Principles of Teaching

1. Principles of Teaching and
Learning
1. Organization and Structure
2. Readiness
3. Motivation (wants, needs, aspirations)
4. Student involvement in setting goals and
planning activities.
5. Success as a motivator
6. Range of challenge

2. Principles of Teaching and
Learning
7. Knowledge of Progress
8. Rewarding Behaviors ( Reinforcement)
9. Timing of Reinforcement
10. Directed vs. Undirected Learning
11. Inquiry Approaches vs. Being Instructed Into. . .
12. Learn what is practiced
13. Supervised practice occurring in a functional
educational experience.

3. Principle 1
Organization and Structure
Learning is more likely to occur if there
is a logical and sequential organization
of information.
Learning is maximized when there is a
definite structure to learning activities.

4. Principle 2
Readiness
Learning will occur when information is
presented at the appropriate level for the
students.
Students must be capable of learning the
information with respect to maturity level and
psychological development.
Example: 12th grade students will grasp the
concepts of completing farm tax forms more
readily than 9th grade students.

5. Principle 3
Wants, Needs, and Aspirations
Learning occurs more easily when the content
matches the wants, needs, or aspirations of the
students.
Relate the information taught to how it affects the
students or how it will help them accomplish their
goals.
Students must see the relevance of the
information to themselves.

6. Principle 4
Student Involvement
Learning occurs more rapidly when students
have participated in the development of goals
and/or planning the learning activities.
Referred to as receiving their “buy-in”. Two
options: Teacher can tell the students why the
information is important to them, or the students
can develop reasons why they should learn the
information. Which is more likely to result in
student motivation?

7. Principle 5
Success as a Motivator
Students who have experienced success in a
learning activity will be more motivated to
attempt to learn new information.
Major problem in education: By the time
students reach high school they have been “told”
(by teachers, grades, other students, etc.) that
they cannot learn! We have to overcome this
stigma!
Critical to provide opportunities for students to
be successful. This does not mean we should
“water down” our content!

8. Principle 6
Appropriate Range of Challenge
Students will learn if they believe the learning
activity is possible, but not necessarily assured.
We must keep instruction within this range!
If learning activities are too easy (assured),
students will not take the activity seriously.
If learning activities are too difficult, students
give up before attempting the activity.

9. Principle 7
Knowledge of Progress
Learning occurs at a more rapid pace if students
have a knowledge of their progress.
Implies that learning must be monitored closely
by the teacher and feedback must be provided to
the students.
Remember: You can practice ERROR just as
easily as you can practice the correct way to do
something.

10. Principle 8
Rewarding Behaviors (Reinforcement)
Behaviors that are rewarded are more likely to be
repeated (or not repeated if the reward is
negative).
Praise is a powerful learning tool, provided that it
is genuine. Can be overused, however.
Rewards come in a variety of forms: grades,
praise, privileges, responsibilities,
acknowledgements.

11. Principle 9
Timing of Reinforcement
Rewards (either positive or negative) that occur
more closely to the behavior exhibited are more
likely to achieve the desired result.
Students need feedback on their performance as
soon as possible.
This includes returning graded assignments and
exams promptly--before the students have had
time to forget the instruction on the topic.

12. Principle 10
Directed vs. Undirected Learning
To maximize learning, activities must be directed
by the teacher and not allowed to occur “on their
own.”
Does not imply that the teacher is the sole source
of information--only that the teacher provides
clear directions.
In most cases, it is not effective to establish small
groups of students and expect them to “figure
out” how to accomplish the activity.

13. Principle 11
Inquiry Approach vs. Being Instructed in:
Students learn more completely if they are
expected to “look up” the information rather than
being told the answer.
This is not what they necessarily prefer, but the
question is not of preference but of effectiveness.
Most of us can relate to this principle. We
remember the things we have had to look up
ourselves rather than those were were told.
Requires more active involvement in learning.

14. Principle 12
Learn what is practiced
For many educational activities, students do not
commit the learning to memory until they have
had the opportunity to practice the activity a
number of times.
Reason teachers assign homework.
True for hands-on activities (arc welding,
grafting, landscape designs), but also for mental
activities such as calculating feed rations,
selecting an appropriate variety of seed, livestock
judging, writing an essay.

15. Principle 13
Supervised practice in a functional
educational setting
Learning occurs best when practice is as close
as possible to real-world settings.
Simulations are good learning activities, but
cannot replace real-world experiences.
Underlying theory for supervised agricultural
experience programs for students.

16. Which principles of learning
are most important to you?
Select 3 principles of learning that will
form the basis of your philosophy of
teaching.