness and excellence.
These areas need to be balanced. Reading or the cinema needs to be balanced by a social or athletic pursuit. We can have confidence that modeling
omnivorous reading will not only breed active readers but also will pull students toward different pursuits.
The models of teaching described in this book are also strong tools. A
cooperative learning communitytooled up with the active models for

gathering and interpreting information, examining social issues, and seeking ways of learning morewill have its effect on the students. A rich and
active social climate will have its effect.
We are what we eat, not just biologically but socially and emotionally.
Rich substance, well organized, in positive circumstance makes us richer,
more outreaching, and more productive. And in our professional work, it

gives us the tools to develop self-actualizing students.
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THE BEHAVIORAL
SYSTEMS FAMILY
Behavior Theory
To many people, behavior theory is psychology. In part, this conception exsts because much early psychological research focused on how behavior is
learned through conditioning, making the "behaviorists" the founders of

psychology and the occupants of the first chapters in most introductory
books. Controversy has created the other part, because the science of behavior control, while both illuminating and useful, arouses fears that,
should psychological theory become too powerful, malign uses will follow.
From Brave New World to Clockwork Orange, behavior theory has been portrayed as the science of the Dark Side. Also, some find the idea that environmental variables shape behavior to conflict with the idea that we are free
to determine ourselves. Educators polarize around programs developed

from behavior theory and, at least in academic circles, devotees and critics
engage in verbal standoffs.
Our position is that superficial judgment is not wise and that controversy, in this case, is not productive. Behavior theory offers much to teach-
ers and learners, but its models, like the others in this book, are not the
treatment of choice in every situation.
Let's begin by sorting out some of the assumptions that have led to the
research on which we base several models of learning.
BEHAVIOR IS LAWFUL AND SUBJECT TO

VARIABLES IN THE ENVIRONMENT
People raspond to variables in their environment with a conditioning effect.
These external forces stimulate individuals to engage in or avoid certain behaviors. Once a behavior has been learned, the probability that it will occur
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PART V / THE BEHAVIORAL SYSTEMS FAMILY
again can be strengthened or decreased by responses from the environment.
Thus, if a two-year-old sees a table in the room (stimulus), points to it, and
verbalizes the word table (response behavior), he or she is responding to external forces. If, after the child says the word table, the child's mother picks
him or her up, gives him or her a big hug, and repeats, "Table, that's right"
(reinforcing stimuli), the child is likely to say the word again (response behavior). On the other hand, suppose the child sees a menacing-looking toy
animal curled nearby (stimulus) and experiences a sudden surge of anxiety
and fear (response behaviors). If the child runs away (another response
behavior) and thereby avoids the toy, the act reduces his or her anxiety
(reinforcing stimulus). The reinforcement increases the likelihood that
the child will try to avoid that toy. Both examples illustrate the basic behavioral notion that behavior is acquired or enacted through external vari-
ables that serve either as the original stimulus or as the reinforcing

stimulus. In one case we are learning to do something; in the cther case, to
avoid something.
Counterconditioning is related, but slightly different in that it always involves relearning. In counterconditioning, a new behavior incompatible
with the old behavior is substituted, such as relaxation for anxiety. To cure
a phobia toward public places (agoraphobia), the individual substitutes positive feelings for anxiety. One can even prepare oneself to cope with future
situations. The Lamaze approach to birthing prepares the woman to trigger
relaxation techniques during delivery.
From this stance the task of the psychologist is to discover what kinds
of environmental variables affect behavior in which ways. The task of educators is to translate that knowledgeto design instructional materials and
interactions that enourage productive learning and to avoid the environmental variables that can discourage it. If we can do that, so can the stu-
dent learn to do it. Thus, what appears at first to be a technique for

controlling others can be used to free people by increasing their capabilities
for self-control.
To capitalize on the behaviorist stance, one doesn't need to accept the
idea that all behavior is shaped by environmental variables. The position
that it has partial truth will do. For example, we can use the behaviorist position to build simulations that workstudents interacting with them learn
somethingand simultaneously accept the personalistic position that students can direct their own behavior.
HISTORY, BRIEFLY TOLD

Behavioral models of learning and instruction have their origins in the classical conditioning experiments of Pavlov (1927), the work of Thorndike
(1911, 1913) on reward learning, and the studies of Watson and R.ayner
(1921), who applied Pavlovian principles to the psychological disorders of
human beings. In the past 40 years, behavior theory has been greatly influ-
enced by B. F. Skinner's Science and Human Behavior (1953) and J. Wolpe's
Psychotherapy by Reciprocal Inhibition (1958).

In the late 1950s educators began to employ in school settings some of
the behavioral principles, particularly forms of contingency management

and programmed learning materials. For some types of learners these have
had great success. For example, some youngsters who previously had made
no progress in language development and social learning are now trainable
and often able to mix with normal individuals. Milder forms of learning
problems have responded to behavioral models as well (Becker, 1977;
Becker and Carnine, 1980; Becker, Englemann,Carnine, and Rhine, 1981).
During the past 30 years, a great amount of research has demonstrated
the effectiveness of behavioral techniques with a wide range of learning
problems, from phobias toward subjects such as mathematics, social-skill
deficits, behavioral problems, and test anxiety. The research also indicates
that these procedures can be used effectively in group settings and by

laypeople. We believe that behavior theory presently offers an array of models that are extremely useful to teachers, curriculum planners, and creators
of instructional materials.
Terms such as learning theoty, social learning theory, behavior modification, and behavior therapy have been used byvarious leaders in this field to
refer to the models we discuss here (Bandura, 1969; Lazarus, 1971; Salter,
Wolpe, and Reyna, 1964; Wolpe, 1969; see also Estes, 1976). Because each
term is generally associated with one particular form of the basic theory, we
prefer to use the more neutral term behavior theory to cover procedures em
anating from both operant and counterconditioning principles.
PRINCIPLES
BEHAVIOR AS AN OBSERVABLE,
IDENTIFIABLE PHENOMENON
Behavior theory concentrates on observable behavior and takes an optimistic view. Given the right conditions and enough time, we can succeed
in learning (and unlearning).
Essentially, a stimulus evokes a behavior (response), which generates
consequences, which, if reinforcing, strengthen the likelihood that a similar stimulus will elicit the behavior that was reinforced. Reciprocally, negative consequences will make it less likely that the behavior will be elicited,
Behavior theorists believe that internal responses (such as fear of failure), which mediate our observable responses (such as avoiding areasthat
arouse fear of failure), can be changed (Rimm and Masters, 1974). The approach involves continuous inquirya careful study of the student, the de-
sign of the environment, a study of responses, and a continuation or

modification of the course of action.
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MALADAPTIVE BEHAVIORS ARE ACQUIRED

THROUGH LEARNING AND CAN BE CHANGED
THROUGH LEARNING PRINCIPLES
In our society many people have assumed that many children have
"blocks to learning" particular kinds of things (such as math) in the form of
internal states that cannot be changed. It turns out that many of these
"blocks" are simply learned aversions that the kids can learn to control. If
the pattern of avoiding the feared area is left untouched, the aversion becomes more pronounced. The student has greater and greater difficulty as
the mathematical content gets more complex. The learning deficit increases. Learning to handle affect in approaching the subject is the key.
Some simple techniques can go a long way in mild cases.
BEHAVIORAL GOALS ARE SPECIFIC, DISCRETE,

AND INDIVIDUALIZED
Even though behaviorist principles have been used to design instructional materials, like simulations, that have been used by large numbers of
students, the behaviorist frame of reference tends toward the discrete, concrete, and individualized. Two externally similar responses do not neces-
sarily proceed from the same original stimulus (one person may be
outwardly friendly because friendliness attracts people while another may

behave similarly but to avoid being shunned or ignored). Conversely, no two
people will respond to the same stimulus in precisely the same way. Consequently, the procedures for encouraging new behaviors involve setting spe-
cific, individualized behavioral goals. This does not mean that group
training is not possible. It does mean that the goals for each student may
differ and that the training process will need to be individualized in terms
of pacing or content. The instructional materials prepared from the behaviorist stance are almost always "self-paced."
BEHAVIORAL THEORY FOCUSES ON THE

HERE-AND-NOW
The role of the past in shaping a person's behavior is deemphasized.
Poor instruction may have caused a failure to learn to read, but the focus is
on learning to read now. The behaviorist concentrates on creating conditions or helping students create conditions that will enable them to progress
and gain satisfaction quickly. The stance regards human behavior with optimism and does not dwell on the past. The assumption is that past failure
did not result in conditions that cannot be corrected. The more difficult
problems just take a little longer to fix.
Behavioral practitioners have often reported that they have been able to
alter maladaptive behaviors in a short time, even in the case of severe phobias or long-term withdrawal patterns. Many shy people have felt relaxed
and socially effective in a short time, and students who had remained virtually illiterate have progressed quickly (Resnick, 1967).
OPERANT CONDITIONING AND

COUNTERCONDITIONING
The procedures or models evolving from behavior theory fall into two gen-
era! categories: those emphasizing the principle of operant conditioning

(Skinner) and those using principles of counterconditioning (Wolpe). Operant principles stress the role of reinforcement (particularly reward and punishment); counterconditioning emphasizes procedures for substituting an
adaptive for a maladaptive responsefor example, substituting tapping on
the table with one's fingers for nail biting. Programmed instruction and
training (operant-based models) and desensitization (a counterconditioning
model) rely heavily on stimulus control.
In Chapter 19 we will deal with mastery learning and programmed in-
struction, in Chapter 20 with direct instruction, and in Chapter 21 with

training and self-training in simulations.
MAJOR CONCEPTS
The key ideas in behavior theory are based on the stimulus-responsereinforcement paradigm in which human behavior is thought to be under
the control of the external environment. A stimulus is "any condition, event,
or change in the environment of an individual which produces a change in
behavior" (Taber, Glaser, and Halmuth, 1967, p. 16). It may be verbal (oral
or written) or physical. A response may be defined as a unit of behavior. It
is the basic unit on which cothplex performances or response repertoires

are built. Responses may be covert, such as anxiety or tension, or overt,
such as talking, hitting a ball, or marking a paper. Complex behaviors are
made up of response repertoires consisting of many kinds of responses that
are functionally related (as in the solution of a long division problem).
The condition on which reinforcement will occur depends on the standard that is set. In skill development, what is acceptable for the beginner
may not be acceptable for the advanced student. Thus, as practice increases,
the teacher expects better performance and so will reward only more advanced responses. The most effective reinforcement immediately follows a
response. Delayed reinforcement is much less powerful in modifying behavior. Reinforcement is at the heart of the behavioral model, for without it
behavior (responses) cannot be brought under the control of particular environmental stimuli. A reinforcer increases the frequency of the response on
which it is contingent.
Reinforcers may be either positive 'or negative. Positive rein forcers are
events that increase response. Most people think of reinforcers as external:
affection, approval, smiles, and attention are examples of external positive
reinforcers. However, knowing one is learning is highly reinforcing. Con firmation or knowledge of results by the learner is probably the most pervasive
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reinforcement in school settings. Behaviorists like to arrange instruction sc
that success is highly probable. Self-instructional programmed material

(see below) is sequenced in such small steps as to virtually ensure correct
responses, and simulations are designed to generate much successful activity as concepts and skills are being learned. The reinforcement the learner
derives from knowledge of his or her correctness both makes the achievement enduring and propels the learner toward new tasks. This is one reason why highly sequenced "programmed" materials often work well with
students who previously experienced little success. Finally, students are also
reinforced by controlling their environments. Part of the attraction of self-in-
structional computer progranisis the reinforcement quality of mechanical

manipulation and the ability to control the pace of one's progress.
One should not underestimate the function of social climate to generate reinforcement. The range of naturally occurring positive reinforcers
available to teachers is broadfor example, a smile, enthusiasm, show o
interest, attention, enjoyment, and casual conversation. Perhaps most powerful is a pervasively positive atmosphere, where just being in that classroom brings pleasure and confidencean environment filled with little
positive events just waiting to attach themselves to appropriate behaviors.
Negative reinforcement, on the other hand, removes something from the
situation (possibly by adding something disagreeable). Punishment, such as
threats designed todecrease the likelihood of response, is an example of a
negative reinforcer (aversive stimulus). The management mode in some
classrooms is based on aversive control; students are threatened with

reprisals if they do not learn or follow rules. Many years ago the birch rod
was used; today the aversive stimuli are less physical (poor grades, disapproval). According to behavior theorists, punishment has severel- drawbacks. First, its effects are temporary; -punished behavior is likely to recur.
Second, the aversive stimuli used in punishment may generate unwanted
emotions, such as predispositions to escape or retaliate, and disabling anxieties (Skinner, 1953, p. 183). A negative event can actually reinforce the very
behavior that it is intended to eliminate or reduce. The use of negative rein-
forcers can push the student away from the very subject he or she is trying
to teach. Wherever possible, positive rather than negative reinforcement
should be used.
Some negative events are devastating:
Retention in grade ("holding back from promotion") is devastating emotionally and frequently has the effect of destroying interest in school. The
embarrassment from it continues for a long time and generates aversion to
the schooling process and even the social interchange in school. It seriously
reduces the probability of later successful schoolwork.
Labeling a child as having learning problems can generate aversion
as well. No doubt one of the reasons for the general ineffectiveness of

special education is that the child, labeled as having a "learning disability,"
feels devastated and approaches learning tasks with poor feelings that
become attached to learning itself. In the worst cases, the children so la-
beled "give themselves permission" to avoid the learning tasks whenever
possible.
The effectiveness ot reinforcement programs is determined not only by
establishing a close temporal relation between reinforcement and behavior
and by the type of reinforcement selected, but also by the scheduling or frequency of reinforcement (reinforcement schedule). One of the most difficult
skills for teachers, or anyone, to master is to be consistent, immediate, and
frequent in rewarding the desired responses when they occur. If a response
goes unreinforced it will become less and less, frequent until it is extinguished. For example, to teach students to approach writing with confidence and positive feelings, one needs to elicit writing frequently and
reinforce production. Eliciting writing too infrequently will diminish positive feelings toward writing tasks and voluntary writing.
Desensitization procedures make use of stimulus control by gradually
enlarging the range of stimuli to which individuals can respond without

anxiety. Stress reduction models depend on people's recognizing a range of
cues indicating body tension or mental stress and taking action to substitute positive for negative feelings in an increasing variety of situations.
Training models (Chapter 21) using modeling and practice illustrate
the basic behavioral concepts. For example, in an excellent tennis

lesson, modeling is followed by practice, verbal reinforcement, and selfreinforcement through observation of results. Only a small number of skills
are taught in any one lesson, so that the learner has a high probability of
mastering them.
OvERcoMING MATH ANXIETY

Sheila Tobias's (1993) nice book on this subject uses several of the behaviorist principles to help people conquer their negative feelings about selfas-learner-of-math. Much of her book is about basic arithmetic and mathematical concepts, because one isn't going to get over the anxiety without
studying the subject itself. Learning to approach is an essential part of most
programs for the treatment of anxiety. Second is the placement of the responsibility squarely on the individual. Third is the use of support groups
and the development of positive social climates in mathematics learning
centers. Tobias does a particularly nice job of helping people understand the
role the anxiety itself plays in inhibiting effective learning.
TIPS FOR TEACHERS FROM THE

BEHAVIORAL STANCE
Although we will concentrate on a few major models derived from the behavioral stance, the frame of reference can be used to think about many
common classroom events. We put these in the form of questions and tips.
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PART V I THE BEHAVIORAL SYSTEMS FAMILY
CLASSROOM RULES
Which is best, a list of behaviors to avoid and negative reinforcers (a

one-time violation results in the "name on the board," a two-time violation
results.. .), or a list of desirable behaviors and rewards (a certificate proclaiming "You are the Greatest")?
lip: The high-probability bet is the positive rules and positive reinforcers or nurturers.
OFF-TASK BEHAVIOR
If 28 students are on task and 2 are off task, which teacher behavior has
the highest probability of succeeding in bringing the 2 into an on-task

mode: reprimanding the off-task students or praising the on-task students?
lip: Praising the on-task students (positive rather than negative reinforcement).
INSTRUCTION OR SELF-INSTRUCTION.
In the computer lab, when introducing a new word-processing program

to students who can already use another program, one teacher takes the students step by step through the manual. The other gives the students the program and, after a brief orientation, asks them to teach themselves to use the
program. Which works best?
lip: Controlling your own learning schedule arouses positive affect.

Also, pacing is under the control of the individual, who can move rapidly or
slowly according to individual needs.
ITCHY STUDENTS
Certain kids just don't seem to sit still or pay attention for more than a
few minutes. Do you give them extra homework when they wander off task
or teach them a relaxation exercise and how to use it when the hyper feeling arises?
lip: The first solution is a negative reinforcer that also uses academic
work as a punishment, which can produce an aversive response. The second provides effective control, makes the students partners in regulating
their behavior, and provides the opportunity for positive self-reinforcement
as well as external reinforcement.
MOTIVATION
Following a test at the end of a unit in mathematics, one teacher has the
students correct their own papers and figure out their gain scores. The other
teacher scores the test and provides the students with an analysis of items
missed. Which is the best bet for motivating the students?
lip: Self-scoring, emphasis on progress, and setting of new goals will
win almost every time.
CHAPTER
MASTERY LEARNING
AND PROGRAMMED
INSTRUCTION
If we can allow them time to learn one thing at a time, and then another,
and another, until they can get their feet under them, maybe we can break
the cycle of failure.
Madeline Hunter to a seminar at UCLA, May 1993
Mastery learning is a framework for planning instructional sequences, formulated by John B. Carroll (1971) and Benjamin Bloom (1971). Mastery
learning provides a compact and interesting way of increasing the likelihood that more students will attain a satisfactory level of performance in
school subjects. Recent work has sharpened the idea, and contemporary instructional technology has made it feasible.
A CONCEPT OF APTITUDE
The core theoretical idea in mastery learning is based on John Carroll's interesting perspective on the meaning of aptitude. Traditionally, aptitude has
been thought of as a characteristic that correlates with a student's achievement. (The more aptitude one has, the more he or she is likely to learn.) Carroll, however, views aptitude as the amount of time it takes someone to learn
any given material, rather than his or her capacity to master it. In Carroll's
view, students with very low aptitude with respect to a particular kind of
learning simply take a much longer time to reach mastery than students
with a higher aptitude.
This view is optimistic in the sense that it suggests that it is possible
for nearly all students to master any given set of objectives, if sufficient
time (the opportunity to learn) is provided along with appropriate materi-
als and instruction. Thus viewed, aptitude becomes primarily a guide

to how much time a learner will need. Aptitude also suggests how to
instruct, because learners of different aptitudes will learn more efficiently
if the style of instruction is suited to their configurations. (In our terms,
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330
some aptitudes are model-relevantthey help us choose and adapt models.)
For any given objective, according to Carroll, the degree of learning
achieved by any given student will be a function of time allowed, the perseverance of the student, the quality of instruction, the student's ability to
understand instruction, and his or her aptitude. The problem in managing
instruction is deciding how to organize the curriculum and the classroom
so that students will have optimal time, benefit from good instruction, be
induced to persevere, and receive assistance in understanding the learning
tasks.
Bloom transformed Carroll's stance into a system with he following
characteristics:
1. Mastery of any subject is defined in terms of sets of major objectives

that represent the purposes of the course or unit.
2. The substance is then divided intO a larger set of relatively small learning units, each one accompanied by its own objectives, which are parts
of the larger ones or thought essential to their mastery
3. Learning materials are then identified and the instructional strategy
selected.
4. Each unit is accompanied by brief diagnostic tests that measure the student's developing progress (the formative evaluation) and identify the
particular problems each student is having. Knowledge of progress is
fed back to the students to act as a reinforcement. (Praise and encouragement can, if contiguous with correct performance, serve as reinforcement also.)
5. The data obtained from administering the tests are used to provide sup-
plementary instruction to the student to help overcome problems.

(Bloom, 1971, pp. 4763)
If instruction is managed in this way, Bloom believes, time to learn can be

adjusted to fit aptitude. Students of lesser aptitude can be given more tine
and more feedback while the progress of all is monitored with the assistance
of the tests.
INDIVIDUALLY PRESCRIBED
INSTRUCTION
Bloom, Block, and the other advocates of mastery learning believe that it
can be implemented simply by modifying traditional group instructional
procedures to ensure that some students have more time and that they receive appropriate individual instruction according to the results of the formative evaluation (Carroll, 1971, pp. 3741).
However, modern instructional technology, especially the development
of self-administering multimedia units and the application of programmed

learning procedures, has encouraged curriculum developers to invent comprehensive curricular systems and to reorganize schools to provide for a
CHAPTER 19 / MASTERY LEARNING AND PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION
much greater degree of individualized instruction than is generally possible

under conventional school organizations.
A prominent example of an application of systems planning to elementary and secondary school instruction is the Individually Prescribed In-
structional Program (IPI), developed by the Learning Research and
Development Center of the University of Pittsburgh, in collaboration with

the Baldwin-Whitehall School District. In IPI students usually work independently on the materials prescribed daily (or every few days) for them,
depending on their demonstrated level of competence, learning style, and
particular learning needs.
STEPS IN THE PROGRAM

IPI illustrates a modular curriculum developed by applying systems analysis procedures to curriculum materials development. It is a particularly useful case study because it readily demonstrates the steps the IPI planners
took in creating the system. As we examine these steps, we stop briefly to
show how each reflects the inner workings of the performance model.
The system is designed to:
1. Enable each pupil tp work at his or her own rate through units of study
in a learning sequence.
2. Develop in each pupil a demonstrable degree of mastery.
3. Develop self-initiation and self-direction of learning.
4. Foster the development of problem solving through processes.
5. Encourage self-evaluation and motivation for learning. (Lindvall and
Bolvin, 1966)
The assumptions regarding the learning process and the related learning environment are as follows:
1. One obvious way pupils differ is in the amount of time and practice that
it takes to master given instructional objectives.
2. One important aspect of providing for individual differences is to

arrange conditions so that each student can. work through the sequence
of instructional units at his or her own pace and with the amount of
practie he or she needs.
3. If a school has the pbper types of study materials, elementary school
pupils, working in a tutorial environment that emphasizes self-learning,

can with a minimum amount of direct teacher instruction, learn.
student should
4. In working through a sequence of instructional units, a
not begin work on a new unit until he or she has acquired a specified
minimum degree of irastery of the material in the units identified as
5.
prerequisites.
to proceed at individual
If pupils are to be permitted and encouraged
individual
pupil
and the teacher that
rates, it is important for both the
331
332
PART V i THE BEHAVIORAL SYSTEMS FAMILY
the program provide for frequent evaluations of pupil progress which
can provide a basis for the development of individual instructional prescriptions.

6. Professionally trained teachers are employing themselves most produc-
tively when they are performing such tasks as instructing individual

pupils or small groups, diagnosing pupil needs, and planning instructional programs rather than carrying out such clerical duties as keeping
records, scoring tests, and so on. The efficiency and economy of a
school program can be increased by employing clerical help to relieve
teachers of many nonteaching duties.
7. Each pupil can assume more responsibility for planning and carrying
out his own program of study than is permitted in most classrooms.
8. Learning can be enhaiced, both for the tutor and the one being tutored,
if pupils are permitted to help one another in certain ways. (Lindvall
and Bolvin, 1966, pp. 34)
The second step is to analyze the performance model into a set of se-
quentially organized behavioral objectives IIPI planners believe that such a

listing is fundamental to other aspects of the program and must have the
following characteristics:
a. Each objective should tell exactly what a pupil should be able to do to

exhibit his mastery of the given content and skill. This should typically
be something the average student can master in such a relatively short
period as one class period. Objectives should involve such action verbs
as solve state explain list describe etc rather than general terms such
as understand, appreciate, know, and comprehend.
b. Objectives should be grouped in meaningful streams of. content. Forexample, in arithmetic the objectives will be grouped (typically) into such
areas as numeration, place value, addition, subtraction, etc. Such

grouping aids in the meaningful development of instructional materials
and in the diagnosis of pupil achievement. At the same time, thisgrouping does not preclude the possibility of having objectives that cut across
areas.
c. Within each stream or area, the objectives should, to the extent possible, be sequenced in such an order that each will build on those thatprecede it, andy in turn, be a prerequisite to those that follow. The goal here
is to let the objectives constitute a "scale" of abilities.
d. Within the sequence of objectives in each area, the objectives should be
grouped into meaningful subsequences or units. Such units can be des-
ignated as representing different levels in progress and can provide

break points so that when a student finishes a unit in that area, he or
she may either go on to the next unit in that area or may switch to a unit
in another area. (For example, on completing Level B addition, the pupil
may either go on to Level C addition or move on to Level B subtraction.)
(University of Pittsburgh, 1966, p. 3)
CRAPTER 19 / MASTERY LEARNING AND PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION
Over 400 specific behavioral objectives are included in the 13 topics of

the mathematics curriculum. The following excerpt, one small series from
the sequence, illustrates the minute detail of the plan:
LEVEL F
LEVEL E
ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION
1. Given any two whole numbers, the 1. Given any two numbers 9,999.99
student adds or subtracts using the and an operation of addition or sub-
traction, the student solves. LIMIT: Answers must be positive numbers.

