Page 6 - Principles of instructional design

44 Principles of Instructional Design

Table 3-1 Five Kinds of Learned Capabilities
Capability Examples of Performance
Intellectual Skill Identifying the diagonal of a rectangle
Demonstrating use of objective case of pronoun following a preposition
Cognitive Strategy Using an image link to learn a foreign equivalent to an English word
Rearranging a verbally stated problem by working backward
Verbal Information Stating the provisions of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Recounting the events of an automobile accident
Motor Skill Planing the edge of a board
Printing the letter E
Attitude Choosing to read science fiction
Choosing running as a regular form of exercise

both, and often does, but it is possible for a person to learn how to do the first
(identify a sonnet) without being able to do the second (state what a particular
sonnet says). Likewise, as teachers know well, it is possible for a student to learn
the second without being able to do the first. For these reasons, it is important
to maintain this distinction between knowing how and knowing that, even while
recognizing that a particular unit of instruction may involve both as expected
learning outcomes.
Another example of an intellectual skill may be given here. A student of the
English language learns at some point in his studies what a metaphor is. More
specifically, if his instruction is adequate, he learns to use a metaphor. (In the
next chapter, we identify this particular subcategory of intellectual skill as a rule.)
In other words, it may be said that the student has learned to use a rule to show
what a metaphor is; or that he has learned to apply a rule. This skill, then, has
the function of becoming a component of further learning. That is to say, the
skill of using a metaphor now may contribute to the learning of more complex
intellectual skills, such as writing illustrative sentences, describing scenes and
events, and composing essays.
If one wishes to know whether the student has learned this intellectual skill,
one must observe a category of performance. Usually this is done by asking the
student to "show what a metaphor is" in one or more specific instances. In other
words, observations might be made to determine whether the student per-
formed adequately when asked to use a metaphor to describe (1) the cat's
movements, (2) a cloudy day, and perhaps (3) the moon's surface.

Cognitive Strategies
Cognitive strategies are special and very important kinds of skills. They are the
capabilities that govern the individual's own learning, remembering, and think-
ing behavior. For example, they control his behavior when he is reading with
the intent to learn; and the internal methods he uses to "get to the heart of a
problem." The phrase cognitive strategy is usually attributed to Bruner (Bruner,