Case Based Learning Presented by Kanessa Walls

CB Learning Cycle

       Case Based Instructional models are exactly as they sound- instructional models built upon and based on specific cases designed to teach. They are also commonly called Problem based learning (PBL) and/or Project based learning (PBL). Three excellent examples can be found in Orey’s 2001 publication, Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology at epltt.coe.edu.  These cases can be thought of as real life scenarios that facilitate meaningful learning by bridging the gap between classroom knowledge and solving real-world problems.  For example, a math educator may choose to teach specific concepts by having students analyze and offer different perspectives based upon a shared experience.  For example, we can look at three different cases and see the Case Based Instructional model at work: 1) Sue balances her checkbook, 2) Mike saves for a car, and 3) Donna buys 10 shares of stock.  Each case represents a real world activity while building upon prior knowledge and utilizing actual experiences.  Cases can be conferred in a variety of forms including a story, a simple or complex problem, a visually rich multimedia presentation, or even a classroom debate or discussion.  Because these cases often stress basic skills and rely on prior knowledge and experiences, they have proven to be effective in helping people to become better problem-solvers in real world situations.
　　According to Atherson (2013), The ability to analyze, synthesize, evaluate and problem solve refers to advanced cognitive knowledge structures.  These structures are identified as smaller parts within Bloom’s Taxonomy, a classification system that identifies varied forms and levels of learning.  Bloom’s three domains of learning include: 1) Cognitive, 2) Affective, and 3) Psycho-Motor Domains.  Bloom’s Taxonomy and all domains can be found at learningandteaching.info.  Although  Anderson and Krathwohl have revised a few of the cognitive domains in the classification system, the original version continues to be the most used of the three.    
　　As noted above, the Case Based Instructional model relies on the basic principals of building upon prior knowledge, strengthening the understanding of core principals, and applying the use of foundational knowledge to actively process ideas and information. Let me explain. Case-based learning scenarios often emphasize basic skills such as good communication, effective decision making, active listening, algebra concepts, historical knowledge, and core scientific facts.  As learners build upon these skills, past and prior experience of the knowledge will aid in visualizing the problem, bridging visual/graphic memories with new concepts of learning.  Students gain new experience with analyzing ideas and applying concepts to solve real world problems and achieve goals. (udlcenter.org, (2013).  Moreover, Case Based learning provides students many opportunities for richer and deeper exploration of concepts and ideas, guides higher order information processing, visualization, and concept manipulation, and builds knowledge with graduated levels of support for practice and performance. (For more information see: udlcenter.org).
　　The Case Based instructional model falls under the theoretical school of Cognitivism, though it also has a direct influence in Constructivism.  Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a pioneer in early education who based his principals of acquiring knowledge on observed investigations focused on how children think and learn.  As noted in the 2006 text Foundations of Education, Piaget believed that children actively explored their environments as active agents of their own cognitive development (Ornstein and Levine).  Piaget characterized these levels of developmental growth into four stages: 1) Sensorimotor: birth to two years when children learn from experience, 2) Preoperational: two years to seven years, when preoperational thought is increased through speech, language development, and intuition, 3) Concrete operational: from seven to eleven years, when thinking begins to form logical arguments, patterns, and mathematical cognitive operations, and 4) Formal operational: age eleven through early adulthood, is characterized by the ability to use higher order thinking skills, logical reasoning, complex analyses, synthesis and evaluation to solve problems.  Jean Piaget’s educational research sparked a movement that went beyond the borders of the United States, but became an accepted school of thought worldwide.
　　Cognitivism sparked new ideas and fueled changes in the latter school of thought Constructivism.  It became an accepted notion that classrooms should be designed around children’s learning rather than be a formalized setting.  Since children learn both directly and indirectly from their environments, the most effective teaching strategies replicate real world learning that children use in their everyday lives (Ornstein and Levine, 2006).  As children interact with the world around them, they construct the information through a process called constructivism.  The process involves discovering inadequacies in new information with existing knowledge, and reconstructing this existing knowledge to form moe complete and higher order thinking skills.  Additionally, contemporary constructivist education originated with Piaget’s pioneering assertion that children do not simply copy, but rather construct reality (Ornstein and Levine, 2006).
　　Promising research presented on the website cbl.org, show that Case Based Instructional models are indeed successful tools of facilitation, emphasizing critical thinking and problem solving skills, forcing decision making, fostering collaborative learning, provoking conflict resolution, arousing interest, and utilizing prior knowledge to establish a common goal.  As noted by Atherson (2013), the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate facts and experiences from multiple areas and disciplines, and present possible solutions to the issue or problem at hand, show and advanced domain of cognitive development.  Withal, the National Center on Universal Design for Learning contends that Case Based Instruction meets UDL principals for curriculum development aimed to give all individuals an equal opportunity to learn.  Beyond these praises, Case Based Instruction historically has served as an effective educational model in academic fields such as Medicine, Law, Business, and Engineering.  
   
