DC-Education Working Group Draft Document
Teaching Methods/Strategies
15 October 2001

Teaching Strategy	Definition	Namespace	
Teaching Method	Ways of presenting instructional materials or conducting instructional activities.	ERIC	
Activity	A generic term that refers to any learning activity learners might engage in.	MediaSeek	
Assessment	A learning event specifically designed to assess the learner’s understanding of content or his/her ability to perform a skill or set of skills.	MediaSeek	
Brainstorming	A learning event in which a group of learners spontaneously contribute ideas.	MediaSeek, ERIC	
Computer Assisted Instruction	Interactive instructional technique in which a computer is used to present instructional material, monitor learning, and select additional instructional material in accordance with individual learner needs.	ERIC, GEM	
Computer Simulation	Computer based representation of real situations or systems.	ERIC, GEM	
Contingency Management	Systematic arrangement of reinforcing events in order to strengthen or weaken specific behavior.	ERIC, GEM	
Cooperative Learning	A learning technique in which the learners are members of an interdependent problem-solving group in which they collaborate, share and delegate responsibilities, practice with others of varying abilities, and practice communicating with others.	MediaSeek, ERIC, GEM	
Creative Response	A learning event in which the learner provides a written response.	MediaSeek	
Demonstration	A learning event in which an individual demonstrates how to do something.	MediaSeek, ERIC, GEM	
Dialog Journals	Logs or notebooks used by more than one person for exchanging experiences, ideas, or reflections -- used most often in education as a means of sustained writing interaction between students and teachers at all educational levels and in second language and other types of instruction.	ERIC, GEM	
Discovery Learning	An inquiry-oriented learning event in which the learner discovers.	MediaSeek, ERIC, GEM	
Discussion/Debate	Oral, and sometimes written, exchange of opinions—usually to analyze, clarify, or reach conclusions about issues, questions, or problems.	MediaSeek, ERIC, GEM	
Dramatic Play Drills		GEM	
Drill & Practice	A learning event in which a learner repeats a particular skill in order to fix in his or her mind.	MediaSeek	
Experiential Learning	Learning by doing -- includes knowledge and skills acquired outside of book\lecture learning situations through work, play, and other life experiences.  Experiential education includes adventure education, environmental education, and service learning.	MediaSeek, ERIC, GEM	
Integrated Instruction		GEM	
Field Trip	A learning event that typically takes place outside of school grounds.	MediaSeek	
Game	Typically a competition or contest that involves a demonstration of an understanding of content or skill.	MediaSeek	
Guided Design	Reasoning-centered instructional method developed by Charles E. Wales and Robert A. Stager that uses small-group techniques and a prepared outline of decision making steps to guide students through the process of resolving open-ended problems.	ERIC, GEM	
Hands-on	A learning event that engages learners in a practical application of content and skills.	MediaSeek, ERIC, GEM	
Inquiry	Also referred to as scientific inquiry; refers to activities in which learners develop knowledge and understanding of how scientists study the natural world.	MediaSeek	
Interdisciplinary	Participation or cooperation of two or more disciplines.	ERIC, GEM	
Interview/Survey	A learning event in which learners interview or survey others about a particular topic.	MediaSeek	
Introduction	A learning event in which a topic is presented for the first time.	MediaSeek	
Kinesthetic	A learning event that involves bodily movement.	MediaSeek 	
Laboratory	A learning event that involves practicing science skills and using scientific equipment.	MediaSeek	
Lecture	A learning event in which one person explains a topic to the rest of the group or class, and this audience takes notes and listens.	MediaSeek, ERIC, GEM	
Model & Simulation	A learning event in which an educator and/or learner models or simulates a natural or physical phenomenon.	MediaSeek	
Montessori Method	Child-centered approach to teaching, developed by Maria Montessori and most often used in the early childhood years, that features a wide range of graded, self-motivational techniques and materials specially designed to provide sensorimotor pathways to higher learning.	ERIC, GEM	
Multimedia Instruction	The integration of more than one medium in a presentation or module of instruction.	ERIC, GEM	