2. Given an addition problem with 5 2. Given 5 addends which are mixed
addends, the student solves using the decimals with < 7 digits, the student
adds. LIMIT: Decimals to millionths.
short algorithm.
short algorithm.
3. Given multiple-step word problems 3. Given two mixed decimals, the sturequiring addition and sub&action dent subtracts. LIMIT: 7 digits, deciskills mastered to this point, the stu- mals to millionths.
dent solves them.
4. Solves multiple-step word prob-
lems: using addition and subtraction

skills mastered to this point.
MULTIPLICATION
1. Given a two-digit number and a 1. Given a two-digit number times a

onedigit number, the student multi- two-digit number, the student multiplies in horizontal form by using the plies using the standard algorithm.
distributive principle.
2. Given a problem with a three-digit 2. Given a three-digit number times a
multiplicand and a one-digit multi- two-digit number, the student multiplier, the student solves using partial plies using the standard algorithm.
products.,
3. Given a multiplication problem 3. Given a whole number and a mixed
whose multipliers and multiplicands decimal to hundredths as factors, the

are whole numbers 10 times a multi- student multiplies. I IMIT: Whole numple of 10, the student solves. LIMIT: ber part 100.
Factors < 9,000.
4 Given a multiplication problem 4. Given two pure decimals < .99, the
whose multipliers are whole numbers student multiplies and shows the
equivalent problem in fractional form

multiplicand is three digits, the student and converts product to decimal notation, compares answers for check.
solves. LIMIF Multipliers 9,000.
< 10 times a power of 10, and whose
333
334
5. Given a multiplication problem 5. Given a multiple-step word problem
with a twodigit number times a two- requiring multiplication skills masdigit number, the student solves using tered to this point, the student solves.
partial products.
MULTIPLICATION
6. Given a two-digit number and a

one-digit number, the student solves by
using the multiplication algorithm.
7. Given a multiplication problem for

skills to this point, the student checks
the multiplication by commuting the
factors and solving again.
8. Given a number < 100, the student
finds the complete factorization for the
number. (University of Pittsburgh,
l968
Each of the 13 areas of the mathematics curriculum has. nine levels of

difficulty, A through I. Within each level for a given topic area, several behavioral objectives are identified and sequentially organized. The breakdown of the 13 topics into levels creates certain options for the student and
teacher. The student can cover one area in depth before moving to the next
or can go from addition Level E to subtraction Level E. We can see that the
content for the IPI math program is spelled out in great detail, ordered sequentially, and interrelated well in advance of the time the teachers and students come together.
The third step in the program is to develop the materials that the students use to achieve each objective. These are mostly self-study materials
that a student can pursue by himself or herself with minimal assistance

from the teacher: in the mathematics curriculum, worksheets, individual
pages, or lesson groups of pages. In addition to the self-instruction, the program calls on the teacher to offer instruction to small or large groups and
to individuals. For instance, if several students are having difficulty successfully completing a particular objective, the teacher may bring them together for small-group instruction. The mathematics program makes the
additional assumption that not all students learn equally well by the same
approach. Some students may need more practice in the use of the concept,
while others learn the concept more effectively by being given exapiples in
which they must decide what is and what is not an instance of the concept.
Still others have difficulty transferring behavior from one situation to another and need experience with a variety of formats for using the concept.
For example, students can add two-digit numbers using a number line; an
abacus, or addition tables. To accommodate these differences, the mathe-
rnatics materials for a given behavioral objective include a variety of ap-
proaches and formats.

The fourth step for the system planner is to bring together the components of the systemstudent, teacher, materialsso that the behavioral objectives are achieved. One program devoted a portion of the school day at
the beginning of the academic year to testing:
It was essential to find out exactly what abilities each pupil had in each of the
many areas in reading, arithmetic, and science. In arithmetic for example, sequenced materials had been developed for each topic, such as numeration, measurement, addition, and subtraction. Because so many topics were involved and
because it was necessary to know where a pupil should start in each of them,
several days had to be devoted to diagnosis of pupil abilities.
On the basis of this diagnosis, a "prescription" was developed for each pupil
in each subject. This prescription listed the materials that the pupil was to start
withwhich might be enough for one day, several days, or a weekdepending
on the ability of the student and the difficulty of the unit. Evaluation and feedback, then, were built into the ongoing curricular activities. This is in contrast
to many educational programs which depend heavily on periods of examination
and the like that are separated from other curricular activities.
The faculty also developed a system for guiding the students as they worked.
A student was to begin working on his prescribed materials usually by himself
at a desk in a study area with eighty or ninety other pupils. In this room there
were also two or three teachers to provide instructional assistance, and three or
four clerks to distribute materials and grade papers. Most pupils were able to
proceed through their study materials with a minimum of help from the teachers. If a teacher found a pupil who needed more help than she could give in this
large-group situation, she directed him to a small side room where another
teacher gave him more extensive individual help or involved him in small-group
instruction. (Joyce and Harootunian, 1967, pp. 8384)
Lastly comes the creation of a management system for monitoring the

student's progress and adjusting prescriptions so that carefully tailored
feedback, the heart of the cybernetic approach, can be given.
The materials prescribed for a student at any given time typically would include
as a final exercise, a "check test" or "curriculum embedded" test. This exercise,
which the student viewed as just another worksheet, would play a large part in
dtermining what the pupil did next. When a pupil completed his prescribed
unit of work, he took it to a clerk for checking and then to the teacher who was
developing the .rescriptions. This teacher held a brief conference with the
pupil, examined the work he had just completed, and then developed the next
prescription. As we can see, the learner role variables are carefully defined and
provision is made for developing them under this. system. (Joyce and Harootunian, 1967, p. 84)
In this case the management system for tracking a pupil's progress and
specifying the role of functionaries is embedded in the instructional system.
As in business, the teacher-manager has the responsibility for bettering the
335
336
system and adjusting it to the needs of the individual. The teacher's role in
IPI is a crucial one. He or she serves as

a diagnostician (analyzing the IPI diagnostic data about each student in order
to tailor a program to meet the individual learning needs), a selector (drawing
on the bank of both human and material resources available to the IPI instructional situation), and a tutor (building meaningful and appropriate learning experiences that lead a student to a more independent and responsible role in his
IPI learning setting). (Scanlon and Brown, 1969, p. 1)
This represents an organizational approach to teaching quite different

from that of the self-contained classroom teacher working with thegroups
of children he or she sees every day and for whose education he or she maintains total responsibility.
LANGUAGE LABORATORY
Another prominent example of an instructional system, one in which the
machine components paved the way for an entirely different learning environment, is the language laboratory. Its development represents vivid application of the combined properties of systems analysis, task analysis, and
cybernetic principles in the educational setting. Before the language laboratory became commonplace, the classroom teacher served as the model for
foreign speech in a classroom of 25 to 35 students who were trying- to re-
produce speech sounds. The individual in such a situation might have a

maximum of one minute of speech practice per classroom session, hardly
enough to produce fluency or accuracy.
Today in the typical classroom laboratory, learners use electrical equipment to hear, record, and play back spoken materials. The general physical
equipment includes student stations and an instructor's central panel.

Through this panel, the teacher can broadcast a variety of content materials, new and remedial programs, and instruction to individuals, selected
groups, or the entire class. He or she can also monitor the students' performance. The students' stations are often a series of individual, acoustically
treated carrels, usually equipped with headphones, a microphone, and a
tape recorder. - Each student listens through the headphones to live or
recorded directions from the instructor to repeat, answer questinns, or
make other appropriate responses to the lesson. The instructor may also
choose to use the chalkboard, textbook, or other visual stimuli to supplement audio inputs Modern technology has made it possible
for almost instantaneous situations in which students might:
1. Hear their own voices more clearly through earphones than they could
otherwise.
2. Directly compare their speech with a model's.
3. Provide themselves with immediate feedback.

4. Isolate items for study.
5. Permit pacing for specific drill.
6. Permit more finely sequenced instructional content.
Learning a foreign language requires that the student hear vocabulary

and speech patterns repeatedly. The exercises are carefully sequenced and
are followed by new combinations of varying complexity. The ultimate goal
is to have the student readily comprehend what he or she hears and make
immediate and appropriate responses. From the student's viewpoint, the
language laboratory serves as a base for extensive practicing of finely sequenced behavior, matching aural models, and developing speech fluency.
From the instructor's viewpoint, it provides the facilities (hardware and
software) for a more effective language-learning situation.
In systems analysis terminology, the language laboratory represents the
development of a human-machine system based on the performance objectives and requirements of foreign language proficiency. Prior to the development of the language laboratory, it was possible to provide reasonably
sequenced visual materials. But the critical elements of languagetraining
individualized audial practice and dynamic feedbackfar outran the

human management capacities and support facilities of the self-contained
classroom teacher with 25 students. With electronic hardware and software

support subsystems, instructors can now divide their time more effectively
between monitoring (management), diagnosis, and instruction. Students
are given immediate, direct sensory feedback sothat they can compare their
performance with the desired performance and make the necessary selfcorrective adjustments.
Many programs now available for personal computers create miniature
language laboratories that function in the self-instructional mode. For computers without sound cards, phonetic spelling is used to assist with pronunciation. For computers with sound cards, the computer "speaks" words
and phrases.
Mastery learning has been investigated extensively. Slavin's (1 990b) reanalysis of the literature generally agrees with Kulik, Kulik, and BengertDrowns's (1990) analysis that it usually increases learning modestly but
consistently on curriculum-relevant tests. (The average student places about
at the 65th percentile when compared with students in control groups
studying the same material without the careful sequencing of objectives and
modules of instruction.) Standardized tests, however, have been resistant to
these gains, for reasons that are not well understood.
A NOTE ON PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION

Many mastery learning programs use programed instruction, a system for
designing self-instructional materials. It is one of the most direct applica-
337
338
tions of Skinner's writings. It provides for highly systematic stimulus con-
trol and immediate reinforcement. Although Skinner's initial programmed

instruction format has undergone many transformations, most adaptations
retain three essential features: (1) an ordered sequence of items, either questions or statements to which the student is asked to respond; (2) the student's response, which may be in the form of filling in a blank, recalling the
answer to a question, selecting from among a series of answers, or solving
a problem; and (3) provision for immediate response confirmation, sometimes within the program frame itself but usually in a different location, as
on the next page in a programmed textbook or in a separate window in the
teaching machine. (Examples of programmed material appear on the following pages)
Recent research on programmed instruction shows that considerable
deviation from these essentials can be made with no significant difference
in the amount of learning that takes place. Programmed lectures with

no overt student response are one example. The original linear selfinstructional programs in which each student is subjected to the same material, though at his or her own pace, were not sufficiently individualized
for some educators. Hence, "branching" programs were developed. The idea
in branching is that slower students, unable to respond correctly to a particular frame or sequence of frames, may need additional information or review of background information. On the other hand, the more advanced
students could benefit by additional and more difficult material. At various
points the branching program directs students to the appropriate material
depending on their answer to a particular frame or the number of correct
responses within a particujar frame sequence. Branching programs will automatically direct the student to a special section depending on his or her
choice. If the student selects any of the wrong responses, the particular mistake in reasoning is pointed out; if he or she chooses the correct response,
a more difficult example may appear.
Programmed instruction has been successfully employed for a variety
of subject matters, including English, math, statistics, geography, and science. It has been used at every school level from preschool through college.
Programmed instructional techniques have been applied to a great variety
of behaviors: concept formation, rote learning, creativity, and problem solv-
ing, for example. Some programs have even led students to discover
concepts, using a format reminiscent of inductive thinking. How is programmed instruction different from traditional workbooks that classroom
teachers have used for years with no startling effects? With workbooks the
emphasis is on practice (response maintenance) rather than on behavioral
acquisition through carefully sequenced material. Workbooks provide endless "frames" of review material. Obviously, review is of little value unless
the behavior has first been successfully established; the traditional workbook is not designed to do this. Also, the reinforcing effect of continuous
review is bound to suffer diminishing returns; the learner only goes

over material already mastered. Finally, most workbooks make no provi-
339
sion for immediate feedback, supplying the answer only in the teacher's
copy!
On the following pages we have included two examples of programmed

materials. The first is an excerpt from a high school English course, and the
second is from an elementary school arithmetic book.
PROGRAMMED ENGLISH
M. W. Sullivan
1. Words are divided into classes. We
call the largest class nouns. Nouns are

a class of ______________.
2. In English the class of words called

nouns is larger than all the other
______________ of words combined,
3. We call the largest class of English
words ________________.
4. You will learn a number of ways to

recognize and to use the class of
_____________ called nouns.
5. The words in a class are all alike in

some way. All the members of the
_____________ of words called nouns
have characteristics in common.
6. You will see that nouns occur in special positions in English sentences.
Any word that occurs in a noun position must be a ____________.
words
classes
nouns
words
class
noun
7. Any word which fits the blank

in the sentence
"1 saw the ________________
occurs in the noun position.
Can the word DOG occur in the noun

position?
8. Any position which is occupied
by a noun in English is part of
yes
a NOUN PATTERN.
"I saw the _______________
This entire sentence is a
pattern.
a
word
occurs
in the noun posiWhen
9.
tion in a noun pattern, we say that it
fits the ____________ pattern,
noun
noun
340
10. When a word fits a noun pattern, we
say that it FUNCTIONS as a noun.

A word which does not fit the noun
pattern cannot _____________ as a
noun.
11. When a word functions as a noun, we

say it belongs to the class of words
called ____________.
12. But a word may function as a member of several classes.
We classify it as a noun only when it
____________ as a noun.
A word functions as a noun only
when it occurs in the _____________
position in a noun pattern.
function
nouns
functions
noun
13. A word which fits the blank in the following sentence occurs in a noun position.
"I saw the ______________
We say
that a word which occurs in a

noun ____________ in a noun pattern functions as a noun.
Therefore we will use the above pat-
position
nouns
tern as one test for ___________.
14. "1 saw the book."

In this pattern, the word BOOK is in a
position.
We therefore say that the word
_____________ functions as a noun,
15. "1 saw the airplane."
Here the word ______________ is in a
noun position.
noun
book
airplane
16. Test the following words in the noun

pattern to see whether or not they can
function as nouns:
desk
"I saw the ______________."
cat
stone
Can these three words function as
nouns?
yes
17. We use the pattern "I saw the" to decide whether or not a word functions
asa __________.
18. Can the word BOAT function as a
noun?
noun
yes
341
We know that BOAT fu.ictions as

a noun because we can say
_______________________________ boat."
"1 saw the boat."
From now on, when several words are

to be filled in, we will often indicate
this with a series of dots. For example, instead of writing"
__________________________ boat,"
boat."
we will write
19. Give the pattern which we use to test

for nouns.
"I saw the _____________
20. "I saw the ______________
If a word fits this blank, we say that it

can -
as a
function
noun.
21. Which of these words can function as

a noun?
chair
cautiously
22. CAUTIOUSLY does not function as a
noun because we do not say
chair
"1 saw the cautiously."
23, Which of these words can function as

a noun?
hat
hat
usually
(Sullivan, 1963, pp. 14)
INTRODUCTION TO SETS
Some children like to collect stamps.
collection
collection
collection
set
set
collection
set
element
Charles collects records. John likes to collect

pictures of baseball players.
Roger has a collection of model airplanes.
Roger collects model planes. He has a plane
tion.
col
.
Dick collects coins. He has a coin collec
A bunch of flowers is a _____________ of flowers.
Another word for collection is set. A collection of
stamps is a _______________ of stamps.
A collection of butterflies is a ______________of
butterflies.
Set and ______________ have the same meaning.
A collection of things is a ______________ of things.
Each thing in a set is called an element of the set.
Jim has a stamp collection.
His World's Fair stamp is a thing or
e______________ in his collection.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
342
Each roller skate in a set of roller skates is an
element
element
ane
car
dog
element
element
set
element
books
t of that set.
In John's set of train cars a flat car is
.
In a set of Lars, an element of this set would be a

(car/thing) ______________. Choose the better
answer.
An element of the set of dogs is a(n)
___________.
A cat is a(n) ______________ of the set of cats.

A funny face is a(n) _____________ of the
of funny faces.
Here is a set of kittens. Pick out an element of this
set by drawing a circle around this element.
A cup is a(n) ______________ in the set of cups.
A book is an element in the set of
____________.
An element is one of the things in a(n)
12
13
14
15
16
17
______________
set
18
19
20
21
(Stan 1965, pp. 13)
SUMMARY
Mastery learning is straightforward, optimistic, and clear. To create a mastery learning system takes careful development, but in a positive social climate, this system directly approaches many of the learning problems that
have vexed teacher-driven instruction. It also places the teacher in an encouraging, assisting role that has a positive effect on the self-esteem of the
students.
CHAPTER
DIRECT INSTRUCTION
The idea that you teach kids how to ak and answer questions,
rather than just asking them questions, came as a
revelation to me.
A teacher of 20 years, to Bruce Joyce, May 1995
Although based on the studies of effective teachers, direct instruction has

its theoretical origins in the behavioral family, particularly in the thinking
of training and behavioral psychologists. 11aining psychologists have focused on training people to perform complex behaviors that involve a high
degree of precision and often coordination with othersfor example, being
a crew member on a submarine. Their main contributions to learning situations are task definition and task analysis. The instructional design principles they propose focus on conceptualizing learner performance into
goals and tasks, breaking these tasks into smaller component tasks, develophig training activities that ensure mastery of each subcomponent, and, finally, arranging the entire learning situation into sequences that ensure
adequate transfer from one component to another and achievement of prerequisite learning before more advanced learning.
Whereas training psychologists have emphasized the design and planning of instruction, behavioral psychologists address the interaction be-
tween teachers and students. They speak of modeling, reinforcement,

feedback, and successive approximation. Behaviorists sometimes refer to
their approach as "modeling with reinforced guided performance."

Direct instruction plays a limited but important role in a comprehensive educational program. Critics of direct instruction caution that the approach
should not be used all the time, for all educational objectives, or for all studentscautions we agree with.
Despite the cautions and the caveats, direct instruction has a relatively
solid empirical track record, getting consistent if modest effects.
344
THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR

DIRECT INSTRUCTION
The most prominent features are an academic focus, a high degree of
teacher direction and control, high expectations for pupil progress, a
system for managing time, and an atmosphere of relatively neutral affect.
Academic focus means one places highest priority on the assignment
and completion of academic tasks. During instruction academic activity is
emphasized; the use of ncnacademic materialsfor example, toys, games,
and puzzlesis deemphasized or even discouraged, as is nonacademically
oriented student-teacher interaction, such as questions about self or discussions of personal concern. Several studies have shown that a strong aca-
demic focus produces greater student engagement and, subsequently,

achievement (Fisher et a!., 1980; Madaus, Airasian, and Kellaghan, 1980;
Rosenshine, 1970, 1971, 1985).
Teacher direction and control occur when the teacher selects and di-
rects the learning tasks, maintains a central role during instruction,

and minimizes the amount of nonacademic pupil talk. Teachers who
have high expectations for their students and concern for academic
progress demand academic excellence and behavior conducive to academic
progress. They expect more of their students in terms of quantity and quality of work.
A major goal of direct instruction is the maximization of student

learning time. Many teacher behaviors found to be associated with
student achievement are in fact associated with student time on task
nd student rate of success, which in turn are associated with student
achievement. Thus, the behaviors incorporated into direct instruction
are designed to create a structured, academically oriented learning
environment in which students are actively engaged (on task) during
instruction and are experiencing a high rate of success (80 percent mastery
or better) in the tasks they are given. Time spent by pupils in both these
conditions is referred to as academic learning time (ALT), which is to be
maximized.
Finally, there is substantial evidence that negative affect inhibits student
achievement (Rosenshine, 1971; Soar, Soar, and Ragosta, 1971). Teachers
should create an academic focus and avoid such negative practices as criticism of student behavior. Research is less clear on the role of positive af-
fect on student outcomes: some students may benefit more from large
amounts of praise than others; some types of praise are more effective than
others (Brophy, 1981).
In summary, the direct instruction environment is one in which there is
a predominant focus on learning and in which students are engaged in academic tasks a large percentage of time and achieve at a high rate of success.
The social climate is positive and free of negative affect.
CHAPTER 20 / DIRECT INSTRUCTION

The term direct instruction has been used by researchers to refer to a pattern of teaching that consists of the teacher's explaining a new concept or
skill to a large group of students, having them test their understanding by
practicing under teacher direction (that is, controlled practice), and encouraging them to continue to practice under teacher guidance (guided
practice).
Before presenting and explaining new material, it is helpful to establish
a framework for the lesson and orient the students to the new material.
Structuring comments made at the beginning of a lesson are designed to
clarify for the students the purposes, procedures, and actual content of the
subsequent learning experience. Such comments are associated with improved student engagement during the learning activity and with overall
achievement (Block, 1980; Medley, Soar, and Coker, 1984; Fisher et al., 1980;
Medley, 1977). These orienting comments can take various forms, including: (1) introductory activities that elicit students' relevant existing knowledge structures (Anderson, Evertson, and Brophy, 1979), such as reviewing
the previous day's work (Rosenshine, 1985); (2) discussing the objective of
the lesson; (3) providing clear, explicit directions about work to be done;
(4) telling the students about the materials they will use and the activities
they will be engaged in during the lesson; and (5) providing an overview of
the lesson.
Once the context for learning has been established, instruction can
begin with the presentation of the new concept or skill. Students' success in
learning the new material has much to do with the thoroughness and qua!ity of the teacher's initial explanation. Effective teachers spend more time
explaining and demonstrating new material than less-effective teachers

(Rosenshine, 1985). Presentation practices that appear to facilitate learning
include: (1) presenting material in small step's so that one point can be mastered at a time; (2) providing many, varied examples of the new skills or concepts; (3) modeling, or giving narrated demonstrations of the learning task;
(4) avoiding digressions, staying on topic; and (5) reexplaining difficult
points (Rosenshine, 1985). From research on concept learning we also

know that when teaching a new concept it is important to clearly identify
the characteristics (attributes) of the concept and to provide a rule or defi-
nition (or sequence of steps in skill learning). Finally, providing a visual representation of the concept or skill along with the verbal explanation assists
students in following the explanation. Later, at other points in the learning
process, the visual representation serves as a cue or prompt.
Following the explanation comes the discussion, in which the teacher

checks for students' understanding of the new concept or skill. A common
error is simply to ask students if they understand or have any questions and
then to assume that if no one or only a few students respond, everyone un-
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derstands well enough to move on to seatwork. Effective teachers ask more
questions that check for student understanding than less-effective teachers

