Brain Research, Instructional Strategies, and E-Learning: Making the Connection

Implementing instructional strategies and tactics

Tactics implement an instructional strategy and consist of general rules governing an overall flow of execution, rather than a set of steps that must be performed in a specific order. For example, an effective e-Learning strategy would include tactics such as:

• challenging the learning,
• placing the learner within a workplace application of content,
• providing activities to apply what is learned, and
• providing feedback (either direct or intrinsic).

Recognizing the circumstances that favor the tactics of a strategy is the first step to success. This is called situational awareness. For example, within the events of instruction, learning and retention are related but are widely divergent. Learning is like the manufacture of building blocks, while retention is the storage yard where the bricks of knowledge are segregated by type, size, color, etc., and are ready to be used when needed for construction.

Some of the strategies above have a propensity to help the students learn or retain information. Learning involves interacting with the environment in such a way that it concludes with a change in human performance or performance potential. Retention refers to the processes where long-term memory preserves learning in such a way that the mind can locate, identify, and retrieve that learning for use in the future. We can learn something when needed for short periods, and then forget it forever. A common example is a phone number.

Table 1 is a guide to applying the strategies listed above.

Here’s how to apply three of the instructional strategies: advanced organizer, nonlinguistic representations, and generating a hypotheses. I’ll define each strategy, give guidance that will help you recognize the appropriate situational awareness for application, and describe detailed tactics of the strategy followed by an example of how to use the strategy in e-Learning.

Tactics for implementing the “advanced organizer” strategy

An advanced organizer is an introduction or transition to learning content based on a student’s prior knowledge. It is meant to be a bridge from what a student knows, to what is going to be learned. It provides an organizational framework for how the content will be presented.

Use an advanced organizer when there is a high degree of newness between what you are to teach and what the learners already know.

An advanced organizer should consist of:

• A brief, abstract prose passage
• A bridge, a linking of new information with something already known
• An introduction of a new lesson, unit, or course
• An abstract outline of new information, and a restatement of prior knowledge
• A structure of the new information
• Content having intellectual substance, material which is more than common knowledge

Example: The introductory paragraphs to this article are an advanced organizer. Take this challenge and see if it applies the tactics above. (Note: the last tactic is a bit subjective.)

Tactics for implementing the “nonlinguistic representations” strategy (Graphic Organizers)

Sometimes referred to as visual tools, graphic organizers are visual representations of knowledge, concepts, ideas, and the interrelations between them. Graphic organizers include words and pictures, organized around a central theme, that use lines to represent a relationship between constructs of the central theme. Some examples of graphic organizers include:

• maps (chain, concept, hierarchy, mind, and spider),
• tables or frames, and
• roundhouse diagrams

This strategy complements the “spreading activation” theory of memory, supported by brain research, which tells us that a memory is stored in one or more areas of the brain. Recalling a memory is an interactive process that activates various storage areas distributed across the brain. Our memory system recalls information related to the central concept that activated its recall.

Use this strategy to enhance retention after the presentation of the learning material, or as an integral part of it. Graphic organizers can be included as an activity within the review or lesson summary.

In general, less is better. Allow learners to create as much of the organizer as possible. This means you will have to exercise some reasoned judgment on the ability of your learners to construct a graphic organizer, and possibly include a lesson on what they are and how to construct one. To implement a graphic organizer:

• Select the best organizer based on the instructional objective
• Determine the required level of student support, and design the organizer including:
• The central theme
• The constructs of the theme
• The relationships between the constructs and the theme
• A means to connect the constructs to the theme via the appropriate relationship
• Invite or encourage the learner to generate the organizer
• Provide feedback

There are a variety of ways to implement a graphic organizer, ranging from simple to complex. The simplest methods will provide the learner with the most structure. In Figure 3, a concept map provides the central theme, and the branches (relationships) relate to its constructs. The student drags and the drops the constructs from the “Topics” area to complete the map. (Note: The example includes basic definitions that will fly out on the right side, when the learner clicks the tab in the upper right corner.)

