Content-based Instruction

Module 2 – The “C” in CBI

Welcome to Week 2! Last week was a week for introductions. We introduced what CBI is about and
some terms and concepts we should be familiar with, and we introduced ourselves. This week will focus
on the "C" of CBI -- content -- and we'll look at a variety of ways that you can help your students learn
new concepts and new skills.

You will participate in various activities in this module. The activities are listed below, followed by
approximate times for each activity. We also suggest a day when we recommend you try to finish each
activity by. However, timing will vary depending on your experience and interest in the topic.

Suggested Module 2 Dates: February 25 – March 3

1. Read about a method for formulating learning objectives (20 minutes)

2. Take a quiz on formulating learning objectives (15 minutes)
3. Read a text or watch a video about scaffolding (25 minutes)
4. Take a quiz that reviews the concepts introduced in the reading on scaffolding (20 minutes)
5. Read about Bloom’s Taxonomy (20 minutes)
6. Take a quiz where you will apply Bloom’s Taxonomy to some learning objectives (15 minutes)
7. Read about Open Educational Resources (OER) (25 minutes)
8. Explore OER that you might want to use in your classes (80 minutes)
9. Share with others one good OER that you found (10 minutes)
10. Read about sources of task difficulty (25 minutes)
11. Work through an activity that will get you to consider task difficulty and how it may require you to
adapt OER (20 minutes)
12. Take a self-assessment survey to check in on your participation in the MOOC (15 minutes)
13. Read the module summary (10 minutes)

© 2019 by World Learning. CBI MOOC Module 2 Packet for the AE E-Teacher Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department
of State and administered by FHI 360. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, except
where noted. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This is a program of the U.S. Department of State
administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning
Module 2: Writing Learning Objectives – Introduction
Knowing what it is you want to accomplish will help you get there. Course-level objectives describe what
students should be able to do by the end of the semester, and lesson-level objectives describe what
students should be able to do by the end of the lesson. Learning objectives guide us in designing
activities, materials, and assessments for our students.

Read the article “Writing Learning Objectives: Overview” (available online and included below) from
the Open Professionals Education Network (OPEN). It describes the ABCD method of writing learning
objectives and provides several examples of content learning objectives. After you read this document,
you will take a comprehension quiz on the reading. You are welcome to use the article while taking the
quiz.

Open Professionals Education Network. (2014). Writing learning objectives: Overview. Retrieved from
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5330c47be4b03ea35b2645a8/t/5481eeb8e4b098d4d79f58d9/1
417801400938/Writing+learning+objectives+-+Overview+final.pdf

(This document was found through MERLOT II, https://www.merlot.org. It is included below.)

Writing Learning Objectives: Overview

Background
Learning objectives, sometimes called performance or behavioral objectives, are statements of the
intended outcomes of instruction. They must be student centered and focused on a singular concept,
describing in specific and measurable terms what student are expected to be able to do after completing
a lesson or instructional unit. The ABCD method of writing objectives specifies four key characteristics
that contribute to effective learning objectives: audience, behavior, condition, and degree (Georgia
State University, 1999). The audience is the learner who will demonstrate the behavior under specific
conditions and to an acceptable degree. The behavior—what the learner is expected to be able to do—
must be observable and measurable. The condition, if any, describes the circumstances under which the
learner will exhibit the behavior.

Check Your Understanding
Which of the following is the best example of a well-written learning objective?

A. Students will be able to describe the psychosocial crises at each stage of Erikson’s Psychosocial
Stages of Development.

B. Students will be able to understand Erikson’s theory of development in order to be able to name
the 8 stages of development.

C. Students will be able to name the 8 stages of Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development in
order and explain the psychosocial crises at each stage.

D. Students will gain an appreciation for Erikson’s theory of development.

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Feedback
If you selected option A, you are correct! This learning objective is clear, specific about what the
students should be able to do in measureable terms (i.e., describe), and focused on a singular concept
(crises at each stage). Option B focuses on a singular concept, but the term “understand” is vague and
not measureable or observable. Option C is clear and specific but incorporates two different concepts
(naming the stages and explaining crises at each stage). Option D is not measurable (appreciation) and
not specific about what students should know or be able to do.

