Effective Instructional Strategies: From Theory to Practice
SAGE Journal Articles
Access to full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully selected to support and expand on the concepts presented in each chapter. Journal articles can act as an ideal resource to help support your assignments and studies.
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Article 1: Chiu, M. (2004). Adapting teacher interventions to student needs during cooperative learning: How to improve student problem solving and time on-task. American Educational Research Journal, 41 (2), 365-399.
Abstract: This study tested a model of teacher interventions (TIs) conducted during cooperative learning to examine how they affected students’ subsequent time on-task (TOT) and problem solving. TIs involved groups of ninth-grade students working on an algebra problem; videotaped lessons were transcribed and analyzed. Results showed that teachers initiated most TIs and typically did so when students were off-task or showed little progress. After TIs, students’ TOT and problem solving often improved. Teacher evaluations of student actions had the largest positive effects, serving as gatekeepers for other teacher actions. Higher levels of teacher help content tended to reduce post-TI TOT, while teacher commands reduced post-TI TOT only when a group grasped the problem situation. In summary, TIs can increase TOT and problem solving, especially if teachers evaluate students’ work.
Article 2: Mitchell, S. (2006). Socratic dialogue, the humanities and the art of the question. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 5, 181-197.
Abstract: Plato's depiction of Socrates' interrogations in his early dialogues provides an enduring example of the importance of asking questions as an educative method. This article considers the central educational elements of Socratic dialogue and the ways in which these were developed in the 20th century, particularly in ‘The Socratic Method' practised by Leonard Nelson and Gustav Heckmann.The article contends that Socratic principles should be embedded within standard undergraduate modules and programmes in the Humanities. It views the questions a tutor asks in the seminar room as the principal means for establishing this Socratic agenda. The article discusses appropriate strategies for formulating questions within seminars, and concludes by proposing that the aim of such questioning should be more than just the development of students' knowledge of a given subject area and a facility with subject-specific and transferable skills.
Article 3: Randel, J., Morris, B., Wetzel, C., & Whitehill, B. (1992). The effectiveness of games for educational purposes: A review of recent research. Simulation & Gaming, 23 (3), 261-276.
Abstract: This article reviews the literature that compares the instructional effectiveness of games to conventional classroom instruction. Studies dealing with empirical research rather than teachers' judgments are reviewed. Published reviews of research in English dating from 1963 to 1984 were examined and the literature was searched for studies from 1984 to 1991. Of the 67 studies considered over a period of 28 years, 38 show no difference between games and conventional instruction; 22 favor games; 5 favor games, but their controls are questionable; and 3 favor conventional instruction. Results for social sciences, math, language arts, logic physics, biology, retention over time, and interest are examined. Math is the subject area with the greatest percentage of results favoring games, but only eight studies have adequate controls. Thirty-three out of 46 social science games/simulations show no difference between games/simulations and classroom instruction. The authors conclude that subject matter areas where very specific content can be targeted are more likely to show beneficial effects for gaming.
Article 4: Goodwin, M.W. (1999). Cooperative Learning and Social Skills: What Skills to Teach and How to Teach Them. Intervention in School and Clinic, 35 (1), 29-33.
Abstract: Cooperative learning strategies can be successful with students of all ages, learning styles, and ethnic backgrounds. However, students who have never been taught the prerequisite social skills cannot be expected to work together effectively. This article links cooperative learning arrangements with social skills instruction to accelerate student learning and to improve students' social relationships.
Article 5: Ruben, B.D. (1999). Simulations, Games, and Experience-Based Learning: The Quest for a New Paradigm for Teaching and Learning. Simulation & Gaming, 30 (4), 498-505.
Abstract: This article provides an overview of the evolution of experiential instruction theory and practice from its popular emergence in the late 1960s through the present period. Simulations, games, and other experience-based instructional methods have had a substantial impact on teaching concepts and applications during this period. They have also helped to address many of the limitations of traditional instructional methods, seven of which are discussed in the article. In addition to influencing classroom instruction, experiential methods have come to provide a pervasive and largely taken-for-granted foundation for a wide range of endeavors across many fields. Still, many of the limitations of the classic paradigm continue as vital and largely unresolved challenges today, and there remains much important work to be done to translate insights about experience, teaching, and learning into common practice.
Article 6: Millians, D. (1999). Simulations and Young People: Developmental Issues and Game Development. Simulation & Gaming, 30 (2), 199-226.
Abstract: There is a long tradition of educators using simulation/games in their classrooms, bringing these powerful techniques to bear on the learning of people of all ages. This article first describes the age-related developmental issues that typically confront teachers and writers in developing and implementing educational simulation/games. Factors examined include those that are physical, personal and social, language, and cognitive. The paucity of flexible, meaningful published products leads many educators to attempt to develop their own or to modify those available to them. A range of suggestions for those designing and using these activities follows. The second part of this article examines the steps taken in creating a 16-week simulation for 10-and 11-year-olds. These stages of game development can be adapted easily by teachers with quite different needs. The article ends with a source list of excellent games and reference materials.
Article 7: Schoeman, S. (1997). Using the Socratic Method in Secondary Teaching. NASSP Bulletin, 81 (587), 19-21.
Abstract: There is a place in secondary teaching for the traditional lecture and there is a place for the Socratic Method. Students learn from questions and not only from answers. They learn from being asked to justify their positions, to support their arguments with logic and with evidence.
Article 8: Ramsay, S.G., & Richards, H.C. (1997). Cooperative Learning Environments: Effects on Academic Attitudes of Gifted Students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 41 (4), 160-168.
Abstract: The attitudes of academically gifted students and the general cohort toward cooperative learning and academic school subjects were studied. Three hypotheses were tested: (a) in classes where cooperative learning is used, nonidentified children will exhibit more positive attitudes toward cooperative learning methods than their more academically able peers; (b) boys will exhibit more positive attitudes toward cooperative learning than girls; (c) Gifted children, in contrast to non-gifted peers, will exhibit more positive attitudes in settings where cooperative learning is seldom or never used than in settings where such instruction is frequently used. Data obtained from 28 classes of sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders in four schools generally supported hypotheses (a) and (b), but not (c). Although not a strong finding, overall attitudes toward school subjects were most positive in classes where cooperative learning was used sparingly as an instructional supplement.