ABSTRACT
Direct Instruction is characterized by teacher-controlled decisions and teacher-directed engagement patterns for learners. Teachers will have a distinct set of learning goals in mind; present students with a model of the desired movement, skill, or concept; and then organize student learning activities into segmented blocks of time, providing high rates of augmented feedback and encouragement as learners practice each task or skill. The teaching and learning strategies that evolved into Direct Instruction were derived from the operant conditioning theories of B. F. Skinner, the noted experimental behavioral psychologist. The process of shaping occurs by determining the final outcome for the training procedure and then taking the learner through a series of small learning steps that lead to the eventual goal. The use of modeling provides the learner with a tangible, correct example of the desired skill or movement. Practice segments in Direct Instruction are highly structured and always have a mastery criterion with them.