Examples
Students will be able to summarize the five primary approaches to conflict resolution.

Students will be able to explain the different types of motion associated with each of the three main
types of geologic faults.

Students will be able to appropriately introduce themselves in Spanish with different levels of formality
according to the situation.

Given a diagram of the eye, students will be able to label the 9 extraocular muscles without error.

Students will be able to calculate force given different mass and gravitational acceleration parameters.

Summary & Additional Resources

There are several reasons why learning objectives are critical to the learning and teaching process:

• They communicate the instructor’s intentions clearly to students.

• They guide in decisions about assessment and evaluation methods.
• They provide a framework for selecting appropriate teaching and learning activities.
• They provide a framework for selecting and organizing course content.
• They give students information for directing their learning efforts and monitoring their own
progress.

If learning objectives are clearly and specifically defined, the instructor will have an effective means of
evaluating what the students learned. Learning objectives should guide both instructional and
assessment practices and are the foundation for selecting appropriate content, learning activities, and
assessment measures.

References

Georgia State University. 1999. Mager’s Tips on Instructional Objectives. Adapted from Mager, R. F.
1984. Preparing Instructional Objectives (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: David S. Lake.
http://www2.gsu.edu/~mstmbs/CrsTools/Magerobj.html#Qualities

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Additional Resources

Davidson, C. I. & Ambrose, S. A. (1994). The new professor’s handbook: A guide to teaching and research
in engineering and sciences. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company Inc.

Marzano, R. J. (2009). Designing and teaching learning goals and objectives: Classroom strategies that
work. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research Laboratory.

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Module 2: Writing Learning Objectives – Follow-on Quiz

Answer these 5 questions about “Writing Learning Objectives: Overview.” You are welcome to look at
the text while you think about your answers. Remember, you need to earn 70% or better on each quiz in
order to be able to move on to the next activities.

<<This diagnostic can only be completed online.>>

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Module 2: Scaffolding


[Video available online for viewing. Script and presentation slides below.]

As we saw in the activities about learning objectives, we describe learning by saying “what [students
are] able to do after completing a lesson or instructional unit” (OPEN, 2014). In other words, learning
means being able to do new things.

When we are still learning something, we can do more and do it better when we are helped by someone
who is more capable and knowledgeable. This could be a teacher, a parent, or a more knowledgeable
peer. The difference between what a learner can do by him-/herself and what he/she can do with help is
called the zone of proximal development (Cammarata, 2015; Vygotsky, 1978). It is often shortened to
“ZPD.” Vygotsky is the thinker who originally coined this term. While Vygotsky’s work focused on
children, extensive research has supported this model of learning for adult learners as well (Lefrancois,
2000). After accomplishing a task with the help of another, a learner is then able to do the task more
independently the next time.

In order to reduce this gap of capabilities and help students reach their full potential to master content
and use their L2 independently, a CBI teacher needs to scaffold (Donato, 1994; Fields, 2017). In the
world of construction, scaffolds are the temporary structures that provide physical support to workers
and help them reach the work areas they themselves could not. In a CBI classroom, instructional
scaffolding provides the same support to classroom teaching. It is used, as needed, to bridge learning
gaps when students are unable to complete a task without support. Scaffolding should be withdrawn
slowly when it is no longer needed (Lange, 2011). Scaffolding is a powerful tool for learning, as it helps
students go beyond what they could do on their own.

In CBI classrooms, the scaffolding that teachers do creates supportive conditions in which students can
participate and extend their current skills and knowledge to reach higher levels of competence. Thus,
scaffolding demands that teachers continuously revise the techniques and strategies in response to the
emerging capabilities of their students (Donato, 1994). For instance, students’ limited use of the target
language and frequent comprehension errors can be the signals that the instructor needs to provide
more scaffolding. Through the provision of timely and constructive support, scaffolding allows students
to engage in meaningful learning and lower their anxiety levels (Fields, 2017; Donato, 1994).

