A pedagogic basis for multigrade teaching – the 3Ps

Anita Pincas
Draft - January 2007

This model is suitable and relevant for all teaching, and can be of considerable use in multigrade
classrooms. It is explained in detail below. As with all advice to practising teachers, it is important
for them to understand the principles, and then to adapt them to their own circumstances. Further,
any set of principles, such as this one, can be of value, but needs to be supplemented with hands-on
support.Only in a live, teacher training programme that works intimately with teachers in the
classroom, can a trainer help the teachers to apply the model.

The 3Ps are

P1 = Teacher presents the content

P2 = Teacher helps learners to practice the activities proposed by the teacher, and offers feedback.
P3 = Teacher asks learners to perform by producing evidence of their competence, for which they
receive feedback and/or grades.

Content
Whatever the learning context, whoever the learners, whether there is one teacher or peer learning,
there is always content. Without content there is nothing for the learner to learn. Whether learners find
something to learn independently, perhaps through stimulating activities devised or proposed by the
teacher, or have it brought to their attention - i.e. presented to them in some way by someone else,
who is often a teacher but may be another learner - it has to be there. It might be concepts, or facts, or
skills, or processes, or attitudes and approaches.

In multigrade classrooms, how to manage access to the appropriate content for different ages and
different levels of pupils is one of the three predominant concerns that can worry the teacher. They
will ask themselves whether they ought to prepare different content for different levels, or expect the
lower levels to “stretch” themselves in order to understand at least some key points of a higher level
lesson. This paper will make clear how content relates to the other two predominant concerns for the
multigrade teacher: learning, or practice, activities, and feedback or assessment.

Of course all creatures learn a great deal on their own. But schools enhance learning by organising it
and using strategies to improve the process of acquiring the content. The teacher is key in this process,
without diminishing the contribution of peers, facilitators, and others. In other words, the teacher
scaffolds the learning process. Part of that scaffolding is to package the content in a manner that s/he
believes will make it more learnable. Many factors come into play here, and they normally include
arranging the content in a sequence from familiar to new, easy to more difficult, simple to more
complex, or perhaps in a hierarchy from general to particular (or vice versa), or even presenting it in
simplified form.

In the first stage of the 3Ps model, learners become aware of content. It may be directly stated and
described [i.e. presented], by the teacher or another learner, or an automated teaching program; or else
it may be revealed through resources such as reading, audio-visual materials or learner activities
designed to lead to it. It can be presented to the learners in a great variety of ways using traditional or
newer ICT.
Activities
Learners are always active. They do not come with a tabula rasa on which a teacher inscribes
knowledge. Their minds work at learning, willy nilly. For motor and other physical skills, their bodies
are likewise active and participatory, experimenting and re-trying. In this way, the content, whatever it
is, becomes embedded in the learners’ cognitive or functional structures. Again, the teacher’s role is
to enhance such activities by organising them, and encouraging learning strategies to improve
acquisition, understanding, and memory.

Feedback and assessment

Learners always need and seek ways of evaluating their own learning. They do their own trial and
error practice, and in their own independent learning, they adjust and unconsciously improve – up to a
point. It is one of the teacher’s key roles to help them recognise the extent of their own competence, as
well as the opportunities for improvement. The teacher’s feedback can be crucial in some learning
contexts. More formal assessment, rather than merely feedback, offers a more absolute measure, or in
any case a referential measure of what the learner can do.

In a traditional view of teaching, the 3 elements are used in the chronological default order. This is
reflects the planned delivery order. It is NOT the same as the order of importance of any of the
elements! It is:

P1 = Teacher presents the content

P2 = Learners practice the activities
P3 = Learners perform by producing evidence of their competence

It is not essential for all 3 Ps to occur in every teaching event. Often the final P, assessment and
feedback, is postponed; sometimes content is presented repeatedly before activities are arranged, and
so on.

Whether it is the activities that are more important in the teacher’s view than the content or the
assessment, or the content itself is the key focus and activities are secondary or even optional, the
sequence in which the lessons deals with them is crucial. Different sequences are a different kinds of
teaching and learning. Some are appropriate for whole class teaching with multigrade pupils, others
are not. Some lend themselves only to small group work. This will be dealt with later in the chapter.

