Learning from programmed instruction: Examining implications for modern instructional technology

This article reports a theoretical examination of several parallels between contemporary instructional technology (as manifest in one of its most current manifestations, online learning) and one of its direct predecessors, programmed instruction. We place particular focus on the unterlying assumptions of the two movements. Our analysis suggests that four assumptions that contributed to the historical demise of programmed instruction—(a) ontological determinisms, (b) materialism (c) social efficiency, and (d) technological determinism—also underlie contemporary instructional technology theory and practice and threaten its long-term viability as an educational resource. Based on this examination, we offer several recommendations for practicing instructional technologists and make a call for innovative assumptions and make a call for innovative assumptions and theories not widely visible in the field of instructional technology.     

Learning from physics instruction

Forty high school students participated in a study to investigate learning and remembering from physics instruction. At pretest, students received aptitude tests, an alternate form of achievement test (counterbalanced) and a word association (WA) test. Then the 40 students were divided into instruction (N = 28) and control (N = 12) groups. The control group received all subsequent tests but no instruction. The instruction group received physics instruction over five 2-hour sessions. At the end of each session, the WA test was administered; the alternate form of the achievement test was administered at the end of the last session. The instruction and control groups did not differ significantly in achievement at pretest. The instruction group showed a significant gain from pre- to posttest; no such gain was found for the control group. The instruction and control groups did not differ on the number of responses generated on the WA test at pretesting. The number of responses given by students in the instruction group increased significantly from test 1 (pretest) to test 6 (posttest). For the control group, the number of responses increased initially and then leveled out well below the instruction group data. When WA test responses were tallied for “constrained” responses (i.e., tallying only those concepts found in equations defining the stimulus word), the number of constrained responses increased consistently for the instruction group. For the control group, constrained responses showed an initial increase and then leveled out well below instruction group data. Finally, the aptitude, achievement, and WA data were intercorrelated. This analysis suggests that for students who perform well in solving problems at the end of instruction, the physics concepts became meaningful soon after they were introduced. Subsequently, these students were able to consolidate, in memory, the meaning of the concepts and the interrelations among these concepts in the form of equations. Students not able to solve problems at the end of instruction seemed to be completing the process of acquiring the meaning of the concepts.     

Learning from instruction: the case of mathematics

Starting from a brief analysis of adaptive competence in mathematics, this article describes a series of research-based characteristics of the kind of learning processes that should be elicited in students to facilitate and support in them the progressive acquisition of such competence. Four major characteristics are discussed in some detail: learning is constructive, self-regulated, situated or contextual, and collaborative. A rather new approach to transfer of learning is then presented in which transfer is conceived as the preparation for future learning. Throughout the article it is argued that, notwithstanding the progress made in research on learning from instruction, numerous and complex issues and problems remain for continued inquiry.     

Learning activities in individually prescribed instruction

A major goal of the Primary Education Project (PEP) and Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) programs is to adapt the educational system to individual differences. The extent to which this adaptation occurs is under continuous study and evaluation. The major purposes of this pilot study were: (1) to determine whether or not distinctive patterns of behavior exist for students of different learning characteristics (e.g. learning rate), and (2) whether or not and the degree to which the IPI system succeeds in adapting its instructional procedures to these behavior patterns.Learning Research and Development Center University of PittsburghThe research reported in this paper was supported in part by a grant from the Ford Foundation, and in part by a grant from the United States Office of Education to the Learning Research and Development Center. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the sponsoring agencies and no official endorsement should be inferred. This work was guided by Dr. Robert Glaser and Dr. Lauren Resnick. Their help is deeply appreciated. The author wishes also to thank the teachers at Frick School, Mary Jane Rooney and Geraldine Henderson, for their permission to observe the work in their classroom and for the help they provided during the study.     

Learning via direct and mediated instruction by deaf students

Four experiments investigated classroom learning by deaf college students receiving lectures from instructors signing for themselves or using interpreters. Deaf students' prior content knowledge, scores on postlecture assessments of content learning, and gain scores were compared to those of hearing classmates. Consistent with prior research, deaf students, on average, came into and left the classroom with less content knowledge than hearing peers, and use of simultaneous communication (sign and speech together) and American Sign Language (ASL) apparently were equally effective for deaf students' learning of the material. Students' self-rated sign language skills were not significantly related to performance. Two new findings were of particular importance. First, direct and mediated instruction (via interpreting) were equally effective for deaf college students under the several conditions employed here. Second, despite coming into the classroom with the disadvantage of having less content knowledge, deaf students' gain scores generally did not differ from those of their hearing peers. Possible explanations for these findings are considered.     

