General Instructional Theory

After reviewing over 30 learning theories from the Theory into Practice website and the EET I've decided to focus on one general theory and one specific theory. The general theory is the Constructivist theory put forth by J. Bruner. I've copied the principles directly from the Theory into Practice article on Constructivist Theory with my comments/thoughts in italics:

Principles:

1. Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student willing and able to learn (readiness). This directly ties in with the Site model analysis I did for my initial proposal. By addressing the motivation of the students (getting a job) the "hook" is built into the instrcution. I need to make sure to reiterate the importance of the material and how it will help the learners reach their goal. Tie in direct rationale for the content and emphasize the transferability of the knowledge gained.

2. Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student (spiral organization). I will introduce the material, give examples, provide practice, give feedback, and repeat with more examples and opportunities for practice and feedback.

3. Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill in the gaps (going beyond the information given). After the "articfical" examples, the knowledge gained is not a simple memorization of facts nor is it a procedure. The identification of skills that a high school student possess and how to write them in such a way for geared towards a potential employer will not be the same for each learner. This module is going to "teach" the thought process through examples that one needs to go through on their own in order to develop their own customized skill statements for use in their job hunt.