References
1. Atherton, J. S. (2013). Learning and Teaching; Bloom's taxonomy [On-line: UK]. Retrieved June 11, 2014 from: http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/bloomtax.htm

2. Blackmon, M., Hong, Y., & Choi, I. (2007). Case-Based Learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved June 13, 2014 from: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

3. Problem Based Learning. (2014), Retrieved from: http://hildie538.wikispaces.com/

4. National Center on Universal Design for Learning (2013) Case based learning. Retrieved June 11, 2014 from: http://www.udlcenter.org/implementation/postsecondary/case-based_learning

5. Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved June 11, 2014 from: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

6. Ornstein, A.C., & Levine, D.U. (2006). Foundations in education. (9th Ed.). Boston, New York. Houston Mifflin Co.

EPISTEMIC GAMES by Pedro A. R. Díaz

“Computers are changing our world: how we work . . . how we shop . . . how we entertain ourselves . . . how we communicate . . . how we engage in politics . . . how we care for our health. . . . The list goes on and on. But will computers change the way we learn?”
                                                                        (Shaffer, Squire, Halverson, & Gee, 2005)

Epistemic Games: Real World Problems Solving 

         

As schools prepare students for academy knowledge, they also need to recognize that outside the classroom the world is requiring skills that must be applied to creative thinking and analytical reasoning. Educators can fulfill this obligation by employing the use of epistemic games. Epistemic games are computer games that are essentially about learning to think in innovative ways. They’re designed to be educational tools for the digital age where the player learns to think like professionals by playing a simulated game of such professions as management, engineering, urban planning and other valued professionals. Epistemic games are great ways of creating a learning environments whereby students (players) can work in groups to collaborate and solve complex real world problems. This allows them to make meaningful and critical decisions in which “learning happens in the context of activity when a person is trying to accomplish some meaningful goal and has to overcome obstacles along the way (Shaffer, 2006, p. 3). The purpose of epistemic games is to change the traditional world view of standardization testing and allow students to think independently and creatively. This does not mean to simply trade out textbooks for video games, however, it requires giving students the tools they need to become competent and creative problem solvers. Becoming an architect for example, is more than knowing materials properties and tools for computer aided design. It is being able to see what architects see and being able to frame it in ways the profession thinks, knowing how to work with and talk with other architects and clients, and using concepts and procedures within the scope of activities that constitutes architecture. David Williamson Shaffer a pioneer and scholar on epistemic games development at the University of Wisconsin Madison in his paper, Epistemic Games (Shaffer, 2006, p. 4) claims;

Rather than constructing a curriculum based on the ways of knowing of mathematics, science, history, and language arts, we can imagine a system in which students learn to work (and thus to think) as doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, journalists, and other valued reflective practitioners—not in order to train for these pursuits in the traditional sense of vocational education, but rather because developing those epistemic frames provides students with an opportunity to see the world in a variety of ways that are fundamentally grounded in meaningful activity and well aligned with the core skills, habits, and understandings of a postindustrial society.

Shaffer (2006) further states, epistemic games provide ways of helping students learn to think like professionals.