浅论多媒体教育技术与教育教学的最优化

教育教学的最优化是我国教育改革的一个重要目标,如何达到、采取什么样的措施来实现教育教学的最优化,是我们教育管理机构和广大教育工作者深入研究和不断探索的重大课题和孜孜追求的重要目标.运用多媒体教育技术是实现教育教学最优化的重要手段之一,如何在教育教学中推行多媒体教育技术,又是我们广大教育工作者不断实践、不断探索的重要课题.     

儿童在绘画学习中的审美偏好及指导策略

儿童的审美心理发展对人的智力、情感、创造能力发展等都具有非常重要的意义,审美偏好则是审美心理研究领域的基本概念之一。儿童绘画是了解儿童审美心理的重要手段之一。从审美偏好的概念界定、儿童绘画学习及审美发展的相关研究方面,考察婴幼儿期、儿童早期和儿童后期各阶段儿童在绘画学习中的审美表现及偏好特点,据此针对各阶段儿童归纳绘画学习过程中的指导策略。     

基于流水线的指令Cache设计技术

介绍了基于流水线技术的cache原理．并利用它的基本原理和技术，提出了设计指令cache关键技术和方法．     

初中生物教学中“学习策略”理论的运用

学习策略理论随着“终身学习”和“学会学习”等理念的传播，受到越虎多的人的关注和应用，本就初中生物学课堂教学中运用的“学产策略”理论”，提高教学效率，做些探讨。     

将PADS Powe引入EDA技术教学中

高等职业院校在EDA技术课程中,选用的PCB制板软件大多数是Protel99se和Protel DXP.然而,Mentor Graphics公司的PADS Power随着市场的推广,被越来越多的公司所接受.学校教学内容的设置应紧跟市场和公司的步伐,故将PADS Power软件引入EDA技术教学中,这样不仅丰富了教学内容,而且使学生接触到了市场的主流PCB软件,增加了学生就业竞争力.     

Project TEAMS integrating technology into middle school instruction

Conclusion As we indicated at the outset of this article, Project TEAMS was undertaken to incorporate a variety of innovative practices into middle school instruction, and thereby improve the quality of middle school education. The project has placed particular emphasis on using instructional technology as an integral part of the instructional process. The TEAMS project is now into its sixth year, and while we certainly have not accomplished nearly all of the goals we set, we are confident that we have made good progress in improving the quality of middle school education in the schools where Project TEAMS has been implemented. We invite others who are interested in making similar changes in middle school instruction to contact us for more information. More information about Project TEAMS is available at the following Web site: www. ifsi.org.     

虚拟现实技术在实践教学中的应用

虚拟现实技术是21世纪的前沿技术，通过我校参加广州市教育科学“十五”规划课题《片剂车间虚拟现实教学系统的开发与研究》，就虚拟现实技术的特征及其在职业教育中的应用作进行了探索。     

An examination of the relationship between technology problems and teaching evaluation of online instruction

To address faculty members' concern that teaching evaluation in the online environment might be lowered because of technology problems students experience in online courses, a sample of 202 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory statistics course in a college of business administration was surveyed. Students' evaluation of their instructors and the course and their experiences with technology problems when taking the course were measured. As expected, a negative correlation between teaching evaluation and experience of technology problems was observed. Based on the finding, it is suggested that, to encourage faculty members to teach online, universities need to examine the relationship between teaching evaluation and technology problems experienced by students in the online environment and adjust the evaluation skewed by problems that are out of instructors' control. Measurement instruments used in the study and a suggested formula for adjusting teaching evaluation are provided.     

Learning through teaching: Peer-mediated instruction in minimally invasive education

The current paper provides insight into the learning strategies adopted by children working at Minimally Invasive Education (MIE) Learning Stations. Previous research has clearly indicated the attainment of basic computer literacy by groups of young children in the age groups of 7–14 years. This learning takes place due to the emergence and development of group social processes, an aspect crucial for achieving basic computing skills. The paper describes the process of socially shared understanding and learning as being crucial to individual learning. It is to be noted that this approach of socially shared learning does not challenge the analysis of the individual level of processing; it maintains that individual learning is vital in any learning context, but insufficient to build the psychology of learning. MIE research is of the view that young children learn through interaction with others, particularly peers as it provides an important context for social and cognitive learning. For it is in this way that children make sense of their own experience and environment. Hence, schools are not the only privileged sites of learning.