I suppose it depends on your definition of instructional media. For the purpose of this discussion we shall assume that instructional media refers to text, pictures, videos and other graphical and auditory tools used to teach. Therefore, on the face of it, advance organizers and instructional media can be considered one and the same. The real difference between the two comes down to a few factors: level of depth and “timing and intent” (Dean, p. 60, 2012).
Instructional media can be a single picture, or chart, which outlines some important fact related to the lesson. Possibly even a video explicitly illustrating the lesson for purposes of instruction. Advance organizers need to be much more. They need to have a broader scope than just the lesson at hand and relate to a student’s existing knowledge to strengthen their cognitive structures. They need present abstract concepts and use these as a framework with which to attach the more concrete, narrow focus of the lesson to, thus improving the student’s chance for engagement and retention. The best advance organizers contain not only known information, but clearly define terms or ideas for a person to use as a scaffold to attach the upcoming lesson to. It’s not enough to just show a picture of the founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence and then lecture about the American Revolution. The advance organizer should show a timeline of events, or outline each of the primary signers of the document and players in the events with a short biography or link to a video, define terms like taxes, loyalist, patriot, etc. This helps to place the lesson in a larger context and allows students to connect the faces in the picture with the lives of the people who experienced the events. Advance organizers should utilize many forms of instructional media to provide more opportunities for successful learning by making the information engaging.
The timing and intent aspect of advance organizers referred to in Classroom Instruction That Works means that the organizer needs to precede the lesson and clearly outline what it is the student should be expected to learn (Dean, p. 60, 2012). If the instructional media is presented simultaneously with the lesson, or as an addendum then it loses a lot of its impact. They are unable to build that scaffold of knowledge to connect the new information to, and are left with rote memorization as their only recourse which has a limited lasting effect. Also, if the advance organizer isn’t clear in its intent then it doesn’t matter how engaging or interesting the instructional media is, it won’t activate their prior knowledge or attach to an existing cognitive framework.
I’ll admit that the idea of expository teaching and just presenting information to a class is not an appealing teaching method to me. It is the type of schooling I had, and I understand it’s appeal because it allows you to cover a lot of material in a small time, however I feel that it was information easily lost. More progressive teaching models that value inductive reasoning, exploration and discovery sound amazing but there is the time constraint involved as well as a lack of focus. Advance organizers, and their inclusion of varied instructional media, seem a great way to marry the two ideas. The organizers present the information as concepts, rather than a mere recitation of facts, and allow the student to form cognitive structures which lead to greater engagement with the upcoming lesson. I see them as an invaluable tool to any effective lecture.
Dean, C.B., Hubbel, E.R., Pitler, H. & Stone, B.J.
(2012). Classroom instruction that works
(2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ACSD Publications.
No comments:
Post a Comment