What does scaffolding in a CBI classroom look like?

Scaffolding in CBI classroom involves two major steps. The first step is the development of lesson plans
to structure the lesson so that it transitions from what the students already know to acquiring new
concepts (Lange, 2011).

In the second step, the execution of the lesson plan takes place, and every step involves the support of
the teacher. The instruction begins with the teacher modelling the task and students observing it. Then,
it moves to guided practice, where students perform parts of the tasks independently and the teacher
provides guidance. Gradually, as the students gain expertise, the complexity of the task is increased and
the support is reduced. The process continues until the students perform the entire task with little or no
support from the teacher (Lange, 2011).

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Some of the techniques that a CBI teacher can use to scaffold are described below:

1. Think-aloud

Think-aloud takes place in a controlled setting where students are directed by a series of
questions to think about and answer while reading. It is a technique that helps students monitor
their thinking while reading any text and reveals how much they have understood. To make
their understanding and thought process visible, the following list of questions can be posed:

• What do I know about this topic?

• Do I understand what I just read?
• What do I think I will learn about this topic?
• Do I have a clear picture in my head about this information?
• How does it fit in with what I already know?
• What more can I do to understand this?
• What were the most important points in this reading?
• What new information did I learn?
(AdLits, n.d.)

2. Pre-teaching Vocabulary

As discussed in Module 1 (“Vocabulary Instruction in CBI”), vocabulary development directly
impacts the academic achievement of students. Vocabulary words should be introduced in
context while associating them with the things that the students already know and find
interesting. Since vocabulary is a critical component of a CBI classroom, it should be taught
outright. Teachers should also allot time for discussion of those words in pairs, small groups or
with whole class. Instead of using dictionaries at early stages of a lesson, these should be used
later, after the discussion, to compare the definitions that the students have already discovered
and come up with (Williams, 2015).

3. Think-Pair-Share

Think-Pair-Share is a co-operative discussion strategy that involves three steps:

• Think: the teacher provokes students’ thinking by posing a question, prompt or observation
and students take a few minutes to think about it.
• Pair: Students, then, pair up with their classmates and talk about the answer or thought that
they came up with. While doing so, the students compare and identify the answers that they
think are the most suitable, convincing or unique.
• Share: After discussing the question, each pair shares their responses and thinking behind
them with the whole group or class.
(Alber, 2014)

4. Use Visual Aids

Visual aids like graphic organizers, infographics, charts and pictures can serve as effective and
interactive scaffolding tools. These tools help represent ideas and concepts visually, organize
information, and show the relation among various other concepts. Visually representing ideas

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 by synthesizing several hypotheses can help students use and deal with new and challenging
information (Alber, 2014).

Final Words – With Several More Ways to Scaffold

Apart from these techniques, CBI teachers can also bring some changes to their regular teaching style by
using simpler vocabulary and syntax, reducing the speed of the messages, introducing more pauses,
giving generous amounts of waiting time for students to think, modulating their voice, and using more
gestures and facial expressions (Urmeneta, 2013).

References
(This content is copyrighted, and cannot be adapted in any way, or distributed after the end of this course. It is not Public Domain or Creative
Commons-licensed, and therefore not for public use.)

AdLits. (n.d.). Think alouds. Retrieved from Adolescent Literacy: http://www.adlit.org/strategies/22735/

Alber, R. (2014). 6 scaffolding strategies to use with your students. Retrieved from Edutopia:
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber

Cammarata, L. (2015, February). Instructional scaffolding with graphic organizers. Retrieved from Center
for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA):
http://carla.umn.edu/immersion/acie/vol8/2005BRIDGE8.2.pdf

Donato, R. (1994). Collective scaffolding in second language learning. In G. A. James P.

