Comparing Behaviorist-Oriented and Constructivist-Oriented
Instructional Strategy Components
Component (1)
Pre-instructional
Activities
Behaviorist-Oriented
Instructional Strategies (2)
Motivate the learners (gain & maintain
attention)
Constructivist-Oriented
Instructional Strategies (3)
Establish a meaningful, purposeful
instructional context that encompasses
all instructional strategies
State goal(s) & objectives
Stimulate recall of prerequisites (i.e.
pretest, state necessary prerequisites,
etc.)
Initiate orienting activities in which the
purpose for personally engaging in the
instruction is clearly established
Early interactions within the
instructional context should facilitate
the setting of personal goals relative to
succeeding within the impending
instructional experience
Present a "Big Picture" that focuses
attention on the bigger conceptual,
intellectual, and/or social contexts in
which the current instructional goals
reside.
Implement strategies to help learners
identify in some way those skills,
knowledge, and attitudes (SKA) already
needed to succeed within the new
learning environment
Establish cooperative groups, and
communicate clearly-perceived learner
accountability, role(s) and task(s)
Establish clearly-perceived instructor
role(s) and learner support
mechanisms
Information
Presentation
Present information in a sequence that
is most appropriate for the type(s) of
skill(s) being facilitated
Present clear examples and
nonexamples
Clearly identify access to learning
scaffolds, especially procedural
scaffolds (guidance on how to utilize
resources and tools such as how-to
sheets, tutorials, and examples)
Additional learning scaffolds --conceptual, metacognitive, strategic --should be available when needed
(these may include “behavioristoriented” lessons designed to facilitate
specific skills)
Learner
Participation
Provide practice over exact skills
indicated within objectives, with timely
feedback
Provide opportunities to explore the
overall learning environment with
minimal instructor guidance and
intervention……but make guidance
available to learners as they apply
information presented to the skills,
knowledge and attitudes being
facilitated
Practice over individual skills embedded
throughout the experience
Testing
Pretest & Posttest eliciting the exact
skills indicated within the objectives are
implemented
“Posttests” are generally represented
by the successful completion of
projects, with analytic rubrics provided
throughout the experience to guide the
learners toward success
Follow-Through
Activities
Remediation activities
Provide opportunities for learners to
summarize the key ideas emerging
from the learning experience. This
might include the generation of concept
or mind maps.
Enrichment activities
Memorization and “job aid” use
rehearsal
Transfer of learning by applying skills
within new situations
Provide opportunities for the learners
to reflect upon and articulate what they
learned and how they personally
learned it. This might involve
assessing their final projects using
analytic or holistic rubrics.
Provide opportunities for the learners
to identify how their newly-acquired
skills, knowledge and attitudes fit into
the "Big Picture" defined at the
beginning of the experience.
(1) These components are derived from the instructional design model described by Dick &
Carey (1996). This model is based on the behavioral and cognitive learning theories of
Robert Gagne (1992).
(2) For excellent information summarizing the main principles defining behaviorist learning
theories, see the summaries of Edward Thorndike and B. F. Skinner at Greg Kearsley’s
Theory into Practice Database [see http://tip.psychology.org].
(3) These strategies were culled from a variety of constructivist-oriented instructional
models. These models are described in more detail below.
Constructivist-Oriented Instructional Strategies
Although there are many different ways to define constructivism, Jerome Bruner was the
one of the first to explore and define the concept as a viable theory of learning. The
following definition is taken from an entry in Greg Kearsley’s “Theory into Practice” database
(http://tip.psychology.org):
“A major theme in the theoretical framework of Bruner is that learning is an active
process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their
current/past knowledge. The learner selects and transforms information, constructs
hypotheses, and makes decisions, relying on a cognitive structure to do so.
Cognitive structure (i.e., schema, mental models) provides meaning and organization
to experiences and allows the individual to ‘go beyond the information given.”
This description highlights the two fundamental elements of constructivism:
1) Knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, not passively received from the
environment
2) Understanding is an adaptive process driven by learners’ need/desire to organize
their experiential world. Learners do no, and perhaps cannot discover an
independent pre-existing world outside their own mind.
