Post#2The first principles of instruction

In this week’s reading, the first thing I understood was the first principles of instruction. The first principle is more about motivating students to learn and giving them motivation to learn in order to make teaching more efficient. Using the First Principles of Instruction to Make Instruction Effective, Efficient, and Engaging (edtechbooks.org)In this article, the author proposes that motivation is not the first principle, but rather the result. Motivation is the process by which students are motivated to learn and subsequently develop interest, making them more motivated to engage in learning.

Typical Instruction

In typical instruction, the teaching sequence mainly consists of three steps. Firstly, teach a topic, then insert exercises or quizzes, and finally have an exam or project at the end of the term. This approach has been reflected in most of the courses I have studied, but it does not appeal well to students. Although this process can quickly enable students to learn skills or solve problems. The characteristics of this educational model share many similarities with the behaviorist educational philosophy.

The Five Basic Principles of the First Principle

There are five different general principles for the first principle, which are Activation, Demonstration, Application, Integration, Problem-centered。
Activation represents that if students use existing knowledge as the foundation for new knowledge, learning will be promoted. This part is reflected in many courses, for example, many courses in economics recommend having a foundation in economics.
Demonstration represents that when students observe demonstrations of learning knowledge, learning can be promoted. This section suggests that teachers present more knowledge demonstrations rather than complete presentations.
Application encourages learners to apply newly acquired knowledge and skills. Generally speaking, many courses have this section, such as exercises and tests after the course ends.
Integration is the process of sharing and reflecting on the work of peers through collaboration and mutual criticism. This part is reflected in the EDCI335 course, where members of the group share the content they have read with each other and provide comments.
Problem centered strategies, which focus on student engagement, can facilitate learning. Because the ultimate goal of most teaching is to solve complex problems in reality. The subsequent skills learned in problem-solving can help learners better solve problems.

Curriculum and Five General Principles

In our course, several of these five basic principles are covered, while the others are not.

For example, Application and Integration have a significant proportion in our course, but this part is often missing in other courses, especially Integration. In group learning, we can more easily receive direct feedback and comparison.
However, Activation is missing in our course, which means we do not have prior knowledge when reading some materials. This often leads to differences in understanding some content.