Using and Evaluating Instructional Materials

EPE 222 Educational Technology 1

Bruner’s Three-Tiered Model of Learning

• CONCRETE – Through a sequence of actions

• PICTORIAL – Through a series of illustrations

• SYMBOLIC – Through a series of symbols

Bruner’s Three-Tiered Model of Learning

It is highly recommended that a learner proceed from the CONCRETE to the PICTORIAL and only after to the SYMBOLIC.

The mind is often shocked into immediate abstraction at the highest level, without the benefit of a gradual unfolding.

Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience

Virtual representation of learning resources arranged according to degree of abstractness. The farther you move away from the base of the cone, the more abstract the learning resources become.

Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience

Arranged from the least to the most abstract the learning resources presented in the Cone of experience are:

• Direct purposeful experience• Contrived experience• Dramatized experience• Demonstrations• Study trips• Exhibits• Educational television• Motion pictures• Recordings, radio, still pictures• Visual symbols• Verbal symbols

Question?

Which learning aids in Dale’s Cone of Experience correspond/s to each tier or level in Bruner’s model?

Selections of Materials

The following guide questions express standards to consider in the selection of instructional materials:

• Do the materials give a true picture of the ideas they present? To avoid misconceptions, it is always good to ask when the materials was produced.

• Do the materials contribute meaningful content to the topic under study? Does the material help you achieve the instructional objective?

• Is the material appropriate for the intelligence and experience of the learners?

• Is the physical condition of the material satisfactory? An example, is a photograph properly mounted?

• Is there a teacher’s guide to provide a briefing fro effective use? The chance that the instructional material will be used to the maximum and to the optimum is increased with a teacher’s guide.

• Can the materials in question help to make students better thinkers and develop their critical faculties? With exposure to mass media, it is highly important that we maintain and strengthen our national powers.

• Is the material worth the time, expense and effort involved? A field trip, for instance, requires much time, effort and money. Is it more effective than any other less expensive and less demanding instructional material that can take its place? Or is there a better substitute?

The Proper Use of Materials

“It is one thing to select a good instructional material; it is another thing to use it well.”

To ensure effective use of instructional material, Hayden Smith and Thomas Nigel (1972), book authors on Instructional Media, advise us to abide by the acronym PPPF.

• Prepare yourself• Prepare your students• Present the materials• Follow up

Robert Gagne’s Nine Instructional Events in the Subject Facilitating Learning• Gain attention• Inform learner of objectives• Stimulate recall of prior learning• Present stimulus material• Provide learner guidance• Elicit performance• Provide feedback• Assess performance• Enhance retention transfer

Question?

Are Smith/ Nigel and Gagne saying the similar thing? Connect the 9 instructional events to the PPPF Acronym.

SUMMARY

Any instructional material can be the best provided it helps the teacher accomplish her intended learning objective.

No instructional material, no matter how superior, can take the place of an effective teacher.

Instructional material may be perceived to be labor-saving devices for the teacher. On the contrary, the teacher even works harder when she makes good use of instructional materials.

LESSON PLAN SAMPLE

Reminder:

Every time that your group or you submit your PRODUCT, a corresponding lesson plan should be part of the submission. You need to submit it together.