Lantolf, Vygotskian Approaches to Second Language Research (pp. 33-42). Connecticut: Greenwood
Publishing Group.

Escobar Urmeneta, C. (2013). Learning to become a CLIL teacher: teaching, reflection and professional
development. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 16(3), 334-353.

Fields, D. L. (2017, March). 101 scaffolding techniques for language teaching and learning. Retrieved
from Edicionesmagina: https://edicionesmagina.com/appl/botiga/client/img/71007.pdf

Lange, V. L. (2011). Instructional Scaffolding. Retrieved from World Learning SIT Graduate Institute:
http://condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~group4/

Lefrancois, G. R. (2000). Psychology for teaching. Belmon, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.

OPEN (Open Professionals Education Network). (2014). Writing learning objectives: Overview

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.

Williams, V. (2015, May). 7 ways to scaffold instruction for English language learners. Retrieved from
NWEA: https://www.nwea.org/blog/2015/7-ways-to-scaffold-instruction-for-english-language-learners/

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Suggested Further Reading
(This content is Creative Commons-licensed with some restrictions. It is not compliant with the AE E-Teacher Program’s standards for openly-
licensed content. Feel free to save and read any of these resources, but please check the individual license before adapting or distributing a
resource.)

Arshad, M., & Chen, W. H. (2009). Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory of literacy: Scaffolding children to
read and write at an early age. Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia,11(2), 319-334. Retrieved
from http://wacana.ui.ac.id/index.php/wjhi/article/view/164/153

Gusrayani, D. (2014). Developing students' knowledge from the results of scaffolding in English
teaching. Journal of English Education,3(1), 31-40. Retrieved
fromhttps://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE/article/view/112/74



To cite this page:

World Learning. (2019). Scaffolding. In “Content-based Instruction" [MOOC].

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 Scaffolding Presentation Slides

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Module 2: Scaffolding – Follow-on Quiz


Answer these 5 questions based on the text “Scaffolding.” Remember, you need to earn 70% or better
on each quiz in order to be able to move on to the next activities. However, you can take the quiz as
many times as you like. When you are done, be sure to read the feedback that you receive.





<<This diagnostic can only be completed online.>>

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Module 2: Getting Our Students to Higher Level Thinking –
Bloom’s Taxonomy

One basic learning principle can be described in this way:

"To develop mastery, students must acquire component skills, practice integrating
them, and know when to apply what they have learned" (Ambrose, et al., 2010, p.
95).
Good teaching guides students from less complex to higher-level activities. One of the best-known
systems for describing this progression is Bloom’s Taxonomy, which was originally developed in 1956
(Bloom, et al., 1956) and was revised in 2001 (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). This figure shows the
different levels of thinking that we can ask of our students.

“Bloom’s Taxonomy” by Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching via Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0

When concepts are new to our students, we introduce them using lower-level thinking, such as
remembering and defining, but we need to move our students towards higher-level thinking, as these
are the types of thinking processes that students need in order to use their learning in the real world.

In the next activity, you will be asked to categorize some learning objectives based on the levels in
Bloom’s Taxonomy.

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References
(This content is copyrighted, and cannot be adapted in any way, or distributed after the end of this course. It is not Public Domain or Creative
Commons-licensed, and therefore not for public use.)

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., Norman, M. K., & Mayer, R. E. (2010). How
learning works: 7 research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Anderson, L.W. (Ed.), Krathwohl, D.R. (Ed.), (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A
revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Complete edition). New York: Longman.

Bloom, B. S.; Engelhart, M. D.; Furst, E. J.; Hill, W. H.; Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational
objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York: David
McKay Company.

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Module 2: Bloom’s Taxonomy – Follow-on Quiz

Indicate which level of Bloom’s Taxonomy that each of these 5 learning objectives demonstrates. You
may want to look at the diagram of Bloom’s Taxonomy while you do this exercise. Remember, you need
to earn 70% or better on each quiz in order to be able to move on in the module. Because there are only
5 questions, this means you must get at least 4 of them right. You can take the quiz as many times as
you like.

