Some subscribers to
Math-Teach might be interested in a recent discussion-list post
"What's the Meaning of 'Direct Instruction" (aka "The
Effective But Forgotten Benezet Method of K-8 Education - Response to
Camp").
The abstract
reads:
*********************************************
ABSTRACT: In
my post "The Effective But Forgotten Benezet Method of K-8
Education"[Hake (2012a) at <http://bit.ly/SbTiWD>, I listed
as one of the reasons that the Benezet Method
<http://bit.ly/926tiM> is virtually forgotten is "the
opposition of those who favor 'direct instruction' (i.e., 'drill and
practice') in the early grades."
PhysLrnR's Paul Camp
responded: "THAT'S NOT WHAT DIRECT INSTRUCTION REFERS TO AND YOU
KNOW IT."
Camp evidently thinks "direct instruction" has some commonly
accepted meaning. But had Camp bothered to scan my *complete* 21 kB
post at <http://bit.ly/SbTiWD>, he might have noticed my
emphasis on the ambiguity of that term and my guess as to its
operational meaning to those who oppose the Benezet Method.
Therein I wrote:
"The ambiguous
phrase 'direct instruction' is used [here] in the 'Mathematically
Correct' <http://bit.ly/beOVtu> sense discussed in 'Language
Ambiguities in Education Research' (Hake, 2008) at
<http://bit.ly/bHTebD>: " 'DRILL AND PRACTICE,'
'non-hands-on,' 'teach 'em the facts' (Metzenberg, 1998) at
<http://bit.ly/9rGbSj> (scroll down to just above "AAAS
Benchmarks for Science Literacy"), and 'non-discovery-learning,'
where 'discovery learning' means setting students adrift either in
aimless play or ostensibly to discover on their own, say, Archimedes'
principle or Newton's Second Law."
In "Language
Ambiguities in Education Research" I indicate my guesses as to
what the following groups have meant by "direct
instruction": (a) Mathematically Correct, (b) physics education
researchers, (c) Klahr & Nigam (2004) in "The equivalence of
learning paths in early science instruction: effects of direct
instruction and discovery learning"
<http://bit.ly/9jzh39> (the
CMU server was down on 04 Sept 2012 but will probably recover), and (d) Association Of Direct Instruction
<http://www.adihome.org/>.
*********************************************
To access the
complete 16 kB post please click on
<http://bit.ly/PWS8aj>.
Richard Hake,
Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Links to Articles: <http://bit.ly/a6M5y0>
Links to SDI Labs: <http://bit.ly/9nGd3M>
Academia: <http://bit.ly/a8ixxm>
Blog: <http://bit.ly/9yGsXh>
Twitter <http://bit.ly/juvd52>
GooglePlus: <http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE>
"When we say
force is the cause of motion we talk metaphysics, and this definition,
if we were content with it, would be absolutely sterile. For a
definition to be of any use, it must teach us to *measure* force;
moreover, that suffices; it is not at all necessary that it teach us
what force is *in itself*, nor whether it is the cause or the effect
of motion."
- Henri Poincare (1905)
REFERENCES [URL's
shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 03 Sept
2012.
Hake, R.R. 2012a.
"The Effective But Forgotten Benezet Method of K-8 Education,"
online on the OPEN AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/SbTiWD>.
Post of 02 Sep 2012 15:28:15-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The
abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to
several discussion lists and are also on my blog "HakesEdStuff"
at <http://bit.ly/ORLO6e> with a provision for
comments.
Hake, R.R. 2012b.
"What's the Meaning of 'Direct Instruction" (aka "The
Effective But Forgotten Benezet Method of K-8 Education - Response to
Camp") online on the OPEN AERA-L archives a archives at
<http://bit.ly/PWS8aj>. Post of 3 Sep 2012 13:20:41-0700 to
AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post
are being transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my
blog "HakesEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/OIVVtI> with a provision for
comments.
Poincare, H. 1905.
"Science and Hypothesis," Walter Scott Publishing; online at
<http://bit.ly/9hVfA8> thanks to the Mead Project. A Wikipedia
entry on Poincare is at <http://bit.ly/b4jGVS>.