(Rosenshine, 1985). Such questions call for specific answers Or ask for explanations of how answers were found. According to Rosenshine, effective
teachers not only asked more questions, but they also spent more time on
teacher-led practice and on repeating the new material they were teaching.
Other aspects of effective questioning behavior for direct-instruction approaches are: (1) asking convergent, as opposed to divergent, questions
(Rosenshine, 1971, 1985); (2) ensuring that all students get a chance to respondnot just those who raise their hands or call out the loudest; this can
be accomplished by calling on students in a patterned order, for example by
calling the students' names first, in reading groups, before asking them
questions, or calling for a choral response (Gage and Berliner, 1983; Rosenshine, 1985); (3) asking questions within students' "reach" a high percent-
age of the time (75 to 90 percent) (Rosenshine, 1985); and (4) avoiding
nonacademic questions during direct instruction (Rosenshine, 1985; Soar,
Soar, and Ragosta, 1971).
Once the teacher has initiated a question and a student has responded,
the teacher needs to give the student feedback on his or her response. Research indicates that effective teachers do a better job of providing feedback
than do noneffective ones (Rosenshine, 1971). They do not let errors go un-
corrected, nor do they simply give the answers to students who have responded incorrectly. They use techniques for correcting responses or they
reteach the material. In addition, effective teachers maintain a brisk pace
during this recitation activity When they provide corrective feedback or
reteach, they do it efficiently so that many practice opportunities are provided and many students have the opportunity to respond. For example,
when a correct answer has been given, the teacher simply asks a new question. In the early stages of learning, when answers may be correct but somewhat tentative, the teacher provides knowledge of results and quick-process
feedback. ("Very good. You remembered that '1' goes before 'e' when it comes
after 'c.' ") If the student has carelessly provided an incorrect answer, the
teacher provides corrective feedback and moves on. If the incorrect re-
sponse indicated lack of understanding, the teacher should provide hints or

clues, such as referring back to the visual representation. It is important to
probe for clarification and improved answers. Effective feedback is academically oriented, not behaviorally oriented (Fisher et al., 1980). It is also substantive in that it tells students what they have done correctly. Feedback
may be combined with praise; however, it is important that praise be deserved based on the quality of the response (Gage and Berliner, 1983). Students differ in the amount of praise they need; some students, particularly
low-achieving students, need a lot, whereas others do not need as much.
Even if a student's need for praise is great, he or she should not be praised
for an incorrect response (Brophy, 1981).
The major point is that the kind of feedback students receive during
structured practice has much to do with their later success. Feedback helps
CHAPTER 20 / DIRECT INSTRUCTION
students find out how well they understand the new material and what their
errors are. To be effective, feedback must be academic, corrective, respectful, and deserved.
The need for students to be given thorough explanations and structured
practice with feedback before they begin their seatwork seems obvious.
However, it is clear both from the research and from the authors' own experiences that students are often asked to work from their texts or workbooks with almost no explanation and/or practice. Students need to have a
high degree of success when they are engaged in reading or practicing skills.
In order for this to occur, they should move from structured practice to
open practice only when they have achieved about 90 percent accuracy on
the structured-practice examples.
In the average classroom, students spend between 50 and 75 percent of

their time working alone on tasks (Rosenshine, 1985). If this large amount
of time is to be productively directed toward learning, stUdents need to remain engaged in the learning task. What is most conducive to engagement
is being well prepared, by the teacher's presentation and by teacher-led practice. Practice that is directly related to the presentation and that occurs right
after teacher-led practice facilitates student engagement. It is also helpful
for the teacher to circulate while students are working, monitoring individual students with relatively short contacts (Rosenshine, 1985).
PRACTICE THEORY
As its name implies, the "heart" of this teaching strategy is its practice activitis; three phases of the model deal with practice under varying condi-
tions of assistance. The literature emphasizes six principles to make

practice effective.
The first principle is that of shaping. The goal of all practice is mastery,
the ability to perform a skill independently and without error. When

the principle of shaping is adhered to, the teacher moves the student
thmugh practice with different levels of assistance: highly structured, semiindependent or guided, and independent. This practice progression is de-
signed to provide appropriate support until student independence is

achieved.
The three levels of practice function in the following manner: When the
students are first introduced to a new skill or concept, the teacher leads the
group through each step in working out the problem. This lockstep method
ensures that few errors are produced in the initial learning stages, when
memory is most vulnerable to remembering incorrect practiceand when errors reinforce incorrect information. After lockstep or structured practice,
the students practice on their own at their seats while the teacher monitors.
During this time the teacher provides corrective feedback for any errors
produced as well as reinforcement for correct practice. When students are
able to practice with accuracy, they are ready for independent practice
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that is, for practice under conditions when assistance is not available in the
environment. Homework is an example of independent practice. This last

step in the practice progression is the mastery level; students are performing the skill independently with minimal error.
The second practice principle has to do with the length of each practice
session. Research indicates that, on the whole, the more a person practices
a skill, the longer it takes him or her to forget it. The general principle guiding the length of time recommended for practice is: Short, intense, highly
motivated practice periods produce more learning than fewer but longer prac-
tice periods. For example, with younger students, short, 5- to 10-minute

practice sessions interspersed over the day or a series of days will be more
effective than long, 30- to 40-minute sessions. Older students are able to
handle longer practice sessions, but, for them also, many short sessions
with clear feedback about progress pay off.
The third principle is the need to monitor the initial stage of practice because incorrect performance at this stage will interfere with learning. Stu-
dents need corrective feedback to prevent incorrect procedures from

becoming embedded in their memories. Immediate correctiye feedback
(that is, information on how to perform correctly) will reverse misconceptions early in the instructional process. It also reduces performance anxiety
because students practice with the assurance of immediate feedback. In addition to catching incorrect performance in the early stages, it is also important to reinforce correct performance. This gives students the knowledge
of results that stabilizes the new learning more quickly.
Having students achieve an 85 to 90 percent level of accuracy at the current practice level before going to the next level is the fourth practice principle. Paying attention to accuracy rates ensures that students experience
success and do not practice errors.
The fifth principle is that of distributed practice, or multiple practice sessions spread out over a period of time. Without practice to reinforce it 80
percent of new information is forgotten within 24 hours. With periodic re-
views spread out over an extended period of time, such as four or five
months, nearly all new information can be retained. A common mistake in
instruction is to deal with a topic, end the topic, and never review the information or skills again until a "final examination." The important material needs to be reviewed regularly.
The last principle addresses the issue of the optimal amount of time
between practice sessions. The general guideline is that practice periods
should be close together at the beginning of learning; once learning is at an
independent level, the practice sessions can be spaced farther and farther
apart. Thus, guided practice sessions should occur immediately after new
learning has been introduced and should continue frequently until independence is achieved. When this has occurred, independent practice ses-
sions can be distributed farther apartthat is, 1, 2, 6, and then 15 days

apart.
CHAPTER 20 I DIRECT INSTRUCTION

SYNTAX
The direct instruction model consists of five phases of activity: orientation, presentation, structured practice, guided practice, and independent
practice (see Figure 20.1). However, th use of this model should be preceded by effective diagnosis of students' knowledge or skills to be sure that
they have the prerequisite knowledge or skills to. achieve high levels of accuracy in the different practice conditions.
Phase one is the orientation phase in which a framework for the lesson
is established. During this phase the teacher's expectations are communiFIGURE 20.1
Instructional and nurturant effects: direct instruction model.
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the learning lask is clarified, and student accountability is established. Three steps are particularly important in carrying out the intent of
this phase: (1) the teacher provides the objective of the lesson and the level
of performance; (2) the teacher describes the content of the lesson and its
relationship to prior knowledge andlor experience; and (3) the teacher discusses the procedures of the lessonthat is, the different parts of the lesson
and students' responsibilities during those activities.
Phase two is the presentation phase, in which the teacher explains the
new concept or skill and provides demonstrations and examples. If the material is a new concept, it is important that the teacher discuss the characteristics (or attributes) of the concept, the rule or definition, and several
examples. If the material is a new skill, it is important to identify the steps
of the skill with examples of each step. (Another common mistake is to provide too few demonstrations.) In either case, it is helpful to convey this information both orally and visually so that students will have the visual
representation as a reference in the early stages of learning. The latter is
sometimes called a visual representation of the task (VRT). Another part of
this phase is checking to see that students have understood the new information before they apply it in the practice phases. Can they recall the attributes of the concept that the teacher has explained? Can they recall the
cated,
number and list of steps in the skill they have just been shown? Checking for
understanding (CFU) requires that students recall or recognize the information that they have just heard. In structured practice, they will apply it.
Structured practice comes next. The teacher leads students through
practice examples, working in lockstep fashion through each step .of the
problem as it appears on the VRT. The students practice as a group, offering to write answers. A good way to accomplish the lockstep technique is to
use an overhead projector, doing practice examples on a transparency so
that all students can see the generation of each step. The teacher's role in
this. phase is to give feedback on the students' responses, to reinforce

accurate responses, and to correct errors. The VRT is available. In referring
to it while working the practice examples, the teacher is ensuring that students understand it so that they can use it as a resource during their semiindependent practice phase.
Phase four, guided practice, gives students the opportunity to practice
on their own while the teacher is still in the environment. Guided practice
enables the teacher to make an assessment of the students' abilities to perform the learning task by assessing the amount and types of errors the stu-
dents are making. The teacher's role in this phase i: to monitor students'.
work, providing corrective feedback when necessary.
Independent practice is the last phase of the direct instruction model.
It begins when students have achieved an accuracy level of 85 to 90 percent
in guided practice. The purpose of independent practice is to reinforce the
new learning to ensure retention as well as to develop fluency. In mdependent practic, students practice on their own without assistance and with
CHAPTER 20 I DIRECT INSTRUCTION
dlayed feedback. This can be done in the classroom, if the teacher is not
involved, but it can be done in any appropriate setting. The teacher's role in
this phase is to make sure the independent practice work is reviewed soon
after completion to assess whether the students' accuracy level has remained stable and to provide corrective feedback for those who need it. An
independent-practice activity can be short in length of time and number of
practice items; however, it should not be a one-time venture. As described
earlier, five or six practice sessions distributed over a month or more will
sustain retention.
DIRECT AND NURTURANT EFFECTS

The model is, as the name applies, "direct." It approaches academic content
systematically. Its design is shaped to generate and sustain motivation

through pacing and reinforcement. Through success and positive feedback,
it tries to enhance self-esteem (see Figure 20.1).
SOCIAL SYSTEM
The social system is highly structured.
The principles of reaction are governed by the need to provide knowledge
of results, help students pace themselves, and offer reinforcement. The support system includes sequenced learning tasks, sometimes as elaborate as
the sets developed by the individually prescribed instruction team.
APPLICATION
The most common applications are in the study of basic information and
skills in the core curriculum areas. A number of large-scale programs built
around direct instruction have been directed at economically poor, lowachieving children. In the evaluation of Project Follow Through, a federal
program that extended Head Start into the elementary grades, the University of Oregon's direct instruction model produced more significant differences on both cognitive and affective measures than any of the other eight
major programs (Becker, 1977). Overall, the students in this program went
from being well below the 25th percentile nationally in reading, math, and
spelling before starting the program, to being in the 50th percentile or above
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by the third grade. The program emphasizes "small-group, face to face in-
struction by a teacher using carefully sequenced, daily lessons in reading,

arithmetic and language" (Becker, Engelmann, Carnine, and Rhine, 1981).
"A positive self-concept was viewed as a by-product of good teaching rather
than as a goal to be achieved in the abstract" (Becker, 1977, pp. 92 1922).
CHAPTER
LEARNING FROM
SIMULATIONS
Training and Self-Training
This is a lot better than turning a real chopper upside down.
Army instructor to Bruce Joyce, June 1953
SCENARIO
Driver education students in a secondary school in Chicago are taking
turns driving a simulated car. As the motion picture camera projects an
image of the roadway ahead, obstacles appear. A child steps out from behind two parked cars; the "driver" turns the wheel and misses the child. A
stop sign appears suddenly beyond a parked truck; the driver slams on the
brakes. The driver makes a turn and a roadway narrows suddenly; again
the driver brakes. One by one the students experience driving under simulated conditions. As students complete the "course," the instructor and the
other students debrief them, questioning their reactions and their defensive
driving.
In another classroom, this time in the suburbs of Boston, a class is

watching a television show. The actors are portraying the members of the
U.S. cabinet facing a crisis. After examining the issues, the class reaches a
conclusion. One student reaches for the telephone in the classroom, dials a
number, and speaks to the actors in the studio, suggesting how they might
play their roles differently to resolve the crisis. Twenty-five other classrooms
are simultaneously debating the issues seen on television and they, too, are
communicating their views to the actors in the studio. The next day the
show resumes. In various ways, the actors play out the suggestions made by
the classes. The other members of the cabinet react. Students in the 25
classrooms not only see their ideas brought to life on the television screen,
but also see the consequences of their recommendations.
In an inner-city neighborhood in Toronto, an elementary school is also
watching a television screen. The announcer portrays a countdown as a
rocket attempts to break free from the gravity of the moon but fails to do
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so. Class members then take the role of members of the spaceship crew. In-
structions from the Royal Cahadian Space Administration divide them into
teams, and they prepare to work thgether to conserve their life support systems and to manage their relationships in the rocketship until repairs can
be made.
In San Antonio, two groups of children enter a room. One group represents the Alpha culture, the other the Beta culture. Their task is to learn how
to communicate with others who have learned rules and patterns of behavior from a different society. Gradually, they learn to master communication
patterns. Simultaneously, they lecome aware that, as members of a culture,
they have inherited powerful patterns that strongly influence their personalities and ways of communicating wfth other people.
In Philadelphia, a class is engaged in a caribou hunt. As they progress
through the hunt, which the Netsilik Eskimos operate, they learn behavior
patterns of the Netsilik and begin to compare those patterns with the ones
they carry on in their everyday lives.
In a San Francisco suburb, a group of students faces a problem posed
by the secretary of state. Agronomists have developed a nutrient that,

when. added to the food of beef cattle, greatly increases their weight. Only
a limited amount of this nutrient is available, and the students must deter-
mine how the nutrient will be divided among the needy nations of the
world. Congress has imposed the following restraints: the recipient nations
must have a reasonable supply of beef cattle, must not be aligned with the
hard core Communist bloc of nations, must not be vegetarians, and must
have a population that exceeds a certain size. The students debate the al-
ternatives. Some countries are ruled out immediately. Of the remaining

countries, some seem attractive at first, yet less attractive later. The students
grapple with the problems of humanity and ideology and with practical situations. In simulation they face the problems of the committees of scien-
tists who continually advise the U.S. government on various courses of

action.
In the quiet of our homes, Carmen San Diego's gang of thieves take our
children to explore the world.
These students are all involved in simulations, playing the roles ofpersons
engaged in real-life pursuits. Elements of the real world are simplified

and presented in a form that can be contained inside the classroom. The attempt is to approximate realistic conditions as much as possible so that the
concepts learned and solutions generated are transferrable to the real
world.
To progress through the tasks of the simulation, students must develop
concepts and skills necessary for performance in the specified area. The
young drivers have to develop concepts and skills for driving effectively.
The young caribou hunters have to learn concepts about a certain culture.
CHAPTER 21 / LEARNING FROM SIMULATIONS
The young members of the cabinet need to learn about international rela-
tions and the problems of governing a major nation.

In simulation, students learn from the consequences of their actions.
The driver who does not turn rapidly enough "hits" the child he or she is
trying to avoid; he or she must learn to turn more quickly. Yet if the car turns
too quickly, it goes out of control and veers to the other side of the street.
The driver has to learn to correct the initial move while keepinghis or her
eyes on the road and looking for yet other obstacles. The students who do
poorly in the caribou hunt learn what happens if theculture does not function efficiently, or if its members shrink from carrying out the procedures
that enable it to survive.
In this chapter we explore the principles of simulation and discuss examples of various kinds: some games, some not, some competitive, some
cooperative, and some are played by individuals againsttheir own standard.
Competition is important in the familiar board game, Monopoly. Monopoly
simulates the activity of real estate speculators and incorporates many elements of real-life speculation. The winning player learnsthe "rules" of investment and speculation as embodied in the game. In simulations such as
the Life Career game, players attempt to reach their goals in a noncompetitive way. No score is kept, but interactions are recordedand analyzed later.
In the Life Career game the students play out the life cycle of a human
being: they select mates, choose careers, decide whether to obtain various
amounts of education, and learn, through the consequences of their decisions, how these choices can affect their real lives. In the familiar computer
simulations like SimCity and SimEarth, students can play alone or together
against their own standard for creating a good quality of life.
Nearly all simulations depend on softwarethat is, the gamehas paraphernalia of various kinds. The simulation model depends on the teacher's
blending the already-prepared simulation into the curriculum, highlighting
and reinforcing the learning inherent in the game. The teacher's ability to
make the activities truly meaningful is critical. That said, however, the selfinstructional property of simulations is vital.

CYBERNETIC PRINCIPLES
Simulations have been used increasingly in education over the last 30
years, but the simulation model did not originate within the field of education. Rather, it is an application of the principles of cybernetics, a branch of
psychology Cybernetic psychologists, making an analogy between humans
and machines, conceptualize the learner as a self-regulating feedback system. As a discipline, cybernetics "has been described as the comparative
study of the human (or biological) control mechanism, and electromechan-
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ical systems such as computers" (Smith and Smith, 1966, P. 202). The cen-
tral focus is the apparent similarity between the feedback control mecha-
nisms of electromechanical systems and human systems: A feedback

control system incorporates three primary functions: it generates movement of the system toward a target or defined path; it compares the effects
of this action with the true path and detects error; and it utilizes this error
signal to redirect the system (Smith and Smith, 1966, P. 203).
For example, the automatic pilot of a boat continually corrects the helm
of the ship, depending on the readings of the compass. When the ship begins to swing in a certain directionand the compass moves off the desired
heading more than a certain amount, a motor is switched on and the helm
is moved over. When the ship returns to its course, the helm is straightened
out again, and the ship continues on its way. The automatic pilot operates
in essentially the same way as does a human pilot. Both watch thecompass,
and both move the wheel to the left or right, depending on what is going on.
Both initiate action in terms of a specified goal ("Let's go north"), and depending on the feedback or error signal, both redirect the initial action. Very
complex self-regulating mechanical systems have been developed to control
devices such as guided missiles, ocean liners, and satellites.
The cybernetic psychologist interprets the human being as a controlsystem that generates a course of action and then redirects or corrects the action by means of feedback. This can be a very complicated processas
when the secretary of state reevaluates foreign policyor a very simple
oneas when we notice that our sailboat is heading into the wind too much
and we ease off on our course just a little. In using the analogy of mechanical systems as a frame of reference for analyzing human beings, psychologists came up with the central idea "that performance and learning must be
analyzed in terms of the control relationships between a human operator
and an instrumental situation." That is, learning was understood to be determined by the nature of the individual, as well as by the design of the
learning situation (Smith and Smith, 1966, p. vii).
All human behavior, according to cybernetic psychology, involves a perceptible pattern of motion. This includes both covert behavior, such as
thinking and symbolic behavior, and overt behavior. In any given situation,
individuals modify their behavior according to the feedback they receive
from the environment. They organize their movements and their response
patterns in relation to this feedback. Thus, ther own sensorimotor capabilities form the basis of their feedback systems. This ability to receive feedback constitutes the human system's mechanism for receiving and sending
information. As human beings develop greater linguistic capability, they are
able to use indirect as well as direct feedback, thereby expanding their control over the physical and social environment. That is, they are less denendent on the concrete realities of the environment because they can use its
symbolic representations. The essence, the', of cybernetic psychology is the
principle of sense-oriented feedback that is intrinsic to the individual (one
"feels" the effects of one's decisions) and is the basis for self-corrective
choices. Individuals can "feel" the effects of their decisions because the en-
vironment responds in full, rather than simply "You're right" or "Wrong!

Try again." That is, the environmental consequences of their choices are
played back to them. Learning in cybernetic terms is sensorially experiencing the environmental consequences of one's behavior and engaging in selfcorrective behavior. Instruction in cybernetic terms is designed to create an
environment for the learner in which this full feedback takes place.
SIMULATORS AND SIMULATIONS

The application of cybernetic principles to educational procedures is
seen most dramatically and clearly in the development of simulators. A sim-
ulator is a training device that closely represents reality but in which the
complexity of events can be controlled. For example, a simulated automobile has been constructed in which the driver sees a road (by means of a mo-
tion picture), has a wheel to turn, a clutch and a brake to operate, a

gearshift, and all the other devices of a contemporary automobile. The driver can start this simulated automobile, and by turning the key can hear the
noise of a motor running. When the driver presses the accelerator the noise
increases in volume, so the driver has the sensation of having actually increased the flow of gas to a real engine. As the person drives, the film shows
curves in the road; in turning the wheel, the driver may experience the illusion that the automobile is turning. The simulator can present the student
with learning tasks to which he or she can respond, but the responses do
not have the same consequences that they would have in a real-life situationthe simulated automobile doesn't crash into anything, although it
may look like it is crashing from the driver's point of view. And in the manner of training psychology the tasks presented can be made less complex
than those a driver would have to execute in the real world; this way, it is
easier for the student to acquire the skills that would be needed later for actual driving. For instance, in a driving simulator the student can simply
practice shifting from one gear to another until he or she has mastered the
task. The student can also practice applying the brakes and turning the
wheel, thus developing a feel for how the automobile responds when those
things are done.
A simulator has several advantages. As we noted earlier, the learning
tasks can be made much less complex than they are in the real world, so
that the students may have the opportunity to master skills that would be
extremely difficult when all the factors of real-world operations impinge on
them. For example, learning how to fly a complex airplane without the aid
of a simulator leaves little room for error. The student pilot has to do everything adequately the first time, or the plane is in difficulty. With the use of
a simulator, the training can be staged. The trainee can be introduced to

simple tasks and then more complex ones until he or she builds a repertoire
of skills adequate for piloting the plane. In addition, difficulties such as
storms and mechanical problems can be simulated, and the student can
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learn how to. cope with them. Thus, by-the time the student actually begins
flying, a repertoire of necessary skills is available.
A second advantage of simulators is that they permit students to learn

from self-generated feedback. As the student pilot turns the wheel of the
great plane to the right, for example, he or she can feel the plane bank and
feel the loss of speed in some respects and can learn how to trim the craft
during the turn. In other words, the trainees can learn the necessary corrective behaviors through their own senses, rather than simply through verbal descriptions. In the driving simulation, if the driver heads into curves
too rapidly and then has to jerk the wheel to avoid going off the road, this
feedback teaches the driver to turn more gingerly when approaching sharp
curves on a real road. The cybernetic psychologist designs simulators so
that the feedback about the consequences of behavior enables the learners
to modify their responses and develop a repertoire of appropriate behaviors.
An old simulation that we are very fond of illustrates what the model
can bring to an academic course. Harold Guetzkow and his associates

(1963) developed a complex and interesting simulation for teaching students at the high school and upper elementary levels the principles of international relations. The activity revolves around five "nation" units. In
each of these nations, a group of participants acts as decision makers and
"aspiring decision makers." The simulated relations among the nations are
derived from the characteristics of nations and from principles that have
been observed to operate among nations in the past. Each of the decisionmaking teams has available to it information about the country it repre-
sents. This information concerns the basic capability of the national

economic systems, the consumer capability, force capability (the ability of
the nation to develop military goods and services), and trade and aid information. Together, the nations play an international relations game that involves trading and the development of various agreements. International
organizations can be established, for example, or mutual-aid or trade agreements made. The nations can even make war on one another, the outcome
being determined by the force capability of one group of allies relative to
that of another group.
As students play the roles of national decision makers, they must make
realistic negotiations such as those diplomats cand other representatives
make as nations interact with one another, and they must refer to the countries' economic conditions as they do so. In the course of this game-type
simulation, the students learn ways in which economic restraints operate
on a country. For example, if they ar members of the decision-making team
of a small country and try to engage in a trade agreement, they find that
they have to give something to get something. If their country has a largely
agricultural economy and they are dealing with an industrialized nation,
they find that their country is in a disadvantageous position unless the other
nation badly needs the product they have to sell. By receiving feedback
about the consequences of their decision, the students come to an understanding of the principles that operate in international relations.
THE TEACHER'S ROLE

It is easy to assume that because the learning activity has been designed
and packaged by experts, the teacher has a minimal role to play in the learning situation. People tend to believe that a well-designed game will teach it-
self. But this is only partly true. Cybernetic psychologists find that
educational simulations enable students to learn firsthand from the simulated experiences built into the game rather than from teachers' explanations or lectures. However, because of their intense involvement, students
may not always be aware of what they are learning and experiencing. Thus
the teacher has an important role to play in raising students' consciousness
about the concepts and principles underpinning the simulations and their
own reactions. In addition, the teacher has important managerial functions.
With more complex games and issues, the teacher's activities are even more
critical if learning is to occur. We have identified four roles for the teacher
in the simulation model: explaining, refereeing, coaching, and discussing.
EXPLAINING
To learn from a simulation, the players need to understand the rules suf-
ficiently to carry out most of the activities. However, it is not essential

that the students have a complete understanding of the simulation at the
start. As in real life, many of the rules become relevant only as the activities
proceed.
REFEREEING
Simulations used in the classroom are designed to provide educational

benefits. The teacher should control student participation in the game to ensure that these benefits are realized. Before the game is played, the teacher
must assign students to teams (if the game involves teamwork), matching
individual capabilities with the roles in the simulation to assure active participation by all students. Shy and assertive students, for example, should
be mixed on teams. One pitfall the teacher should avoid is assigning the ap-
parently more "difficult" roles to brighter students and the more passive
roles to less academically talented students.
The teacher should recognize in advance that simulations are active
learning situations and thus call for more freedom of movement and more
talk among students than do other classroom activities. The teacher should
act as a referee who sees that the rules are followed but who does his or her
best not to interfere in the game activities.
COACHING
The teacher should act as coach when necessary giving players advice
that enables them to play betterthat is, to exploit the possibilities of. the
simulation more fully. As a coach, the teacher should be a supportive advi-
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sor, not a preacher or a disciplinarian. In a simulation, players have the op-
portunity to make mistakes and take consequencesand, learn.

DISCUSSING
After a session there needs to be a discussion about how closely the

game simulates the real world, what difficulties and insights the students
had, and what relationships can be discovered between the simulation and
the subject matter being explored.

SYNTAX
The simulation model has four phases: orientation, participant training,
the simulation itself, and debriefing (see Table 21.1). In the orientation
(phase ofle), the teacher presents the topic to be explored, the concepts emTABLE 21.1
SYNTAX OF SIMULATION MODEL
Phase One:
Orientation
Phase Two:
Participant Training
Present the broad topic of the

simulation and the concepts to be
incorporated into the simulation
activity at hand.
Explain simulation and gaming.
Give overview of the simulation.
Set up the scenario (rules, roles,

procedures, scoring, types of
decisions to be made, goals).
Assign roles.
Hold abbreviated practice session.
Phase Three:
Simulation Operations
Conduct game activity and game

administration,
Obtain feedback and evaluation
(of performance and effects of
decisions).
Clarify misconceptions.
Continue simulation.
Phase Four:
Participant Debriefing (Any or All
of the Following Activities)
Summarize events and

perceptions.
Summarize difficulties and
insights.
Analyze process.
Compare simulation activity to
the real world.
Relate simulation activity to
course content.
Appraise and redesign the
simulation.
bedded in the actual simulation, an explanation of simulation
if this is
the students' first experience with it, and an overview of the game itself.
This first part should not be lengthy but can be an important context for the
remainder of the learning activity. In phase two the students begin to get
into the simulation. At this point the teacher sets the scenario by introducing the students to the rules, roles, procedures, scoring, types of decisions
to be made, and goals of the simulation. He or she organizes the students
into the various roles and conducts an abbreviated practice session to ensure that students have understood all the directionsand can carry out their
roles.
Phase three is the participation in the simulation. The students participate in the game or simulation, and the teacher functions in his or her role
as referee and coach. Periodically the game simulation may be stopped so
that the students receive feedback, evaluate their performances and decisions, and clarify any misconceptions.
Finally, phase four consists of participant debriefing. Depending on the
outcomes the teacher may help the students focus on: (1) describing the
events and their other perceptions and reactions, (2) analyzing the process,
(3) comparing the simulation to the real world, (4) relating the activity to
course content, and (5) appraising and redesigning the simulation.
SOCIAL SYSTEM
Because the teacher selects the simulation activity and directs the stu-
dent through carefully delineated activities, the social system of simulation

is rigorous. Within this structured system, however, a cooperative interactive environment can, and ideally should, flourish. The ultimate success of
the simulation, in fact, depends partly on the cooperation and willing participation of the students. Working together, the students share ideas, which
are subject to peer evaluation but not teacher evaluation. The peer social
system, then, should be nonthreatening and marked by cooperation.
The reactions of the teacher are primarily those of a facilitator.
Throughout the simulation he or she must maintain a nonevaluative but
supportive attitude. It is the teacher's task to first present and then facilitate
understanding and interpretation of the rules of the simulation activity. In
addition, should interest in the activity begin to dissipate orattention begin
to focus on irrelevant issues, the teacher must direct the group to "get on
with the game."
SUPPORT SYSTEM
Sources are many. For an example, the Social Science Education Consortium Data Book lists more than 50 simulations available for use in social
stUdies alone. Simulations are regularly reviewed inSocial Education.
361
362
A vast number of computer simulations have been developed in recent
years and are easily available.
APPLICATION
Simulations can stimulate a learning about: (1) competition, (2) cooperation, (3) empathy, (4) the social system, (5) concepts, (6) skills, (7) efficacy,
(8) paying the penalty, (9) the role of chance, and (10) the ability to think
critically (examining alternative strategies and anticipating those of others)
and make decisions (Nesbitt, 1971, pp. 3 553).

