Page 7 - Principles of instructional design

The Outcomes of Instruction 45
Goodnow, and Austin, 1956). Rothkopf (1971) has named them "mathema-
genic behaviors"; Skinner (1968) "self-management behaviors." One expects
that such skills will improve over a relatively long period of time as the in-
dividual engages in more and more studying, learning, and thinking. An ex-
ample shown in Table 3-1 is the cognitive strategy of using images as links
\o connect words in the learning of foreign-language vocabulary (Atkinson,
1975).
Provided it has previously been learned, a cognitive strategy may be selected
by a learner as a mode of solving a novel problem. Often, for example, newly
encountered problems can be efficiendy approached by working backward in
stages beginning with the goal to be achieved by a solution. This "working
backward" approach is an example of a cognitive strategy. Intellectual skills
(such as basic arithmetic operations) frequently have to be recalled by the learner
and brought to bear upon a problem. But although these skills are essential, they
are not sufficient. A mode of seeking a solution must also be used bv the learner,
a cognitive strategy that he has practiced in the past, perhaps many times in a
variety of situations.
The most commonly occurring cognitive strategies are domain specific. For
example, there are strategies for retaining information from reading, for aiding
the solution of word problems in arithmetic, for helping the composition of
effective sentences, and many others that focus on particular domains of learning
tasks. However, some cognitive strategies are more general, like the process
called inference or induction. Suppose that a student has become acquainted with
magnetic attraction in a bar magnet—noting that a force is exerted by each pole
of the magnet on certain kinds of metal objects. Then, the student is given some
iron filings to sprinkle on a piece of paper placed over the magnet. When the
paper is tapped, the filings exhibit "lines of force" around each pole of the
magnet. The student then verifies this observation in other situations, perhaps
using other magnets and other kinds of metal objects. These observations,
together with other knowledge, may lead to the induction of the idea of a
magnetic field of force surrounding each pole of the magnet. It is important to
note in this example that the student has not been told of the magnetic field
beforehand or given instruction in "how to induce." But this kind of mental
operation is carried out.
Learning a cognitive strategy such as induction, however, is apparently not
done on a single occasion. Instead, this kind of capability develops over fairly
long periods of time. Presumablv, the learner must have a number of experi-
ences with induction in widely different situations for the strategy to become
dependably useful.
When a learner becomes capable of induction, this strategy may be used in a
great variety of other situations. Provided other requisite intellectual skills and
information have been learned, an induction strategy may be used to arrive at an
explanation of what makes smoke rise in the air, why pebbles in a stream are
rounded and smooth, or what intention a writer had in composing an editorial