The 3Ps can be manipulated in an infinite variety of ways. This will be illustrated in relation to further
and higher education in the section Variety in the elements of teaching. teaching As a
preliminary, it is important to stress three self-evident factors in teaching that have an important
influence on how the 3Ps can be applied in class.

First, it needs to be remembered that teachers cannot control their students’ actual learning
processes. However much they might attempt to do so, they are limited to advocating or directing
learning activities, without being able to affect the learners’ attention or receptiveness to learning.
While the teacher fulfils the role of organiser of the context of learning, this does not guarantee
success; on many occasions learners deliberately or unknowingly subvert the teachers’ intentions,
though sometimes to their own benefit. Learners give themselves feedback by making judgements
about their successes, and these may be at variance with what teachers discover by observing them
more objectively.
Second, the close, regular, intimate classrooms of schools, has a tacit agreement that the teacher is in
charge and pupils will follow. The school teacher-learner is relationship is that of adult-child. This is
sometimes a spur to learning, and sometimes the opposite.

Third, the theory behind the 3Ps assumes that knowledge, skills, attitudes or beliefs can be “presented”
to pupils. However, there are people for whom it is very important to encourage “co-construction of
knowledge”, in which learners develop concepts of knowledge themselves. For instance, in a literature
course, teachers often find it important for learners to discuss literary works and decide for themselves
what they mean, whether they are “good”, “well written”, and so on. Teachers in such subjects often
do not want to “present” knowledge to their classes. Although it is arguable that such co-constructivist
approaches are more relevant to situations where there are strategies or policies or approaches or
viewpoints to be thought through and worked out rather than knowledge as fact , that type of
teaching can be accommodated under the 3Ps model, by taking account of the
myriad variations that are possible. For instance, starting a lesson with learners
inspecting resources or solving a problem would match many of the co-
constructivist methods, bearing in mind that one cannot “create” knowledge,
only discover it. One can create interpretations, hypotheses, strategies,
policies, and viewpoints. See also the detailed description of Discovery
Models in The 6 basic templates explained, where a sub-type of the
discovery model is proposed to meet the constructivist approach.

Regarding P2, Practice - what many people call an “activities model” or “active learning” model, is
probably dominant through the social sciences today, with the strong emphasis on learning and the
learner, rather than teaching and the teacher. It is appropriate for the social sciences but may be
somewhat less so for the “hard” sciences. However, there is no absolute division between the two;
they are on a scale from “hard facts” at one end to “open to interpretation” at the other. Even in the
hard sciences, there are disputes about facts [ie their rightness, appropriacy, relevance, etc.].

Within this small project, we have put forward a framework around which you can build what you
need for your own purposes. We do not claim to be offering a total set of universal truths.

Variety in the elements of teaching

The 3Ps default sequence can be changed, and elements can be interleaved, merged, repeated - in
dozens of ways. The chart below shows the default sequence

TEACHING EVENT

Preparation Practice Performance

n
In ordinary teaching this becomes the basis of variations that fall into one of 6 Basic template
patterns.
1 PREPARATION PRACTICE PERFORMANCE

2 PREPARATION PERFORMANCE PRACTICE

3 PRACTICE PREPARATION PERFORMANCE

 4 PRACTICE PERFORMANCE PREPARATION

5 PERFORMANCE PREPARATION PRACTICE

6 PERFORMANCE PRACTICE PREPARATION

We derive infinite potential from these 6 horizontal or syntagmatic options, and also from
repetition in any of them. For instance further practice is frequently added at the end of template 1.

PRESENTATION PRACTICE PERFORMANCE PRACTICE

Give the knowledge first arrange activities test more practice as indicated by test

Further, the order of the elements can be changed to derive meaningful sequences that can be
associated with a well-known teaching patterns. Thus, remembering that “content” refers to
knowledge, skills or attitudes, different sequences in which a teaching event can be arranged represent
some familiar “types” of teaching and learning. The following chart illustrates this in more detail,
giving each one a name that links to common perceptions of teaching methods, and showing 6
ways of ordering the 3Ps, in each of which there is an instance of use.

