This study focuses on the use of and rated importance of four basic categories of teaching models provided by a large sample of Saskatchewan teachers. So that the study may be fully understood, this section of the proposal provides a brief delineation of each of these categories of models and a justification for why it is important to examine teachers importance perceptions and use of the model categories.
According to Joyce & Weil (1980), contemporary teachers have available to them a rich variety of instructional models for classroom use. These models, the authors state, may be divided into four discrete categories: (1) Information Processing models; (2) Personal models; (3) Social Interaction models; and
(4) Behavioral models. The Information Processing models are those which characterize the mission of education as a facilitation of cognitive development. Specifically, these models focus on developing students' inductive reasoning, academic reasoning, problem-solving capabilities, analytical abilities, intellectual development, memory, and social and moral development.
The Personal Instruction models characterize the mission of education as one that assists people in developing their personal potential as human beings. These models emphasize classroom participation in activities focussing on self-awareness, autonomy, understanding of physical and sensory awareness, creativity, creative problem-solving, and responsibility to one's self and to society at large.
According to Joyce & Weil (1980), the social interaction models:
. . . give priority to the improvement of the individual's ability to relate to others, to engage in democratic processes, and to work productively in the society. (p.10)
Given the foregoing emphasis, it can be seen that the Social Interaction models stress the use of educational tasks which focus on interpersonal or group skills, social problem-solving, the jurisprudential frame of refere...