<<This diagnostic can only be completed online.>>

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Module 2: Don’t Reinvent the Wheel – Introduction to OER

One of the essential ingredients in effective teaching is having good materials to work with. Often
teachers do not have such materials available and have to either make them or find them. This can be
difficult and time consuming. Many CBI teachers face an additional challenge: the content area that they
teach is not their area of expertise. One way to address these issues is by locating quality materials
made by other teachers. The following article explains how to find teaching materials that you can use
freely and legally in your classes. Later in the module, you’ll have an opportunity to look for some
materials yourself and share your findings with others. At the end of the module, we will look at ways
you may want to adapt other educators’ materials to fit your teaching context.

What is an Open Educational Resource?

This course, “Content-based Instruction,” is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license,
which means that you can use materials from this course for other purposes. As long as you cite the
materials properly, you can use the course materials as you wish. For example, you could conduct
training sessions in your area using the materials from this class. You could use the materials just as they
are now, or you could edit them.

The same is true of many other educational materials available on the internet. Thousands and
thousands of teachers have made available on the internet their handouts, lesson plans, tests, and
whole textbooks for other teachers to use.

The English expression “Don’t reinvent the wheel” is used to say, “If there are already good materials
that you can use, don’t spend time redesigning another version of it. Just use what someone else has
already invested time in.” You as a teacher know that it can take a lot of time to make good materials for
your students. If you can find someone else’s worksheet, test, or lesson plan and adapt it to your class,
you can save yourself a lot of time in class preparation. At the same time, you will learn new teaching
techniques and presentation ideas, by seeing how other people prepare their lessons.

The Legal Part (Keep reading! It’s not that bad!)

Creative Commons (CC) is a system for specifying what people are allowed to do with a text or work of
art. It is an alternative to copyright and fits the realities of the internet better than the copyright system
does. Through CC licensing, there are hundreds of thousands of teaching and learning materials
available on the web. These materials are called Open Educational Resources (OER). More than half of
the OER available online are licensed through CC to allow you to use, edit, and redistribute the
materials, as long as you cite the source correctly.

The CC BY Code

All CC license names start out with “CC.” Then they have “BY,” because no matter what kind of CC
license it is, you have to attribute the source (cite the author). That is, you have to say who the OER is
BY.

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In Figure 1 you can see the different CC licenses that exist. What letters come after “CC BY” indicate
what restrictions there are on your ability to use, edit and distribute the work.

“Untitled” by Xplore via Slideshare.net is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

When the license says you cannot change or edit the OER, then it’s called “NoDerivs” or “ND.” You can
see in Figure 1 that two of the types of license include this restriction.

Another possible restriction is that you, as the user of an OER, must also offer this resource or any
adaptation you create from it as an OER. This is called “ShareAlike” or “SA.”

Finally, some CC licenses say that you cannot use their work to make something commercial (for
profit).1 This is called “NonCommercial” or “NC.” If you use an OER to teach your class, that is
considered educational use, not commercial use, and so you can use OER that have “NC” as part of their
license description.
1
Creative Common’s official definition of “commercial” is “any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward
commercial advantage or private monetary compensation.” (Source:
https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/NonCommercial_interpretation)

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Great, So Where Can We Find These Materials?

There are many websites set up as collections of OER. They are all searchable. Many of the OER
collections have a system of quality control. That is true of the examples listed below.

The Site Description

More than 30,000 educational materials

Open Educational Resources Commons
Specifies grade, topic, and whether it is aligned
https://www.oercommons.org/ with the common core standards. Includes
several textbooks.

MERLOT II – Multimedia Educational Resources Very large collection of materials for a wide
for Learning and Online Teaching range of subjects and levels. Searchable. Many
https://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm results connect you to other OER websites.

Searchable OER collection available in English

Curriki and Spanish, designed to address the “Education
Gap,” or unequal distribution of educational
http://www.curriki.org/ resources. Focused on kindergarten through
12th grade (K-12).