This chart will be the basis of the templates provided by the project, and will be
subject to considerable further exposition and analysis, especially in relation to
the incorporation of different ICTs and media. See also The 6 basic templates
explained with the linked examples in PowerPoint Format.

1 Conventional Presentation Practice Performance

It
The default sequence: Give the knowledge, skills or attitudes first, arrange activities, then check.
is History: Show facts in pictures comprehension text Q/A
2 Feedback responsive Presentation Performance Practice
Give the knowledge, skills or attitudes first, check what further practice is needed, arrange activities.
Maths: Demonstrate check exercises more exercises
3 Resource/research based Practice Presentation Performance
Ask learners to inspect/consult sources of the knowledge, skills or attitudes, summarise the knowledge, skills or
attitudes, check.
Botany: Plants to inspect Explain structure Write report
4 Discovery based Practice Performance Presentation
Arrange activities through which learners to discover the knowledge, skills or attitudes, check, summarise the
knowledge, skills or attitudes.
Science: Watch chemical reaction Create similar one Explanation
5 Problem stimulus Performance Presentation Practice
Set a problem for the learners to solve, check and present the solution, arrange further practice.
Geography: Find average temperatures Explanation More temperatures
6 Problem application Performance Practice Presentation
Set a problem for the learners to solve, ask them to apply it, check and summarise the solution.
New language: Oral comprehension 1 w .picture clues to help in Oral comprehension 2 Language round-up
fairly evident that the different orders represent the chief ways in which a teacher makes choices
about how to present content. The contrast between 1 and 2 is in the amount of feedback the teacher
seeks while presenting the content. In some cases, s/he may feel confidence not to require any; in
other circumstances, s/he may feel it essential to check on the learners’ understanding quite
frequently.

The contrast between 1 and 3-6 is in whether the content is revealed to the learners from the start, or
whether some mode of prompting the learners to acquire it is preferable, e.g. by eliciting it through
resources, or problems. No doubt, many teachers employ all these methods from time to time. The
chart broadly sets out the chief options, remembering that any of the Ps can be repeated many times
in the course of a lesson, and that they can be embedded within in each other [as demonstrated in the
section on Course Design.]

For primary school teaching it may be necessary to add the following pattern.
4a Peer constructed learning Practice Performance Presentation
Ask learners to canvass and discuss solutions to a problem, trial the solution, and summarise their findings, with
teacher input at final stage.
Teacher training Agree teaching strategy Use agreed strategy in teaching Findings
This is appropriate where teachers do not divide their teaching day into periods for different subjects,
but engage the children in some kind of group activities, often called project work in the UK, through
which they will learn more than one subject at a time, e.g. history and essay writing, or geography and
mathematics. Clearly, such group methods may be less appropriate if the teacher is constrained by the
requirements of a tightly set and monitored curriculum.

The templates illustrate a wide range of possible teaching with different sequences of content,
activities and feedback or assessment, and involving different uses of ICT. There are further choices
within each of the 3P areas, which are well covered in the literature, often under headings such as
“instructional sequences”. For instance, Joliffe et al (2001) list orders in which content may be
presented:
 Chronological
 Order of performance (especially relevant to skills)
 Known to unknown
 Taxonomic (common in science)
 Simple to complex
 Problem centered

We can add:
 General to particulars or vice versa
 Known to unknown
 Complex to simple
 Causes to effects
 Effects to causes
 Events to reasons for them
and many more.

We follow Bloom (1984) and suggest that each of the 3 elements relates to the actions indicated by the
verbs listed.

Teacher actions
Presentation Practice Performance
Tells Analyses Guides Gives impetus
Explains Dissects Organizes Probes
Shows Clarifies Facilitates Examines
Describes Simplifies Questions Accepts
Evokes Summarises Listens Rejects
Compares Harmonizes Responds Directs
Contrasts Reflects Observes Evaluates
Demonstrates Postulates Prompts Assesses
Instructs Confirms Comments Comments
Gives Acts as a resource
instructions
This illustrates the paradigmatic changes we made. However, we are not taking our
templates down to this granularity. These functions are well enough known, and, in any case, the scope
of our project is not such as to permit such detailed work. In Phase 2, we expect the learning templates
necessarily to reach a deeper level of granularity than is possible here in Phase 1.

