Methods of Teaching

 
l
name higher-order and lower-order mental processes
 
l
describe the learning theory that influences indirect instruction
 
l
describe the learning theory that influences direct instruction
 
l
explain key concepts of direct instruction and indirect instruction
 
l
identify the instructional features of direct instruction and indirect instruction
 
l
take a position as to whether these are oppositional or complementary methods.

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46
UNIT 1
UNIT 4
UNIT 5
UNIT 3
UNIT 6
UNIT 2
UNIT 7
ASSOCIATE DEGREE IN EDUCATION/B.ED. (HONS) ELEMENTARY
Week 5: Key concepts
Sub-topics
• Distinction between lower- and higher-order learning
• Outcomes from lower-order learning
• Outcomes from higher-order learning
• Instructional activities that enable lower-order learning
• Instructional activities that enable higher-order learning
• Direct instruction: a method to enable lower-order learning
• Indirect instruction: a method to enable higher-order learning
• Different roles for teachers and children
NOTE TO FACULTY: This unit has two goals: (i) to help student teachers see the distinction 
between lessons influenced by behavioural learning theory (direct instruction) and lessons 
influenced by cognitive learning theory (indirect instruction) and (ii) to help people learning 
to teach decide if teachers have to choose one method or the other. The task is first to 
help Student Teachers understand the difference between lower- and higher-order thinking, 
a distinction proposed by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom, when he created a 
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives in the 1950s. Next help Student Teachers understand 
the differences between direct instruction and indirect instruction. Ask Student Teachers to 
decide if either theory/method is sufficient for mastering the primary school curriculum in 
Pakistan. The primary assignment in this unit can be a paper on this topic.
A formal definition of the two levels of thinking is included here to help make the distinction 
between them clear for the class.
Lower-order thinking occurs when students are asked to recall factual information or 
to employ rules and algorithms that have been learnt to mastery. Students are given 
specific knowledge that ranges from facts to complex concepts. The knowledge is 
conveyed through a text, lecture, worksheet, or other direct instructional activities. 
The meaning of ‘instruction’ is to transmit knowledge or guide practice of action 
sequences known to produce a specific and predictable outcome.
Higher-order thinking requires students to manipulate information and ideas in ways 
that transform their meaning and implications. This transformation occurs when stu-
dents combine facts and ideas in order to synthesize, generalize, explain, hypothesize, 
or arrive at some conclusion or interpretation. Manipulating information and ideas 
through these processes allows students to solve problems and discover new meanings 
and understandings. When students engage in the construction of knowledge, an 
element of uncertainty is introduced into the outcomes from instruction.
Some educators believe that most learning in school, especially by class 4, involves both 
lower- and higher-order thinking, which fall along a continuum in any given lesson or 
unit. That is, lessons start with experience that requires lower-order thinking to assure that 
children have the knowledge they will use to form generalizations and solve problems.

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COURSE GUIDE: Methods of Teaching
47
UNIT 1
UNIT 4
UNIT 5
UNIT 3
UNIT 6
UNIT 2
UNIT 7
The first session for week 5 is outlined below. The second session can be used to study 
behavioural and constructivist learning theories and to identify differences between 
them. These two articles will help you prepare an active lecture on the theories.
G. Graham, ‘Behaviorism’, in E. N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 
(Fall 2010) , accessed 5 March 2013.
This is a long article that contains more information than is needed for beginners. It is 
well written, though, and should be easy to abstract.
‘Constructivism Learning Theory’, Teachnology currenttrends/constructivism>, accessed 5 March 2013.
This is a long article, but it is a good reference that contains links to prominent con-
structivist theorists (Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bruner) as well as links to text on classroom 
applications of constructivist theory. 
Week 5, session 1 lesson