Re: [LM_NET] After spine labels (and instructions)

[Barbara Braxton <barbara.288@BIGPOND.COM>]

I think the issue of kids not reading/following instructions is not limited to the 
US  However, it
is not so much a reflection of a lack of instruction, but  an indication of the 
changing nature of
our understanding of learning.  

Research into language acquisition, going back to the 70s with the work of Brian 
Cambourne here in
Australia, shows that we learn best through having a model, being engaged because 
we believe the
activity is worth learning and is clearly valued, being able to practise, being 
able to make
mistakes and try again, and getting feedback.  A clear modern example of this is 
how most students,
including me, tend to tinker and play around with new software so we get it to do 
what we want it
to, offering discovering new stuff on the way.  We only use the instructions when 
we want something
specific and our experimentation does not offer the answer immediately.  Even then 
we access the
Help files for a specific item so it is just-in-time learning rather than 
just-in-case.

So reading instructions is not in our natural learning pattern. Using Gardner's 
multiple
intelligences theory, instructions are for those who are logical-mathematical 
learners and should be
accompanied by illustrations for the rest of us :>}

That said, often instructions are an integral part of the learning, so rather than 
"get[ting]
together and send[ing] a bill to congress or something" as suggested by Mary Beth, 
perhaps we could
share our most successful strategies for getting students to heed instructions 
first.  I always try
to connect new learning to what the children already know and its application to 
their lives and how
they will be able to use what they are about to learn in the future. I try to 
emphasise that
following the instructions will allow them to learn at their own pace because we 
all have different
things we 'get' immediately and others take some time.  

But I always remember a classic exercise of being given a sheet of instructions 
what got
increasingly bizarre and watching my peers try to undertake them.  Problem was that 
#1 was Put your
name on the sheet and #2 was Do not read any further.
Barbara

Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
COOMA NSW 2630
AUSTRALIA

E. barbara.288@bigpond.com
Together we learn from each other 

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