Mayer's Designing Instruction for Constructivist Learning:
SOI Model (Select, Organize, and Integrate)
Constructivist learning environments emphasize the manipulation of the physical objects, but sometime it is not possible to develop a simulated environment for such manipulation. Mayer's SOI model can be complimentary under that situation. The model intends to foster understanding through direct instruction and it is suitable for text-based learning, lecture and multimedia environments, in which manipulation is not possible (Reigeluth, 1999).
Mayer's three views of learning
Learning as Response Strengthening
Learning as Knowledge Acquisition
Learning as Knowledge Construction
Learning occurs as weakening or strengthening of an association between stimulus and response Role of the learner: reacting to reward and punishment Role of the teacher: administering reward and punishment Functions of the instruction: create a mechanism of stimulus-response-feedback; drill and practice
Learning occurs when the new information is placed in long-term memory. Role of the learner: receive and process information Role of the teacher: present information by lectures or textbooks Functions of the instruction: to present and transmit the information directed from the teacher or textbook to learner
Learning occurs when a learner actively constructs a knowledge representation in working memory. Role of the learner: the sense maker Role of the teacher: cognitive guide provides guidance and modeling on authentic academic tasks Functions of the instruction: to create meaningful interaction between the learners and the academic material, and to facilitate the learners' processes of selecting, organizing, and integrating information
Focus on rote learning, in which learners add behaviors or information into their memory
Focus on rote learning, in which learners add behaviors or information into their memory
Focus on constructive learning, an active learning, in which the learner possesses and uses a variety of cognitive processes during the learning process
Mayer (1999) distinguished two kinds of active learning: behaviorally active learning, engaging in doing something without making sense of the actions or the objects; cognitive active learning, engaging sense making, such as self-explanation. He also classified three prerequisites for problem-solving transfer:
Skill: Cognitive Processes (selecting, organizing, and integrating information) Metaskill: metacognitive and self-regulatory processes for planning, orchestrating, and monitoring) Will: Motivational and attitudinal aspects of learning
What is SOI model?
Let's examine Mayer's SOI model from four different aspects:
Its theoretical foundation includes;
Theory of constructivist learning, i.e. learner actively constructs knowledge representations in the working memory using both incoming material from the environment and prior knowledge in the long-term memory Information-Processing Theory
Its instructional functions are to:
Help learners to identify useful information Help learners to understand how the material fit together Help learners to see how the material related to prior knowledge
Its implications to instructional design include:
Design of instructional message, such as textbook passages, lecture and multimedia program The design issue focuses on "how to prime cognitive processes in learners that are needed for sense making, such as selecting, organizing, and integrating" (Mayer, 1999)
Its suggestions of the methods
Select Material:
Help learners to focus on the relevant piece of information
Organize Material:
Help to organize the incoming information into a coherent representation
Integrate Material:
Help learners to activate and use prior knowledge and to activate and coordinate multiple representations of the materials
Highlight most important information for learners: using different text design techniques, such as bolding, heading, etc.
Use instructional objectives or adjunct questions
Provide a summary
Eliminate irrelevant information: be concise
Structure of the text: comparison, classification, enumeration, generalization, and cause-effect
Outlines
Headings
Pointer or signal words
Graphic representations
Advance organizers
Illustrations with captions
Animation with narration
Worked-out examples
Elaborative questions
References:
Mayer, R. H. (1999). Designing instruction for constructivist learning. In C. M. Reigeluth, (Eds.), In C. M. Reigeluth, (Ed), Instructional-design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory, Volume II. pp,141-160. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Reigeluth, C. M. (1999). (Ed.), Instructional-design theories and models: An new paradigm of instructional theory, Volume II.. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Behaviorism
CognitivismComponent Display Theory (CDT)Instructional Transaction Theory (ITT)Constructivism
Anchored InstructionCase-Based ReasoningCognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT)Open-Ended Learning Environments (OELEs)Perkins and Unger's Teaching and Learning for Understanding (TfU)Problem-Based Learning (PBL)Situated Learning