EFFECTS
The simulation model, through the actual activity and through discussions
afterward, nurtures and instructs a variety of educational outcomes, including concepts and skills; cooperation and competition; critical thinking
and decision-making; empathy; knowledge of political, social, and economic systems; sense of effectiveness; awareness of the role of chance; and
facing consequences (see Figure 21.1).
FIGURE 21.1
Instruotional and nurturant effects: simulation model.
Syntax
Phase One: Orientation
Present the broad topic of the simulation and the concepts to be incorporated into the simulation activity at hand.
Explain simulation and gaming.
Give overview of the simulation.
Phase Two: Participant Training
Set up the scenario (rules, roles, procedures, scoring, types of decisions
to be made, goals).
Assign roles.
Hold abbreviated practice session.
Phase Three: Simulation Operations

Conduct activity.
Feedback and evaluation (of performance and effects of decisions).
Clarify misconceptions.
Continue simulation.
Phase Four: Participant Debriefing
(Any or all of the following activities:)
Summarize events and perceptions.
Summarize difficulties and insights.
Ahalyze process.
Compare simulation activity to the real world.
Relate simulation activity to course content.
Appraise and redesign the simulation.
Social System
The social system is structured by the teacher Through selecting materials and directing the simulation. The interactive environment of the class,
however, should be nonthreatening and marked by cooperation. The

teacher has the role of managing the simulation (taldng care of organization and logistics), explaining the game, maintaining the rules, coach-
ing (offering advice, prompting), and conducting the debriefing

discussion.
A generally supportive role, observing and helping the students cope with
problems as they arise.
Support System
Simulation requires a carefully structured base of resource materials, as
discussed above.
363
PROFESSIONAL
SKILL
In the last three chapters of the book we deal with three important aspects
of professional skill: planning and organizing instruction, adding teaching
skills and strategies to the professional repertoire, and adapting teaching to
the learning styles of the students to increase their learning repertoires.
Our approach to planning and organizing instruction (Chapter 22) is
built around a conception of "the conditions of learning" developed by
Robert Gagne. The idea of teaching repertoire is developed from research
that has brought some exceedingly good news to both teacher candidates
and experienced teachers. This good news is that virtually all teachers and
teacher candidates who wish to can add to their repertoires any of the models of teaching described in this book or any of the research-based teaching
skills that have come from other lines of research. Chapter 23 describes how
this can be accomplished and provides recommendations for the design of
preservice and staff development programs where the mastery of professional skills is a central goal.
During the last 30 years, several lines of research have explored how stu-
dents can be taught to profit from a wide range of models of teaching and
learning. Again the news is good: virtually all students can increase their
learning rates dramatically if we arrange the learning environment to facil-
itate development. The products of these lines of research have been

brought together in Chapter 24 to describe how individual differences in
learning styles can be accommodated so that students of widely differing
backgrounds and skills can increase their power to educate thems&ves in
the wide variety of ways this book describes. A major component of professional skill is the design of environments that enable students to increase
their power as learners; and the discussion of that skill seems a fitting way
to close the book. For, after years of searching for "special" methods of ed-
366
PART VI
/ PROFESSIONAL SKILL
ucation for students of particular characteristics, it appears that improving
"the quality of schooling for all pupils may well be the most advantageous
way of responding to those who come to be described as having special educational needs" (Ainscow, 1991, p. 26).
CHAPTER
22
THE CONDITIONS
OF LEARNING
Focusing and Planning
Instruction
The Japanese teachers teach larger classes, but they have twice as much time
to plan. That might explain some of the variance in achievement.
Herb Walberg at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research
Association, 1961
Planning curriculums, courses, units, and lessons is a sine qua non of good
teaching. In this chapter we study planning with a master and then try to
apply his framework to the problem of planning instruction.
One of the most important books on learning and teaching is Robert N.
Gagn's Conditions of Learning (1965). Gagn gives us a careful analysis of
the important variables in learning and how to organize instruction to take
these variables into account. His picture of the "varieties of chance called
learning" enables us to classify and specify learning objectives and the relationships between various kinds of performances.
Gagn identifies six varieties of performances that can be the result of
learning:
1. Specific responding
2. Chaining
3. Multiple discrimination
4. Classifying
5. Rule using
6. Problem solving
VARIETIES OF PERFORMANCE
Specific responding is making a specific response to a particular stimulus.
An example occurs when a first-grade teacher holds up a card (the stimu-
367
368
PART VI / PROFESSIONAL SKILL
lus) on which the word dog is printed and the children say "dog" (the re-
sponse). Specific responding is an extremely important type of learning and

is the basis for much of the information we possess. In order for the student
to learn to make correct, specific responses, we must assume he or she has
the ability to make connections between things. In the previous example,
the printed word dog is associated, or connected, with the verbal statement
"dog."
Chaining is making a series of responses that are linked together. Gagne

uses the example of unlocking a door with a key and of translating from one
language to another. Unlocking a door requires us to use a number of specific responses (selecting a key, inserting it:, turning it) in an order that will
get the job done. When one takes the English words "How are you?" and
translates them to "Cmo est usted?" in Spanish, one is chaining by taking
a series of specific responses and linking them into a phrase.
Multiple discrimination is involved in learning a variety of specific responses and chains and in learning how to sort them out appropriately. For
example, one learns to associate colors with their names under very similar
conditions, but then has to sort out the colors and apply them to varieties
of objects under different conditions, choosing the right responses and

chains. Similarly, when learning a language, one develops a storehouse of
words and phrases. Spoken to, one has to sort out the reply, adjusting for
gender, number, tense, and so forth. Multiple discrimination, then, involves
learning to handle previously learned chains of various sorts.
Classifying is assigning objects to classes denoting like functions. Learn-
ing to distinguish plants from animals or automobiles from bicycles involves classifying. The result of this process is concepts, ideas that compare
and contrast things and events or describe causal relations among them.
Rule using is the ability to act on a concept that implies action. For instance, in spelling we learn varieties of concepts that describe how words
are spelled. Then we apply those concepts in rule form in the act of spelling
itself. As an example, one learns that in consonant-vowel words ending in
"t," such as sit, the consonant is doubled when ing is added. This becomes
a rule (double the "t") that one usually follows In spelling such words.
Finally, problem solving is the application of several rules to a problem
not encountered before by the learner. Problem solving involves selecting
the correct rules and applying them in combination. For example, a child
learns several rules about balancing on a seesaw and then applies them
when moving a heavy object with a lever.
FACILITATING THE CLASSES,

OF LEARNING
Gagne believes that these six classes of learning form an ascending hierarchy; thus, before one can chain, one has to learn specific responses. Multi-
CHAPTER 22 / THE CONDITIONS OF LEARNING
pie discrimination requires prior learning of several chains. Classifying
builds on multiple discrimination. Rules for action are forms of concepts

learned through classification and the establishment of causal relations;
Problem solving requires previously learned rules. Each level of learning requires certain conditions. The task of the instructor is to provide these conditions (by using the appropriate model of teaching).
To facilitate specific responding, a stimulus is presented to the student
under conditions that will bring about his or her attention and induce a re-
sponse closely related in time to the presentation of the stimulus. The response is then reinforced. Thus the teacher may hold up the word dog, say
"dog," ask the children to say "dog," and then smile and say "good" to the
students. A teacher who does this repeatedly increases the probability that
the students will learn to recognize words and be able to emit the sounds
associated with the symbols. The memory and training models are approaches that facilitate specific responding.
To facilitate the acquisition of chaining, a sequence of cues is offered
and appropriate responses are induced. A language teacher may say, "How
are you?" followed by "Cmo est usted?", invitingthe students to say "How
are you?" and "COmo esta usted?" and providing sufficient repetition that
the students will acquire the chain and achieve fluency. The memory model,
advance organizer, and inductive thinking models are appropriate to helping build chains.
To facilitate multiple discrimination, practice with correct and incorrect
stimuli is needed; so that the students can learn to discriminate. For example, suppose the students are learning the Spanish expressions for "How are
you?", "Good morning," and "Hello"; they must learn to discriminate which
one to use in a given situation. The instructor provides sets of correct and
incorrect stimuli until the students learn the appropriate discrimination.

Advance organizers and inductive reasoning are useful in this process.
Classification is taught by presenting varieties of exemplars and concepts so that the students can gradually learn bases for distinguishing them.
Concept attainment and inductive thinking are appropriate, among other
models.
Rule using is facilitated by inducing the students to recall a concept and
then apply it to a variety of specific applications. In the earlier spelling ex-
ample, students recall the rule about doubling the final consonant when
adding ing and are presented with examples they can practice. Inquiry training can help students move from concepts to rules, as can the application
phases of concept attainment and inductive thinldng.
Problem solving is largely done by the students themselves, because

problem situations are unique. It can be facilitated by providing sets of
problems that the students can attempt to attack, especially when the instructor knows that the students have acquired the rules needed to solve the
problem. Inquiry training, group investigation, synectics, simulation, and
nondirective teaching can be used for problem-solving activities.
369
370
PART VI
FUNCTIONS OF THE INSTRUCTOR

Gagne emphasizes that it is the learner's activity that results in the learning.
It is the function of the instructor to provide conditions that will increase
the probability that the student will acquire the particular performance.
Practice is extremely important so that the learner makes the necessary connections, but it is the learner who makes the connections even when they
are pointed out to him or her. The instructor cannot substitute his or her
own activity for that of the student. We agree completely with Gagn on this
point.
Instructors (or perhaps instructional systems) operate through the following instructional functions:
1. Informing the learner of the objectives
2. Presenting stimuli
3. Increasing learners' attention
4. Helping the learner recall what he or she has previously learned
5. Providing conditions that will evoke performance
6. Determining sequences of learning
7. Prompting and guiding the learning
Also, the instructor encourages the student to generalize what he or she is
learning so that the new skills and knowledge will be transferred to other
situations.
Informing the learner of the performance expected is critical for providing him or her with a definite goal. For example, the teacher might say, "Today
we're going to try to learn about three presidents of the United States. We'll
learn their names, when they lived, and what they are most known for." The
teacher then presents the pictures of Washington, Lincoln, and Theodore
Roosevelt. Their names are printed under the pictures. Pointing to the pictures and names and saying the names will draw the students' attention.
To recall previous learning, the teacher may say, "Do you remember that
we discussed how the country has grown and changed in various ways? Can
you tell me what some of these changes were?" The students can reach into
their memories and stimulate themselves with material that will later be
connected to the presidents.
To induce performance a teacher may ask the students to name the

three presidents and then read printed material describing the life of each.
Then the teacher can ask them to tell him or her what they have learned.
A variety of sequences can be used, depending on the type of learning
and the subject matter in question. Generally, however, presenting a stimulus, evoking attention, helping the learner understand the objectives, in-
ducing performance, and then helping the learner to generalize are the
major instructional tasks, which follow one another naturally.
Gagn's paradigm reminds us of a variety of important general principles of teaching: informing the learner of the level of objectives being
CHAPTER 22 / THE CONDITIONS OF LEARNING
sought, encouraging gerera1ization, and pushing for application of what i
learned.
Gagn emphasizes that we cannot control learning but can only increase the probability that certain kinds of behavior will occut We can present stimuli in close connection with others and ask the student to perform,
but it is the learner who makes the connection between the printed and spoken word:
Essentially, however carefully one controls the aspects of external learning conditions described previously, instruction nevertheless can only make the occurrence of the crucial internal, idiosyncratic event of learning more probabl. The
careful design of instruction can surely increase its probability and,.by so doing,
make the entire process of learning more sure, more predictable and more efficient. But the individual nervous system must still make its own individual con-
tribution. The nature of that contribution is, of course, what defines the need
for the study of individual differences. (Gagne, 1967, pp. 291313)
From this point of view, a model of teaching brings structures to the

student that change the probability that he or she will learn certain things.
The syntax presents tasks to the student, the reactions of the teacher
pull the student toward certain responses, and the social system generates
a need for particular kinds of interaction with others. The net effect is
to make it more likely that various kinds of learning will take place. In Table
22.1, several information-processing models and a few from other families
are paired with the six varieties of performance that Gagne has identified.
Gagne's hierarchy is useful in helping us select models appropriate for
varieties of educational objecti'ves. It also reminds us of the multiple types
of learning promoted by individual models and the attention that must be

given to the varieties of performance as the students engage in the study of
any important topic. For example, students using inductive thinking to explore a problem in international relations, such as the balance of payments,
will gather data (specific responding and chaining), organize it (multiple
discrimination and classifying), and develop principles (rule using) to explore solutions to problems (problem solving).
PLANNING
Let's see what happens when we put Gagne's hierarchy to work. Let's design a global education curriculum that we can use from the primary grades
through high school. Such a complex curriculum will give us the opportu-
nity to consider quite a range of models, and we will almost certainly

want to use several of them to design the instructional aspects of such a cur-
riculum. We'll begin with a somewhat arbitrary statement of our overall

objectives.
OVERALL OBJECTiVES
To ensure that the students have a working knowledge of human geography, can think about some of the critical issues facing the peoples of the
world, and are prepared to interact productively with people from cultures
371
372
TABLE 22.1
PART VI
MODELS ESPECIALLY APPROPRIATE FOR VARIETIES OF PERFORMANCE
1rpesof
Models
Performance
Specific
responding
Memory
Phase one
inductive
thinking
Chaining
Concept
attainment
Inductive
thinking
Multiple
Inquiry
Phase one
of concept
attainment
Advance
organizer
Group
investigation
(data-gathering
activities)
discrimination training
Classifying
Concept
Inductive
attainment thinking
Rule using
Inquiry
training
Simulation
Problem
Synectics
Scientific
thinking
solving
Advance
organizer
Inquiry
training
Group
investigation
others other than theirs. Our rationale is that the global perspective is essential for personal understanding, for the guidance of our nation, for the
betterment of the world, and for economic competence. At one level, we
want our students to graduate with the learning that will enable them to
spin a globe, put a finger down on a land mass, and know considerable information about the nation it lights on. At another level, we want them to
have considerable knowledge of several representative cultures and to be
able to think of the world and our nation in terms of cultural history and
cultural comparison. At yet another level, we want them to have experience
thinking about and generating solutions to important global problems.
A secondary overall objective is to use the study of the globe to further
the reading/writing curriculum, especially the reading and writing ofexpository prose.
Other objectives will appear as we think through our curriculum design
and consider the messages of the various models of teaching.
BUILDING OPERATIONAL OBJECTWES
Several models of teaching can help us clarify our objectives and transform them into goals for which we can plan.
CHAPTER 22 I THE CONDITIONS OF LEARNING
Integrative Complexit Cognitive Development, and Concept of

Self. Let's begin with the models that highlight individual differences.
Understanding the globe and its multiple cultures will require a high
level of integrative complexity (Chapter 9) as the students try to develop a
perspective on complex problems and how to understand the concept of culture and how to reconcile one's own cultural perspective with that of perSons from other cultures.
The framework for studying cognitive development (Chapter 16) helps
us think about the kinds of objectives that can be reasonably aimed for at
different ages. The littlest kids can certainly absOrb information about one
or two other cultures, but thinking abstractly about the cultural spectrum
would be a bit much. The upper elementary students can learn to manipulate demographic data about the nations of the world and can search for correlations among variables; they can learn to ask, for example, whether the
wealth of nations is correlated with educational levels, fertility, and so On.
They can compare cultures with respect to the more visible and concrete
variableshousing, family styles, occupations, and so forth. The secondary
students can handle complex multicultural problems, compare and contrast
cultures with respect to more abstract variables, such as norms, and make
inferences about how various nations would respond to particular types of
problems, such as population growth, threats of wax and the global ecology.
Studies of self-concept (Chapter 18) help us in several ways. First,
the general orientation reminds us that the entire curriculum should be
conducted in a manner to increase the students' sense of ability to learn
and to master complex material. Second, it keeps in front of us that selfunderstanding is vital. Thinking about world cultures is practically readymade fpr aspects of self-understanding, for it should help the students think
about their own culture in relation to others and to understand how cultural
values affect thinking and behavior.
Let us also think from the perspective of the families of models of

teaching.
Cooperative Action and Mutual Understanding. The social family

offers the perspective of building a cooperative community of learners (not
a bad. objective in itself) and helping that community explore the world together and surface the important value questions. Role playing offers us a
tool for helping the students study their own value as the inquiry progresses.
Jurisprudential inquiry invites us to approach issues by clarifying then and
the value positions underlying various alternatives.
Learning Information, Concepts, Hypothesis BuildIngs and Testing.

The information-processing family places at our disposal a set of relevant
tools. The development of concepts (Chapters 11 and 12) will be necessary
to manage the mass of information, and thinking about relationships will
give our students many hypotheses to test. Synectics (Chapter 14) can help
students break set and generate alternative solutions to global problems and
373
374
international relations. The link-word method (Chapter 13) is there to help
the students master unfamiliar terms, and'there will be many of them.
Self-Actualization and Self-Direction. If the makers of the personal

models (Chapters 17 and 18) have their way, we will provide much oppor
tunity for self-directed inquiry and will urge our students not just to follow
immediate interests or work at their current level of development, but to

stretch themselves into new areas and toward "personal bests" in learning.
We will make their feelings a part of the subject matter and will recognize
always that knowledge is a personal construction.
Skill and Mastery. Now let us turn to deveioping our hierarchy of

content and skills.
1. Specific responding. We want our students to recognize basic information about nations: their names, where they are, and demographic in-
formation such as indicators of wealth (gross national product),

population (size, fertility rates), health (health care facilities, longevity),
and culture (linguistic data, religious heritage, cultural groups). For

these we might use mnemonics and the inductive model, teaching the
names and asking the students to classify the countries with respect to
the basic demographic information.
2. Chaining. We might ask students to collect information about the kinds
of life that is lived within the nations and begin to develop pictures
about how the demographic information might relate to quality of life.
3. Multiple discrimination. We might ask students to develop matrices that
allow the countries to be classified on multiple variables, such as how
types of government are related to the rights of women.
4. Classifying. We might ask students to develop typologies of nations and
seek to generate maps, such as those in The State of the World Atlas
(Kidron and Segal, 1995), that permit sets of variables to be used to generate pictures that lead to correlations, such as whether educational levels, industrial capacity, commercial activity, and family structures are
associated with one another.
5. Rule using. We might ask the students to create predictions about how
the nations of the world can be expected to respond to various types of
conditions, such as population growth, ecological crises, and natural

disasters.
6. Problem solving. We might present students with sets of problems that
can only be dealt with from an international perspective, such as cooperation to solve ecological problems and conflicts of various sorts. We
might ask them to apply the jurisprudential model to analyze the values
that underlie decisions about international cooperation. We might also
ask them to categorize changes that are currently changing the international situation (such as population and trade changes and to predict
the types of problems that are developing tQ. be 'solved by the international community.
CHAPTER
HOW TO LEARN
A TEACHING
REPERTOIRE
The Professional Learning
Community
Observe, then practice, observe and practice, then practice, practice, practice.
Help each other practice!
Beverly Showers, over and over again from 1979 to the present
We are in the midst of a period where strong new efforts are being made to
develop a new kind of professional community in educationone whose
ethos is built around the continuous study of teaching and learning. This
chapter is designed to describe the kinds of professional communities that
we hope are emerging and to discuss how teachers and teacher candidates
can work together to expand their teaching repertoire. Since most of you
who read this book are practicing teachers or are in teacher education programs, the chapter represents advice to you about how to profit from the
book, use the peer coaching guides, and learn from demonstrations of models in action, both videotaped and "live."
It is plain from the research on training that teachers can be wonderful
learners. They can master just about any kind of teaching strategy or implement almost any kind of sensible curriculumif the appropriate conditions are provided. It is also clear that those who criticize the motivations
of teachers, worry about their willingness and ability to learn, or believe
that the only way to improve the teaching profession is to change its
personnel are fundamentally wrong. Twenty years of research on how
people learn teaching skills have developed a knowledge base that can guide
us as we try to expand our teaching repertoire. This knowledge can also
help us deal with ourselves as we learn how to teach students to re3pond to
a rich array of learning environments. For important new learninginvolves
a certain amount of discomfort (see Chapter 4), and teachers and teacher-
375
376
PART VI
candidates are well able .to withstand the painprovided that they under-
stand its nature and how to cope with it.
SCHOOLS AS CENTERS OF INQUIRY

The culture of most school faculties has been highly individualistic, with
nearly all interaction over day-to-day operations. Without collective action,
schools have difficulty addressing problems that cannot be solved by individual action. Without a balance between operations and the study of teaching and curriculum, the school is liable to drift toward obsolescence and fail
to adapt to the needs of the surrounding society. Reorienting school cultures
toward collegial problem solving and the study of advances in research on
curriculum and teaching is vitally important (SchOn, 1982).
There are some powerful and visionary models for reorganizing schools
to generate collegial organizations that productively address problems and
study innovations in the field. For example, Robert Schaefer's marvelous
1967 essaywritten at the height of the movements to improve the academic content of curriculum, involve students in driving inquiry and develop collegial workplaces for teacherssynthesized those movements into
a fresh conception of the school as a workplace. The core of the paper argued for schools that not only involve students in academic inquiry but in-
volve the teachers in the continuous study of teaching and learning.
Experimentation with teaching would be a normal and shared activity as

the teachers developed new procedures and instructional materials and
tried them out. Bringing together as it did a concept of a community of collaborating teachers, a recognition that educational knowledge is emergent,
a belief that the future science of education would be built around clinical
inquiry, and a sense of an organization whose staff is truly empowered, the
essay embodied a striking vision of professionalization.
A variety of similar conceptions have been developed over the years (see
Goodlad, 1983; Sizer, 1984). Various models for team teaching (for example, Joyce, Hersh, and McKibbin, 1983) have included forms of the collegial, inquiry-oriented notion. The problem is less one of conception than of
implementation.
STUDY GROUPS AND COACHING TEAMS:

BUILDING COMMUNITIES OF
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATORS
In our work with school districts we recommend the extensive use of study
teams and councils to facilitate learning. Each teacher and administrator
has membership in a team whose members support one another in study.
For example, each person can have membership in a coaching team of two
CHAPTER 23 / HOWTOLEARNATEACHINGREPERTOIRE
or three. Each team is linked to one or two others, forming a study group
of no more than six members. The principal and the leaders of the study
groups in a school form the staff development/school improvement council
of that school. A representative from each school within a district cluster
(usually a high school and its feeder schools) serves on the District Cluster
Network Committee, which coordinates staff development efforts between
schools and the district and works directly with the director of staff development (see Figure 23.1).
This governance structure is illustrated by the staff at the Onyx Elementary School, whose faculty numbers 36, One teacher, Adrienne, has a
coachingpartner, Katherine. They belong to Study Group A, which has six
members. Adrienne is, with five others, a member of the Onyx School staff
development council. She and the principal are members of the cluster network committee, which consists of representatives from one high school,
two middle schools, and six elementary schools in the Opal school district.
Through a council of teachers and administrators, that cluster, with the
three others in the district, is linked to the District Office for Educational
Programs and Staff Development. The director of that office is an associate
superintendent and reports directly to the superintendent.
The coaching teams and study groups are the building blocks of the system. Team members support one another as they study academic content
and teaching skills and strategies. The study groups within each school are
FIGURE 23.1 A district staff development
governance structure.
District Office for Educational Programs
and Staff Development
(Director is Associate Superintendent)
Cluster network committees

