The Case for Fully Guided Instruction Infographic

The Case for Fully Guided Instruction Infographic

The Case for Fully Guided Instruction Infographic is based on the article Putting Students on the Path to Learning: The Case for Fully Guided Instruction which appeared in the American Educator, in its 2012 Spring edition.

It is, itself, a popular and shortened version of the seminal 2016 article titled: Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Enquiry-Based Teaching, which was published in Educational Psychologist 41, no. 2 (2006): 75-86.

Disputes about the impact of instructional guidance during teaching have been ongoing for more than a half century. On one side of this argument are those who believe that all people--novices and experts alike--learn best when provided with instruction that contains unguided or partly guided segments. On the other side are those who believe that ideal learning environments for experts and novices differ: while experts often thrive without much guidance, nearly everyone else thrives when provided with full, explicit instructional guidance.

The goal of this research is to put an end to this debate. Discovery learning, problem-based learning, inquiry learning, constructivist learning--whatever the label, teaching that only partially guides students, and expects them to discover information on their own, is not effective or efficient. Decades of research clearly demonstrate that when teaching new information or skills, step-by-step instruction with full explanations works best.