Method of Instruction and Effective Teaching
Effective teaching is a rare sight nowadays. Effective teaching is when a professor can correctly gauge their students’ performances, and appropriately assist them in their learning and understanding of new material. “Too often the assumption is made that because the instructor has a M.S. or Ph.D. degree, he is ready to take over teaching any subject in his field without advanced preparation… Teaching is the organization of learning. Thus, any instructor, regardless of his knowledge of subject matter, must spend considerable time organizing his courses before effective teaching is attained in his classes” (Gibson, 1954).
A professor’s method of teaching arguably has the greatest impact on how a student learns. Every single professor has his/her own style of teaching. Whether it be by oral lecture, reading off presentation slides, exercise-heavy lectures, class discussions, or hands-on instruction, every style has its own pros and cons. Studies show the learning environment, such as how accessible the instructor is, feedback, engagement and activity, etc., has the greatest impact on student performance (Bell, 2013).
Though professors and students both have preferred teaching methods, the hands-on instruction method generally has positive effects. “Hands-on science… is an educational experience that actively involves people in manipulating objects to gain knowledge or understanding. The key word is ‘actively’. Learning is not a passive activity. When studies are involved in hands-on science, they are engaged in their science learning, and thus promoting scientific literacy” (Bigler, 2011). This makes a good point in that having actively engaged students is one of the key components to effective teaching.
Hands-on instruction is great, but is only viable for specific classes such as the sciences. For other courses, such as Discrete Mathematics and Psychology, one has to be exceptionally creative to design a hands-on lesson. In this case, there are other ways to improve teaching technique. Just to name a few: “Begin each class presentation with something easy, something all students can grasp or accomplish.”, “Informal notes set a better atmosphere than does a script; they also allow for student interaction, interruption, and dialog.”, “Be available regularly and consistently to your students. Keep your office or lab hours!” (Kelly, 1973).
An experimented was conducted that used teacher instruction as the independent variable. In the CMI group, immediate proctor feedback on quizzes was provided to students. In the CMI Lecture group, a weekly rotation of immediate feedback was provided one week, followed by a lecture discussion the next week. In the Independent Study group, students worked at their own pace on assigned texts. In the Contact Control group, lecture discussion, as well as small group discussions and lectures were used. In the Delayed Contact group, students took the pretest and posttest before studying course material and texts. After their studying, they wrote unite summaries
Figure 1: Shows the results of five different teaching methods on students (Moore, 1976).
Figure 1 shows that the CMI group performed the best, while the Delay Contact group performed the worst. The CMI group with immediate feedback performed the best and had the greatest gains. The CMI Lecture group with biweekly feedback performed second best. The Independent Study group had the same gain as the Contact Control group. And the Delayed Contact group performed the worst. A trend can be made where the group that had the more effective feedback had better posttest scores and greater gains than the rest.
References
Bell, B., & Federman, J. (2013). E-Learning in Postsecondary Education. The Future of Children,23(1), 165-185.
Bigler, A. M., & Hanegan, N. L. (2011, June). Student Content Knowledge Increases After Participation in a Hands-on Biotechnology Intervention. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(3), 246-257.
Gibson, W. L., Jr. (1954, December). Improved Teaching Techniques. Journal of Farm Economics, 36(5), 877-882.
Kelly, S. P. (1973, Summer). Effective College Teaching Techniques. Improving College and University Teaching, 21(3), 229-232.
Moore, R. S. (1976, Autumn). Effect of Differential Teaching Techniques on Achievement, Attitude, and Teaching Skills. Journal of Research in Music Education, 24(3), 129-141.