Epistemic Frames:

Epistemic games are organized around epistemic frames. Any profession is structured around a culture that is composed of skills, values, knowledge, identities and an epistemology that anchor how creative professionals operate. Shaffer calls this configuration an epistemic frame: an integral theory of learning that sees how the collection of a profession’s knowledge and skills synergistically work together to create a learning community.

Sample Epistemic Games: Video games that are designed for learning.

Land Science: a virtual internship in which high school students assume the role of interns at a fictitious urban planning firm, Regional Design Associates. Their task is to propose a rezoning plan for a city and they must take into account the demands of various community groups.  

Nephrotex: a virtual internship for students at a fictitious biomedical engineering design firm. The interns’ primary task is to develop a novel nanotechnology based membrane for use in kidney dialysis systems.  

RescuShell: a virtual internship for students at a fictitious mechanical engineering design firm RescuTek. The interns are asked to develop the legs for an assistive mechanical exoskeleton which will be used by rescue personnel in dangerous or demanding situations.

Practical examples of the instructional model Epistemic Games at work

This video described the motives and goals of the Epistemic Games Group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The group studies how digital learning tools can be implemented into classroom setting to help teach 21th century skills

David Williamson Shaffer’s talk, “How Computer Games Help People Learn” (Stockholm, September 2013), discusses the problems of modern education and how technology can be used to improve learning.

Types of Epistemic Games according to Collins and Ferguson:

v  Structural Analysis games such as timelines

v  Functional Analysis games such as diagrams

v  Process Analysis games such as graphing.

Constructivism

Epistemic games fall under the Constructivism Learning Pedagogy: active learning is one of the four key principles or values this teaching approach has generated. "Constructivist learning theory focuses on the role of the learner in making meaning and constructing understanding. Both Piaget and Vygotsky emphasized the active role of the learner, but whereas Piaget emphasized stages of behavior and the child's accomplishment according to preceding developmental stages, Vygotsky emphasized the importance of social interaction" (Harasim 2012, page 68). "According to Vygotsky, child development is a sociogenetic process shaped by the individual's interactions, "dialogue," and "play" with the culture" (Ornstein and Hunkins, 2013)

Constructivist teachers emphasize the importance of problem-solving where students construct their knowledge and then work to solve a problem in their own way thinking like the profession they are role-playing either alone or in groups. "Constructivism seeks to tap into and trigger the student's innate curiosity about the world and how things work. Students are not expected to reinvent the wheel but to attempt to understand how it turns, how it functions" (Harasim 2012, page 69).  

Epistemic games means encouraging students to participate and act, such as conduct a real experiment, rather than passive learning (listening to a lecture, reading a book). Epistemic games are typically student-centered, and the role of the student is to engage in an activity, such as constructing and testing a theory, and planning a solution strategy. Students then reflect on and discuss what they are doing and how their understanding is changing" (Harasim 2012, page 69).

Related Links:

Partnership to Stimulate High School Students Interest in Engineering: Virtual internship for Long Beach Unified School District in the summer of 2014

SodaConstructor: players construct a virtual creature of their own design and then simulate how that creature would operate once gravity, friction and muscles enter the equation.
TEDxSFED: The Urban School of San Francisco Simulcast post-event mini-presentations, by Aran Levasseur

References

 Collins, Allen; Ferguson, William. Epistemic Forms and Epistemic Games: Structures and Strategies to Guide Inquiry Educational Psychology, 28 (1), 25-42. @ 1993, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Retrieved
from http://www.academia.edu/281203/Epistemic_Forms_and_Epistemic_Games_Structures_and_
Strategies_to_Guide_Inquiry 

Harasim, Linda (2012). Learning Theory and Online Technologies.  New York , New York: Routledge

Ornstein, A.C. & Hunkins, F.P. (2013). Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues(6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Shaffer, D. W., Squire, K. P., Halverson, R., & Gee, J. P. (October 2005). Video Games and The Future of Learning. p. 105. Retrieved from http://edgaps.org/gaps/wp-content/uploads/Video-Games-and.pdf