There are of course other actions that teachers perform in their teaching, but these are not elements of
teaching; they are the phatic, or emotive aspects of the teacher’s behaviour, such as motivate,
stimulate, encourage, cajole, discourage, disappoint, please, focus, pacify, and dozens more which,
again, are not within the scope of this project.

The 6 basic templates explained

Conventional Models
follow the pattern
Presentation
Practice
Performance
Often called the ‘transmission’ model,
because it starts the learning process by presenting content
in well designed forms.

Presentation
This is still by far the most common model in use, judging by our research of the literature, our
discussions with colleagues, and our knowledge from contact with thousands of educators over 40
years. Even the youngest and most recently trained use it predominantly. That is not to say that the
focus of such teaching is necessarily on the teacher’s presentation of content. Indeed, the teacher
frequently downplays the provision of content and places greater emphasis upon the practice and
performance activities that the learners are asked to do.

In the first stage of this model, learners become aware of content. The content – knowledge, skills or
attitudes - may be directly stated and described [i.e. presented], by the teacher or by another expert,
another learner, an automated teaching program; or else it may be revealed through resources such as
reading, audio-visual materials or learner activities designed to lead to it. It can be presented to the
learners in a great variety of ways using traditional or newer ICT. In online distance courses,
it has been most common to present content by text on web pages. However,
the increasingly affordable and available other options, such as voice-overs,
audio or video talks, make it seem likely that text will be supplemented or
replaced to some extent in many such courses.
When
content is elicited from learners through questioning or other stimuli, this is to some extent a “learner
directed” method. But there is a distinction between a truly learner determined course and one in which
learners are prompted [perhaps very subtly] by the teacher. In some contexts, where a different
template is the model, the learners may truly initiate a teaching event, but the constraints of higher
education make it difficult for them to do so if the teacher is following this, the conventional,
template.

Practice
It is not sufficient for learners simply to become aware of content. It needs to be activated so that it is
fully understood, accepted, integrated with prior learning, remembered, and available for use in
appropriate situations. “Practice” is the generic term for the second stage, Practice, i.e. that part of a
teaching event where learning activities fulfil these aims.

As in the case of content, it need not be the teacher who organises the practice; it may be learners
themselves who are motivated to do so. Also, as with content, the practice may involve direct
management by teachers or learners, or else it may be arranged in an automated teaching program, or
through written resources on paper or the world wide web, or audio-visual materials, or any
combination of these. These may be done individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated
through ICT.

Performance
Practice is followed by the third stage, Performance, where learners as well as teachers need activities
through which either formative and/or summative feedback is offered. These activities may be done
individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated through ICT. Learners may try to assess their
achievements themselves, or seek approval or assistance from teachers or peers. Such assessment may
be formative, that is, purely for the satisfaction of having mastered some item of new knowledge, a
skill, or a fresh attitude.

On the other hand, it may be for recognition within an educational structure, in which case it is
individually performed, and is called summative, even if it involves an on-going process during a
learning period (for instance, the now common portfolio method, or a series of tasks) rather than a final
examination.

An example is:
1 Conventional Presentation Practice Performance
The default sequence: Give the knowledge, skills or attitudes first, arrange activities, then check.
History: Show facts in pictures comprehension text Q/A
Here a teacher [or a learner, normally at the request of the teacher] shows pictures demonstrating some
historical facts, perhaps a street uprising. Next, learners read a text about the events, and answer
questions to check their comprehension as well as to focus their thinking, and probably to stimulate
further enquiry related to the theme. Finally, in this teaching event [though the theme may continue
through many further events] there is a quick question/answer test on some key facts. Performance is,
however, frequently postponed to the end of a whole course.
Several variants of the model are presented in our templates to show a range of choices for the three
elements.

Feedback Models
follow the pattern

Presentation
 Performance
Practice
This starts the learning process by presenting content
but relies on learner performance to guide the teacher towards appropriate learning activities.

