Running head: Theories and Models

Instructional Theories and Models

Ced’Rica Johnson

Grand Canyon University: TEC-516

06/07/2017
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As the times are changing and technology is evolving at a rapid pace, following the best

instructional theory and implementing the best instructional model is becoming more and more

necessary for student growth and success. The purpose of instructional theories is to provide a

way for students or people to learn efficiently. There have been many theorists to come along

and provide what they think is the best way to learn. The two instructional theories that will be

discussed are behaviorism and cognitivism.

Behaviorism and cognitivism are both similar and different to one another. To start, both

theories consider the behaviors of the students. However, cognitivism intertwines the cognition

that is associated with the behaviors. According to Chi, the role of a behaviorist teacher is to

shape the child’s behavior with positive and/or negative reinforcements (Chi, n.d.). An example

of this is the use of the grading scale. A teacher can positively affect how a student performs on a

test by showing the relationship between studying and receiving an A. She can also show how

not studying negatively affects the score received on a test, which would cause the student to

study more often to avoid receiving a bad grade. A cognitivist teacher’s role, however, is to

facilitate problem-solving learning strategies. The instructor provides an opportunity for new

knowledge and prior knowledge to be linked. Instead of relying on the letter grade that was

assigned to act as a reinforcer only, the teacher would reflect upon the mental cognition of the

student and provide an opportunity for the student to solve the problem.

Chi also provided learning activities that are associated with both theories. Activities a

behaviorist may give are drill and practice, instructional cues, and associations (Chi, n.d.). As

one can see, these activities promote the response to stimuli theory. They do not provide any

opportunities to think on a deeper cognitive level. In contrast, cognitivists may provide activities

such as chunking information, concept mapping, and analogies (Chi, n.d.). These activities
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require the learner to access stored knowledge and think deeply to complete. Both theories use of

repetition can be found as an activity. The difference between the activity used by behaviorists

and cognitivists are the activities to follow. Again, because behaviorism looks mainly at the

response to stimuli and not how learning is processed and stored, the activities to follow

repetition would not promote a higher order of thinking.

Of the two theories, the cognitivism theory effectively promotes learning over

behaviorism because it can be closely aligned to the International Standards for Technology

Education (ISTE) standard 5. Standard 5 states, “Students develop and employ strategies for

understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to

develop and test solutions,” (ISTE, 2017). Because cognitivism focuses on the brain’s storage

and processing of information, technology can be used to do this. The brain is a novelty seeker in

that is constantly searches for stimuli and wants to be stimulated. Technology can provide this

stimulation while also promoting storage through the use on technology-enhanced activities such

as using online educational games and resources.

Next to be discussed are instructional models. The instructional design theory focuses on

how the student will obtain knowledge and not so much on the knowledge to be obtained. In

other words, the attention is shifted towards how the information should be presented to the

student to produce the maximum success. The two models that will be discussed are the ARCS

model and the backward design model. The two models are similar in that they both ensure that

the students understand the relevance of the content that needs to be learned. However, the

backward design model takes it a step further by challenging the teacher to think of the relevant

content first and activities to help connect relevancy last. The ARCS model does not necessarily

ask the teacher to think of the big picture until it has been made.
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The ARCS model was founded by John Keller. It is a model of motivation and was

designed to increase student’s success through the use of incentives. “Keller suggested that

attention could be obtained either by perceptual arousal or by inquiry arousal,” (Pappas, 2015).

With this thought, he developed the ARCS model. Each letter in the acronym ARCS stands for a

component that is needed to boost motivation: attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction

(Pappas, 2015).

The backward design model was founded by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. This

model was designed so that educators taught for understanding. Teachers are challenged to think

of the end product first asking themselves What is it that the students need to understand

(McTighe & Wiggins, n.d). The backward design model has three stages: identify desired results,

determine acceptable evidence, and plan learning experiences and instruction.

During stage one when the teacher identifies the desired results, this is when she asks

herself what the students need to know. There is an imbalance between the content the state

expects students to know by the end of a grade level and the time spent in that grade level.

Because of this, the teacher must differentiate between what she feels is the most important

content to teach. Therefore, it is important to have the end in mind first. The second stage,

determine the acceptable evidence, considers the assessments and completed products. These

assessments and products are used to determine if the students have gained what was needed.

Finally, in stage 3, plan learning experiences and instruction, the teacher chooses the

teaching methods, sequences the lessons, and gathers materials needed to complete each lesson.

During this final stage, the teacher may ask herself which activities and resources will best assist

the students in achieving the overall goal. Of the two models, the backward design model

effectively promotes learning in the classroom over the ARCS model. The ARCS model is a
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great model to use in conjunction with the backward design model. Because the backward design

model focuses on content and not pure motivation, it is more efficient. By simply using

technology as a resource throughout the backward design learning experience for students, it will

1) gain the students’ attention (A), 2) provide relevancy through student choice (R), 3) give

learners control over their learning process (C), and 4) show how the content will provide

immediate application in the real world (S).

In conclusion, when providing content and knowledge to her group of budding scholars, a

teacher must consider both the instructional theory she will follow and instructional model she

will use. By considering the theory and model, she is reflecting on how she can effectively

provide content to the student. Of the two instructional theories, behaviorism and cognitivism,

cognitivism will more effectively improve instruction through the use of technology. In

comparing the two models, ARCS and backward design, backward design is the better choice.

Designing technology-enhanced lessons and activities will work more efficiently while providing

the components in the ARCS model. However, adding technology to the ARCS model will not

help the students or teacher see/teach the big picture.

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References

Chi, A. (n.d.). Comparing learning theories: Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and humanistic.

Retrieved from

http://www.academia.edu/9332688/Comparing_Learning_Theories_Behaviorism_Cognit

ivism_Constructivism_and_Humanistic_Learning_Theories_Comparison_Among_L._Th

eories

Internatonal Society for Technology in Education. (2017). Standards for students. Retrieved

from https://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students

McTighe, J. Wiggins, G. (n.d.). Understanding by design: Background design. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/resources/wiggins-mctighe-backward-design-why-

backward-is-best.pdf

Pappas, C. (2015). Instructional design models and theories: Keller’s ARCS model of

motivation. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/arcs-model-of-motivation