Direct instruction in educational practice

Direct Instruction teaching method is rapidly gaining popularity and good reviews among educators, particularly of younger students. The instructional method can best be described as a teacher led learning process. The Direct Instruction approach to education and teaching research based instruction states that the curriculum for a course must be logically coherent and explicit; thus teachers must examine their standard course of study and subject matter in order to create an instructional model that depicts the logical and sequential relationships that exist between varying units of knowledge to be covered (Kozloffm, n.d.).

Creation of concept/proposition maps that accomplish this are an important tenant of direct instruction (Kozloffm, n.d).

Direct Instruction is a method that is based on "student behaviorisms" and focuses on identifying standard methods for teaching students that lead to well defined results among the greatest number of students. It is not content-based learning but rather teaching that focuses on logical thinking and understanding (Kozloffm, n.d).

In addition, direct instruction dictates that daily lessons should be comprised of short and quick paced exercises, that teacher have a clear and explicitly stated understanding of what the objectives and expected outcome is for said exercise, and that the teacher wordings and "demonstrations are 'unambiguous' and hence objective in nature" so students are familiar with the vocabulary and communication being demonstrated (Kozloffm, n.d.). The goal is to provide a uniform framework for teaching.

In addition, new words, concepts and rules should be taught before students need to know them in order to understand teacher communication and general problem solving strategies must be taught; in addition, the teacher should format communications and lectures so that they share a common format from lesson to lesson (Kozloffm, n.d.).

Students must also be very firm about subject material before the instructor moves to the next set of material (Kozloffm, n.d.).

Why does direct instruction work? There is a shift in focus from student deficits to achievements, and more teaching is done in small groups where direct interaction is possible and promoted (Kozloffm, n.d).

A study conducted throughout the 1970s geared toward improving the education of disadvantaged students in grades K-3 clearly showed that the best outcome came from direct instruction, where positive outcomes included acquisition of basic skills, higher order thinking or cognitive ability and self-esteem gains (Lindsay, 2004). The Stanford Research Institute and others continued to conduct subsequent studies which affirmed the same results.

In addition implementation of Direct Instruction at schools with first graders performing poorly and students having the demographic markers of a school bound for failure also show improvement and success when direct instruction has been adopted; direct instruction has also shown to be effective at the University of Oregon which offers detailed training packages for teachers (Lindsay, 2004).

Direct instruction has shown most effective in the early K-3 years, where significant IQ gains have been found and the program has shown to be effective among students with a "higher probability of failure in school over the long-term" (Becker & Engelmann, 2004). High school follow up has been conducted however and shows that direct instruction students perform better academically and are more likely to stay in school (Becker & Engelmann, 2004). Further the research supports the notion that Direct Instruction can be generalized across time and populations (Becker & Engelmann, 2004).

The Direct Instruction Model also receives the highest positive effects and outcomes among students who have been exposed to other educational models including the Open Classroom Model, the Cognitive Oriented Curriculum Model and the Behavioral Analysis Model (Becker & Engelmann, 2004).

In fact a high correlation between "academic and affective outcomes" suggest that the Direct Outcome Model should be utilized to help children not only perform well academically but also improve self-esteem with respect to school (Becker & Engelmann, 2004).