Figure 3 Concept map example. Used with permission of Fluor Hanford Co., Richland, WA

Another method of providing information to fill in an organizer, is to use a drop-down list and have the learner select information to complete the organizer. The more complex version would provide the learner with a blank page or screen and the learner would then create the entire map. The simple example in Figure 3 was created using Flash^®. A complex example would use a specifically designed commercial software product like iMindMap^® (http://www.imindmap.com). Of course, the learner would need to have the knowledge and skills necessary to use the software.

Tactics for implementing the “generating a hypothesis” strategy

A hypothesis is an explanation for a specific, or group of, phenomena. It can be asserted merely as an assumption, a guess, or as highly probable in the light of established facts.

Use this strategy within the following learning activities:

• system analysis,
• problem solving,
• historical investigation,
• interventions, and
• decision making.

Note: Students must have the prerequisite knowledge (at least declarative knowledge) of the concepts that make up the variables affecting the outcomes involved in the experience.

The tactics for applying a hypotheses strategy are:

• Invite or encourage the learner to generate a hypothesis; ask “What do you think will happen?”
• Provide time to develop a hypothesis and ask questions
• Give an opportunity to observe or experiment. That is, to manipulate the variables that affect outcomes, mentally, virtually, or actually
• Provide an opportunity to analyze the results
• Provide the feedback and a conclusion (desired learning outcome) with an explanation of the specifics on why the conclusion is factual 

The example in Figure 4 could apply to courses in physics, chemistry, or radiological fundamentals. Following information about the composition of matter and the structure of the atom, the learner is invited to form a hypothesis to explain what would happen to an atom’s electrical charge if a particle was added or removed. The following screen then allows the learner to experiment with a simulation that adds or removes atomic particles from a fictitious atom, and then observe the results.

Figure 4 Ion simulation example. Used with permission of Fluor Hanford Co., Richland, WA

Referring to Figure 4, basic instructions appear at the top of the screen. The screen depicts an atom enclosed in an ion chamber. The controls at the bottom are toggle switches. When clicked on the upper section (+), a particle is added to the atom in the ion chamber to show the addition. Concurrently, the “Overall Charge” meter incrementally moves from the neutral position depending on what particle is added. Conversely, clicking on the lower section of the toggle (-) will remove a particle causing the meter to move appropriately. In the case of adding or removing neutrons, the particle appears but the meter does not move. In order to accommodate a more advanced learner a tab labeled “Physicists” in the upper right will fly-out when clicked. The information is a disclaimer which states that the atom in the ion chamber does not represent an actual element in nature and is for demonstration purposes only.

The screen following the experiment asks the learner if the atom’s charge changed as the learner expected. It also provides some conclusions that may have been drawn from the experiment. For example, removing an electron from a neutral atom gives it a positive charge.

Summary

The quality of learning rarely exceeds the quality of teaching. Using the knowledge about how our brains learn, we can choose from a variety of brain- compatible strategies to design effective e-Learning. The various brain-compatible strategies are neither equally effective nor appropriate in all learning situations. Keep in mind that no one strategy exists that is best for all students all the time. Students are more likely to retain and achieve more whenever they are actively engaged in the learning. Try some of these strategies in your next design project, and use the references to learn more about them. Knowing about a strategy is the first step. Knowing the basis of why they work is the key to knowing when to use one.

References

Hyerle, David. (1996) Visual Tools for Construction Knowledge. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Marzano, Robert, J., Pickering, Debra J., and Pollack, Jane E. (2001) Classroom Instruction that Works. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development; first edition.

Sousa, David A. (2006). How the Brain Learns. Third Edition. Thousand Oaks, California. Corwin Press.

West, C. K, Farmer, J. A. & Wolff, P.M. (1991). Instructional design implications from cognitive science. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice?Hall.

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