Abstract
Why can instructional processes having widely different topographies—such as teaching through a demonstration (modeling), teaching through verbal explanation, and teaching by simply providing an occasion for the child's direct contingent experience—all result in the development of the same or similar knowledge? A recent series of experiments that examined the role of instruction in the intellectual development of young children provides evidence for the equivalence of different forms of instruction and leads to the postulation of a set of invariant processes of information exchange that underlies the surface characteristics of various forms of instruction.
Résumé
Comment se fait-il que des méthodes didactiques reposant sur des structures extrêmement différentes comme l'enseignement par démonstration (prendre exemple sur un modèle), l'enseignement par explication verbale, et l'enseignement qui consiste tout simplement à offrir à l'enfant l'occasion d'avoir un contact direct avec l'expérience, aboutissent toutes à l'acquisition des mêmes connaissances ou de connaissances comparables? Une récente série d'expériences destinées à évaluer le rôle de la pédagogie dans le développement intellectuel des jeunes enfants prouve qu'il existe une équivalence entre les différentes méthodes didactiques. Elles laissent entrevoir par ailleurs, un système invariant de procédés dans l'échange d'information que servent de base aux caractéristiques apparentes des différents modes d'enseignement.
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A form of this paper was presented, to the International Symposium on the Problems of Suggestology, Varna, Bulgaria, June 1971. In working out the ideas presented here, I benefited greatly from discussions with Carl Bereiter, Robbie Case, Clifford Christensen, Susan Dalfen, David Hunt, Frank Smith, Edmund Sullivan, and many others. I am also indebted to Angela Hildyard and Carolyn Dundas for their help in the preparation of this manuscript.
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Olson, D.R. On a theory of instruction: Why different forms of instruction result in similar knowledge. Interchange 3, 9–24 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02145940
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02145940