(Each of the clusters has representatives
from a high school and its feeder schools)
Staff Development/School Improvement Council
(School principal and study group leaders)
Study group
(Three coaching teams)
Coaching team
(Two teachers)
377
378
responsible for implementing school-improvement efforts and districtwide
initiatives.
Let us consider the case of a new member of the Onyx School faculty:
Sharlene Daniels is in her fifth year of teaching.
At a weekend science workshop she became acquainted with some of
the members of the Onyx School faculty from another school district. She
noticed that they had come to the workshop as a team and that they were
gathering materials and making plans for their workshops back at Inland.
They let her join them. Later, she visited the Inland scnocl and watched that
team and others at work, teaching before each other, offering advice and experimenting together.
When an opening at Onyx appeared, Sharlene applied for it on an im-
pulse, was interviewed, and was accepted. The members of the team to
which she was assigned explained that she would have a "coaching partner"
and that she and that partner would visit each other, watch each other
teach, and give each other assistance. They also had to agree on one or two
teaching strategies that they would focus on each year and make a commitment to master them and experiment with them. in the classroom.
Before the first workshop, Sharlene was given curriculum materials and
an explanation of the rationale behind the teaching-strategy approach that
was to be used. The first workshop was devoted almost entirely to a discussion of the uses of the strategy, the theory behind it, and how various
children responded to it. Sharlene was surprised, because she thought the
workshop would be devoted to demonstrations. However, those were reserved for the workshop's second session: The Inland consultant demon-
strated the teaching strategy, teaching the teachers the same kinds of
lessons they would later be teaching to children. Several team members
were uncomfortable with science, so the consultant decided that it was important for them to become familiar with the learner's role in the teaching
strategy because they would soon be teaching their children the same roles.
At the end of the workshop, the consultant did a careful demonstration with
a group of children. She explained the teaching strategy to both thechildren
and the teachers, and after the children had gone they discussed the lesson
and how it could be adapted to various groups of children. For the next
workshop, Sharlene found that she was expected to prepare a lesson and
teach it to her fellow teachers.
At that workshop, Sharlene and the rest of her team took turns teaching one nother. Thus, she got to see the other teachers practice the strategy. Her team then made plans to try a couple of prototype lessons for their
students over the next two weeks. Those two weeks were very uncomfortable for Sharlene. Things did not go quite as planned. She found herself
thinking she already had developed several fine ways of teaching and wondering why she should go to the trouble of learning these new methods, especially if it was going to be painful to learn them. Her coaching partner
laughed when Sharlene.shared her thoughts, and explained that everyone
felt the same way. They had learned that it wasn't too hard to understand
CHAPTER 23 / HOW TO LEARN A TEACHING REPERTOIRE
any new teaching strategy and to develop a certain skill with it, but until
they had tried it a dozen or so times, they all felt varying degrees of discomfort. "The better you are," explained her partner, "the worse you feel,
because you are used to having things go well. Actually, things probably are
going well, but you just don't feel as comfortable as you did teaching in the
ways that have become familiar to you."
Sure enough, after five or six tries with the children, Sharlene began to
feel much more comfortable. She was actually able to get the children to engage in inductive thinking, and it excited them. Then the teachers began to
demonstrate for one another. Soon she found herself in the library after
school, teaching a group of her students and surrounded by a ring of her
fellow teachers. She had watched the other teachers occupy the same position, but this was her first time, and she felt like a child on the first day of
school. After the children left, she was surprised that no one made critical
comments. Then she suddenly realized that none of them ever made critical comments to one another. Instead, they tried to learn from what they
had just seen. More important, most of the discussion that followed came
after a comment by one of the teachers whom Sharlene had felt looked the
most confident and even nonchalant in the workshop settings. "You just
showed me a new level of that lesson," she said. "I've been doing all right
and thought I had it right, but the way you handled that teaching strategy
gave me a lot of ideas that I can use to make it a lot stronger than I believed
it was."
Sharlene was learning what it meant to go to a school whose faculty

had learned how to train themselves to make curriculum changes for the
school as a whole and to add new teaching techniques to their individual
repertoires.
After a couple of months, during which each teacher tried the new
strategies a dozen times or more, they began to feel "possession" of the
strategies. Then initial discomfort passed to feelings of strength and power.
They owned a new tool, and it became part of their "natural" repertoires.
The Onyx team is engaged in the serious study of alternative models of
teaching, using training procedures that enable them to bring almost any
approach to teaching within their grasp. The elements they use include:
The study of the theoretical basis or the rationale of the teaching

method.
The observation of demonstrations by persons who are relatively expert
in the model.
Practice in relatively protected conditions (such as trying out the strategy on each other and then on children who are relatively easy to
teach).
Observing one another as they work the new model into their repertoires, providing companionship, helping one another to learn to
teach the appropriate responses to their students and to figure out
the optimal uses of the model in their courses, and providing one
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PART VI
another with ideas. (The Peer Coaching Guides in the Appendix are
designed to facilitate the sharing that we call "coaching.")

Continuous practice is essential to enable even highly motivated persons
to bring additions to their repertoires under effective control.
To master a single teaching strategy, the Onyx team uses procedures
that are much more complex and extensive than common staff development
procedures. Yet anything short of that effort will, for most people, fall short
of its objective. Why is this so? We think the answer is in the nature of the
process of transferof building competence in complex teaching skills to
the point that they are incorporated into the teaching repertoire.
HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL TRANSFER

Classically, transfer refers to the effect of learning one kind of material or
skill, or the ability to learn something new. When practice of one kind of
athletic skill increases ability to learn another, transfer is occurring. Teaching, by its nature, requires continuous adaptation; it demands new learning
in order to solve the problems of each moment and situation. Teaching skills
and strategies are designed to help teachers solve problemsto reach students more effectively. To master a new teaching strategy, a teacher needs
first to develop skill in the strategy. This can be accomplished in a training
setting, such as a workshop. Then, the teacher needs to acquire executive
control over the strategy, including the ability to use it appropriately and to
adapt it to the students and classroom setting. Sometimes the achievement
of exeutive control requires extensive amounts of new learning that can
only be accomplished through practice in the classroom. It is at this phase
of the mastery of the new strategy that the distinction between horizontal
and vertical transfer becomes important.
Horizontal transfer refers to conditions in which a skill can be shifted directly from the training situation in order to solve problems. Vertical trans-
fer refers to conditions in which the new skill cannot be used to solve
problems unless it is adapted to fit the conditions of the workplacethat is,
an extension oI. learning is required before problems can be solved effectively. Vertical transfer is more likely when the context of training and the
conditions of the workplace are different, a given skill is different from one's
existing repertoire and does not fit easily into it, or additional understanding is needed to achieve executive control over the skill.
When the work and training settings are virtually identical, a skill often
can be transferred from the training setting to the workplace "as is," with
little additional learning on the job (horizontal transfer). For example, carpenters who learn to use a handsaw in a woodshop can, on the job, recreate the conditions of the shop almost exactly and apply their skill very much
as they learned it in the training setting. When a new technique is intro-
CHAPTER 23 / HOW TO LEARN A TEACHING REPERTOIRE
duced, carpenters can add it to their repertoires without much additional

learning. The chief problem is integrating the new skill into existing patterns of behavior. Vertical transfer, however, involves substantial differences
in context so that new learning has to take place as the skill is transferred
to the work situation. The additional learning has to occur in the work setting. In a real sense, one must repossess the skill in the work context.
The distinction between horizontal and vertical transfer refers to the
amount of learning and repOssession of the skill that is necessary if the skill
is to be functional in the work situation. When the skill just "slides" from
training place to workplace, we say that the process is horizontal. When additional learning is required to transfer the skill, we speak of the process as
vertical.
An important factor is the degree to which the new skill disrupts existing patterns of performance, Familiarity is the key here. The greater the de-
gree to which a new skill fits into already familiar patterns, the less
adjustment is needed. For example, imagine a primary teacher who employs Cuisenaire rods to teach mathematics concepts and definitions and
who organizes the students into small groups to work with the rods. If that
teacher is then introduced to the use of the abacus, he or she will need much
less adjustment than a teacher who never uses concrete aids. The nonuser
will have fewer existing behaviors to draw on and may have to develop a
new pattern of organization as well (such as organizing groups of students
to use the new material). In other words, the second teacher will probably
have more skills tO develop and more adjustments to make in order to be
able to use the skill effectively.
DEVELOPING EXECUTIVE CONTROL

The conditions of performance can be divided into two categories
those in which the circumstances of performance demand the utilization of
the skills and those in which the skills are brought into play as a consequence of a judgment made by the performer. In military and industrial set-
tings, considerable effort has been expended in the development of

"standard operating procedures"that is, sequences of skills that have been
previously organized for each worker. For example, during the training of
infantry platoons, procedures are developed for dispersing personnel, for
organizing them to bring their fire to bear on given targets, for developing
clear fields of fire, and for advancing on a target while keeping dispersed
and under cover.
As much as possible, standard operating procedures include directions
about when to bring to bear a cluster of relevant skills. In other words, a
shifting and changing scene of events is reduced as much as possible to sets
of operations that can be brought into play when the appropriate cues appear in the, environment. General principles are formulated and taught so
as to activate the skills. In training pilots, sets of skills are clustered around
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PART VI
I PROFESSIONAL SKILL
the elements of a flight plan and are brought to bear on demand. Entering
the cockpit, the flight personnel know what to do to check out the equipment and instruments in the aircraft, communlcate with the control tower,
and leave the parking space. Another set of skills is brought into play to
bring the aircraft to the edge of the runway, yet another to obtain cJearance
and propel the aircraft into flight. Other sets of closely monitored skills are
brought to bear to carry out the flight plan and bring the aircraft to a safe
landing.
The more closely the skills are identified and the principles governing
their use defined, the less the employees are permitted to use their own discretion. For example, factory workers are frequently organized to the point
where judgment is exercised as little as possible and breakdowns are referred to supervisory personnel.
Teaching personnel operate with relatively little surveillance and few
standard operating procedures. For instance, an Erglish teacher has considerable latitude about the literary works that will be studied, the concepts
that will be emphasized, the relationship between the study of literature and
the study of 'writing, the teaching strategies that will be used, and the methods of evaluati'on that will be exercised. As presently organized, the tasks
of teaching are not composed, as are the tasks of factory workers, of sets of
objective-related activities to be called up in sequence according to predetermined principles. Consequently, the content of teacher education cannot
be organized just by referring to a set of standard operating procedures.
When a teacher learns a range of teaching strategies and the appropriateness of those strategies to various kinds of objectives and students, the
transfer of those skills into the workplace is largely under the governance
of the individual teacher.
In the phases of work where competence is derived from one's judgmentcontrolled repertoire, the effective use of a skill depends on what we term executh'e control. Executive control consists of understanding the purpose and
rationale of the skill and knowing how to adapt it to students, apply it to sub-
ject matter, modify or create relevant instructional materials, organize students to use it, and blend it with other instructional approaches to develop
a smooth and powerful whole.
THE PROCESS OF COACHING

Setting up arrangements for the trainees to develop a self-help community to provide coaching is regarded as essential if transfer is to be achieved.
Ideally, "coaching teams" are developed during training. If we had our way,
all school faculties would be divided into' coaching teamsthat is, teams
who regularly observe one another's teaching and learn from watching one
another and the students. In short, we recommend the development of a

"coaching environment" in which all personnel see themselves as coaches.
What does coaching actuall5r involve? We think it has three major
functions:
CHAPTER 23 I HOW TO LEARN A TEACHING REPERTOIRE
1. Provision of companionship
2. Analysis of application (extending executive control and attaining

"deep" meaning)
3. Adaptation to the students

PROVISION OF COMPANIONSHIP
The first function of coaching is to provide interchange with another

adult human being over a difficult process. The coaching relationship results in the possibility of mutual reflection, the checking of perceptions, the
sharing of frustrations and successes, and the informal thinking through of
mutual problems. Two people watching each other try a new model of
teaching for the first time will find much to talk about. Companionship provides reassurance that the problems are normal. Both find that their habit-
ual and automatic teaching patterns create awkwardness when they

practice the new procedures. Concentrating on unfamiliar moves and ideas,
they forget essential little odds and ends. The companionship not only
makes the training process technically easier, it enhances the quality of the
experience. It is a lot more pleasurable to share a new thing than to do it in
isolation. The lonely business of teaching has sorely lacked the companionship that we envision for our coaching teams.
As an aside, the chief benefit of observation accrues to the observer! The
"coach" is the one doing the teaching!
ANALYSIS OF APPLICATION: EXTENDING EXECUTIVE CONTROL
Among the most important things one learns during the transfer period
are when to use a new model appropriately and what will be achieved by
doing so. Selecting the right occasions to use a teaching strategy is not as
easy as it sounds. Nearly everyone needs help in learning to pick the right
spots. Unfamiliar teaching processes also appear to have less certain outcomes than do the familiar ones. From the early trials, one often has the impression that one has "worked all day and not gotten very far." Most of us
need help to find out how much we have, in fact, accomplished and how
much we might accomplish by making adjustments in the way we are using
the model. During training, the coaching teams need to spend a considerable amount of time examining curriculum materials and plans and practicing -the application of the model they will be using later. Then, as the
process of transfer begins, practice in the classroom is intensified with
closer and closer attention given to appropriate use.
ADAPTATION TO THE STUDENTS
As we have already mentioned, much of the energy expended in learning to use a new model of teaching is consumed in the process of learning
how to teach it to the children. Successful teaching requires successful student response. Teachers are familiar with the task of teaching students how
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to engage in common instructional activities. Amodel that is new to a group
of students, however, will cause them trouble. They will need to learn new
skills and to become acquainted with what is expected of them, how to ful-
fill the task demands of the new method, and how to gauge their own
progress. In addition, the model of teaching needs to be adapted to fit different groups of students. More training must be provided for sdme, more
structure for others, and so on. In the early stages, adaptation to the students is relatively difficult and usually requires a lot of direct assistance and
companionship.
One of the major functions of the coach is to help the "players" to "read"
the responses of the students so that the right decisions are made about
what skill training is needed and how to adapt the model. This is especially
important in the early stages of practice, when one's hands are full managing one's own behavior and it is more difficult to worry about the students
than it will be later on.
When practicing any new approach to teaching, one is surely less competent with it than with the approaches in one's existing repertoire. When
trying a new model, nearly all of us fumble around. The students sense our
uncertainty and let us know in not-so-subfle ways that they are aware we
are less certain and surefooted than usual. At such times, we tend to become
easily discouraged. The expression, "I tried that method and it didn't work"
refers as much to the sense of dismay we feel during the early trials as it
does to the actual success or failure of the method itself.
The fact is, successful use of a new method requires practice. The early
trials just are not perfect or even close to our normal standards of adequacy.
One of the principal jobs of the coaching team, then, is to help members feel
good about themselves during the early trials.
Preservice teacher education is an ideal setting for the study-group re-
lationship. Teacher candidates and cooperating teachers form natural

coaching partnerships. Optimally, they study the same teaching and learning skills together, working together for support and sharing ideas.
CHAPTER
LEARNING STYLES
AND MODELS
OF TEACHING
Making Discomfort Productive
If we get too comfortable, we stop growing. Students can put pressure on us
to work within their comfort zone. Let's be kind about that. Kind enough to
help them learn to be uncomfortable.
Herb Thelen to Bruce Joyce, Fall 1963
In this chapter we deal explicitly with the relations between styles of learning and models of teaching. We present a general stance toward individual
differences and how to teach students to learn productively from a variety
of models.
Learning styles are important because they are the education-relevant
expressions of the uniqueness of the individual. Individual differences are
to be prized because they are the expression of the uniqueness of personalities. Individually, our configurations give us our personal identities; together, they also exemplify -the richness of our culture.
We hope to provide our children with a common education that enhances their individuality and encourages their personalities and simultaneously passes along our culture and its tools. As teachers we need to use
our teaching repertoires in such a way that we capitalize on the characteristics of our students to help them achieve increasing control over their own
growth.
With respect to models of teaching, we can begin by avoiding two mistakes. The first is to assume that a model of teaching is a fixed, inflexible
formula for teaching, which sh ald be employed rigidlyfor best results. The
second is to assume that each learner has a fixed styleof learning that is unlikely to change or grow. Both mistakes lead us into an impossible dilemma,
f3r if unyielding teaching methods are mismatchedwith rigid learners, a destructive collision is inevitable. Fortunately, teaching methods have great
flexibility, and students have great learning capacities and, hence, adaptability.
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Consider the nature of the models of teaching we have been discussing.
By its very nature, the personal family begins with the uniqueness of the
learner, and each personal model tries to help the students take charge of
their own growth. The social models depend on the synergy caused by
the interaction of heterogeneous minds and personalities. The group investigation model explicitly generates the energy for learning from different
perceptions of academic and social problems. The behavioral models build
into instructional sequences the ability to adjust pace and complexity of
tasks to the ability and prior achievement of the student. The informationprocessing models provide ways of adjusting instruction to cognitive de'veloprnent and style.
Thenperhaps most important to this discussionwe not only employ
a model to teach information, concepts, skills, the analysis of values, and
other content objectives, but we also teach the students to use the strategies
of each model to educate themselves. In the previous chapters we have cast
each model as a way of teaching students to learn particular ways of thinking. From that perspective, each model of teaching can be seen as model
of learninga way of helping students expand their styles of approaching
problems now and in their futures.
Yet, as we expose students to content and learning styles that are new
to them, we will inevitably cause varying degrees of discomfort. We have to
deal with this by teaching our students to manage discomfort productively.
The dilemma we have to solve is that real growth often requires us to make
our learners uncomfortable, and we have to help them deal with the unfamiliar situations that we must create for them.
DISCOMFORT AND LEARNING

I would like to begin on a personal note (I refers to Bruce Joyce, who wrote
this section) that explains why discomfort is so prominent in this discussion
of learning styles and educational environments. At the University of

Chicago, 30 years ago, I ended a conversation with Herbert Thelen by borrowing a copy of his Education and the Human Quest (1960); I spent much
of the night reading the book. The next day we had a chance to talk again.
Among the powerful ideas Thelen had generated, one left me most stimulated and uncomfortable: significant learning is frequently accompanied or
impelled by discomfort. Sometimes he put it pungently: "The learner does
not learn unless he does not know how to respond" (Thelen, 1960, p. 61).
Sometimes he put it in terms of the dynamics of the inquiry process in the
approach to teaching he called group investigation. Group investigation begins with a "stimulus situation to which students. . can react and discover
basic conflicts among their attitudes, ideas, and modes of perception" (p. 8).
Thelen challenges the effects of the "norms of comfort and accommodation"
(p. 80) that exist in so many classrooms and that mitigate against the argu-
CHAPTER 24 I LEARNING STYLES AND MODELS OF TEACHING
mentation and difficult, uncomfortable tasks that characterize effective instruction as he sees it.
My first reaction was confusion. Thelen's ideas appeared toconflict with
what I had been taught regarding learners as fragile egos that had to be protected by a supportive environment, so that they would in fact feel comfortable enough to stretch out into the world. How can the learner be made
comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time? I asked Thelen that question, and he only smiled and replied, "That is a puzzling situation you will
have to think about."
Psychologists from otherwise different orientations have dealt with the
concept of discomfort for some time, albeit not always using the term as
such. Personalistic psychologists are an example. Interpreters of Carl

Rogers frequently concentrate on his argument for providing a safe place
for learners to explore themselves and their environments. However, Rogers
(1956) also emphasizes that our natural tendency as learners is to confine
ourselves to domains in which we already feel safe. A major task of coun-
selor/teachers is to help the learner reach into those domains that are
shrouded in fear. To grow, learners have to acknowledge discomfort and set
tasks to help break the barriers of feat The educator's task is not simply to
unloose the environmental bonds that constrict the learners but to help
them become active seekers after new development.
Self-actualization, as described by Maslow (1962), is a state that not
only enables people to venture and take risks, but also to endure the inevitable discomfort felt when attempting to use unfamiliar skills. Maslow's
constructs apply to adults as well as children. In a four-year studyof teachers exposed to a wide variety of staff development activities, it appeared that
the -teachers' self-concepts were important predictors of their abilities to use
new skills and knowledge in their classroom situations (McKibbin and
Joyce, 1980), and we have learned that a major part of successful staff development is helping people deal productively with the discomfort attendant to working their way to new levels of competence.
The role of discomfort and the ability to manage it productively appears
in a different guise when we consider developmental stage theories (see
Erikson, 1950; Harvey, Hunt, and Schroeder, 1961; Piaget, 1952). Mostdevelopmental stage theories emphasize not only the naturalness of growth
through the stages, but the possibility of arrestation, an the accommodation that is necessary if higher levels of development are to be reached. Consider Piaget: Interpreters of Piaget are often most impressed by the
naturalness of growth described from his stancethe position that the assimilation of new information will inevitably force the accommodations
that lead to the successive of stages of development. However, not everyone
makes it upward through the Piagetian stages. Arrestation is possible. Accommodation sufficient to bring about the reconfiguration necessary to a
new stage requires a "letting go" of the confines of one level so that the essentials of the next level can be reached. If the comfort of any given level of
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development is not challenged, the learner may happily forgo the important
leaps in cognitive structure.

In conceptual systems theory Hunt (1971) stresses the relationship of
the environment to development. He describes stages Ofdevelopment and
the characteristics of environments that permit people to function effectively at each stage while progression to the next stage is facilitated. The
next chapter presents synopses of the stages and environments that facilitate progression.
If the environment is perfectly matched to the developmental level of
the learners, the learners are likely, to be arrested at that level. The very language that Hunt and his colleagues use is provocative. If the environment
is too comfortable or "reliable," the learners may be satisfied at the stage of
concrete thinking, where the ability to integrate new information and form
new conceptual systems is limited indeed. To impel learners to diverge from
the familiar sets of concepts that enable them to view the world in "black
and white," the environment must be dissatisfying in some ways. Although
he approaches development from a very different perspective from Thelen,
Hunt (1971) states explicitly that discomfort is a precursor to growth. To
stimulate development, we deliberately mismatch student and environment
so that the student cannot easily maintain the familiar patterns but must
move on toward greater complexity. But not too much so, for we seek an
optimal mismatch where the learner's conceptual systems are challenged
but not overwhelmed.)
Research on teacher training has repeatedly uncovered a "discomfort
factor" as teachers acquire new repertoires. Between 1968 and 1983 a series
of investigations inquired into teachers' abilities to acquire the skills neces-
sary to enable them to use widespread repertoires of teaching strategies

(Joyce, Peck, and Brown, 1981; Joyce and Showers, 1981 a). Teachers could
acquire skill by studying the theories of various models of teaching or skills,
seeing them demonstrated a number of times (15 or 20, the researchers came
to believe), and practicing them about a dozen times with carefully articulated feedback. However, as teachers attempted to use approaches new to
them they experienced considerable discomfort. Only a small percentage

(about 5 or 10 percent) of the tea ers who had learned teaching strategies
new to their repertoires were able to handle the discomfort without assistance. Most teachers never tried an untamiliar strategy at all unless support
personnel were available to them. Even then, during the first half dozen trials, most teachers found the use of the new teaching strategies, whatever
they were, to be extremely uncomfortable. The explanation was that the discomfort resulted in part because the teachers needed to adapt other, wellingrained skills in order to use the new strategies; in part because students
exposed to the new strategies needed to learn complementary skills so they
could relate to them; and in part because the teachers felt less confident with
any new strategy than they felt with their older repertoires.
The result was that many teachers would have withdrawn from the use
of strategies new to them, even after their training had enabled them to pro-
CHAPTER 24 / LEARNING STYLES AND MODELS OF TEACHING
duce these strategies with relative ease. However, after a number of trials
with the new strategies, they became more comfortable with and developed
power in their use. A major function of peer study groups is to provide the
support necessary to work through the period of discomfort. Conceptual
level (CL) is a predictor of the ability to acquire new repertoires. The higherCL teachers mastered sets of new models more fully and also tended to use
them more (Joyce, Weil, and Wald, 1981). The relationship between conceptual level and the ability to learn new teaching strategies is partly related
to how one manages feelings of discomfort attendant to learning the new
repertoire. The more conceptually flexible teachers managed the process of
discomfort more effectively. They incorporated the new information from
their students, accommodated the discomfort of their students, andmost
importantlearned how to live through their periods of learning until the
new teaching strategies worked in their classrooms.
It also became apparent that a critical part of a teacher's task in learning
to use a new teaching strategy has to do with helping the learners acquire
the skills necessary to relate to the new approach to teaching. Hunt and his
associates initiated a series of studies to investigate the process by which
learners respond to unfamiliar teaching strategies (Hunt et al., 1981). These
researchers identified students of varying conceptual levels and exposed
them to teaching strategies that were matched and mismatched to their levels of development. Nearly all learners were able to respond to a wide variety of teaching strategies, but there were considerable individual differences
in their responses. Students with a high need for structure (low CL) were
more uncomfortable with teaching strategies that provided low degrees of
structure, whereas learners who preferred independent direction were more
uncomfortable with teaching strategies that provided higher structure.
Moreover, the students "pulled" the behavior of the teachers toward

their preferred styles. Those who required the higher degrees of structure
"asked" for that structure, and the teachers responded by adapting the
strategies to conform to the personalities of the students. Curiously, the
more a given model of teaching was mismatched with the natural learning
style of the student, the more it presented a challenge to the student to take
an affirmative stance so as to pass through the period of discomfort and develop skills that would permit a productive relationship with the learning
environment.
For example, gregarious students are initially the most comfortable
with social models and can profit from them quickly. However, the lessgregarious students were in the greatest need of the models leastcomfortable for them. Hence, the challenge is not to select the most comfortable
models but to enable the students to develop the skills to relate to a wider
variety of models, many of which appear, at least superficially, to be mismatched with their learning styles.
The formulation gradually developed that significant growth requires
discomfort. If the environment and the student are too much in harmony,
the student is permitted to operate at a level of comfort that does not re-
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PART V I PROFESSIONAL SKILL
quire the challenge of growth. To help students grow, we need to generate

what we currently term a dynamic disequilibrium. Rather than matching
teaching approaches to students in such a way as to minimize discomfort,
our task is to expose the students to new teaching modalities that will, for
some time, be uncomfortable to them.
MARGINALITY IN LEARNERS
Most of the literature on learners and educational environments emphasizes explicit matching, the adjustment of environments to the optimal
"comfort level" of the students. The comfort-level matching concept appears
frequently in most discussions of learning styles (hemispheric dominance,
sensing modalities, cognitive levels, and so on). To consider the productive
possibilities of discomfort, let us now discuss the "marginal" learners

students who experience great discomfort in the environments in which
they find themselves.
Currently many educators are concerned with what are called "marginal" learners and are seeking ways to make the school environment more
productive for the people who are regarded as marginal in the environment.
If we consider the concept of marginality, we can join the issues of discomfort and growth directly. When learners relate only marginally to educational environments, we tend to change the environments and reestablish
the "norms of comfort." In fact, the discomfort they feel may be a clue to
how we should behave to help them reach new plateaus of growth.
Marginality is a condition that exists when a learner has difficulty relating to an educational environment and profiting from it. Learners may
relate marginally to some environments but not others. The theoretically
possible range of marginality is from none (when learners relate productively to all the environments to which they are exposed) to all (when learn-
ers experience virtually no environments that are productive for them).

