This book has been written as a companion volume to my text Learning and learning difficulties (2004). Here, Peter has attempted to explore in detail the many different teaching approaches available for use, describing their potential advantages and disadvantages. In particular, hes has identified aspects of teaching approaches that may directly or indirectly cause students to have learning problems. He concurs completely with Farkota’s (2005) belief that many cases of learning difficulty can be traced to inappropriate or insufficient teaching, rather than to deficiencies in the students.
It has not been his intention to recommend one particular method as superior to all others for achieving all types of educational objective. Purdie and Ellis (2005) are right in suggesting
that no single teaching method can possibly be appropriate for bringing about all types of learning. A teaching approach should be selected because of its goodness of fit for the type of learning involved in a lesson and for the learning characteristics of the students in that class.
In this book, teaching approaches have been categorised as belonging somewhere on a continuum between ‘teacher-directedness’ and ‘student-centredness’ in their emphasis. But as he points out later, such categories are misleading, because most approaches contain elements of both teacher direction and student-centredness. Lessons are rarely wholly teacher-centred or wholly student-centred, and effective teaching requires that an appropriate balance be achieved between the two.
An unusual feature of this book is that he has included coverage of learning difficulties and teaching methods in relation not only to basic academic skills (literacy and numeracy) but also to specific subject areas such as science, social studies, history, geography and environmental education. Potential causes of learning difficulty are discussed within the context of these subjects.
He has deliberately used as his primary source international literature on curriculum, learning difficulties and teaching methods, particularly from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the US. It has always irritated me greatly over the years that professional literature in the field of learning difficulties tends to be very parochial in its perspective, dealing often with minutiae of local policies and practices in a particular country but failing to see the bigger picture in which key issues in teaching and learning are identical across all countries. He hopes this text helps delineate the bigger picture by taking a cross-curricular and international perspective.
In this text he has introduced many references and resources that can be located online. This
has been done to help any reader who wishes to investigate issues in greater detail but does not have easy access to an academic library. A disadvantage may be that certain websites may eventually disappear; for that he apologizes in advance.
1 Curriculum, teaching methods and learning difficulties
Curriculum as a source of difficulty
Teaching methods as a source of difficulty
Students’ views of good teaching
The ‘effective teacher’ model
Teacher expertise
Meeting individual needs
Adaptive teaching
Useful resources
2 Teacher-centred approaches to instruction
Expository approach
Interactive whole-class teaching
Direct instruction
Precision teaching
Mastery learning
Computer-based learning
Multisensory teaching methods
Useful resources
3 Student-centred approaches to learning
Discovery learning
Resource-based learning
Project-based learning
Problem-based learning
Task-based learning
Cognitive strategy training
Cognitive apprenticeship
Situated learning
Anchored instruction
Useful resources
4 Classroom interactions for learning and teaching
Establishing attention
Questioning
Discussions
Same-age peer tutoring and cross-age tutoring
Cooperative learning
Reciprocal teaching
Useful resources
5 Teaching basic academic skills: literacy
Teaching students to read
Beginning to read
Phonic skills
Building sight vocabulary
Comprehension
Learning difficulties in writing
Approaches to the teaching of writing
Strategy training
Word processors
Teaching spelling
Useful resources
6 Teaching basic academic skills: mathematics
Goals and content of mathematics education
Teaching and learning in basic mathematics
Contemporary approaches
Is the pendulum swinging again?
Effective teaching of basic mathematics
Poor-quality teaching
Difficulties associated with learning basic mathematics
Strategy training for problem-solving
Using appropriate methods to match instructional aims
Useful resources
7 Teaching science
Science for all
Approaches to teaching and learning
Science in special schools
Anticipating areas of difficulty
Attention and concentration problems
Memory and recall problems
Stages of cognitive development
Language difficulties
Literacy problems
Numeracy problems
Social and behavioural problems
Clumsiness
Weak self-efficacy
Poor self-management
Poor-quality instruction
Useful resources
8 Teaching social studies, history, geography and environmental education
Social studies and related subjects: aims and purposes
History
Geography
Environmental education
Approaches to teaching and learning
Poor-quality teaching
Using group discussion effectively
The challenge of mixed-ability classes
Anticipating areas of difficulty
Difficulties with literacy and language
Cognitive and affective development
Numeracy problems
Problems associated with field trips
Useful resources
9 Support for learning
Providing support in schools
Support teachers
In-class support
Paraprofessionals
Volunteers
The Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO)
Teacher assistance teams (TATs)
Collaborative consultation
Useful resources
