Page 99 - Making Instruction Work

chap 8 3/4/97 3:43 PM Page 85

skill hierarchies 85

Example #2: Before I show you another example, you may
want to take a small Valium. I don’t want to lose you to a bad
case of hierarchy-shock. This next example is rather compre-
hensive and contains quite a few boxes and lines. So before
looking at it get a blank piece of paper so that you can instantly
cover all but a small piece of it. Got it? Okay, then, refer to the
fold-out hierarchy at the back of this book.
This hierarchy shows the relationships between all the skills
needed to troubleshoot a piece of electronic equipment. Don’t
let the apparent complexity of this hierarchy blow your socks
off. Just look at it a piece at a time, just as you did the first one,
reading from top to bottom.
NOTE: The dotted lines shown at the right of the hierar-
chy identify skills that may or may not have to be learned,
depending on the location of the job assignment.
Notice that the hierarchy does not say anything about any
individual person. It shows what anyone would have to be able
to do before being ready to practice the entire task. Once we
know what anyone would have to be able to do, then we can
match that picture with the existing skills of a particular indi-
vidual and derive a curriculum for that person from the dif-
ference.

How Are Hierarchies Constructed?

It’s really easier than it looks.
Suppose that on reviewing your task analyses, you find that
students are going to have to learn to fill out certain forms in
the performance of the job (whatever it may be). You note also
that they are going to have to be able to read English.
Does one of these two skills—“fill out forms” and “read
English”—have to be learned before the other can be learned?
Or could you teach them in any order? Could students learn to