Extensive collection of high-quality tutorial

The Khan Academy videos, as well as other teaching materials. Wide
https://www.khanacademy.org/ grade span and subject area, with focus on math
in early grades.

Some of the largest collections of OER, such as MERLOT II, will redirect you to other websites’ OER as
well, such as http://sciencespot.net/ and https://www.econedlink.org.

Be Careful – Some Advice

There are dozens and dozens of other OER collections that we could have directed you to, but what is
contained in the websites cited above is enough to keep you searching online for days. Hence, our first
piece of advice to you is:

Stay Focused

Don’t let yourself get lost in searches that are not directly related to the classes you need to plan
for. When searching for materials, be as specific as possible. If you search for “Chemistry,” you will

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 get thousands of documents. You do not have time to review them all. To save time, add more
words to your search. Something as specific as “Boyle’s Law” will get you straight to materials of
interest. If possible, specify the age or grade level as well.

Check for Required Materials

Some shared lesson plans will name a text that the students should read, but the text is
copyrighted. This means that if you do not have access to that text, you cannot carry out the lesson
as intended.

Many OER contain links to websites. If you are not able to (reliably) link to the websites during
class, plan ahead and see if it is possible to save all of the materials that you need to access ahead
of time.

Lots of Advertisements

Be careful, some OER sites have a lot of ads on them, to help pay for the initiative. Be alert, and do
not confuse educational material with advertisements.

Looking for More?

As we mentioned, there are dozens and dozens of OER collections online. You can find them
through online searches. Searching for the acronym “OER” is a good way to target what you are
looking for. The more specific keywords you can enter in your online search, the more likely you
are to find a source that speaks to your teaching context.

In the next activity, you will be asked to look at some OER. Please look at the next page's
instructions before getting started.

Suggested Further Reading

This Google document named "Free and/or Open Educational Resources" lists dozens of
options: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iaKcIO7P9P9f2-
r0VrtIxVKbKp5U3oHk_AsVHmyQprs/edit - gid=0

To cite this page:

World Learning. (2019). Don't reinvent the wheel - Introduction to OER. In “Content-based Instruction”
[MOOC].

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Module 2: Exploring OER

In the last reading, you saw a definition of OER, and you learned about the guidelines (the licenses) that
tell you if you can edit and distribute the OER for your classes.

Now it is time to explore! For this assignment, all you have to do is find at least one OER that you could
adapt and use in one of your classes. The links from the last reading are copied here, below, for your
convenience.

When you have found an OER that you feel you could use in class, share it with everyone in the
discussion forum on the next page.

Because some participants may not be able to use some of these links, we have also provided a sample
of some OER that are available freely online (below the table). Please use one of those if you are not
able to access any of the four websites listed below.

The Site Description

More than 30,000 educational materials

Open Educational Resources Commons
Specifies grade, topic, and whether it is aligned
https://www.oercommons.org/ with the common core standards. Includes
several textbooks.

MERLOT II – Multimedia Educational Resources Very large collection of materials for a wide
for Learning and Online Teaching range of subjects and levels. Searchable. Many
https://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm results connect you to other OER websites.

Searchable OER collection available in English

Curriki and Spanish, designed to address the “Education
Gap,” or unequal distribution of educational
http://www.curriki.org/ resources. Focused on kindergarten through
12th grade (K-12).

Extensive collection of high-quality tutorial

The Khan Academy videos, as well as other teaching materials. Wide
https://www.khanacademy.org/ grade span and subject area, with focus on math
in early grades.

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Sample Materials

In case you are limited in your ability to search for materials, here is a sampling of lesson plans to
consider.
(This content is licensed under CC BY 4.0 or CC0 and is free for public use.)