Shaffer, D. W. (2006). Epistemic Forms and Epistemic Games. Retrieved from http://edgaps.org/gaps/wp-content/uploads/ShafferEpistemic_frames_for_epistemic_games.pdf

Component Display Theory (submitted by Laurie Cawthorn)

Component Display Theory

Family Tree Cognitivists

           The family tree for cognitivist focus theory to teach problem solving tactics with classroom practices. These cognitivists and the component display theory commonly define facts and rule to demonstrate procedural knowledge.  For example, keyboard tutorials practiced for a sustained period time increase typing speed and ability to expedite typing jobs. This completed task embodies the learner’s conditional knowledge, an optimal display for cognitive ability. In addition, active levels of cognitive processing serve as a bridge to increasing complexities in self-organization for compare and contrast analysis, applicable in systematic solutions for problems.

        From a historical point of view, in 1956, Bloom established his research on taxonomy in cognition, affective and psychomotor disciplines. Fast forward to current teacher training, Blooms Cognitive Taxonomy outlines the behavioral verbs to include knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Similarly, David Merrill’s Component Display Theory was and is based upon the same assumptions as Robert Gagne's Events of Instruction. They agree that different types of learning procedures are best suited for teaching individual concepts to assign personal control during the learning process. This school of cognitivism establishes descriptive theories that describe how people learn and understand new ideas.

The Component Display Theory outlines how to design instruction for the cognitive domain, based on pre-determined objectives of instruction. This theory arose from the notion that learners select and control their own instructional strategies in response to content and presentation components. C.D.T. focuses on a singular idea or objective at a time. The Component Display Theory suggests a particular objective and learner, utilizes a unique combination of presentation forms that result in the most effective learning experience.

C.D.T. deals with the micro level of instruction, it works in conjunction with Reigeluth's Elaboration Theory, which is a macro learning system. Learning has two dimensions: content and performance. Content encompasses facts, concepts, procedures and principles. Performance consists of memory, utilization, generalizing.
The table below shows the corresponding relationship for presentation and task forms for the teacher-trainer to systematically organize objectives for cognitive-based lessons.

TEST    ITEM    TASK    LEVEL	PRIMARY PRESENTATION FORM
		Tell Via Generality (Generality	Tell Via Example (Example)	Question Via Example (Practice)	Question Via Generality (Generality Practice)
	Use Generality
	Remember Paraphrased Generality
	Remember Verbatim Generality

CALICO Journal, Volume 3 Number 4

APPLICATION OF COMPONENT DISPLAY THEORY

IN DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING CALI

Soo-Young Choi

Assistant Professor of Korean Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages

 Brigham Young University Provo, Utah 84602

 Profile for Component Display Theory

          Component Display Theory ( CDT)  frames the learning processes upon  an individual knowledge and skills. This theory emphasizes the process for any learner to receive and self-organize information. This learning process is the instructional designers’ point of influence to manipulate pieces of information that provide comprehension in order to access training or course content. The optimal results for learning outcomes anchor the instructional plans. As seen in the table below is two dimensions for the learning process that encode information into memory. The y-axis shows qualities for performance and the x-axis show the qualities for content.

performance	use		use   concepts	use  process	use  principles
	find		find  concepts	find  process	find principles
	remember	remember  facts	remember concepts	remember process	remember principles
		FACTs	CONCEPTs	PROCESS	PRINCIPLEs
		content	content	content	content
		evidence statement	model idea	procedure method	theory standard

      This table shows the unique combinations to design unique learning objectives and corresponding activities. The different types of associative and logical memory   complement the designs for instruction.According to Dr. David Merrill, who researches and explains the assumptions about cognition that underpins CDT. The associative and logical memory structures directly impact performances objective of Remember and Use/Find. He specifies that associate memory has an interconnected network-like structure whereas logical memory contains rules.  The significant aspect of CDT framework is that learners can select their own instructional strategies within content and presentation modules. These modules used for instructional design provide a high proportion of individualization and self-selected learning preferences and styles.  With an emphasis placed on individual control, there are transactions rather than presentation forms as well as learner control for guided strategies. This theory has been embedded within course and lesson design as familiar to current expert learning systems and authoring tools.