Educators create environments, but they clearly cannot do the learning
which is why the condition of the learner accounts for so much of the variance when we consider the productivity of any given environment. If the
learner is marginal with respect to a particular environment, educational
productivity for that learner is likely to be depressed; worse, if the marginality is acute, serious side effects are likely to occur. The learner becomes
frustrated and, very likely, "learns" that he or she cannot be productive in
that environment. If the learner generalizes from enough frustrating experiences, a likely derivative lesson may be that the process of education is
hopeless (from the perspective of that particular person).
ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT LEARNERS

ENCULTURATION
The first assumption is that our learner has been enculturated to a certain degree, having been exposed to the behavior patterns, artifacts, and
CHAPTER 24 I LEARNING STYLES AND MODELS OF TEACHING
cognitions that make up American culture. The learner may (or may not)
have a smaller vocabulary than the average person but does possess a vocabulary, has internalized the basic linguistic properties of our language,
has been a participant in the cultural process, and has been an observer of
adults as they behave in our society. In other words, our learner is not culturally different from the rest of us, although, within the cultural boundaries, the learner may be relatively unsophisticated. This may seem like an
obvious point, but much language about marginal learners connotes, if it
does not actually denote, that the people who relate marginally to the common educational environments are essentially members of a subculture so
different from the mainstream that they have to be treated as foreigners.
That is rare indeed. Human beings are born with the capacity to learn a culture, and it is the rare person who develops cultural patterns that do not in
some way match the major configurations of his or her society.
INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY AS A TEMPORAL FACTOR
Second, the position about intellectual differences articulated by Carroll (1971) and Bloom (1971) has considerable validity. Specifically, this position is that differences in intellectual ability as we currently measure them
translate substantially into temporal differences with respect to the mastery
of particular learning objectives. This second assumption relates to the first,
for one way of restating Carroll and Bloom's position is that the less "intelligent" learner is not culturally different with respect to what can be learned
but may require more time, perhaps considerably more time, to acquire a
particular cognition that resides within the culture. In other words, the
learner is one of us. Some of us are slower than others to acquire some of
the elements of the culture in given educational situations. We can make the
optimistic assumption that our marginal learner is capable of learning but
may require more time than some people do, given the situation.
STIGMATIZATION
A third assumption is that the inability to relate to a given educational

environment productively has social stigma attached to it. The learner who
does not fit in will be socially stigmatized by other people and, probably
more damaging, will internalize the norms of the culture; failing to fit in
with these norms, the learner will stigmatize himself or herself. Education,
as manifested in formal institutions, is largely a public activity, and the full
power of the society comes down on the learner when a marginal condition
existshence, the latent side effects. The marginal learner is punished

twice, first by being frustrated and second by being stigmatized by others
(or by self-stigmatization).
FLEXIBILITY
A final assumption about learners is that learners are flexible. They are
not fixed, but they are growing entities and have considerable adaptive ca-
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pabilities. Nearly all learners have the potential to relate to a wide variety
of learning environments, provided they are not made too uncomfortable
and that they are assisted in relating productively to any given environment.
ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

ENVIRONMENTS AS WITHIN-CULTURE VARIATIONS
Learning environments, viewed from a cultural perspective, are variations on our basic cultural theme. That is, all of the approaches to teaching
that have dominated our literature for the last 25 years have had their origins in Western societies. They belong well within the cultural mainstream.
Put another way, all our models of teaching represent variety within the culture, but they are not culturally different. They have originated with scholars and teachers who belong not only to the same genus and species but to
the same normative configuration. Thus, both teaching models and learners have the same cultural roots.
INDIVIDUATION AND ENVIRONMENTS
Every learning environment produces a range of responses by students,

expressed in terms of the efficiency and comfort with which the learners are
able to interact with the environment. Loosely speaking, we can say that
learning styles and environments designed to produce learning will interact
differentially. No given learning environment will produce exactly the same
effects on all students.
ENVIRONMENTS CAN BE ADAPTIVE
Learning environments can be adaptive, potentially at least, if we design
them with flexibility in mind. An appropriate model of teaching does not

simply bore into the learner in an unyielding and unforgiving fashion. Prop-
erly constructed, a learning environment fits soft rather than hard

metaphors. It curls around the students, conforming to their characteristics
just as, properly treated, learners also better fit soft rather than hard
metaphors and can curl around the features of the learning environment.
ALTERNATIVE ENVIRONMENTS AND EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
Finally, there exist a good number of approaches to teaching (the construction of learning environments) that are likely to produce different effects on learners. Certain approaches to teaching increase the probability
that certain kinds of learning outcomes will eventuate and, probably reciprocally, decrease the probability that others will happen. For example, contrast the role-playing model with the inquiry training model. Shaftel's model
of role playing (Shaftel and Shaftel, 1967) is designed to enable students'
values to become available for examination by those students. Suchman's
(1962) model of inquiry training is designed to increase the probability that
CHAPTER 24 I LEARNING STYLESAND MODELS OF TEACHING
students will build capability to make causal inferences. As such, all things
being equal, if Shaftel's model is used to design a learning environment, it
will increase the probability that students' social values will be made available to them. Suchman's model will increase the probability that the students will become more able to reason causally. We are not dealing with an
orthogonal world, however. The examination of values can improve causal
reasoning, and, vigorously conducted, ought to do so. Similarly, there is no
law that dictates that Suchman's model cannot be used to increase the ability to reason causally about values. At any given moment it is conceivable
that Shaftel's model might be more effective in teaching causal reasoning
than Suchman's or that Suchman's might be more effective as an approach
to social values. Over the long term, however, each model. is more likely to
pay off in the direction for which it was designed. Thus, it is wise for educators to have in their repertoires the models of choice for given learning
objectives.
DEALING WITH MARGINALITY

Returning now to marginal learners, our problem is to consider what to
do when a learner has a marginal reaction to any given learning environment. To keep the discussion within boundaries, let us imagine two learn-
ers who are exposed to Shaftel's and Suchman's models. Each learner
responds positively to one environment and not to the other. What do we
do?
In this example, both learners are marginal in one environment but not
in the other. We can predict that one will engage in the study of values in a
relatively comfortable way and that the other will increase the capability to
engage in causal reasoning. If we do nothing, the differences between the
two learners will probably increase. One will get better and better at the
study of values and the other better and better in reasoning ability.
For the time being, let us put aside the question of explanationthat is,
let us not begin by sorting out the reasons why each learner responds to one
environment and not to the other; instead, let us concentrate on what we
can do.
SOLUTIONS FOR CORRECTING MARGINALITY

First, we reject the 'edo-nothing" approach. We do not want to leave either of our learners in an unproductive, frustrating, and perhaps phobiaproducing situation. A second approach is to remove the learner from the
offending environment, thus eliminating the frustration. For each learner
we identify the models of comfort. For each learner we eliminate the models of discomfort and choose the ones of greatest comfort. On the positive
side, enough models of teahing exist that we can be relatively sure that almost any learner can relate productively to some of them. In our example
we already have an initial diagnosis.
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PART VI
THE INDUSTRIAL SOLUTION
In what Hunt (1971) calls the industrial solution, we search for the approaches to teaching in which our learners are least marginal, and then we
employ them. This approach makes a certain amount of pragmatic sense.
Its obvious difficulty is that it eliminates for certain learners the instructional models of choice for the achievement of various kinds of objectives.
Consider the case of our two learners. Since Shaftel's model is elegantly constructed to promote the study of valuts, eliminating it for the learner who
is marginal in it means that we are going to have to use a model less elegantly appropriate for the study of values. For any given learner that might
be only a moderate loss of efficiency, but if we consider large numbers of
learners over a long period of time, the industrial solution has a built-in
deficit.
However, this is certainly a more efficient solution than ignoring the
problem. It also reduces the likelihood that the most damaging side effects
of mismatching will occur. The success of the industrial model depends on
he assumption that we can find enoughindustrial models that accommodate both our students and our objectives.
ADAPTATION OF THE MODELS OF CHOICE
Another solution is to adapt the models to conform to the characteristics of the learners. We identify the reasons why a given learner has trouble
relating to a particular learning environment and then modulate the features of that environment to make it easier for the learner to fit in. For example, suppose that we are using inquiry training in elementary science. It
is possible that our learner who is not comfortable with the model may be
reacting to the ambiguity of inductive reasoning. Our learner may like a direct route to the correct answer and may be uncomfortable asking questions
that may be wrong and that surely do not provide quick resolution. We
could moderate the task complexity of the inquiry training exercises by providing puzzles for which there are plainly only two or three possible avenues
of inquiry and to which the learner can bring considerable knowledge.
Our learner who has trouble relating to role playing may be somewhat
embarrassed during the enactments of the puzzling situations, may have

difficulty taking the role of Lhe "other," or may find the discussion of values
to be uncomfortable. To compensate, we can guide the enactments to make
them relatively simple and straightforward, or we can provide practice in
the skills necessary to analyze values. Hunt (1971) has pointed out that if
we "drill" a model "through" the learner we exacerbate our problem. If we
take the trouble to find out what is bothering the learner, we have many options for modifying the environment. We can increase the structure of un-
structured models, decrease the structure of highly structured ones,

modulate the degree of learner control, manipulate task complexity, and in
other ways make the learning environment safe for the person who would
otherwise be marginal in it.
The merits of this solution are that it permits us to continue to use the
"models of choice" for given objectivesthat is, the models likely to produce certain kinds of learningand that it reduces the likelihood that the
student will be acutely uncomfortable. It depends on the assumption that
the natural mismatch between the learner and the model is not too great to
overcome. Because learners are members of the same culture from which
the models of teaching came, we can have some confidence that theywill
bring some developed tools to the environment. Relatively few learners lack
the capacity to function within a fairly wide range of models.
Much research is needed in this area. We need to study how to adapt a
wide spectrum of models to learners who, on first contact with the models,
display varying degrees of marginality. Without such knowledge, we areleft
with uncertainty about how far we can go. One of the major findings of the
match-mismatch studies mentioned earlier was the extent to which the students exerted modifying influences on the environment. Students who
needed more structure asked more questions about procedures and literally
forced instructors to provide them with more explicit information about
what they were doing, even in the open-ended models. They required teachers to interrupt themselves periodically and to reexplain what was going on.
They made teachers break up the model into bite-sized chunks that better
fit their intellectual mouths. Other learners vied for control of the procedures, lowering the degree of imposed structure and actually increasing the
amount of ambiguity in task complexity. I was the teacher in some of these
studies, and I came away from that work with the feeling that many learners will help us out if we let them. They would like to have a productive
learning environment and will work with us to adapt the environment if we
will give them the opportunity.
LEARNER FLEXIBILITY TRAINING
A third solution for correcting marginality is to attempt to teach the

learners to relate to a wide spectrum of learning environments. Maintaining our earlier example, we teach one learner the skills necessary to relate
to inquiry training. Again, Hunt's (1971) experiments with direct modelrelevant skills training have contributed significantly to our knowledge in
this area. To provide skill training requires diagnosing what it is about the
learner that makes for a marginal relationship to the instructional model.
This training is provided to help that learner become more powerful in that
kind of environment. Some of the recent studies in teacher training are instructive on this point. The more a model of teaching is different from the
developed and customary teaching style of given teachers, the more uncomfortable they are when beginning to use it. Practice with the model
combined with model-relevant skill training appears to make a difference.
As we coach teachers who are trying to learn a new model, they identify the
particular areas where they are having difficult; and we provide direct
training adapted to their particular learning problems (Showers, 1982a).
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PART VI I PROFESSIONAL SKILL
We need to learn much about helping learners develop environmentrelevant skills. It is interesting to observe students in schools that have distinctive approaches to learning and that pay attention to helping their learners become effective in the environments they are creating. Schools that
emphasize self-directed activity need to teach students how to engage in
self-direction. Learning laboratories with highly sequenced activities need
to help students learn to receive diagnoses and prescriptions and relate to
those highly sequenced activities. Again, some of my own clinical experience is relevant. When I was the director of the laboratory at Teachers College, Columbia University, we built a set of learning centers that operated
on very different models, and the students contracted for activities within
those centers. We became convinced that nearly all of our learners were increasing their capabilities to learn in a variety of ways and that they adapted
their learning styles to the requirements of the different centers to which
they were exposed (Joyce and Morine, 1977).
If we take the skill-training approach seriously, then we devote substantial energy to teaching students to relate to an appropriate variety of
learning environments. We help them master the skills of learning that will
enable them to master facts, concepts, and skills, and to solve problems collectively. We include the skills of learning as basic skills in the curriculum,
and we measure our success as teachers partly by our abilities to help the
students become more effective as learners.
From this perspective, we see individual differences In relating to learning environments in a fresh light. When a learner is uncomfortable with a
particular learning environment, we know we have identified an objective
to help the learner become competent in relating to that environment,

Rather than giving up, we proceed to give that learner protected practice
and the special help necessary for a productive relationship to develop between learner and environment. Thus, our learner who has trouble relating
to role, playing is not viewed as being immutably unable to study values
using that technique but as someone who, through practice, can develop
competence. We also modify pace, using Carroll's (1971) and Bloom's

(1971) formulations as a heuristic. We assume that all learners can become
able to profit from a variety of environments but that some need more time
than others to become productive in specific environments. One reason

learners become marginal is because they are asked to work at a faster pace
than will permit them mastery of the environment. Even though most of the
applications of mastery learning have been within the basic skill areas of
the elementary school, we suggest that the principles would apply to the
ability to master all manner of learning objectives. Hence, some learners
will be slower profiting from a Rogerian environment, Others will be slower
working their way through the models that are appropriate to divergent
thinking. Others will be slower attaining concepts with the models appropriate to concept learning.
There are no special models for marginal learners. All learners are part
of this culture and practically all can learn to relate to a considerable array
of environments, provided that the environments are adapted to the learn-
ers' characteristics and that we pay attention to teaching them how to learn
more effectively. Experience with persons with very severe sensory handicaps provides us with a case in point. From a models-of-teaching point of
view, there are no special models for the blind or the deaf. They can learn
to relate to a great variety of environments and, more important, to profit
from them. To fail to help them do this productively is to deny them opportunities for growth in many areas. Learning to relate to an increasing variety of environments is, in itself, growth. That kind of growth leads to a
pyramiding array of possibilities for more learning.
THE INTELLIGENCE OF GROWTH

Our nature as learners contains an interesting contradiction: important
growth requires change. We have to give up our comfortable ways of thinking and survive the buffeting involved in taking on unfamiliar ideas, skills,
and values. The need to grow is built into the fiber of our being. We are impelled upward in a developmental sense. Paradoxically, however, we have an
ingrained tendency to conserve our beings as they are or were. Nostalgia is,
in fact, a yearning not to have grown or changed. We would like to go on
and see things the way we could when we were young and untutored. Curiously, the answer is to produce disequilibrium-.--to create environments that
impel us to change, not discarding what we were at any given stage, but
learning to build on it productively., Thelen's advice to us is correct: the
learner needs to confront problems and diverse opinions in order to reach
beyond the present stage and develop the constructs that will sustain
growth at another level.
When we are infants, the process of change is built into us. We do not
intend to learn language but we do so, and in so doing we change. We do
not expect to walk, but walking leads us where we could not go before. Not
very many, years later we learn our culture and begin to function at a level
so satisfying that we can stay there forever. The purpose of education is. to
generate the conditions that will enable us to acknowledge the disequilibrium of change as a preequisite to growth, so that we can reach beyond ourselves toward richer understanding and accept the wisdom that lies within
ourselvesthat discomfort is our lot if we are not to be arrested along our
road.
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APPENDIX
PEER COACHING
GUIDES
The following pages contain peer coaching guides for nine of the most com
monly used and applicable models of teaching. These forms facilitate planning and communication between members of study groups who observe
one another and try to profit from the observational experience.
The forms can also be used to facilitate sharing of ideas by study group
members whether or not observation of one anothers' teaching is included.
Hence, they are addressed to both parties in the peer coaching process:
the teacher who is planning and directing the teaching episode and the partner who isstudying the model. Both parties are involved in a continuing experiment on teaching. Even has the same purpose, which is toincrease their
ability to analyze the transactions between teacher and student, and their
ability to teach students how to learn information and concepts. The guide
is used both to assist the planning of the teaching episode and in focusing
the observation on key features of the mod1. The teacher prepares the observer by filling out the entries where indIcated. The observer fills in the observation checklist and communicates the result to the teacher. Both parties
will profit most by making a partnership that studies the student responses
and plans how to help the students learn more effectively. The observer is
not present to advise the teacher on how to teach better but, rather, to learn
by observing and help the teacher by providing information about the students' responses.
The communication of the analysis should be conducted in a neutral

tone, proceeding matter-of-factly through the phases of the model. The
guide draws attention to the syntax of the modelthe cognitive and social
tasks that are presented to the students and how the students respond, and
the principles of reactionthe guidelines for reacting to the students as
they try to attain the concept. The teacher may want to orient the coaching
partner to look closely at a specific phase of the model, such as student response to a particular cognitive or social task, or reactions to student responses. The coaching partner should avoid giving gratuitous advice.
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APPENDIX
Normally, the communication about a teaching episode should be com-
pleted in five minutes or less. For self-coaching, teachers should use video-
tape when possible and, during playback, enter the role of partner,
analyzing the transactions as dispassionately as possible.
APPENDIX
Peer Coaching Guide:
Advance Organizer
Teacher: Do you want to suggest a focus for the analysis? If so, what is it?
THE TEACHING PROCESS

Most teaching episodes have both content and process objectives. The
content objectives include the information, concepts, theories, ways of
thinking, values, and other substance that the students can be expected to
learn from the experience that results. The process objectives are the ways
of learningthe conduct of the social and intellectual tasks that increase
the power to learn. In the case of a model of teaching, the process objectives
are those that enable the students to engage effectively in the tasks presented when the model is being used.
CONTENT OBJECTIVES
Teacher: Please state the concepts and information that are the primary
objectives of this teaching episode. What kind of information will be presented to the student? What concepts will be presented to organize the information? Are the concepts or information new to the students?
PROCESS OBJECTIVES
Teacher: Please state any process objectives that are of concern during
this episode. For example, are you trying to help the students learn how to
comprehend and use organizers, how to relate material to the conceptual
structure, how to tie new material to the organizers, how to apply what is
learned to new information and skills?
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Obser.'er: Please comment on the students' familiarity with the model,

referring especially to any of the process objectives mentioned above.
PHASE ONE: PRESENTATION OF THE ORGANIZER

The key aspect of the model is the use of organizing ideas to induce students to operate conceptually on the material they are trying to master. The
teacher organizes the material with an "intellectual scaffolding" of concepts
and presents those concepts to the students so that they can relate the new
information to itor reorganize familiar information within a more powerful conceptual framework. While even the careful organization of information under a series of topics facilitates learning, we attempt to formulate
organizing concepts that are at a higher conceptual level, so that they cause
the students to process the information beyond associating it with a topic
and to think about the material at a more complex level than they would operate spontaneously.
Phase One is the presentation of the organizer.
Teacher: Please describe the organizer, or system of organizers, stating
it (them) if that is practical. Discuss how it (they) will help the student conceptualize the material. How will you present the organizer(s)?
Observer: Please comment on the students' response to the organizer(s).

Did they appear to absorb it (them)? Did they appear to understand how organizers are to function and that their task is to learn new materii and relate it to the organizer(s)?
PHASE TWO: PRESENTING INFORMATION

The purpose of the mOdel, of course, is to facilitate the learning of ma-
terial at any level of abstraction: data, concepts, theories, systems of

thoughtall the possibilities are there. The device is to place the student in
the role of active receiver, getting infonation by reading, watching, or
APPENDIX
scrabbling around for Liformation from formal resources or the environ-
ment. The information can be presented through readings, lectures, films

or tapes, or any other mediated form or combination of forms.
Teacher: Please describe the content that will be presented and how it
will be presented. Emphasize the content you most want to be retained and
how you want it to be applied in the future.
Observer: Please comment on the student responses. Are the students

clear about what they are to learn? Is it clear to you (thinking from the point
of view of the students) how the organizer(s) may function in relation to the
material?
PHASE THREE: CONNECTING THE ORGANIZER TO

THE PRESENTATION
The conceptual structure defined by the organizers needs to be integrated with the information that has been presented and also reconciled
with the students' personal intellectual structures. While the students, with
practice, will accomplish most of these tasks by themselves, it is wise to provide activities that make the relationship between concepts and material
explicit and which provide the students with an opportunity to reflect on
the organizing structure.
For example, we can illustrate the connection between one of the organizers and some aspect of the information and induce the students to suggest further associations and relationships. Or we can ask the students to
reformulate the organizers in their own terms and indicate relationships between them and aspects of the material.
Teacher; How will you make a presentation or provide a task to increase
the possibility of the integration of the organizing structure with the students' conceptual structure and also make clear the connection between organizer and the material that has been presented?
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APPENDIX
Observer: Please comment on this phase. Do the students appear to be

clear about the organizing structure and its relation to the material to be
learned?
PHASE FOUR: APPLICATION

Sometimes information is presented to students as a precursor to learning a skill (we may teach musical notation to facilitate learning to sing) and
sometimes to assist in solving problems (knowledge of mechanics may be
applied to problems requiring leverage). We also apply what is learned in
subsequent learning tasks (the general concept of equation is useful in mastering many mathematical topics).
Teacher: Do you wish to provide an explicit application task at this
point? If so, please describe it briefly.
Observer: If an application task is presented, please comment on the students' ability to make the transfer to the new material.
APPENDIX
Coaching Guide:
Cooperative Learning
Organization
Peer
Unlike the other guides in this series, this form to assist in the planning and
observation of teaching is not built around a model of teaching. The substance is the organization of students into study groups and partnerships.
It does not deal with the specific cooperative learning strategies developed
by Robert Slavin and his associates (Slavin, 1993) or Roger Johnson and
David Johnson (1975), although the philosophy of the approach is similar.
Nor does it deal with group investigation (Sharan and Hertz-Lazarowitz,
1980; Thelen, 1960), the major democratic-process strategy that is covered
in another guide.
Rather, cooperative learning organization provides a setting for cooperative study that can be employed in combination with many approaches to
teaching.
This guide describes some options and asks the teacher to select from
them or to generate others. The observer analyzes the students' productivity and attempts to identify ways of helping the students engage in more
productive behavior. The examples provided below are in reference to the
inductive model of teaching. Using the two guides simultaneously may be
useful.
When other models are used, analogous use can be made of cooperative
learning.
OPTIONS FOR ORGANIZATION

Essentially, we want to organize the students so that everyone in the
class has a partner with whom they can work on instructional tasks. For example, pairs of students can operate throughout the inductive model, collecting information, developing categories, and making inferences about
causal relationships. The partnerships (which need not be long-term, although they can be) are collected into teams. For example, if there are 30
students in the class, there canbe five teams of six. We do not recommend
teams larger than six. These teams can also operate throughout the inductive model, collecting and orgnizing data and making inferences. The part-
nerships provide an easy Qrganization through which teams can divide

labor. For example, each partnership can collect information from certain
sources and then the information can be accumulated into adata set for the
team. Similarly, team sets can be accumulated into a class set of data. Teams
can Then operate on these data sets and compare and contrast the results
with those of other teams.
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APPENDIX
Team membership and partnerships can be organized in a number of

ways, ranging from student selection, random selection, or teacher-guided
choices to maximize heterogeneity and potential synergy.
Instruction of teams can range from explicit procedures to guide them
through the learning activities to general procedures that leave much of the
organization to the students.
ORGANIZATION
Teacher: How will you organize the class for this teaching episode? How
many groups of what sizes will be selected?
How will memberships be determined?
What approach to teaching/learning will be used? If you are not using

a specific model of teaching, what will be your instructional strategy?
How will cooperative groups be used throughout the teaching episode?

