Four Instruction Models – PreCOVID

This is supposed to be on my articles page – but if you know how I can move it there – please let me know.

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is explore four instructional models that can be seen in today’s classrooms: Direct instruction, information presentations, structured discovery, and blended learning.  The determination of the type of instructional model could be based on the topic that is chosen for the lesson.  Each instructional model presents differences in the learning and teaching processes. All models are designed to allow the opportunity for students to explore new content and be successful in the learning process.

Direct Instruction

The direct instruction model includes explicit teaching.  The direct instruction model has also, at times, been called the gradual release model because it is designed to include the processes of “I do, we do, you do” throughout the lesson.  Even though the teachers are explicitly delivering the content of the lesson, the students are also expected to be engaged in the learning process.  When developed with fidelity, the direct instruction lesson will include opportunities for all students to provide feedback to the teacher, as well as digestible bites of information for students to work with. 

Direct instruction provides a platform for a variety of topics to be taught, such as procedures, strategies, principles, and concepts.  The versatility in the topics keeps the direct instruction model at the forefront in many classrooms.  Direct instruction lessons are also utilized as fundamental and foundational lessons for later higher-level thinking activities (Price & Nelson, 2014).  Direct instruction can be extremely effective when applied to the right content at the right time within the learning process.

The lesson planning component of the direct instruction model must include the three stages of learner development: I do, we do, and you do.  The first part of the lesson planning includes the I do portion for the teacher and would normally be stated using “I will” statements (Price, et al, 2014).  Within this part of the lesson, the teacher is explicitly providing the students with the information they need to know to move to the next step of the process.  The “we do” portion of the lesson plans will include the active modeling portion of the lesson where the teacher demonstrates the process by which the student will be expressing the new knowledge, and or will include active participation strategies to allow the teacher to obtain feedback from the learners. The “we do” part of the lesson also includes supervised practice and extended practice.  With supervised practice the students are able to demonstrate understanding and receive immediate teacher feedback to ensure that they are working toward the desired goal or outcome. Depending on the complexity of the lesson or content, the process of supervised practice could be repeated multiple times before the lesson is completed.  The “you do” portion of the lesson is the extended practice given to students to build additional knowledge and skills.

Informal Presentation

The informal presentation model includes explicit teaching. In this model the teacher will “tell the students what they are going to be told, then tells them, and finally tells them what they were told” (Price, et al, 2014, p. 186).  Because of the structure of the lesson, the teacher can use the informal presentation as a way to present declarative knowledge, such as factual information and principles.  Like the direct instruction model, the students are expected to be active learners in the process, even though this particular model appears to allow more passive learning than the direct instruction model.

The informal presentation model oftentimes will include advanced organizers and structured outlines to help the students throughout the learning process.  The informal presentation model can also be considered an accommodation for some students who need additional supports instead of placing students in situations where they are dependent upon written materials (Price, et al, 2014).  When it comes to the outline and or organizer that the teacher chooses, there are few guidelines for the amount of information to include or omit in the materials given to the students.  What is most important is that considerate thought goes into the planning process and practice is taken prior to lesson delivery.

Structured Discovery

The structured discovery model allows the opportunity for students to reach the lesson objective on their own, rather than through explicit teaching.  In this model, the teacher is responsible for determining what the lesson’s objective is, and then how the students will discover the answers.  Opposite to the direct instruction model where the teacher tells the students what it is the students will be learning and how, the structured discovery model includes examples and non-examples from the teacher for the students to use in the discovery process (Price, et al, 2014).   The structure discovery model can also be utilized to teach any principles of concepts in any content area.

The structured discovery model is a model that requires active learners.  This model also promoted higher-level and critical thinking skills through the use of reasoning and problem solving (Price, et al, 2014).  The structure discovery model also promotes learning retention by utilizing skills higher than rote memorization and recall throughout the learning process. The structured discovery model is appropriate in some case, but not all, because if students do not have the basic understanding of the concept to move through to the next level in the discovery process, then the students will fail. 

