On 8 Mar 2005, Philippe Gervaix wrote:
> debated overseas?Hi all, A recent report from Canada "Which pedagogies are efficient?" by Gauthier C., Mellouki M. & al. is crossing the Ocean and being abundantly debated here in Switzerland and in France. In this literature survey, they compare different researches that examine the efficiency of different pedagogical methods. Some of their conclusions are based on the Follow Through Project that compared schools that used "curriculum based learning" vs "learner-centered methods": The report concludes that Direct instruction Methods (curriculum based learning) do better than constructivist methods (learner-centered methods).
Can anyone tell me more about the Follow Through Evaluation Project? Who is behind it? How solid are their methods? What exactly do we have to understand by" Direct Instruction" model? How are these questions
See http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/publication/publication.cfm?id=46 for some of the history.
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far away, and having a peculiar idea of the concept of "fun", I decided to see how early I could teach my two new baby daughters to read (given their evident genius from birth, I assumed it would be by the time they learned to sit up). After an unsuccessful attempt to produce my own reader, I searched the literature for the best available. What I came up with was a set of readers based on what was known then as the Distar programme, designed for the Head Start initiative in the US intended to enhance the early learning of disadvantaged children. The readers were published by Science Research Associates and the authors were Siegfried Engelmann and Elaine C. Bruner.
I chose Distar books because they used a phonetic approach based on sound principles of operant conditioning, notably prompting and fading, and because the programme was one of the few (perhaps the only) validated by good reseach.
(I'm getting there....) I believe the whole programme (arithmetic as well as reading) for pre-school education was first developed by Siegfried Engelmann at the University of Oregon, also Carl Bereiter and Douglas Carnine. Some disliked it because it required teachers to follow a rigid procedure of small steps, with lots of repetition and reinforcement. However, there was good research evaluation, and it really worked. I believe the Distar programme was the forerunner of what is now "Direct Instruction"
I see that Amazon.com is currently selling _Direct Instruction Reading_, 4th ed. by Douglas Carnine and others (also another for Direct Instruction Mathematics). And Amazon also lists a magazine put out by a Direct Instruction Association. And in my file I have an advertisement for a 1983 book intended for parents by Engelmann. It says:
"The proven SRA DISTAR Reading program adapted for Parent and Child: Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons".
Despite the hype, I think this programme has excellent scientific credentials. I'm pleased to see it's still around.
Historical footnote: In the famous incident documented in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" where George Bush sits dumbfounded in the classroom reading "The Pet Goat", well, that book turns out to be one of Engelmann's in the Direct Instruction programme. The New Yorker (Nov. 16/04) has an interesting piece on this discovery, with a nice description of Direct Instruction to boot at http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?040726ta_talk_radosh
A more comprehensive source for information about Direct Instruction is at a University of Oregon webpage at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adiep/rdgtxt.htm and there might be more there if you explore around the site.
Stephen ___________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada
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