What cooperative tasks. will be given to pairs, study groups, or the whole
class? For example, if this were an inductive lesson, partnerships might collect data, classify it, and make inferences. Or, partnerships might collect
data, but it might be assembled by the entire class prior to the classification
activity. Partnerships might study words, poems, maps, number facts and
operations, or other material. What is your plan?
APPENDIX
Observer: After you have familiarized yourself with the plan, situate
yourself in the room so that you can observe about six students closely.
Throughout the teaching episode, concentrate on the behavior of those students, whether they are working in partnerships, study groups, or anyother
organization. Then comment on their performance.
Did they appear to be clear about the tasks they were to accomplish? if
not, can you identify what they were not clear about?
Did they appear to know how to cooperate to accomplish the tasks assigned to them? Is there anything they appear to need to know in order to
be more productive?
Do they regulate their own behavior, keeping on task, dividing labor,

taking turns? Could they profit from having any aspect of group management modeled for them?
What sort of leadership patterns did they employ? Did they acknowledge one or more leaders? Did they discuss process? Were they respectful
to one another?
DISCUSSION
Following the episode, discuss the operation of the groups in which the
six students were members. Is their productivity satisfactory? Their relationships? If not, see if you can develop a plan for helping the students become more productive. Remember that:
1. Providing practice is the simplest and most powerful way to help students learn to work productively. This is especially true if they have not
had much experience working in cooperative groups.
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APPENDIX
2. The smaller the group, the more easily students can regulate their own
behavior. Reducing the size of study groups often allows students to

solve their own problems.
3. Demonstration gets more mileage than exhortation. A teacher can join
a group and show the students how to work together. In fact, the observer can be a participant in a study group in future sessions.
4. Simpler tasks are easier for students to manage. Breaking complex tasks
into several smaller ones often allows students to build their skills
through practice.
5. Praising appropriate behavior gets results. If two groups are performing at different levels, it often helps to praise the productive group and
then quietly join the less productive one and provide leadership.
APPENDIX
Jurisprudential Model
The analysis of a jurisprudential case generally takes several class sessions,
which often means that the observers will be present for only one or two
phases and will have to be briefed about events that occurred during their
absence. The process of teaching/learning should not be rushed in an attempt to crowd it into one or two class periods.
Teacher: Do ou want to suggest a focus for the analysis? If so, what is it?

Most teaching episodes have both content and process objectives. The
content objectives include the information, concepts, theories, ways of
thinking, values, and other substance that the students can be expected to
learn from the experience that results. The process objectives are the ways
of learningthe conduct of the social and intellectual tasks that increase
the power to learn. In the case of a model of teaching, the process objectives
are those that enable the students to engage effectively in the tasks presented when the model is being used.
CONTENT OBJECTIVE(S)
Teacher: Please describe the outcomes that have the highest priority. The
variety that can be encompassed by the jurisprudential model is considerable, so priority is important. Included are information about the cases to
be studied, concepts about the cases, issues, values, and policies.
PROCESS OBJECTIVE(S)
Teacher: Please describe the most important process objectives. This is
a model with tasks that have both complex and social dimensions. Will
some aspect of the process receive special attention during this episode?
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Observer: As the episode progresses, observe the student performance,

especially attending to the goals described above. Because the tasks are so
complex, it is probably wise to concentrate on just one or two aspects of
process for comment.
PHASE ONE: OPENING UP THE ISSUES

Generally, the model is oriented around situations that involve public
policy issues. Information about these situations is usually collected in case
studies describing circumstances and events. The issues involve dilemmas
because there are competing values and interests that need to be reconciled.
The core of the model is the identification of those values and interests and
the formulation and analysis of policies that could be pursued to deal with
the issues.
In phase one the students are presented with the initial case that embodies the issues. Some cases involve lengthy reading and study, even to
achieve enough clarity to see what the issues are. Usually, however, a situation that highlights the issues can be presented to the students.
Teacher: Please describe the case briefly. How will you present it to the
students? Will you use an enactment of a situation, describe an event or con-
vrsation, present readings?
The situation or case is discussed by the students, who are led to identify the problems or dilemmas that inhere in the situation. At this point no
attempt is made to press toward conclusions of any kind. Student opinions
are identified and respected, but the strongly expressed and mildly put ideas
are recorded equally for later further consideration.
Observer: Please comment on the students' reception of the case and
their analysis of the problems embodied by it. Are they initiating the inquiry
in a cooperative manner? Do they appear to distinguish facts from issues?
APPENDIX
PHASE TWO: ISSUES, OPTIONS, AND VALUES

The next step is to bring order to the list of issues and questions that
have arisen. Typically, the initial exploration of a problem elicits combinations of statements identifying issues (conflicts of interest or values), assertions of value positions (an assertion of a value that can justify why a certain
course of action should be taken), and facts or questions about facts. These
need to be sorted out and labeled as issues and values.
Teacher: Please discuss how you will help the students organize the material thus far generated.
Observer: Please comment on the student response. Are they able to ditinguish facts, values, issues? Can they tell where they are making assump-
tions and where they have sufficient information? Until students can
employ the model skillfully, they will respond with a melange of opinions,
assertions about values, and so on. This is to be expected, but must be noted
because it gives cues about how to help them develop more skill.
A decision needs to be made now about whether the students need more
information about the case before they can proceed to engage in an analysis of value alternatives. If more information is needed, then it should be
provided, or the students should be organized to find it. The observer wants
to watch carefully to judge whether the students know enough to proceed.
The teacher may decide to provide more information or have students engage in research.
PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION OF VALUE POSITIONS
The discussion should now proceed to an identification of the values

that are involved. The heart of the dilemma is the difficulty of finding an
easy solution that accommodates more than one value. Hence, thestudents.
should make an exhaustive list of the values that are represented in the situation. They may work as individuals, small groups, or as an entirety to perform the analysis.
411
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APPENDIX
Teacher: How will you have the students work to perform the analysis
(individuals; groups, etc.)? What instruction will you give them?
Observer: Please comment on the students' analysis of the situation. Are

they able to distinguish between issues and values and to identify the values that are potentially in conflict in the situation?
FOCUSING ON AN ISSUE
Because even the simpler cases generally involve a number of potential

issues, it is wise to have the students select a particular issue for the initial
focus of the further dialogue, although others may be dealt with subsequently.
Hence, we ask the students to select one issue for focus and to identify
the values that are in potential conflict.

Observer: Please comment on the process. Are the issue and values clear?
PHASE THREE: TAKING POSITIONS

The next task is for the students to generate positions that address
the issue. The positions may favor one value over another or effect a
compromise.
Teacher: Please describe the instructions you will give the students. Also,
how will you organize them (individuals, groups, etc.)?
APPENDIX
Next, the students share the positions they have generated and indicate
the social consequences of their stances.
Observer: Please comment on the products of the analysis. Are the students both able to generate policy positions and see the costs and benefits
they entail? Also, are they able to place themselves in the position of their
fellow students as they articulate their stances?
PHASE FOUR: EXPLORING THE POSITIONS

Now the students test their positions by discussing the consequences.
They may return to the case and see what would be the outcome were each
of the policy pdsitions adopted. They should distinguish between the purely
practical consequences and the effects on the values. The teacher adopts a
Socratic stance, drawing the students out, inducing them to examine their
arguments, and assuring fair treatment of each proposal.
Teacher: How will you put this task to the students?
Observer: Please comment on the dialogue. Can the students distinguish

between the pragmatic and value-related consequences of their positions?
Do they take one another's reasoning seriously?
PHASE FiVE: MODIFYING THE POSITIONS,

MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS
What remains is to modify the positions in accordance with the previous discussion and possibly to put forward candidates or a candidate for
present policy action.
Teacher: Please describe how you will place this task before the students.
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APPENDIX
COMMENTS ON STUDENT TRAINING NEEDS
Observer: Please comment on the student responses to the model, identifying any skills that you believe need special attention to improve their
performance. If they are new to the model, remember that it involves some
very complex social and intellectual tasks and that practice will surely resuit in an increment of skill. However, are there any particular skills that
stand out at this point and might receive special attention in subsequent
episodes In which the jurisprudential model is used?
APPENDIX

Synectics
Teacher: Do you want to suggest a focus for the observer? If so, what is it?

Most teaching episodes have both content and process objectives. Content objectives include the substance (information, concepts, generalizations, relationships, skills) to be mastered by students. Process objectives
include skills or procedures the students need in order to learn productively
from the cognitive and social tasks of the model.
Teacher: Please state the content objectives of the episode. What kind of
learning will come from the activity? What is the nature of the area to be
explored?
Teacher: Are the students familiar with the model? Is there some aspect
of its process where they need practice or instruction, and will you be concentrating on it in this lesson?
Obsen'er: Please comment on the students' response to the model. Do

they appear to need specific help with some aspect of the process?
415.
416
APPENDIX
PHASE ONE: THE ORIGINAL PRODUCT

Commonly synectics is used to generate fresh perspectives on a topic or
problem either for clarification or to permit alternative conceptions or solutions to be explored. Thus it generally begins by soliciting from students
a product representing their current thinking. They can formulate the problem, speak or write about the topic, enact a problem, draw a representation
of a relationshipthere are many alternatives. The function of this phase is
to enable them to capture their current thoughts about the subject at hand.
Teacher: Please describe how you will elicit the students' conceptions of
the area to be explored. What will you say or do to orient them?
Observer: Please comment on the students' response to the originating

task. What is the nature of their conceptions?
PHASE TWO: DIRECT AND PERSONAL ANALOGIES

The core of the model requires the development of distance from the
original product through exercises inducing the students to make comparisons between sets of stimuli that are presented to them (direct analogy exercises) and to place themselves, symbolically, in the position of various
persons, places, and things (personal analogy exercises). The analogistic
material generated in these exercises will be used later in the creation of further analogies called "compressed conflicts."
Teacher: What stimuli will you use to induce the students to make the
direct and personal analogies? Please describe the material and the order in
which you will proceed to stretch the students toward the more unusual and
surprising comparisons.
Observer: Please comment on the stimuli and the student responses. Did
the students get "up in the air" metaphorically and generate less literal and
more analogistic comparisons?
APPENDIX
PHASE THREE: COMPRESSED CONFLICTS AND

OXYMORONIC ANALOGIES
The next task is to induce the students to operate on the material generated in phase two and create compressed conflicts. You need to be prepared to define compressed conflict, even if the students have familiarity
with the model and to continue eliciting material until a number of examples clearly contain the logical (illogical?) tensiOn that characterizes a highquality oxymoron.
Teacher: Please describe how you will initiate phase three and how you
will explain compressed conflict if you need to.
Observer: Please comment on the student response to the task. How rich
was the product?
Now we ask the students to select some pairs that manifest great tension and to generate some analogies that represent the tension. For example, we might ask them to provide some examples of "exquisite torture."
Teacher: Please describe briefly how you will present these tasks to the
students.
Observer: Please discuss the students' understanding of the concept

"compressed conflict" and their ability to select the higher quality ones.
Also, comment on the product of their attempt to generate oxymoronic
analogies.
417
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APPENDIX
PHASE FOUR: GENERATING NEW PRODUCTS
The compressed conflicts and the analogies to them provide material

from which to revisit the original problem or topic. Sometimes we select or
have the students select just one analogy with which to revisit the original
material. At other times multiple perspectives are useful. What course to
take depends on a combination of the complexity of the original problem or
concept and the students' ability to handle new perspectives. For example,
if a secondary social studies class has been trying to formulate potential so-
lutions to a problem in international relations, we are dealing with very

complex problem for which multiple analogies are probably both appropriate and necessary. However, the task of helping the students share and as-
sess a variety of analogies that can be used to redefine the problem and
generate alternative solutions is complex, indeed.
Teacher: Please describe how you will present the task of revisiting the
original product. What will you ask the students to do?
Observer: Please comment on the student products. What do you think

has been the effect of the metaphoric exercises?
Now, the new product needs to be examined. If the students worked as

individuals or subgroups, the separate products need to be shared. If a problem is to be solved, new definitions and solutions need to be arranged. If
written expression emerged, possibly it needs further editing. Unless the

teaching episode is the conclusion of a topic of study, it generally leads to
further study.
Teacher: Please describe how the synectics products are to be shared and
used. Will they lead to further reading and writing, data collection, or experimentation?
APPENDIX
Please comment on the use of the new products. Are the students able to see the effects of the metaphoric activity? If they are asked to
participate in further activities or to generate them, are they bringing to
perspectives or avthose tasks a "set" toward the development of alternative
enues?
Observer:

It is the student who does the learning, and the greater the skill of the
student in responding to the cognitive and social tasks of the model, the
greater the learning is likely to be. Practice alone will build skill, and we
thoroughly familiar with the
want to provide plenty of it. After students are

structure of the model, we can begin to develop specific training to improve
their ability to perform.
Observer: Please comment on the skills with which thestudents engaged
in the activities and suggest any areas where you believe training might be
useful. Think especially of their ability to make comparisons, their ability
to take the roles required to make "personal analogies," and their under-
standing of the structure of compressed conflicts and how to use them.

Thinking back on the entire experience, is there any area where specific
process training should be considered?
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APPENDIX
Concept Attainment
The guide is designed to assist peer coaching of the concept attaiflment

model of teaching. When planning questions, skip through the guide to the
entries marked "Teacher" and fill them in as needed. They will guide you
through the model. Observers can use the guide to familiarize themselves
with the plans of the teacher and to make notes about what is observed.
Please remember, observers, that your primary function is not to give "expert advice" to your colleague, but to observe the students as requested by
the teacher and to observe the whole process so that you can gain ideas for
your own teaching. The teacher is the coach in the sense that he or she is
demonstrating a teaching episode for you. When you teach and are observed, you become the coach.
Teacher: Do you want to suggest a focus for the analysis? If so, what
is it?

Most lessons have both content and process objectives. Content objectives identify subject matter (facts, concepts, generalizations, relationships)
to be mastered by students, while process objectives specify skills and procedures students need in order to achieve content objectives or auxiliary social objectives (e.g., cooperation in a learning task).
CONTENT OBJECTIVE
Teacher: Please state the concept that is the objective of the lesson. What
are its defining attributes? What kind of data will be presented to the students? Is the information or concept new to the students?
PROCESS OBJECTIVE
Teacher: Are the students familiar with the model? Do they need special
assistance r training with respect to any aspect of the process?
APPENDIX
PHASE ONE: FOCUS

The focus defines the field of search for the students. It may eliminate
nonrelevant lines of inquiry. Often it is pitched at a level of abstraction just
above the exemplars (i.e., "a literary device" might serve as a focus for the
concept of metaphor).
Teacher: Please write the focus statement here.
Observer: Did the teacher deliver the focus statement?
No[]
Yes[]
In your opinion, was it clear to the students and did it function to help them
focus on the central content of the lesson?
Completely []
Partially [ ]
No [ I
PHASE TWO: PRESENTING THE DATA SET
The data set should be' planned in pairs of positive and negative exemplars, ordered to enable the studentsby comparing the positive exemplars
and contrasting them with the negative onesto distinguish the defining at tributes of the concept.
Teacher: Please describe the nature of the exemplars. (Are they words,
phrases, document, etc? For example: "These are reproductions of nineteenth-century paintings. Half of them are from the Impressionists [Renoir, Monet, Degas] and the other half are realistic, romantic, or abstract
paintings.")
THE SET
Observer: Were approximately equal numbers of positive and negative
exemplars presented?
Yes[I
No[]
Were the early positive exemplars clear and unambiguous?
Yes{]
No[1
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APPENDIX
Did the data set contain at least 15 each of positive and negative exemplars?
Yes[]
No[]
How was the set presented?

A labeled pair at a time? ______
All at once, with labels following?
Other (please describe)
Did the teacher provide the labels for the first 8 or 10 pairs before
asking the students to suggest a label?
Yes[]
No[]'
DEVELOPING HYPOTHESES ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE

CONCEPT
As the students work through the data set, they are to examine each exemplar and develop hypotheses about the concept. They need to ask themselves what attributes the positive exemplars have in common. It is those
attributes that define the concept.
Teacher: How are you going to do this?
Observer: Were the students asked to generate hypotheses but to avoid

sharing them?
Yes[J
No[]
Sometimes students are asked to record the progression of their thinking.

Teacher: Do you want to do this?
Observer: Were the students asked to record their thinking as the

episode progressed?
Yes[]
No[]
As the lesson progresses, we need to get information about whether the

students are formulating and testing ideas.
APPENDIX
Teacher: How
will you do this?
Observer: As the episode progressed, did the teacher gather information
about whether the students were able to generate hypotheses?
Yes[J
No[]
Observer: Were the students asked to compare the positives and contrast
them with the negatives?
Yes[]
No[]
PHASE THREE: SHARING THINKING AND HYPOTHESES

When it appears that the students have developed hypotheses that they
are fairly sure of, they are asked to describe the progression of their thinking and the concept they have arrived at.
Teacher: When to do this is a matter of judgment. How will you decide,
and what will you say?
Observer: Did the teacher ask the students to share their thinking?
Yes[]
NoN
Were the students able to express their hypotheses?
Yes[]
No[]
If there were several hypotheses, could the students justify or reconcile

them?
Yes[J
No[]
PHASE FOUR: NAMING AND APPLYING THE CONCEPT

Once concepts have been agreed on (or different ones justified), they
need names. After students have generated names, the teacher may need to
supply the technical or common term (i.e., "We call this style 'Impression-
423
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APPENDIX
ism' "). Application requires that students determine whether further exemplars fit the concept and, perhaps, find examples of their own.
Teacher: Is there a technical or common term the students need to
know? How will you provide further experience with the concept?
Observer:
Were the students able to name the concept?
Yes[]
NoEl
Was a technical or common term for the concept supplied (if needed)?
Yes[]
HoE]
Were additional exemplars provided?
Yes[}
No[]
Were the students asked to supply their own?
Yes[]
No[]
As the students examined new material, supplying their own exemplars,

did they appear to know the concept?
Yes[]
NoEl
An assignment to follow the lesson often involves the application of the

concept to fresh material. For example, if the concept of "metaphor" had
been introduced, the students might be asked to read a literary passage and
identify the uses Of metaphor in it.
Teacher: Are you planning such an assignment? If so, please describeit
briefly.
APPENDIX

In order to improve student performance, the first option we explore is
whether it will improve with practice. That is, simple repetition of the
model gives the students a chance to learn to respond mre appropriately.
Second) we directly teach the students the skills they need to manage the
cognitive and social tasks of the model.
You might discuss:
HOW THE STUDENTS RESPONDED TO PHASE ONE
Did they pay close attention to the focus statement and apply it to the
examination of the exemplars? If not, is it worthwhile to give specific instruction and what might that be?
HOW THE STUDENTS RESPONDED TO PHASE TWO
Did they compare and contrast the exemplars? Did they make hypotheses with the expectation that they might have to change them? Were they
using the negative exemplars to eliminate alternatives? Is it worthwhile to
provide specific training, and what might that be?
HOW THE STUDENTS RESPONDED TO PHASE THREE
Were they able to debrief their thinking? Were they able to see how different lines of thinking gave similar or different results? Were they able to
generate labels that express the concept? Do they understand how to seek
exemplars on their own and apply what they have learned? Is itworthwhile
to provide specific training, and what might that be?
425
426
APPENDIX
Inquiry Training

The content objectives for inquiry training reside in the information,
concepts, and theories embedded in the problem or puzzling situation that
is presented to the students. They have to discover the information, form
the concepts, and develop the theories. The skills to do those things are the
process objectives, as are the social skills of cooperative problem solving.
CONTENT OBJECTWE(S)
Teacher: What do you want students to gain from this task? What information, concepts, and theories do you wish them to learn?
PROCESS OBJECTWE(S)
assistance or training with respect to any aspect of the process? (Forexample, do they know how to obtain information through questioning? Canthey
work cooperatively with partners on a problem-solving task?)
Observer: Was the process of the model familiar to the students? Dothey
need help with any aspect of the model?
APPENDIX
PHASE ONE: ENCOUNTER WITH THE PROBLEM

The primary activity of phase one of the inquiry training model is the
presentation of the problem.
Teacher: Please describe the problem to be used in this lesson and how
you will present it.
Observer: Did the students understand the problem and find it puzzling?
Were they able to ask questions to clarify it, and could they summarize it
when asked to?
PHASE TWO: DATA GATHERING AND VERIFICATION

In this phase the students ask questions to gather informationabout the
problem.
Observer: In your opinion, did the students understand the procedures
they were to employ during this phase? Did theyask fact-oriented questions,
and were they able to respond when the teacher modeled how to ask them?
Could they distinguish between fact and theory-oriented questions? How
well could they "caucus" and summarize what they had learned and plan
sets of questions to ask? Did they listen to each other?
PHASE THREE: EXPERIMENTATION

If the students do not do so spontaneously, the teacher will introduce
this phase by instructing them to begin to develop causal hypotheses.
inforObserver: Please comment on the students' ability to organize the
behavior
as
well
as
their
mation and build hypotheses. Describe their social
ability to respond to the cognitive tasks.
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428
APPENDIX
PHASE FOUR: FORMULATION OF LIKELY

EXPLANATIONS
Now the stuients weigh the hypotheses and assess what are the most
likely explanations of the phenomena. If this does not happen spontaneously the teacher Initiates the phase.
Teacher: Please rehearse how you will Initiate the phase.
Observer: Discuss the students' response to this task. Were they able to
state hypotheses clearly, summarize the evidence, and, where apprOpriate,
weigh competing explanations?
If students were successful in making inferences and conclusions about

their data, the teacher may wish to push them a step further and ask them
to predict consequences from their data by asking "What would happen
if. . ." kinds of questions.
Teacher: Please write one or two examples of hypothetical questions you
might ask students about these data.
Observer: Were students able to make logical predictions based on the

forgoing categorization and discussion?
APPENDIX
PHASE FIVE: ANALYSIS OF THE INQUIRY PROCESS
In phase five the students are led to analyze their inquiry process and
contemplate how to improve It. This activity provides the teacher with the
opportunity to coach the students, explaining and even modeling how they
can work together to collect and verify data build concepts, and develop hy
potheses and test them.

model gives the students a chance to learn to respond more appropriately.
Second, we directly teach the students the skills they need to manage. the
cognitive and social tasks of the modeL How to improve student response
is the focus of the discussion following the episode.
Observer: Please comment on the skills with which the students engaged
in the activities and suggest any areas where you believe training might be
useful.
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430
APPENDIX
Assists to Memory
During the last 15 years there has been renewed research and development
on strategies for assisting students to master and retain information. The
science of mnemonics, as it is called, has produced some dramatic results
(Pressley, Levin, and Delaney, 1981).
Rote repetition (rehearsing something over and over until it is retained)
has until recently been the primary method taught to students for memorizing information and the primary method used by teachers as they interact with students. In fact, rote methods have become so used that theyhave
become identified in many people's minds with the act of memorization. To
memorize, it is often thought, is to repeat by rote.
MEMORIZATION STRATEGIES
However, although rehearsal of material continues to be one aspect of
most mnemonic strategies, a number of other procedures are employedthat
greatly increase the probability that material will be learned and retained.
These procedures are combined in various ways, depending on the material
to be learned. Most of the procedures help build associations between the
new material and familiar material. Some of the proceduresinclude:
ORGANIZING INFORMATION TO BE LEARNED
Essentially, the more information is organized, the easier it is to learn

and retain. Information can be organized by categories. The concept attainment, inductive, and advanced organizer models assist memory by helping students associate the material in the categories. Consider the following
list of words from a popular spelling series, in the order the spelling book
presents them to the children:
soft
trust
cost
plus
luck
cloth
frost
song
club
sock
pop
lot
son
won
Suppose we ask the students to classify them by beginnings, endings,

and the presence of vowels. The act of classification requires the students
to scrutinize the words and associate words containing similar elements.
They can then name the categories in each classification (the"c" group and
the "sf' group), calling further attention to the common attributes of the
group. They can also connect words that fit together ("pop song," "soft
APPENDIX
cloth," etc.). They can then proceed to rehearse the spellings of one category
at a time. The same principle operates over other types of materialsay,

number facts, etc. Whether categories are provided to students or whether
they create them, the purpose is the same. Also, information can be selected
with categories in mind. The above list is, to outward appearances, almost
random. A list that deliberately and systematically provides variations
would be easier to organize (it would already have at least implicit categories within it).
ORDERING INFORMATION TO BE LEARNED
Information learned in series, especially if there is meaning to the series, is easier to assimilate and retain. For example, if we wish to learn the
names of the states of Australia it is easier if we always start with the same
one (say, the largest) and proceed in the same order. Historical events by
chronology are more easily learned than events sorted randomly Order is
simply another way of organizing information. We could have the students
alphabetize their list of spelling words.
LINKING INFORMATION TO FAMILIAR SOUNDS
Suppose we are learning the names of the states. We can connect Georgia to George, Louisiana to Louis, Maryland to Many or Merry, and so on.
Categorizing the names of the states or ordering them by size, or ordering

them within region, provides more associations.
LINKING INFORMATION TO VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS
Maryland can be linked to a picture of a marriage, Oregon to a picture

of a gun, Maine to a burst water main, and so forth. Letters and numerals
can be linked to something that evokes both familiar sounds and images.
For example, one can be linked to bun and a picture of a boy eating a bun,
b to bee and a picture of a bee. Those links can be used over and over again.
"April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land" is easier
remembered thinking of an ominous spring, bending malevolently over the
Spring flowers.
LINKING INFORMATION TO ASSOCIATED INFORMATION
A person's name, linked to information such as a well-known person

having the same name, a sound-alike, and some personal information, is
easier to remember than the name rehearsed by itself. Louis (Louis Armstrong) "looms" over Jacksonville (his place of birth). Learning the states of
Australia while thinking of the points of the compass and the British origins
of many of the names (New South Wales) is easier than learning them in
order alone.
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APPENDIX
MAKING THE INFORMATION VIVID
Devices that make the information vivid are also useful. Lorayne and
Lucas favor "ridiculous association," where information is linked to absurd
associations. ("The silly two carries his twin two on his back so they are really four" and such.) Others favor the use of dramatization and vivid illustrations (such as counting the basketball players on two teams to illustrate
that 5 and 5 equal 10).
REHEARSING
Rehearsal (practice) is always useful, and students benefit from knowledge of results. Students who have not had past success with tasks requiring memorization will benefit by having relatively short assignments and
clear, timely feedback as they have success.
PLANNING WITH MEMORIZATION IN MIND