In addition, most constructivist models include references to the important of social
interaction within the learning environment. Reiber (2000) summarized three primary
characteristics of learning within the constructivist paradigm:
1) Learning is an active and controllable process in which meaning is constructed by
each individual
2) Learning is also a social activity founded on collaboration and mutual respect of
different viewpoints
3) Learning is embedded in the building of artifacts that are shared and critiqued by
one's peers
Researchers and theorists investigating and defining constructivism have identified and
described some common characteristics of meaningful learning environments. In Jonassen,
Peck and Wilson’s text Learning With Technology: A Constructivist Perspective (1999, Merrill
Publishing), the authors include the following five categories representing necessary
components of meaningful learning environments. The descriptions of each category have
been elaborated upon using other constructivist models of design (for example,
Cunningham, Duffy and Knuth, 1993; Herrington & Oliver, 1997)
Opportunities for Authentic Learning: Instructional contexts are defined that
reflect the manner in which the outcomes to be learned are practiced in the real
world. This often includes ill-structured, real-world problems. In addition, the
instruction (teachers, other students, and/or educational media) facilitates the
learner’s evaluation of alternate strategies and methods for solving problems.
Opportunities for Active Learning: The instructional context enables the learners to
explore and manipulate the components and parameters of their environment, and
observe the results of their activities.
Opportunities for Intentional Learning: The instruction provides the learners with
an opportunity to determine and set their own goals and manage/regulate their own
activities. Learners select the methods they feel will help them succeed within the
learning environment. The instruction provides coaching, modeling, and other forms
of support to facilitate the application of effective methods and strategies for
succeeding within the learning environment.
Opportunities for Constructive Learning: Instructional strategies are facilitated
that encourage learners to articulate what they have been learning and reflect upon
the importance and meaning of the outcomes in larger social and intellectual
contexts. Efforts should be made to enable learners to communicate their ideas
using any appropriate media: oral, written, graphic, video, etc.
Opportunities for Cooperative Learning: Instructional strategies are implemented
that enable learners to collaborate and socially negotiate their meanings of the
events and information presented within the learning experience between
themselves and other learners, outside experts, and the teacher. Access to expert
performances may also play an important role within the cooperative learning
environment.
So What?
Why is constructivism an important concept for teachers? One of the most important
reasons is that the principles of constructivism can be used to help define purposeful,
meaningful (and, consequently, highly effective) learning environments. What follows is a
sampling of different types of learning environments based on constructivist ideas:
A Sampler of Different Types of Constructivist-Oriented
Instructional Models
Model
Problem-Based
(Inquiry) Learning
Situated Learning
Anchored
Instruction
Case-Based
Learning
Cognitive
Apprenticeship
Generative
Learning
Description
As the name implies, instruction based on this particular model
presents learners with a problem (or they uncover a problem within an
exploratory activity), and the quest for a solution drives the learning
experience. Problem-based learning is an important characteristic
within most “constructivist” instructional models.
Instruction based on the Situated Learning model (Herrington &
Oliver, 1997) generally include all or most of the following elements:
 Provide an authentic context that reflects the way the knowledge
will be used in real-life
 Provide authentic activities
 Provide access to expert performances and the modeling of
processes
 Provide multiple roles and perspectives
 Support collaborative construction of knowledge
 Promote reflection to enable abstractions to be formed
 Promote articulation to enable tacit knowledge to be made explicit
 Provide coaching and scaffolding at critical times
Provide for integrated assessment of learning within the tasks.
The two fundamental aspects of instruction based on the “anchored
instruction” model include:
1. Activities should be designed around a conceptual "anchor" which
should be some sort of case-study or problem situation.
2. Curriculum materials should allow exploration by the learner
(e.g., interactive computer programs).
Case-based instruction focuses on “cases,” either real or contrived.
Initial information presented to the learners define the case itself, and
free access to potentially useful ancillary information surrounding the
case is made available to the learners. Also referred to as “situation
exploration,” student interaction with the case material doesn’t alter
the case itself (like a simulation might)
Cognitive apprenticeship instructional models (Brown, Collins &
Duguid, 1989) involve establishing a relationship between the learner
and a mediated support system. This support system, which might
include a highly-interactive computer-based environment or structured
collaborative group, generally includes the following strategies:
- situated learning
- modeling
- explaining
- coaching
- reflection
- articulation
- exploration
A more general type of instructional model than those previously
described, generative learning represents any type of learning
environment in which learner exploration leads to the generation of
problems, information, patterns, and/or solutions. Proponents of
generative learning (like proponents of the grounded approach to
qualitative research) criticize prescriptive ISD solutions for essentially
eliminating the importance of learner constructions in the instructional
process.
Like many of the context types described above, Discovery Learning
Discovery Learning
Open Learning
Environments
emphasizes complete immersion into situations where learners have
no choice but to discover problems, patterns, and solutions en route to
successfully negotiating the situation. Learner support within the
situation can range from gentle, subtle peer or teacher coaching to
more overtly direct information presentation when appropriate.
Open Learning Environments (Hannafin, Land & Oliver, 1999)
represent instructional situations where divergent thinking and
multiple perspectives are valued over a single "correct" perspective.
OLE’s are appropriate when the learners are presented with ill-defined,
and ill-structured problems.