In the first stage,

Presentation
The learners become aware of content. The content – knowledge, skills or attitudes - may be directly
stated, described, revealed, argued, told, explained, shown, etc., by the teacher [i.e. presented to them],
or by another expert, another learner, an automated teaching program, resources such as reading, and
audio-visual materials or any combination of these. It can be presented to the learners in a great variety
of ways using traditional or newer ICT.

On the other hand, the content may be elicited from the learners when prompted by the teacher
through questioning or other stimuli. In some contexts, the teacher may follow the learners if they
themselves initiate a teaching event by stating, describing, revealing, arguing, telling, explaining,
showing, etc., the content to the teacher and fellow learners in a class.

This is followed by the second stage,

Performance
Learners as well as teachers need activities through which either formative and/or summative feedback
is offered. These may be done individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated through ICT.
Learners may try to assess their achievements themselves, or seek approval or assistance from teachers
or peers. Such assessment in this model is normally formative, that is, purely for feedback to indicate
the extent to which learners have mastered some item of new knowledge, a skill, or a fresh attitude.

This is followed by the third stage,

Practice
In may often not be sufficient for learners simply to become aware of content, even if they have
initially mastered it well. Their learning may need to be activated more, so that it is accepted,
integrated with prior learning, remembered, and available for use in appropriate situations. Practice is
the generic term for that part of a teaching event where learning activities fulfil these aims.

As in the case of content, it need not be the teacher who organises the practice; it may be learners
themselves who are motivated to do so. Also, as with content, the practice may involve direct
management by teachers or learners, or else it may be arranged in an automated teaching program, or
through written resources on paper or the world wide web, or audio-visual materials, or any
combination of these. These may be done individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated
through ICT.
An example is:

2 Feedback responsive Presentation Performance Practice

Give the knowledge, skills or attitudes first, check what further practice is needed, arrange activities.
Maths: Demonstrate check exercises more exercises
Here a teacher [or a learner, normally at the request of the teacher] demonstrates some mathematical
processes, perhaps a calculation. Next, the learners as well as teachers need activities – in this case
mathematical tasks - through which either formative and/or summative feedback is offered. They may
be done individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated through ICT. Learners may try to
assess their achievements themselves, or seek approval or assistance from teachers or peers. Such
assessment in this model is normally formative, that is, purely for feedback to indicate the extent to
which learners have mastered some item of new knowledge, a skill, or a fresh attitude.

Finally, their learning may need to be activated more, so that it is more fully integrated with prior
learning, remembered, and available for use in appropriate situations. Practice is the generic term for
that part of a teaching event where learning activities fulfil these aims.

As in the case of content, it need not be the teacher who organises the practice; it may be learners
themselves who are motivated to do so. Also, as with content, the practice may involve direct
management by teachers or learners, or else it may be arranged in an automated teaching program, or
through written resources on paper or the world wide web, or audio-visual materials, or any
combination of these. These may be done individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated
through ICT.
This feedback responsive model strikes us intuitively as likely to be very common. We feel it must be
common where skills are being learned, whether intellectual or motor. It is roughly equivalent to
contexts where the learner is learning by imitation of an expert. An example from language teaching is
pronunciation. But any context where the teacher models the learner’s expected behaviour falls into
this pattern.
Yet, in patterns of course delivery encountered in this project’s literature review and our consultations
with practising university teachers, we have not found it.

Resources Models
follow the pattern
Practice
Presentation
Performance

This starts by asking learners to inspect/consult sources of knowledge and apply it.

Practice
The teacher prompts learners to inspect and consult sources of knowledge and apply it to given
activities. These may be done individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated through ICT.
As in the case of content, it need not be the teacher who organises the practice; it may be learners
themselves who are motivated to do so. Also, as with content, the practice may involve direct
management by teachers or learners, or else it may be arranged in an automated teaching program, or
through written resources on paper or the world wide web, or audio-visual materials, or any
combination of these.
This is followed by the second stage,
Presentation
where the teacher presents content according to the feedback gained from the Practice, sometimes
correcting learners’ errors, sometimes summarising key issues, sometimes amplifying areas of interest,
and so on according to need. Content is presented to the learners, in a great variety of ways using
traditional or newer ICT.
This is followed by the third stage,
Performance
where the teacher arranges activities leading to formative or summative feedback. These may be done
individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated through ICT.
An example is:

3 Resource/research based Practice Presentation Performance

Ask learners to inspect/consult sources of the knowledge, skills or attitudes, summarise the knowledge, skills or
attitudes, check.
Botany: Plants to inspect Explain structure Write report
Here the event starts with the learners’ practice of a routine botanical process, normally at the
instigation of, and to varying degrees guided by, the teacher, for instance the observation of plant
movement towards light. The learners and/or the teacher then present an explanation of the processes.
Finally, the learners as well as teachers need activities through which either formative and/or
summative feedback is offered. They may be done individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be
mediated through ICT. Learners may try to assess their achievements themselves, or seek approval or
assistance from teachers or peers. Such assessment at this stage may be either formative, that is purely
for feedback to indicate the extent to which learners have mastered some item of new knowledge, a
skill, or a fresh attitude, or ie may be summative, that is for purposes of final assessment.

This resource/research based model is very commonly hailed as a method of allowing or training
learners to become more independent. It is normally called project work in schools. The teacher
offers guidance, but this is not the equivalent of presenting content. In fact, in this model, learners
present the content they have found through their research [which may be theoretical or empirical],
while the teacher’s role is to supplement and/or amend and/or summarise it. Finally, learners
consolidate their learning with some kind of activity such as writing or another practical activity. We
feel it must be relatively common where research or other use of available data is appropriate. An
example from language teaching would be a learner’s attempt to observe and describe how the plural is
formed in another language.

Yet, in patterns of course delivery encountered in this project’s literature review and our consultations
with practising university teachers, we have not found it.

Discovery Models
follow the pattern
Practice
Performance
Presentation

This starts the learning process by prompting learners to discover knowledge through research
activity.
Practice
The teacher first prompts learners to inspect and consult sources in order to discover some knowledge
or skills or attitudes. This may be done individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated
through ICT. As in the case of content, it need not be the teacher who organises the discover; it may be
learners themselves who are motivated to do so. Also, as with content, the practice may involve direct
management by teachers or learners, or else it may be arranged in an automated teaching program, or
through written resources on paper or the world wide web, or audio-visual materials, or any
combination of these.

This is followed by the second stage,

Performance
Learners as well as teachers need activities through which either formative and/or summative feedback
is offered. These may be done individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated through ICT.
Learners may try to assess their achievements themselves, or seek approval or assistance from teachers
or peers. Such assessment in this model is normally formative, that is, purely for feedback to indicate
the extent to which learners have discovered some knowledge, or a skill, or a fresh attitude.
This is followed by the third stage,

Presentation
The learners and/or the teacher then present an explanation, sometimes correcting learners’ errors,
sometimes summarising key issues, sometimes amplifying areas of interest, and so on according to
need. Content can be presented to the learners, in a great variety of ways using traditional or newer
ICT.
An example is:
4 Discovery based Practice Performance Presentation
Arrange activities through which learners to discover the knowledge, skills or attitudes, check, summarise the
knowledge, skills or attitudes.
Science: Watch chemical reaction Create similar one Explanation
Like the resource model, the discovery method is also an increasingly common form of what, in
schools, in normally called project work. The teacher normally offers guidance for the discovery, but
this is not the equivalent of presenting content, for instance challenging learners to work out why or
how a chemical reaction takes place. They may then be challenged to set up a laboratory experiment
showing something similar. Finally, the learners work on the content they have found through their
investigations [which may be theoretical or empirical] while, the teacher supplements and/or amends
and/or summarises it.

There is a key sub-type of model

4a Peer constructed learning – this title has been used [by AP in this project] to reflect the
approach taken by the interviewee. In our CDE templates project Phase 2, when we develop
learning templates, we will add the pattern. Though it clearly arose in one of our case studies for
Phase 1, we feel it belongs rightly as an example in the second phase, under the category of co-
constructed learning.