The task of the teacher is to think up activities that help the students
benefit from these principles.
A teaching episode or learning task that can be organized at least partly
by these principles contains information to be learned. Both teacher and
students should be clear that a very high degree of mastery is desired. (The
students need to be trying to learn all the information and to retain it permanently.)
Teacher: Please identify the information to be learned by your students
in some curriculum area within a specified period of time.
Which principles will you emphasize in order to facilitate memorization?
Will these principles be used as the information is presented to the students? If yes, how?
APPENDIX
Which principles will be used as the students operate on the information? How?
How will rehearsal and feedback be managed?
Observer: During the teaching/learning episode, situate yourself so that

you can observe the behavior of a small number of children (about a halfdozen). Concentrate on their response to the tasks that are given.
Comment on their response to the tasks. Do they appear to be clear
about the objectives? Do they engage in the cognitive tasks that have been
provided to them? Can they undertake these tasks successfully? Do they appear to be aware of progress?
..
DISCUSSION
The observer should report the results of the observation to the teacher.
Then, the discussion should focus on how the students responded and ways
of helping them respond more effectively if that is desirable.
Practice frequently enables students to respond more productively without further instruction. Where instruction is needed, demonstration is useful. That is, the teacher may lead the students through the tasks over small
amounts of material.
433
434
APPENDIX
can be simplified in order to bring them within the reach of the

students. We want the students to develop a repertoire of techniques that
Tasks
enable them to apply the mnemonic principles to learning tasks. Making the
process conscious is a step toward independence, so we seek ways of helping the students understand the nature of the tasks and why these should
work for them.
APPENDIX
Role 'Playing

to be mastered by students, while process objectives specify skills and procedures students need in order to achieve content objectives or auxiliary social objectives (e g cooperation in a learning task)
CONTENT OBJECTIVE
'
Teacher: Please state the objective of the lesson. What problem will be
presented to the students, or in what domain will they construct a problem?
Is the problem or domain of values new to the students?
PROCEcc OBJECTIVE
assistance or training with respect to any. aspect of the process?
PHASE ONE: WARMING UP

Role playing begins with a social problem. The problem ma)) be from a
'prepared study of a human-relations situation or an aspect of human relations may be presented to the students so they can generate situations in-
435
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APPENDIX
needs
volving it. Possibly the problem is one in their lives that simply
recapitulation.
Teacher: How will you present the problem to the students or help them
develop it?
Obser'er: In your opinion, was the problem clear to the students? Were
they able to understand the nature of the problem and the type of humanrelations problem it represents? Could they identify the players in the situation and how they act? Can they see the several sides of the problem?
PHASE TWO: SELECTING THE PARTICIPANTS (ROLE

PLAYERS AND OBSERVERS)
Teacher: Please describe how the participants will be selected.
PHASE THREE: CREATING THE LINE OF ACTION FOR

THE FIRST ENACTMENT
Teacher: How are you going to do this? Do you wish the first enactment
to highlight certain aspects of values?
Observer: Were they able to generate a plausible and meaningful story

line? Please note any difficulties they had.
APPENDtX
PHASE FOUR: PREPARING THE OBSERVERS

Once the characters have been identified and the story line generated,
the observers are prepared.
Teacher: What will you ask the observers to focus on?
Sometimes the observers (students) are asked to record the progression

of their impressions.
Teacher: Do you want to do this?
PHASE FIVE: THE ENACTMENT

Now the students enact the problem for the first time.
Observer: How well did the students enact the roles? Did they appear to
empathize with the positions they were to take? Were the observers attentive
and serious? Comment on any problems either role players or observers had.
PHASE SIX: DISCUSSION

Observer: Were the students able to analyze the nature of the conflict
and the values that were involved? Did they reveal their own value positions? Did they have any confusion about tactics of argumentation, skill,
and values?
From this point, phases one to three are repeated through several enactments. The teacher guides the students to ensure that the value questions
are brought out.
Observer: Please comment on the student performance in the ensuing
cycles of enactments and discussions. Did the students increasinglybecome
able to distinguish value positions?
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APPENDIX
PHASE SEVEN: ANALYSIS

When the teacher judges that sufficient material has been generated, a
discussion is held (a cooperative learning format can be used for. this phase
to maximize participation, if desired) to ensure that the value positions are
brought out and to put forth positions about what can be done to deal with
the particular type of problem from a valuing basis rather than one involving adversarial uses of argumentation and conflict.
Teacher: Please prepare the instructions you will give the students to inaugurate phase four.
Observer: Please comment on the student's ability to handle the tasks involved in phase four.
DISCUSSION
Following the teaching episode, the coaching partners might discuss
ways of helping the students respond more effectively to the model. Remember that the early trials are bound to be awkward and that practice
often does the trick. Also, problems can be adjusted to simplify the issues
that have to be dealt with at any one time. Demonstrating the phases of the
model to the students is also useful. The coaching partners can play the role
of observer or even role player to give the students a model. Or the two
teachers can demonstrate together.
Please summarize the results of the discussionthe one or two chief
conclusions you have reached to guide what you will next do as you use the
model.
APPENDIX

Inductive Thinking

Most lessons have both content and process objectives. Content bjectives identify subject matter (facts, concepts, generalizations, relationships)
The content objectives for inductive thinking reside in the information
and concepts embedded in a data set. Students categorize items in the data
set by attributes held in common by subsets of items. For example, if the
data set consisted of a collection of plants, students might classify plants by
types of leaves (size, texture, patterns of veins, shape, connection of leaves
to stems, etc.). Content objectives for this data set might include both information about specific plants and the building of a typology. Process ob-
jectives might include learning the scientific skill of the discipline

(observation and classification) as well as the social skills of cooperative
problem solving.
Teacher: What do you want students to gain from this classification

task? What, In your opinion, are the critical attributes of the data set? What
categories do you bring to the set?
assistance or training with respect to any aspect of the process? (For exampie, do students understand how to group items by common attributes? Can
they work cooperatively with partners on a classification task?)
439
440
APPENDIX
PHASE ONE: DATA COLLECTION/PRESENTATION

The primary activity of phase one of the inductive thinking model involves collection or presentation of a data set. The teacher may provide a
data set or instruct students to collect the data that will be categorized. The
data that will be scrutinized by the students are extremely important, for
they represent much of the information the students will learn from the
episode. The choice between data collection or presentation is also important. To continue the above example, if students collect leaves, a different
set of data will result than if they had been presented with them. Once a
data set has been collected by or presented to students, the teacher may
want to set parameters for the classification activity by orienting students
tO relevant attributes. For example, if the data are plants, the teacher may
wish to narrow the field of observation by having students classify by "types
of leaves." On the other hand, the teacher may wish to leave the parameters
open and simply instruct students to classify by comiion attributes. Generally speaking, the more open-ended the instructions, the better the results.
Items from a data set may be included in only one category or in multiple categories. You may want to experiment with different instructions regarding the classification of data and observe differences in the categories
that result. Generally speaking, leaving open the possibility of multiple category membership for items from the data set provides the most energy
Teacher: Please describe the data set tcn be used in this lesson. Will you
provide the data set or have students collect data? If the latter, what will be
the sources of information they will use?
ENUMERATION
Data are easier to group if enumerated. Continuing with our example of

plants, the teacher might place a numbered card under each plant so that
students may discuss plants 1, 4, 7, and. 14 as sharing a common attribute
rather than by plant names (which students may not yet know).
Obseriier: Did the teacher/students enumerate the data before attempting to categorize it?
Yes[]
No[J
PHASE TWO: CONCEPT FORMATION

Once a data set is assembled and enumerated and students have been
instructed on procedures for grouping the data, the teacher will need to attend to the mechanics of the grouping activity. Students may work alone, in
APPENDIX
pairs, in small groups, or as one large group. Working alone requires the
least social skill, and working in small groups the greatest social skill. If one
objective is to develop students' abilities to work cooperatively, assertively

defending their groupings but compromising when appropriate for group
consensus, then students will need instruction and practice to develop these
skills. If the teacher chooses to work with the entire class as a single group
for the categorizing activity, he or she will need to exercise caution so that
categories are not inadvertently provided for the students. Structuring students into pairs for the categorizing activity is the simplest way to have all
students actively engaged in the task, although the teacher must again use
considerable skill in keeping everyone involved while recording and synthesizing reports from the pairs. Teachers will probably want to experiment
with different ways of structuring this activity, and pros and cons of each
process can be discussed and problem-solved with peer coaches.
Teacher: Please describe how you will organize students for the categorizing activity.
Teacher: Please describe how you will instruct the students to classify
the data that you have provided or that they have collected.
Observer: In your opinion, did the students understand the criteria

and procedures they were to employ during the categorizing activity?
Did the teacher inadvertently give clues about what the "right" groups
wouid be?
Qbserver: Did the students work productively on the categorizing

activity?
Yes { ]
No
[]
Partially
[]
441
APPENDIX
If the teacher had the students work in pairs or small groups, did the
students listen as other groups shared their categories?
Yes [II
No { I
Partially [ I
Were students able to explain the attributes on which they grouped

items within categories?
Yes [1
No [I
Partially [I
Were students able to provide names for their groups which reflected
the attributes on which the groups were formed'
Yes[I
No{]
The names or labels students attach to groups of items within a data set
will often accurately describe the group but not coincide with a technical or
scientific name. For example, students may label a group of leaves "jagged
edges" while the technical term would be "serrated edges." The teacher may
choose to provide technical or scientific terms when appropriate, but not
before students have attempted to provide their own labels.
For some lessons, the content objectives will be accomplished at the
conclusion of phase two. When the teacher wishes to have students learn
information by organizing it into categories and labeling it in order to gain
conceptual control of the material, he or she may choose to stop here. Or
when the objective is to learn what students see within a data set and what
attributes they are unaware of, the grouping activity will accomplish that
objective. When, however, the objective is the interpretation and application
of concepts that have been formed in phase two, the remainder of the inductive thinking model is appropriate. The final phases of the model result
in further processing of the information and concepts embedded in the data
set and should usually be completed
PHASE THREE INTERPRETATIOW OF DATA

The purpose of phase three is to help students develop understanding
of possible relationships between and among categories that they have
formed in phase two. The class will need a common set of categories in
order to work productively in this kind of discussion. Working off the descriptions of individual groups students have generated in phase two, the
teacher asks questions that focus students' thinking on similarities and differences between the groups. By asking "why" questions, the teacher at-
tempts to devlp cause-effect relationships between the groups. The

success of this phase depends on a thorough categorizing activity in phase
two, and the length of phase three is relatively short compaied with the time
required by phase two.
APPENDIX
Teacher: Although you will not know during your planning what groups
the students will form, make a guess about possible categories they might
construct, and then write two sample questions that would explore causeeffect relationships between those groups.
Observer Were the students able to discuss possible cause effect rela
tionships among the groups?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
Partially { I
Did the teacher ask the students to go beyond the data and make inferences and conclusions regarding their data?
Yes[]
If yes, were the students able to do so?
Yestj
Nor]
If students were unable to make inferences or conclusions, can you

thmk of any ideas to share with your partner that might help them do so
If students were successful in making inferences and conclusions about

their data, the teacher may wish to push them a step further and ask them
jo predict consequences from their data by asking "What would happen
if. . ." kinds of questions.
Teacher: Please write one or two examples of hypothetical questions you
might ask students about this data set.
443
444
APPENDIX
Observer: Were students able to make logical predictions based on the

foregoing categorization and discussion?
Yes[J
NoN
Did the teacher ask the students to explain and support their predictions?
YesfJ
NoN
If students were unable to make logical predictions based on their previous work with their categories, can you think of questions or examples
that might assist students in doing so?
For Teacher and Observer Discussion: Are there writing assignments or

other activities that would be appropriate extensions of this lesson?

model gives the students a chance to learn to respond more appropriately.
Second, we directly teach the students the skills they need to manage the
cognitive and social tasks of the model.
Observer: Please comment on the skills with which the students engaged
in the activities and suggest any areas where you believe training mightbe
useful. Think especially of their ability to group by attributes, to provide labels for groups that accurately described the groups or synthesized attri-
butes characteristic of a given group, their understanding of possible

cause-effect relationships among groups, and their ability to make inferences or conclusions regarding their categories.
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4Th
CREDITS
Excerpts from Teaching Strategies and Cognitive Functioning in Elementary School Children by Hilda Taba, 1966, San Francisco State College, Cooperative Research Project
No. 2404, San Francisco; reprinted by permission. Excerpts from Elementary School
Training Program in Scientific Inquiry by J. Richard Suchman, on pp. 5860, 1962 by
The University of Illinois. Excerpts from The Changing World Today by Elmer V. Clauson
and Marion G. Rice, The University of Georgia, 1972. Excerpts from The Memory Book
by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas, copyright 1974 by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas;
reprinted with permission of Stein and Day Publishers. Excerpts from "Piaget and the
School Curriculum: A Critical Appraisal" by Edmund Sullivan, Bulletin No. 2 of the Ontario Institute for studies in education (Toronto, 1967); reprinted by permission. Excerpts
from Piaget for the Classroom Thacher by Barry J. Wadsworth, 1978 by Longman me.
Excerpts from Moral Education: It Comes with the Territory by David and Kevin Kohlberg
et al., Berkeley, McCutchan Publishing Corporation 1976; permission granted by the
publisher. Excerpts from BSCS, Biology Teacher's Handbook (New York: John Wiley and
Sons, Inc., 1965) reprinted by permission of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study.
Excerpts from Carl Rogers, Freedom to Learn (Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Co.,
1969); reprinted by permission of Charles E. Merrill. Excerpts from The Structure of

School Improvement by Bruce R. Joyce, Richard H. Hersh, and Michael McKibbon, copyright 1983 by Longman Inc. Excerpts from William J. J. Gordon, Metaphorical Way of
Learning and Knowing (Cambridge, Mass: S.E.S. Press, 1970). Excerpts from Growth
Games by Howard Lewis and Harold Strietfield, reprinted by permission of Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, Inc. Excerpts from George Brown, Humanistic Education Report to
Ford Foundation on the Ford-Esalen Project, "A Pilot Project to Explore Ways to Adapt
Approaches in the Affective Domain to the School Curriculum," 1968. Excerpts from
Herbert Thelen, Education and the Human Quest (New York: Harper & Ro, Publishers,
Inc., 1960). Excerpts from Fannie R. Shaftel, George Shaftel, Role-Playing fr Social Values: Decision-Making in the Social Studies, 1967, pp. 67, 69, 71; reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Excerpts from Donald W. Oliver and
James P. Shaver, Teaching Public Issues in the High School, Logan, UT: Utah State Uni-
versity Press, 1974 (first edition published by Houghton Muffin, 1966). Excerpts from
Models of Group Therapy and Sensitivity Training by John B. Shaffer and M. David Galinsky reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall 1974, pp. 19495. Excerpts from Inquiry
in Social Studies by Byron Massialas and Benjamin Cox; copyright 1966, by McGraw-Hill
Book Company, used by permission of McGraw-Hill Company. Excerpts from Leon H.

Canfield and Howard B. Wilder, The Making of Modern America, copyright 1966, 1950
by Houghton Muffin Company; reprinted by permission of the publisher. Excerpts from
The Nature of the Non-Western World by Vera Micheles Dean, copyright 1957, 1963,
1966 by Vera Micheles Dean; reprinted by arrangement with The New American Library,
Inc., New York, NY. Behavior Modification and Transfer in an Out-of-Control Classroom
by Orme and Purnell, used with permission of the Center for Research and Development
on Educitional Differences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Programmed English by
M. W. Sullivan, reprinted with permission of Macmillan Publishing Company; copyright
by M. W. Sullivan Associates, 1963. Excerpts from Human Information Processing by
Harold M. Schroder, Michael J. Driver, and Siegfried Streufert, copyright 1967 by Holt,
Rinehart & Winston, Inc.; reprinted with permission of CBS College Publishing. Excerpts
from David C. Rimm and John C. Masters, Behavior Therapy: Techniques and Empirical
Findings (New York: Academic Press, Inc., 1974), pp. 2845. Excerpts from George
Brown, Human Teaching for Human Learning, pp. 14345, 15051; copyright 1971 by
George Brown, an Esalen Book, all rights reserved; reprinted with permission of Viking
Press, Inc. Excerpts from The Strtcture of School Improvement by Bruce R. Joyce,
Richard H. Hersh, and Michael McKibbon, copyright 1983 by Longman Inc.
INDEX
academic learning time, 344

Ainscow, Mel, 366
Atkinson, Richard, 15, 217
Applebee, Arthur, 34
Carnine, Douglas, 323

Carran, Nina, 8
Carroll, John, 329, 330, 391
chaining, 368, 369
aptitude
classifying, 145152, 368, 369
concept of, 329

as malleable, 57
as function of race, 60
Ausubel, David, 15, 16, 40, 265278
coaching
in teacher education, 377
in staff development, 377ff
process of, 382ff
Cohen, Elizabeth, 13, 59
Banks, James, 60
Bandura, Albert, 20, 323
Baveja, Bharati, 28, 69, 171
Becker, Wesley, 20, 43, 323, 351,
cognitive development, 280291
352
Bereiter, Carl, 20
Berliner, David, 346
Block, James, 20, 329
Bloom, Benjamin, 20, 330, 391
Bredderman, Thomas, 43, 46
Brooks, Martin, 46
Brophy, Jere, 20, 344
Brown, Clark, 136, 317, 388
Bruner, Jerome, 15, 43, 164177
Calderon, Margarita, 13, 39

Calhoun, Emily, 8, 27, 59
Coleman, James, 59
competitive goal structures, 72
conditioning, 321ff
cooperative goal structures, 72
constructivism, 50ff, 7677,
145152
counterconditioning, 322
creativity, 240ff
cybernetic principles, 355ff
democratic teaching procedures, 75
Dewey, John, 13, 74, 78
discomfort
in new learning, 385397
discrimination, multiple, 368

Downey, Lawrence, 141
477
478
INDEX
effects of models of teaching, 8,

2224, 3/47
effect size
concept of, 2836
effective schools, 59
Eisner, Elliot, 179
El Nemr, 43
Englemann, Seigfried, 20, 352
equity
as goal of education, 56
Erikson, Erik, 387
Jones, Howard, 15
jurisprudential inquiry 4
Kagan, Spencer, 67
Kamii, Constance, 17, 286287
knowledge
construction of, 50ff, 18U191
through metaphoric thinking,

240260
through cognitive structures,

268271
executive control, 38 1382
Kohlberg, Lawrence, 288290
feedback
in cybernetic design, 356
in simulations, 358
to students, 346
language laboratory, 336
Gage, N. L., 346

Gagn, Robert, 17, 21, 367374
Gardner, Howard, 52
giftedness
and cooperative learning, 69
Goodlad, John, 37, 376
Gordon, Bill, 15, 44, 233263
group investigation, 5
Halliburton, C., 8
Harvey, 0. J., 17, 129140
Hertz-Lazarowitz, Rachel, 39, 86

Hillocks, George, 46
Hopkins, David, 318
Hunt, David, 17, 129140, 317, 387,
388
Hunter, Madeine, 329
Individually Prescribed Instruction,

331ff
inductive thinking, 4
inquiry training, 3-4
intelligence
concepts of,. 5253
dimensions of, 5254
Johnson, Robert, 12, 37, 67, 86

Johnson, David, 12, 37, 67, 86
learning styles, 385397

Levin, Joel, 15, 16, 209232,
430
Lighthall, Fred, J 5
link-word method for memorizing,
216ff
Lorayne, Harry 217223
Lucas, Jerry 217223
McKibbin, Michael, 209, 310317,
376
Maslow, Abraham, 18, 317, 387
mastery learning
steps and principles, 331ff
metacognition, 209231
Medley, Donald, 345
models of learning, 7
moral development, 288290
Morine-Dershimer, Greta, 396
motivatkrn
from cooperative interaction,
67, 73
Murphy, Carlene, 46, 309
National Assessment Program, 34

Oakes, Jeanie, 34
objectives
hierarchy of, 367374
Oliver, Donald, 13, 105127
Olson, David, 287

operant conditioning, 325
INDEX
Piaget, Jean, 17, 280, 387
practice
principles for guiding, 348
prejudice, 60
Pressley, Michael, 15, 16, 4041,
209233, 430
problem solving, 368,369

programmed instruction, 337
race,
as factor in education, 60
reinforcement, 322, 326, 343
schedule, 329
Resnick, Lauren, 325
responding
to stimuli, 367, 368
Rhine, Ray, 323
Rogers, Carl, 18, 44, 295308, 387
Rohlheiser-Bennett, Carol, 38, 40

Rosenshine, Barak, 344, 345, 347
rule using, 368, 369
Skinner, B. F., 20, 338

Slavin, Robert, 12, 34, 37, 68, 86,
337
Smith, Karl, 20, 356
Smith, Mary 20, 356

Social Education, 361
social models of teaching, 1214
Social Science Education

Consortium, 361
Soar, Robert, 344, 346
Spaulding, Robert, 17, 24
Sternberg, Robert, 52
Stevenson, Harold, 55
Stigler, Jay, 55
student achievement
as function of expectations, 56
as function of cooperative
learning, 69
students "at risk," 390397
study groups
in staff development, 377ff
Suchman, Richard, 15, 17, 192206
Schaefer, Robert, 49, 376

Schn, Donald, 376
schools
as centers of inquiry, .376
Schroeder, Harry, 17, 129140
Schwab, Joseph, 15, 16, 43,
180191
self esteem
as function of cooperative
activity, 67
selecting models, 2224
Shachar, Hana, 8
Shaftel, Fannie, 13, 14, 89105
Shaftel, George, 13, 14
Sharan, Shlomo, 8, 12, 13, 68, 86

Shaver, James, 13, 14, 109127
Showers, Beverly, 24, 38, 45, 46, 59,
376
Sigel, Irving, 17, 287

Sirotnik, Kenneth, 63
Sizer, Ted, 376
skills
learning through simulations,
355ff
Taba, Hilda, 15, 42, 145152
teachers
as learners, 375
teaching
as inquiry, 3ff
Thelen, Herbert, 13, 65, 7884, 385,
386
Thoresen, Carl, 20, 46
Tobias, Shelly, 327
training model, 378380
training for cooperative activity, 70,
71
transfer
horizontal, 380
vertical, 380
Walberg, Herbert, 367
Wald, Roada, 389
Weil, Marsha, 389
Worthen, Blame, 24, 43
writing, quality of, 8
479

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MODELS OF TEACHING, 5th Ed.

Fifth Printing (Fifth Edition)

Published by Asoke K. Ghosh, Prentice-Hall of India Private

Tooling Up the Community of Learners

Taking Off from the Research Base

As teachers we continually construct skills and knowledge, and the effective

Gender, Money, Race, and Culture

Education is in a war against cultural stereotypes about learning capacity.

THE SOCIAL FAMILY

The social family capitalizes on our nature as social creatures to further

together to elaborate models that teach democratic social organization and

From Dyads to Group Investigation

The simplest forms of cooperative learning organize students to help one

Studying Social Behavior and Values

Learning to Think about Social Policy

Making social policy is a fundamental need in small groups, communities,

Conceptual Systems Theory

How do we plan for students who are at different

THE INFORMATION.PROCESSING FAMILY

learning in their independent reading and writing and theirexploration of

Classification is believed to be the fundamental higher-order

The Basic Thinking Skills

The Art of Making Inferences

The focus is on learning how the academic disciplines construct knowledge

Getting the Facts Straight

Recent research on memorization, especially on the use of "link words" to

Enhancing Creative Thought

Focus on the Person

The personalistic models focus on the development of the integrated feeling,

The Learner at the Center

Modeling Rich States of Growth

procal relationships of educated people with their worldcontributing to it

THE BEHAVIORAL SYSTEMS FAMILY

On the foundation of the work of B. F. Skinner a large number of

An important application of behavioral systems theory is in the development

Direct instruction involves a straightforward use of tasks and feedback to

In industrial, military, athletic, and educational settings, researchers have

Planning instruction, adding to one's teaching repertoire, and learning as we

Focusing and Planning Instruction

Robert Gagn and his colleagues have developed a classification of learning

The Professional Learning Community

Based on 25 years of research on how we acquire teaching skills, we present

Making Discomfort Productive

Let's begin by visiting two first-grade and two tenth-grade classrooms at

I BEGINNING THE INQUIRY

because many of the students articulated positions during the

sciousness gives the process of education its distinctive character and

of the minds of the students make teachingthe continuous inquiry into

To engage in teaching well is to embrace the adventure of limitless

provement, and develop the dignity, self-esteem, and sense of efficacy to

/ BEGINNING THE INQUIRY

but by concentrating on one or two at a time we can easily expand our

How teaching is conducted has a large impact on students' abilities to

THE RAPID RESPONSE TO

trict. They focused on improving the quality of writing of their students by

to accomplish such tasks as introducing characters, establishing settings,

Note: In the fall, the coefficients of correlation between FO and SUP