Reductionist approach to instruction

While most instructional theorist take a prescriptive or descriptive approach to instruction, the 3-Person model offers a reductionist approach.

Take any given instructional situation. Determine (reduce) what the key elements are.
[The 3-person model reduces instruction, and therefore learning, to Roles (people), Knowledge (content and context), and Experiences (interactions)]

Once you have determined what the key elements of instruction are, determine (reduce) the key elements of each of those.
[The 3-person model reduces Roles to the L/T role, Knowledge to Purpose and Values (context) Main Idea and Validations (content), and Experience to capture, expand, teach, and evaluate]

You can further drill down into each of these elements and reduce them further but that may be unnecessary.

Now reduce the complexity of instruction down to 3 people. With 3 people, you have all of the interaction possibilities that you would have with a larger classroom or social environment. Reducing the interaction to 2 people is simply insufficient because interactions in classroom and social environments do not occur in isolated dyad relationships. A simple consideration of these facts will be enough to support the reduction of learning and teaching to 3 people instead of 2 people.

The reduction approach is open to interpretation and flexible because is is not prescriptive. It is also not perfectly descriptive because it does not claim to identify every element of learning and instruction, only the most prominent or important ones.

The power of the reductionist approach is that it minimizes complexity and empowers individuals to channel energy into learning and instruction where that energy efficiency is maximized. That is the goal of the reductionist approach:

Minimize complexity and maximize energy efficiency

This approach will lead to breakthroughs in fields not just related to education. It can change the world as we know it...

The Relationship between Knowledge and Questions

The types of questions that people ask are indicative of their knowledge.

The more someone knows about a subject, the more informed their questions may become.

"God will not answer any questions that we are not prepared to ask".
- Susan Peterson-Gong-

When comparing how much students know about a subject, it is helpful to ask them to list their questions about the subject. I think this will indicate depth of knowledge and depth of engagement with the subject.

The more initiated one is (Legitimate peripheral participation - communities of practice theory), the more "engaged" one is, both with the subject matter and with the members of the community that possess the knowledge of the subject matter. Dialogical knowledge sharing is a communal experience (that means more than 2 people).

This is the crux of assessing depth of knowledge.

Johnny Lee' Wii Remote "Smart Board"

Beth Kanter's use of Social Media presentation

Colorado Project

View more presentations from Beth Kanter.

Hole in the Wall experiments

TED Talks

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves.html

Aaron Johnson concept map idea

In class today, Aaron Johnson had a great idea:

1. Student develops a concept map journal of topics learned each day. 
2. Topics could be continuously connected throughout the course. 
3. Summative review could allow student to explain the concept map to demonstrate understanding.

Bev from the UGA IT-FORUM had this great slide show presentation on instructional design models. I have included it here:

Theories Of Instructional Design

Source: Link

This presentation goes through some of the major theories and design model foundations. I was surprised to not see any reference to ADDIE. Interesting...

Bev has a great blog: http://bevslidbasecamp.blogspot.com/