Theory in practice is to reduce stress placed in and upon learners memory. It is advantageous to select categories for multiple elements of information that lead into a single outcome, then assessment. In the end, this allows the teacher to construct lesser to more complex structure when delivering information that yields efficient learning to leverage the teaching processes.

Component Display Theory (C.D.T.) in my classroom

     C.D.T. provides the basis for my lesson design in our foreign language learning system and instructional materials. After viewing pictures for a  short story, sentence starters are posted for the whole class. The cognitive strategies in action are as follows:

Teacher models how to ask questions by saying aloud (with intonations)  the following sentence starters and not completing them :

“ What if  . . “

 “How come . .”

“I do know  . .”

 Then, to review our story after the first read, the sentence starters are repeated and teacher types the student responses for whole class view on (computer linked to) projector screen.  As  a third repetition, teacher reads aloud students previously completed sentences hand written on  white board before story and corresponding sentence starters completed after the story. The instructional design is for these second language students to self-select their instructional strategies. For my teacher best cognitive-based practices for (primary grade level) foreign language students is to concentrate on oral language development with word choice not pronunciation, student efficacy for meaningful communication:  when language is used for communicating original ideas. The ongoing prompt for cognitive based self-correction, “Does it sound right?” The repeated reading comprehension and assessment with remedial skills  level students is my method to assign new information into memory for foreign language comprehension, assemble  texts with increasing word count.

REFERENCES 

Anglin, Gary J. (1995). Instructional Technology: Past, Present, and Future (2nd Edition). Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Englewood, Colorado. 

Anderton, George; Parry, Kent; and Twitchell, David. (1990). A Simplified Approach to the Application of the Component Display Theory. Educational Technology. April 1990.

Braxton, Sherri; Bronico, Kimberly; and Looms, Thelma. Lessons Based on Component Display Theory. http://penta.ufrgs.br/edu/telelab/teclec/lesson_c.htm. 

Merrill, M. David. Component Display Theory. http://tecfa.unige.ch/themes/sa2/act-app-dos2-fic-component.htm. Accessed June 8, 2014

Reigeluth, Charles M. (1999). Instructional-Design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory (Volume II). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 

Tennyson, Robert D. (1994). Automating Instructional Design, Development, and Delivery. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg: Germany. 

Twitchell, David. (1990). A Comparison or Robert M. Gagne’s Events of Instruction and M. David Merrill’s Component Display Theory. Educational Technology. 

Recommended   hyperlinks  about   this   topic

    (1)    http://www.learning-theories.com/cognitivism.html

 Keywords suggested for text search: Schema, schemata, information processing, symbol manipulation, information mapping, mental models

Knowledge can be seen as schema or symbolic mental constructions. Learning is defined as change in a learner’s schemata.

(2)    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWQDd-THyXU   Oct 28, 2013 
Uploaded by Piotr Peszko

 This video shows a live conversation between Dr. Robert Gagné and Dr. Merrill. The main points of Gagne and Merrill's respective learning theories are a comparison of the events of instruction, and Component Display Theory.
This is the first for this three consecutive part series and shown as less than 10 minutes per section.

(3)    Biography about Dr. David Merrill, Phd.

 http://osuedtech.blogspot.ae/2006/03/david-merrill-biography.html

           Dr. David Merrill is one of the most influential names in the field of Instructional Design. For over four decades, Merrill has provided many contributions to Instructional Design. This is a brief summary of his background and accomplishments.

Dr. David  Merrill earned his BA from Brigham Young University in 1961, his Ph.D from the University of Illinois in 1964 His publications include 12 books, 65 journal articles, 16 book chapters, 123 technical reports, and more. He has also performed work on 18 instructional computer products and expert system prototypes.