Museum Education	(1)Those changes brought about in the individual through ideas suggested or communicated by museum materials and their arrangement. (2)The formal or informal educational program carried on by museums.	DOE3, GEM	
Peer Coaching	A learning event in which one learner helps another learner.	MediaSeek	
Peer Response	A learning event in which one learner gives written or verbal feedback to another learner	MediaSeek	
Peer Tutoring	Instruction provided by a learner, or small group of learners, by direct interaction with a peer with appropriate training or experience.	ERIC, GEM	
Play	Typically refers to the manner in which a lot of early learning occurs.	MediaSeek	
Presentation	Typically refers to when a student explains or shows some content to a learning audience; similar to a lecture.	MediaSeek	
Problem Solving	Occurs when learners work to determine the solution to a question raised for inquiry.	MediaSeek	
Programmed Instruction	Instruction in which learners progress at their own rate using workbooks, textbooks, or electromechanical devices that provide information in discrete steps, test learning at each step, and provide immediate feedback about achievement.	ERIC, GEM	
Project-Based Learning	A task or problem engaged in by a learner or group of learners to supplement and apply classroom studies.	MediaSeek, ERIC, GEM	
Reading	Occurs when a learner reads something.	MediaSeek	
Reinforcement	Refers to learning that is practices in order to remember or otherwise embed the content or skill in the mind.	MediaSeek	
Research	An activity in which learners investigate or collect information about a particular subject.	MediaSeek	
Review	To study material again; to reexamine the learning that occurred during a unit of study.	MediaSeek	
Role Playing	The deliberate acting out of a role (possibly a role that one would not normally occupy), as part of group therapy or of a learning session directed towards understanding that role or the situations with which this occupants have to cope.	MediaSeek, ERIC, GEM	
Self Paced Learning	Referring to materials, learning, courses, etc where the student is free to learn at his own pace. That is, the speed of presentation of learning materials is not decided by a teacher, a machine, or other students in a group, e.g. as in independent learning.	DOE, GEM	
Simulation and Games	The use of role playing by the actors during the operation of a comparatively complex symbolic model of an actual of hypothetical social process; usually includes gaming and may be all-man, man-computer, or all-computer operations.	DOE3, GEM	
Team Teaching	An arrangement whereby a group of teachers co-operate so that their classes have contact with more than one of those teachers during a given learning session or period.	DOE, GEM	
Thematic Approach	Teaching approach that organizes subject matter around unifying themes.	ERIC, GEM	
Visual Instruction	Instruction with a great variety of illustrative materials such as visual slides, films, models, and specimens may be utilized as aids in pupil understanding or appreciation; not to be confused by sight saving.	DOE3, GEM	
Whole Language Approach	Method of integrating language arts "across the curriculum" that uses the real literature of various age groups and subject fields to promote literacy (i.e., reading, writing, speaking, listening, as well as thinking, skills).	ERIC, GEM	
Writing	A learning event in which the learner writes something.	MediaSeek	
Student Groupings			
Class	A conventional classroom-sized grouping of students; the exact size of a class may vary from one educational setting to another.	MediaSeek	
Community	A grouping that includes a school and its surrounding community including homes, libraries, and businesses.	MediaSeek	
Cross Age Teaching		GEM	
Grade	A grouping that includes learners from an entire grade.	MediaSeek	
Heterogeneous Grouping
		GEM	
Homogeneous Grouping		GEM	
Individual	A single learner.	MediaSeek GEM	
Inter-generational	A group that includes learners from two or more generations; grandchild and grandparent, for example.	MediaSeek	
Large Group Instruction		GEM	
Multiple Class	A group that includes learners from more than one class.	MediaSeek	
Non-graded Instructional Grouping		GEM	
Pair	Two learners.	MediaSeek	
School	An entire school.	MediaSeek	
Self Directed Groups	Groups with a passive leader or without a specified leader in which all members mutually agree on group goals and procedures.	ERIC, GEM	
Small Group Instruction		GEM	
Assessment Mechanisms			
Alternative Assessment		GEM	
Authentic Assessment		GEM	
Curriculum Based Assessment		GEM	
Informal assessment		GEM	
Observation		GEM	
Peer evaluation		GEM	
Portfolio Assessment		GEM	
Self Evaluation		GEM	
Standardized Testing		GEM	
Testing		GEM