When planning for the structured discovery model the teacher must decide if this is the best model for what is being taught and must decide if the students have the level of pre-knowledge required to complete the tasks that the teacher will be asking the students to complete.  The objectives in the structured discovery model are short-term objectives, whereas the objectives in the direct instruction and informal presentation models might be longer term objectives.  Prior to the discovery phase of the structured discovery lesson, the teacher must provide examples, and sometimes non-examples, to the students to help guide the discovery process.  The students should also be required to test their discoveries.  Lastly, the structured discovery model should only be used in classroom where the students understand and demonstrate understanding of the expectations as this model can easily allow for the development of behavioral issues.

Blended Learning

Blended learning is adaptive and changes to adjust to the needs of the students.  In a blended learning environment, the teacher has a very different role than in a traditional classroom.  The teacher becomes more of a facilitator, but will evolve with the instructional model (Yuping, Xibin & Juan, 2015). The student also has a greater level of accountability and satisfaction in the blended learning model (Yuping, et al, 2015). The article by Yuping, et al, focused on a flipped classroom style of blended learning; however, not all blended learning environments are flipped classrooms.   

Blended learning encompasses a variety of instructional models, such as the rotational model, flex, al a carte, and enriched virtual (Kleber, 2015).  The rotational model is one where students rotate from station to station to complete work.  The Flex model is “the credit recovery model where students work independently at an individualized pace with fact-to-face support and activities” (Kleber, 2015, p. 21).  The al a carte model is one where students work through phases of blended learning and independent learning as needed.  The enriched virtual blended learning process includes an additional course in a virtual program outside of the traditional learning setting.

Blended learning can mean many things to many different people, but the key to remember with blended learning is that it is a blend of teaching and instructional modalities within a particular lesson or lessons.  Technology also plays an integral part in the learning process within the blended learning model.  In every blended learning model, technology is being utilized as a way to deliver curriculum or parts of the curriculum to the students.

Discussion and Conclusion

There is a time and a place for each of the four instructional models discussed above.  Each of the models includes an intensive planning process in order to effectively implement the learning model and include the appropriate student activities at the appropriate times within the lessons.  The content to be taught does somewhat dictate if a particular model would be better than another, but each model has its own strengths and weaknesses.  Table 1.1 shows a basic comparison between the four instructional models.

Table 1.1

Model	What is taught	How is it taught	Lessons look like…
Direct Instruction	Procedures Strategies Principles Concepts	Explicit Teaching	Direct Instruction lessons look like a series of repeated steps (Price, et al, 2014, p. 182). I do, we do, you do
Informal Presentation	Factual information Principles	Explicit Teaching	The teacher tells the students what they are going to be told, then tells them and finally tell them what they were told (Price, et al, 2014, p. 186).
Structured Discovery	Principles or concepts in any content area	Teacher guides students through the learning process	Students actively seeking for the answer to the objective through guided practice from the teacher
Blended Learning	Principles Strategies Procedures Concepts Factual Information	Part teacher driven instruction Part student driven instruction Part technology integration	Students working independently Students working one on one with the teacher, or in small groups Technology plays an integral part of the learning process

The first two models, direct instruction and information presentation, include active learning, but are very teacher centered models.  The last two, structured discovery and blended learning, include an independent learning factor and, therefore, at times, are student centered.  All four instructional models are to be implemented with fidelity to allow for the greatest opportunities for students to find success. 

References

Kleber, J. (2015). Differentiation through BLENDED LEARNING. (Cover story). Leadership, 44(3), 20-24.

Price, Kay M. Planning Effective Instruction: Diversity Responsive Methods and Management. Cengage Learning, 01/2013. VitalBook file.

Yuping, W., Xibin, H., & Juan, Y. (2015). Revisiting the Blended Learning Literature: Using a Complex Adaptive Systems Framework. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 18(2), 380-393.