4a Peer constructed learning Practice Performance (Presentation)

Ask learners to canvass and discuss solutions to a problem, trial the solution, and summarise their findings,
with optional teacher input at final stage.
Teacher training Ask learners to canvass and discuss solutions to
a
problem, trial the solution, and summarise their findings, with optional
teacher input at final stage.

“Peer constructed learning” refers to teaching where learners most frequently

arrive at agreement on a process, strategy, or policy which it is appropriate for
them to construct by mutual effort, rather than the more teacher-directed
learning we have placed under resource based and discovery learning. Here,
learners are stimulated by the teacher to construct their own understandings,
either individually or as a group. This is often referred to as “constructivist”.
#
The method is called for by many people for many contexts, and probably owes its popularity to the
common belief in (a) the effectiveness of learning that has been arrived at by the learner’s own effort
especially if this was collaborative with others [though there is little hard evidence for this], and (b) the
belief that learners’ freedom to learn in their own ways should not be impeded by [so it is perceived]
transmission and control of the teacher.

Yet, in patterns of course delivery encountered in this project’s literature review and our consultations
with practising university teachers, we have not found 4, though we have found one instance close to
4a.

Problem Based (A) Models

follow the pattern

Performance
Presentation
Practice
This starts the learning process with a question, problem, or issue that may have more than one
solution. This model is distinguished from the problem based B model by the order of the elements
after the initial Performance.

In the first stage,

Performance
the teacher prompts learners to respond to answer question/s or solve problem/s. These may be done
individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated through ICT.

This is followed by the second stage,

Presentation
where the teacher presents content according to the feedback gained from the Performance, sometimes
providing solutions not found by the learners, sometimes correcting or amplifying answers and
solutions, sometimes summarising or highlighting key items. Content is presented to the learners, in a
great variety of ways using traditional or newer ICT.

This is followed by the third stage,

Practice
where the teacher sets further questions and/or problem solving activities. These may be done
individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated through ICT.

An example is:
5 Problem stimulus Performance Presentation Practice
Set a problem for the learners to solve, check and present the solution, arrange further practice.
Geography: Find average temperatures Explanation More temperatures
This is the first of two problem based learning scenarios. Here the learners are stimulated by a given
exercise in which they will need to solve a problem, for instance using the WWW to find temperatures
at different altitudes. They then present the explanation which the teacher checks and supplements as
necessary. Finally, the learners are given further problems to solve.

There is quite a substantial literature on problem based learning, and it is called for by many people for
many contexts where it is felt that learning is improved by the learners’ having freedom to solve their
own problems and thus learn unimpeded by [so it is perceived] by transmission or control of the
teacher.

Problem Based (B) Models

follow the pattern

Performance
Practice
Presentation
This starts the learning process with a question, problem, or issue that may have more than one
solution. This model is distinguished from the first problem based model by the order of the
elements after the initial Performance.

In the first stage,

Performance
the teacher prompts learners to respond to question/s or problem/s. These may be done individually,
in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated through ICT.

This is followed by the second stage,

Practice
where the teacher sets further activities that require learners to apply the solutions they reached in
the Performance stage. These may be done individually, in pairs, or in groups, and may be mediated
through ICT.

This is followed by the third stage,

Presentation
where the teacher presents content according to the feedback gained from the Performance and the
Practice, sometimes providing solutions not found by the learners, sometimes amplifying answers
and solutions, sometimes summarising or highlighting key items, and so on according to need.
Content is presented to the learners, in a great variety of ways using traditional or newer ICT.

An example is:
 6 Problem application Performance Practice Presentation
Set a problem for the learners to solve, ask them to apply it, check and summarise the solution.
New language: Oral comprehension 1 w .picture clues to help in Oral comprehension 2 Language round-up
This is the second of two problem based learning scenarios. Here the learners are stimulated by a
given exercise in which they will need to solve a problem, and then apply it in a given context set by
the teacher, who ends by checking and supplementing the understood content, as necessary.

There is quite a substantial literature on problem based learning, and it is called for by many people for
many contexts where it is felt that learning is improved by the learners’ having freedom to solve their
own problems and thus learn unimpeded by [so it is perceived] by transmission or control of the
teacher.