Internet addiction: Health and critical thinking. Secondary level. Retrieved

from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/20339-assessment-prototype/view

English Literature: Victorians and Moderns: English literature. Seconday/Post-secondary level. Retrieved
from https://www.oercommons.org/courses/english-literature-victorians-and-moderns/view

Global Warming: Applied science. Secondary/Post-secondary. Retrieved

from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/25517-global-warning/view

Adding Integers to Real Life Problems: Mathematics. Middle school. Retrieved

from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/13624-adding-integers-to-real-life-problems/view

Arithmetic and Travel Planning: English language arts and mathematics. Adult education. Retrieved
from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/21584-arithmetic-and-travel-planning-remix/view

Great Migration: Social science. High school. Retrieved

from https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/17451/overview

Comparing Fractions with Unlike Denominators: Mathematics. Secondary level. Retrieved

from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/18664-comparing-fractions-with-unlike-
denominators/view

An Introduction to the Brain and Nervous System: Brain Power! Anatomy/Physiology. Grades 6-9.
Retrieved fromhttps://teens.drugabuse.gov/teachers/lessonplans/introduction-brain-and-nervous-
system-brain-power

Climate Change: Mathematics. Secondary level. Retrieved

from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/7868-climate-change-math-lesson-plan-taccl-comparing-
an/view

Investigating the Atmosphere: Physics. Lower high school level. Retrieved

from http://astroedu.iau.org/en/activities/1603/investigating-atmosphere-air-takes-space/

History of Agriculture: Social science. Primary level. Retrieved

from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/6908-l5-the-history-of-agriculture/view

Seasons Around the World: Physical science. Lower middle

school. http://astroedu.iau.org/en/activities/1604/seasons-around-world/

What is a Constellation?: Mathematics and physical science. Primary level. Retrieved

from http://astroedu.iau.org/en/activities/1607/what-is-a-constellation/

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Module 2: Discussion for Sharing OER Discoveries – OPTIONAL

Before contributing to this discussion, please spend about an hour exploring OER that you could use in
the CBI classes that you are teaching or expect to teach soon. Links and materials for this are provided
on the previous page. Then, in your post, please address #1 - #5. Your answer should be around 350
words total.

1. What class were you looking for materials for? What subject area, and what level or grade?
2. In a couple sentences, describe one OER that you found that you think you could use for your
classes.
3. Why do like this OER?
4. Can you find the CC license it is associated with? (For example, CC BY SA, or CC BY ND)
5. Sign off with the name we should call you, and also tell us where you live.

Note: This is an OPTIONAL activity, and therefore, it will not be graded.

<<This task can only be completed online.>>

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Module 2: Sources of Task Difficulty

This text highlights factors that affect how difficult a task is for a student.

Sources of Task Difficulty

Guidance. Students need goal-directed practice. They need to understand what is being asked of them.
For this reason, it is important to always provide students with clear instructions. The instructions
should outline the steps the students need to take to perform the task. The instructions should also
specify the level of detail expected from them. The students should be clear on which elements of the
task are required, and in which elements of the task they are allowed some degree of freedom and
creativity.

Language. Whenever students need to read something in order to do a task, we can say that reading
comprehension is involved. There are a number of factors that make a text more or less difficult to read
(and we will discuss this issue in greater detail in Modules 4 and 5). When we design learning tasks, we
need to think about how difficult reading texts are -- and this includes the instructions that students
read.

Likewise, whenever students need to understand what their teacher is saying to them in the target
language, or when they need to understand a listening passage or video, or even when they need to
understand their classmates’ L2 speech, we see that listening comprehension is involved. There are even
more variables that affect comprehensibility in spoken language than written language. These include
the speaker’s accent, how fast the speaker is speaking, and whether the listener can watch the speaker’s
lips while he or she is talking.

Familiarity. Students will be quicker to understand what is being asked of them if the task is somewhat
familiar. Although variety in activities in class is essential for maintaining interest, as well as for targeting
different aspects of the learning process, it is also important to establish some classroom routines and
familiar types of activities. When students already have schemata (See “CBI: Basic Concepts” from
Module 1) that can guide their interpretation of what is being expected of them, they can spend less
mental effort on figuring out what is being asked of them, and spend more mental effort on solving the
problem that they have been presented with.

