A Search for the Magic Formula
Donna J. Thomas
With the recent No Child Left Behind legislation, even more pressure has been placed on educators to find a magic formula that will ensure the success of all students. As a result, there seems to have been a resurgence of research revolving around teaching methodologies. It seems as if each study suggests that one methodology is a little more effective than another. It has also increased the debate between teacher-centered instruction and student-centered instruction. What the research does agree on is that children learn differently and, somehow, educators must find a way to address these differences.
Brain-Based
Teaching
Eric Jensen explains that, while brain-based teaching is not a universal remedy, it does provide crucial guidance for developing and implementing instruction. Brain-based teaching is more action research than it is a learning theory--it was created from the insights gained through research regarding how the brain learns. A major concept from brain-based teaching is that "quality education promotes the exploration of alternative thinking, multiple answers, and creative insights" (Jensen, 1998). Brain-based teaching encourages educators to use enrichment activities, create stress-free and threat-free environments, develop intrinsic motivation and to increase the quality of information by teaching for meaning.
While the components of brain-based teaching seem very clear in meaning, it is important to clarify the concepts of enrichment and teaching for meaning. In many classrooms, enrichment is offered only to the gifted and talented students. Brain-based teaching promotes enrichment for all learners. The two vital elements of enrichment are that the learning is challenging and that there must be some interactive feedback. Educators can challenge their students by promoting problem solving, critical thinking, relevant projects, giving students choices, and using complex activities. Feedback, the second part of enrichment, is more effective when it is immediate and specific. It is essential to note that feedback does not necessarily have to come from the teacher. Feedback from peers or even from the student himself can often cause the student to be more of a reflective thinker.
According to brain-based teaching, activities and techniques for both implicit and explicit memory pathways need to be incorporated in order to make learning meaningful. Brain research has proven that the way the brain retrieves the information depends on which memory pathway was used to introduce the information. Therefore, brain-based lessons include a variety of activities that provide the learner with multiple opportunities in which to create significance.
Student-Centered
and Teacher-Centered Instruction
Currently, student-centered instruction appears to be winning the debate over teacher-centered instruction. Teacher-centered approaches to learning usually mean that the teacher is the provider of information and the director of the learning process. In this type of instruction the learner is usually a passive participant. Forms of teacher-centered instruction include lecture, demonstration, lecture-discussions, and direct instruction. The critics of teacher-centered instruction claim that this type of teaching does not address the needs of students in our ever-changing, information rich, global society. Proponents of teacher-directed instruction argue that when delivered correctly, teacher-centered instruction can be an effective teaching strategy.
On the other side of the debate is student-centered instruction. This approach to teaching is grounded in constructivism. In student-centered instruction, the teacher serves more as a facilitator, or as a guide, than as a provider of knowledge. Learners construct their own meaning in student-centered learning classrooms. Examples of this type of learning include discussion, discovery or inquiry learning, cooperative learning, learning centers, role-play and problem-based learning. Student-centered learning acknowledges student interests and learning styles, encourages critical thinking and allows students to increase their interpersonal skills.
Differentiated
Instruction
In a differentiated classroom, instruction is based on the students' readiness level, student interest and learning profiles. Teachers modify content by providing texts of varying reading levels, providing a wide range of materials including audio-tapes and videotapes, encouraging students to work with partners, using graphic organizers and using surveys to determine student interest. Process is modified by using tiered activities, providing resource materials at varying levels, by forming like-readiness and mixed-readiness interest groups and by allowing multiple options for how students process their learning. Teachers also differentiate products by holding teacher-led mini-workshops, developing rubrics based on both grade level and individual needs and by encouraging students to demonstrate their learning in related topics of special interest.
Teachers have students respond to surveys to assess their interests, learning preferences, and "intelligences." Teachers use these profiles to determine the readiness level of each student, in order to assign appropriate learning activities.
Layered Curriculum
The Layered Curriculum model for instruction is an eclectic mixture of all the models above. This model takes into account that there is a need for diversity in teaching strategies. The three essential keys to Layered Curriculum are choice, complex thinking and accountability.
Dr. Kathie Nunley, developer of Layered Curriculum, has integrated approaches for inclusion, diversity, learning styles, multiple intelligences and mind styles all into one practical method of instruction. Layered Curriculum units are made up of three layers with each layer building on the knowledge gained from the previous layer. The amount of work in each layer does not increase, it just requires more complex thinking.
Students begin in the "C" Layer, where the basic knowledge and skills are learned. While in this layer, students demonstrate a basic understanding of the objectives being taught. Students are offered choices from a wide range of activities geared around the learning styles and ability of the students. "C" Layer activities might include lecture, posters, dioramas, flash cards, textbook readings, song writing, listening to audio tapes and watching a video.
The "B" Layer
requires more critical thinking of the students. In this layer,
students apply, manipulate, demonstrate, problem solve and work with
the information learned in the "C" Layer. The "B" Layer offers students
the chance to tie in the new information into their prior knowledge.
Projects, role play, and experiments are all examples of activities
that would be in a "B" Layer.
The final "A" Layer requires students to make a critical analysis about an issue. Dr. Nunley explains,
"Critical thinking requires the most complex kind of thought because it uses the entire brain--the cortex and the subcortex." Students respond to questions that encourage them to take the research and integrate it with their opinions, values and morals.
A vital part of the Layered Curriculum format is that of oral defense. As students are working on their chosen activities, the teacher works as a facilitator of instruction. Interactive feedback occurs as the teacher and students or a group of students discuss and explain their responses to different assignments. This allows the teacher to encourage the students to reflect on their responses and to think about what they are saying. Grading these units is simplified by the fact that students are given rubrics and are told how many points each activity will earn them. Students are given in of their learning and the stress is lessened by the fact that students know exactly what is expected of them.
Conclusion
Research has made it clear that that there is not any one "best" way to deliver instruction. Some objectives are better met when student-centered approaches are used while others may need a more teacher-centered approach. The fact that educators need to be able to "read and flex" with the differing needs of their students is irrefutable. Today, more than ever, with all of the high stakes testing and accountability measures, teachers need to possess a large repertoire of instructional approaches. Layered Curriculum may be the closest thing yet to that magic formula that educators are so frantically searching for. After all, it allows teachers to "give every child a special education" (Nunley, 2004).
References:
Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the Brain in Mind. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Nunley, K. (2003). A Student's Brain: The Parent/Teacher Manual. Kearney, NE.: Morris Publishing.
Nunley, K. (2004). Layered Curriculum. Kearney, NE.: Morris Publishing.
Planning for Instruction. Retrieved August 25, 2004. from <http://edtech.tennessee.edu/~bobannon/instructional_methods.html>
Sprenger, M. (2002). Becoming a "Wiz" at Brain-Based Teaching. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Corwin Press, Inc.
Sprenger, M. (2003). Differentiation Through Learning Styles and Memory. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Corwin Press, Inc.
Sprenger, M. (1999). Learning and Memory: The Brain in Action. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Tomlinson, C. (1999). The Differentiated Classroom. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.