               Merrill has provided his knowledge and expertise to several academic institutions and corporations. Merrill has been a faculty member for Utah State University since 1987 where he is now an emeritus professor. Other academic institutions he has worked with include the University of Southern California, Brigham Young University, and George Peabody College for Teachers. He has also taught in several institutions internationally, such as Twente University in The Netherlands, and the University of Indonesia. Corporately, Merrill has provided leadership for educational technology companies, including being founder, director, and president of Microteacher, Inc., as well as being founder, director, and Vice President for Research for Courseware, Inc.

Today, Dr. Merrill independently contracts himself as an instructional effectiveness consultant. He has held many major instructional consulting contracts throughout his career, including Arthur Anderson & Company, IBM, the US Air Force Human Resources Lab, and United Airlines Services Corporation. His major research contracts have included the National Science Foundation, Navy Personnel Research and Development Center, US Air Force, US Department of Defense, Apple Computer Corporation, and others.

Dr. Merrill now resides in Kahuku, Hawaii with his wife Dixie where he works with BYU Hawaii. They have 6 children and 24 grandchildren. His birthday is March 27^th.

Brittany Singleton - Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

Robert Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

Robert Gagne was an American educational psychologist (1916-2002). He developed nine events of instruction that he believed were elements of great teaching or instruction. Gagne's nine events of instruction are also referred to as the Gagne assumption, and this has been widely used not only in the educational field, but the work and business fields as well. The family tree for this instructional model is represented below:
                    Family Tree

1. Learning Theory- Cognitivism
2. Embedded Theory- Classroom, work field, business field
3. Instructional model- Gagnes' Nine events of instruction

The link below will take you to a YouTube video explaining what the nine events of instruction actually are, how they can be used, and how they can be easily remembered (TEACH):

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

The following Mind Tools website breaks down each step of Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction, discusses their benefits, as well as how to use them within a corporation or business to train employees.

Robert Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction:
1) Gain attention- good attention getter or movie
2) Inform the learner of the objective- make them aware of the standard or what they are going to be learning
3) Stimulate recall of prior knowledge- connect this objective with knowledge that they already have, tie it in
4) Present information- teach or present the information and allow them to do the rest
5) Provide Guidance- teacher, or  boss, acts as facilitator, guiding and directing
6) Elicit performance- This helps their performance throughout the task and meeting the objective
7) Provide feedback- give appropriate feedback to the students or employees on their performance, or perhaps solutions that they are missing
8) Assess performance- assess their performance and final product
9) Enhance retention and transfer- Good closure and connection to previous content, overall reflection of project and objective


Gagne believes that learning happens in a hierarchical fashion. We must teach basic skills first so that students can build upon those to develop their higher level thinking skills and abilities. This is why he used step 3 (recall of prior knowledge).

This is a step by step lesson plan utilizing each of Gagne's Nine events of instruction

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction in Action

This can be used in the classroom, government or business setting, or work place. Here is an example of how I would use Gagne in my classroom:

1) Show the students a very interesting power point on a California Mission with graphics, hyperlinks, and YouTube videos
2) Let them know that they will be creating their own project like this but the objective for today will be hyperlinking.
3) Remind them that they already have experience with power point and with computers so this will be easy for them
4) I will directly teach the students first how to hyperlink, then we will do some together.
5) I will walk around and monitor while the students do some on their own.
6) I will then ask them to start incorporating meaningful websites that will help their presentation on the mission
7) I will walk around and give feedback as to whether or not that website is beneficial to their project and viewer or not
8) I will assess them on how well they hyperlinked as well as the websites that they chose.
9) Provide closure, let them know that they will take the next step with inserting pictures the next day and that day by day their project will come together.

References

JWelgan. (2007, March 8). Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_8MB9F2cts

Unknown. (2014). Gagne's Nine Levels of Learning. Retrieved from Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/gagne.htm

Unknown. (2014). human learning wiki spaces. Retrieved from Google: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=5&sqi=2&ved=0CFEQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhuman-learning.wikispaces.com%2Ffile%2Fview%2FGagne's%2B9-Example%2Band%2BTemplate%255B1%255D.doc&ei=w6qfU5LQMofwoASQlIGQCg&usg=AFQjCNG7N3gGfruaMiOX_

 

  Nine Events of Instruction)