Pedagogical Pattern #19
Gagne'-Ausbel Pattern of Lecture (GAP) Pattern
(Version 1.0)
Tim DeClue
Dept. of Computer and Information Sciences
Southwest Baptist University
Bolivar, MO 65613
USA
tdeclue@sbuniv.edu
Intent:
To make use of learning theory concepts to improve the effectiveness of lecture sessions.
Motivation:
Traditional lecture is often less effective for many students because it allows them to be passive in the learning process. Unfortunately, this type of learning environments still permeates most college and university computer science curricula. There are, however, some steps that can be taken to make the students active learners, and therefore be more effective from the standpoint of learning. These steps may mean more planning and work by the instructor, but in the long run it is the student who benefits. This pattern makes use of a theory of learning which in large part can be traced to the writings of Robert Gagne' and David Ausubel. For this reason the pattern may be referred to as the Gagne-Ausubel Pattern of Lecture (GAP).
Applicability:
The GAP was designed improve lessons previously taught using a traditional lecture format. The GAP may be used in most lecture situations, but it is particularly effective when using presentation
software such as Microsoft Powerpoint or Aldus Persuasion, or when teaching a procedure, as in the formulation and object-oriented analysis of a problem statement, or in the translation of a well-written header file into its implemented counterpart.
Structure:
Introduction:
Begin the lecture by gaining the attention of your students with a focusing event. The focusing event should center the students' attention, and usually introduces a question which can only be
answered by mastering the content of the lecture. Sometimes it is helpful to use visual aids, but many times at the college level an intriguing question followed by a couple of minutes of discussion can suffice.
After gaining the attention of your students, remind them of any prior learning (prerequisites) that they have already been exposed to which deals with the content to be presented. Let the students know, in some detail, what the object of the lecture is, and inform them how they will be tested over the content. In other words, justify the effort it is going to take to learn the material.
This introduction should serve as the Ausubelian "advance organizer" which activates prior learning for the purpose of acquiring new knowledge. As advocated by Gagne' , the objective should be presented in behavioral terms, but in the language and format understood by the students. These two components, the advance organizer and objective, help produce a mind set in your students which readies them for new learning
Presentation of New Content:
The new content may be presented in terms of traditional lecture, but with two very important differences. First, lecture sessions should be limited to around 10-15 minutes, and second, questioning should be used to gauge the amount of learning which is taking place.
Questions should be asked of the entire class, and should be worded in such a way as to discourage yes/no answers. Further, the entire class should be given a few seconds to think about the question before an answer is required of a specific student.
Any concepts which are introduced should be illustrated with clear examples. If the content is too complex to be presented in around 10 minutes, then the content should probably be broken up into smaller chunks which can more easily be assimilated by the students.
Practice:
Once the new content has been introduced, the students should be given a chance to practice doing whatever it is that has been introduced. It is not necessary that students work in small groups of 3 or 4 when practicing, but working in groups does have some important and positive implications discussed in the consequences section of this document If groups are used, it is recommended that specific roles be assigned to each student in the group so that no individual may remain passive during this portion of the lesson
Feedback and Correctives:
While students are working in groups, the instructor should monitor the work, occasionally asking groups to justify their decisions. Often it is quite useful to have groups put the result of their work
on a markerboard or piece of paper. Other groups then have the chance to provide feedback on the quality of the work, and further sparks class-wide discussions. To conclude this portion of the lesson, the instructor may wish to display the model case example with the class, and point out differences between the efforts of the student groups and the model case.
Independent Practice:
Some component of the lesson should be assigned for outside work. According to Gagne', revisiting the lesson content outside of class strengthens the recall at a later time, and provides an opportunity
for generalization of the learning (applying the lesson to new, never before encountered problems). This step is usually not too difficult; most textbooks have questions at the end of the chapter, and often the model case presented in class can be used as a springboard for a slightly more complicated assignment, or even a full program.
Furthermore, most CS1 and CS2 courses have a lab component which can be used for this purpose.
Consequences:
The GAP pattern:
- allows students to become active learners, as opposed to being passive learners in traditional lecture.
- allows students to have a chance to learn from and teach their peers. Peer to peer instruction is a powerful tool acknowledged by most learning theorists due to the important role that modeling plays in learning.
- uses group work (collaborative learning), which lessens the emphasis on competitive assessment, often cited as one of the reasons females experience higher attrition rates in computer science. Group work gives students who are more hesitant to participate in classroom discussion
a chance to ask and discuss questions in a less threatening environment.
- may increase planning time because group work is not as easily "scripted" as is pure lecture.
- incorporates a method for generalizing learning through work outside of class.
- gives the instructor an opportunity to provide feedback to specific groups and individual students in the lecture setting.
Implementation:
Issues to consider:
- Labwork is considered one of the best methods for reinforcing the content presented in lecture. Because students have worked in groups in class, it is a natural extension to continue to use groups in the lab. This teamwork in the lab mimics real-life situations where programmers are frequently a part of a team.
- Object orientation is first encountered as an analysis tool for a problem domain. This
analysis technique is a kind of procedure, the very type of learning best taught using GAP.
- Object orientation uses the concept of classes, which have attributes setting one class apart from other classes, as well as the concepts of inheritance, inclusion, etc. According to learning theory, concepts are best taught using example techniques. Model cases, anti-cases, variance of clarity, and
increasing detail are all techniques used in teaching concepts, and are encouraged in the GAP.
Example Instances:
This pattern has been used to teach CS1 and CS2 using C++ and object
orientation as the basis for learning.