Five Principles for Selecting Experiences

The experiences appropriate for reaching an objective vary with the kind of objective. There is no one experience that fits all objectives. But there are five principles that any good selection should satisfy, whatever the objective. Together they form a checklist for choosing experiences.

Principles one to three

Principle 1: opportunity to practice. To attain a given objective, a learner must be given the chance to practise the kind of behaviour the objective implies. An objective to develop skill in problem solving requires experiences in which learners actually solve problems. This connects to the two-aspect objective: since an objective is a behaviour plus content, the experience must develop that behaviour with that content. To reach “problem-solving skill in health,” learners must practise solving health problems.

Principle 2: satisfaction. The experience must let learners gain satisfaction from carrying out the behaviour the objective seeks. A learner who finds problem solving frustrating and joyless will not develop the skill, however much they practise. This puts a demand on the teacher: they need adequate knowledge of learners’ interests and needs, and of human satisfaction in general, to judge whether a given experience is likely to satisfy.

Principle 3: range of possibility. The reactions an experience calls for must be within the range of possibility for the learners involved. The teacher must, as the saying goes, begin where the learner is. An experience should suit the learners’ present attainments and predispositions, which means the teacher needs sufficient knowledge of what learners can already do and where their backgrounds and mental sets make the desired behaviour possible.

Flashcard

What do the first three principles for selecting experiences require?

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Answer

Practice of the behavior, satisfaction in doing it, and a reaction within the learner’s reach

The learner must get to practise the behavior the objective implies, find the experience satisfying, and be able to perform it given their present attainments. The teacher must begin where the learner is.

Principles four and five

Principle 4: multiplicity of experiences. Many different experiences can be used to attain one objective. Any experience that meets the criteria for effective learning can serve a given objective, so a developer is not locked into a single right experience. This is freeing: it opens a wide range of creative planning for the teacher, and it lets a school develop many experiences for the same objective by drawing on the interests of both learners and staff. The curriculum does not need to provide a limited, prescribed set of experiences to assure that objectives are reached.

Principle 5: multiplicity of outcomes. Just as one objective can be reached by many experiences, one experience usually brings about several outcomes at once. A learner solving a health problem may, from that single experience, learn about the health field, develop an attitude toward public health, develop an interest in health, or even develop a disinterest in it. This has two sides:

1. The positive side is economy of time: a well-planned experience can attain several objectives within limited time.
2. The negative side is that some undesirable outcomes may develop from an experience planned for another purpose, so the teacher must stay cautious about what else an experience is teaching.

Flashcard

What do principles four and five say about experiences and outcomes?

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Answer

Many experiences can reach one objective, and one experience produces many outcomes

Multiplicity of experiences frees the teacher to plan creatively. Multiplicity of outcomes gives economy of time but risks undesirable side effects, so the teacher stays cautious about what else an experience teaches.

Flashcard

What does Objective = behavior + content imply for a learning experience?

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Answer

The experience must develop that behavior, applied to that content

To reach “problem-solving skill in health,” the experience must have learners practise solving health problems. The experience mirrors the two aspects of the objective.