Directed Instruction vs. Constructivist Models

Directed instructional model and the constructivist model are basically models of two completely different sides. In directed instruction, there is an emphasis on individual work and the goals and objectives are the same for each student. The teacher is the main focus of this model. They introduce all of the material and concepts to the students. There are a sequence of activities that are used to process, encode and store, and retrieve the information that is being presented. This directed approach is the traditional method of teaching which primarily consists of lectures and worksheets.

On the other hand, the constructivist model is quiet different. Instead of stressing individual work, it stresses group based work. Also the goals and objectives in the classroom are individualized, meaning they are different for each student. The students are the main focus of this model. They are encouraged to explore and learn things through experiences. They learn through problem oriented activities. The directed approach is very non-traditional. With this method, the goal is to promote student driven exploration and problem solving.

In my opinion, I feel that there needs to be a combination of these two methods to provide the best learning opportunities for your students. Sometimes the teacher has to stand up in front of the room and just lecture. If there is something that the teacher wants to teacher that could be potentially dangerous for the students to be hand on with, they need to just learn through lectures. However, I do believe that as a teacher I will probably use the constructivist method as much as possible. I feel that in most cases the students learn better when they can be involved in the learning process. Also I feel that it is important to encourage group work because I believe that by working together to solve problems my students will develop much better social skills.