Complexity. As we learned in “CBI: Basic Concepts” (Module 1), we must be aware of the cognitive
load that each element of a task represents. If too many elements of the task require too much mental
effort, students are almost sure to be unsuccessful. Students can concentrate on only so many things at
once. It is necessary to structure lessons so that students are able to give their full attention to
component skills first and then later work on integrating multiple skills. As they are working to improve
these skills, students need targeted feedback. This helps them know how they are doing and what they
need to change to do better.

The sources of task difficulty identified here deal with characteristics that are largely part of the task
itself. There are many other sources of task difficulty that come from the interaction between the task
and the learner (for example, whether the learner is motivated to do the task or not), and what kind of
atmosphere there is in the classroom. We will continue to explore these issues throughout the course.

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In the next activity, you will apply these concepts to scenarios in which Open Educational Resources are
used.

To cite this page:

World Learning. (2019). Sources of task difficulty. In “Content-based Instruction” [MOOC].

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Module 2: Considering Task Difficulty When Adapting OER

While OER are a fantastic resource for CBI teachers and have the potential to save you a lot of time, you
must be aware that it will usually be necessary to adapt any OER before using it with your students. All
teaching–learning materials need to be adapted to fit the context they are used in.

Keeping in mind the sources of task difficulty discussed in the previous reading, answer these four
questions. You can take this activity as many times as you like. Be sure to read the feedback after you
submit your answers. Remember, you need to earn 70% or better on each quiz in order to be able to
move on to the next activities.

<<This diagnostic can only be completed online.>>

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Module 2 Self-assessment

You’re almost finished with Module 2. This is a good time for another check-in. As with last module’s
self-assessment, you should answer all questions honestly. There are no right or wrong answers; just be
sure to answer the questions thoughtfully. This assessment will not be graded. There are 10 questions
and you may only answer these questions once.

<<This diagnostic can only be completed online.>>

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Module 2 Summary

In this module, we focused on the content part of CBI courses. That is, we stepped back a bit from
focusing on language, and we focused more on how to help students learn the new concepts and skills
that are part of our classes. We started by looking at the ABCD method of writing learning
objectives that helps use write learning objectives that are observable and measurable by focusing on
the

Audience
Behavior
Condition, and
Degree

Next, we looked at Bloom’s Taxonomy, which categorizes the tasks that we ask our students to do into
six levels of depth:

1 Remember
2 Understand
3 Apply
4 Analyze
5 Evaluate, and
6 Create.

The idea is to start at the lower levels but push our students over time to higher-level thinking.

Next, we looked at scaffolding, which a general term that describes a wide variety of techniques that
help our students understand new ideas and perform new tasks. Some of the techniques reviewed were
the think aloud technique, pre-teaching vocabulary, think-pair-share activities, using visual aids,
simplifying language, speaking more slowly and with more pauses, and using body language and tone of
voice to help to convey information.

Next, we explored Open Educational Resources, or OER. You read about where they can be found, and
then you explored some possibilities and shared one with the group.

While OER are an amazing resource for teachers, we need to be aware of the ways we may need to
adapt them when using them in our classes, so we looked at one more main topic for this module: task
difficulty. The reading identified different types of task difficulty that have to do with how much and
what kind of guidance students are given while performing a task, the language used, how familiar tasks
are to students, and task complexity. You were given a chance to apply these concepts to a scenario in
which a teacher was adapting an OER to use in his class.

Having focused on content in this module, we will shift our focus to language issues in Module 3, where
we will explore how to help our students develop their academic writing skills and their listening and
reading comprehension.

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Module 2 Check


Please answer one question to verify that you have completed all activities in Module 2. You must
choose "yes" in order to move on in the course. This quiz will count as 1 point toward your grade.




<<This diagnostic can only be completed online.>>

















<<This is the end of Module 2.>>

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