Priorities for Evaluating Instructional Materials

PRIORITIES FOR EVALUATING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

BY TEACHER ELICIA BARTON.

PRIORITY AREA: LEARNING
In education, teachers make a difference in students’ learning and also materials effective learning strategies can support or stop their learning process.
We find that insufficient number, type, and quality of learning strategies have been persistently pointed out in textbooks.
Learning also has been undercut by the absence of meaningful explanations, connecting ideas, big ideas underlying structures, and content for critical thinking.

We will learn about what works across disciplines along with a few particular strategies for subjects and students.
Two important cases for learning strategies deserve special attention:
1- The expertise reversal effect: this refers to the research in several studies that students who possess high levels of knowledge in a subject do not benefit from the same strategies for others or those who possess low level of knowledge.
2- The powerful resistance to learning: because of students misconceptions in a subject area. For these students, traditional strategies also fail to work

Motivational Strategies.
Some important aspects to maintain students highly motivate to learn are:
1- Positive expectations: students are looking for friendly and encouraging communication.
2- Feedback : they are also motivated by giving and taking information, and how to improve with their learning.
3- Appearance: materials should have special skills or knowledge that makes them appealing.








Teaching a Few Big Ideas.

Instructional materials should teach a few important ideas.
Concept or themes should provide focus for students which includes major themes or few powerful ideas, students learn more when they give big ideas or when they are asked to build their own way of representing ideas or relationships.
By teaching Big Ideas it could be an approach to defining problems, setting goals, gathering comparing and elaborating thinking skills.
By teaching a few ideas many will focus and develop a deeper and complete understanding of the content or the area of importance.
Instructional material should contain clear statements of information and outcomes that depends on:
Clarity of directions and explanations: or clear directions for assignments and exclusion of Ambiguity: that includes noting that instructional materials are using phrases that are not capable to be understood or that becomes confusing.
Also Instructional materials must include guidance and support to help students safely to become more independent learners and thinkers, and this effectiveness of guidance and support depends on their level of guidance and support and adaptability of Guidance and support.

Level of Guidance and Support: most often come from good teachers that work along with
Organized routines
Better thinking skills
Feedback and
Other ways of guidance like: questions, activities, review of content that works as a guide to improve their learning.
The adaptability of guidance and support may be listed as having high importance and differences between advanced students or younger students.

Lectures help advanced students
Average students and
Students that need scaffolding

Student Responses

Students learn more when they follow some kind of activities
• Make their own charts for study
• Summarize their notes
• Discuss controversial issues
• Work together in pair or groups
• Construct their own knowledge





Students learn more when they follow some kind of assessment activities

• Provide written answers to questions
• Give complete explanations
• Take frequent quizzes
• Review feedback from test results.


Target Instructional and Assessment Strategies

Instructional material should include the instructional and assessment strategies .
Successful teaching depends on:

Alignment of strategies with outcomes : which refers to what a student should know or be able to do at the end of the instruction

Completeness of Strategies: this should be complete enough to achieve the learning outcomes
Some techniques for informative assessments include:

• Assessment to check student progress
• The use of rubrics to help students in their growth
• Aligning rubrics with instructional situations
• Determine how these can be used to improve students’ performance