Principles for Learning

Scholars who specialize in studying how students learn have developed
guidelines for effective learning and the design of instruction.  Some of
the best work has been done by
people at the U of O, who have developed six "instructional design
principles."  (See Edward Kameenui and Douglas Carnine, Effective Teaching
Strategies that Accomodate Diverse Learners, Prentice Hall, 1998.)  I have
tried to use these principles in developing the material covered in this
class.  While the principles are phrased for use by teachers and
curriculum developers, I believe that students can also use them in
effective studying.  Each of the principles and the way I have applied
them to this class are given below.  I hope that you can use the
principles to help in going back through the material studied this term.

1.  Focus on the big ideas.
There are several big ideas within this class that reappear in different
ways throughout all of the material that we cover.  Some of the major big
ideas are
1.  Through research we gather data that can be used to test and develop
theory.
2.  Research should be very carefully conducted if accurate results are to
be obtained.
3.  There are multiple ways of looking at and studying the social world,
all of which can provide useful knowledge.

2.  Provide conspicuous strategies for learners to apply to learning.
You can use the readings, which provide examples of the application of all
of the various techniques and concepts we have studied, to see how the
various areas we have been studying are used in actual research.  I have
also given several hints throughout the class
on how to remember various concepts and ideas and how to link them
together.

3.  Provide mediated scaffolding to the learner.  
This refers to providing support for learning.  The study guide and the
material on the web site for the text provide some of
this support.  Students can provide this for themselves through the
careful use of concept maps and consistent review.

4.  Strategic integration of instructional goals that promotes a full
understanding of the big idea or concept.  
This refers to combining newly learned skills and
ideas with those that were previously learned and seeing how they relate
to the big ideas of the course. 
Your text and the discussions in class do this by consistently referring
back to earlier material.  Students can do this by comparing and
contrasting new material to that which
has already been learned and trying to make explicit linkages between
concepts.  The articles in the reader can be especially helpful in this
regard as they incorporate aspects
studied throughout the term.  You can also try to see how the big ideas
are revealed in discussions of various areas that we cover, from
measurement to sampling to research design.

5.  Prime background knowledge by using what the learner already
knows.  
This principle means that you should try to link new material that you
have learned to material that you
have learned in earlier classes.  Try to see how what you are studying in
this class links to the material you have studied in other sociology
classes.

6.  Explicitly review previously learned skills to reinforce early
instructional goals and skills.  
You should make sure that you understand material from earlier
chapters even as we are covering later chapters.  I try to do this in
class by pulling in ideas and concepts
studied in earlier sections as we look at new material.  You can do this
in your reading by comparing concept maps and study materials for new
chapters with those you developed in earlier chapters.