So I ran across an interesting article Why Preschool Shouldn’t Be Like School, written by Alison Gopnick which talks about early childhood education. She compares direct instruction to a more open philosophy of learning through exploring, inquiring, playing, and discovering. The Research which she quotes states that direct instruction really can limit young children’s learning- due to the teacher roles. Although they are strengths of direct instruction; such as teaching specific skills- it is ultimatley unhelpful to early childhood education. These experts argue that learning from teachers first requires you to learn about teachers. For example, if you know how teachers work, you tend to assume that they are trying to be informative. These assumptions lead children to narrow in, and to consider just the specific information a teacher provides. Without a teacher present, children look for a much wider range of information and consider a greater range of options.
This is a very interesting standpoint for me and I tend to lean towards a more exploitative model of early childhood education- such as a Reggio Emilia Approach or a Montessori Model. What are your ideas regarding direct instruction and student directed learning?