Criteria for Successful Implementation
David Merrill's four principles have provided a way for facilitators to prepare students for "real life" situations and experiences. A facilitator has an opportunity to
By "Activation of prior experience" the instructors can communicate objectives and the expectations that are to take place as they engage in the activity. Students are given opportunity to act on or recall previous experiences and describe experience that can be used as a "foundation for the new knowledge." (Merrill, 2001, p. 462)
David Merrill's second phase provides opportunities for the learners to actually see how a process or concept takes place. Through demonstration the learner can observe and connect new knowledge to the actual activity. When a student is shown examples of learning they can see the relevance to the course they have chosen. the facilitator can focus on the importance of each step involved during a demonstration and help the students understand why each step is in fact important. For example, if you were making bread, once you have poured the ingredients together, it is important to demonstrate how to knead the dough. Seeing how it is done and the technique used will help create a visual understanding of the process and help the learners be able to move into the next phase in which is the application phase. (Merrill, 2001, p. 463)
The applicaiton phase allows the student to engage in the actual experience and use problem solving to complete a task. The facilitator can ask open ended questions to encourage further learning. It is important that the "problem solving is consistent with the learning goal." (Merrill, 2001, p. 463). The facilitator will use questioning and help the student to detect or correct errors. With coaching as a method to guide learning the learner can use the skills learned at that time to complete a task like making bread. The students will be told that the dough needs to rest in order to rise and allow the yeast to activate and they will be able to use that knowledge to move into the next phase in which is Integrate.
The student can now take the problems they experienced, reflect on it and independently correct them and as a result incorporate them into real life situations. The student may now be able to make a variety of breads and use and modify methods and techniques to create Pretzels and a variety of other doughs in the future.
By "Activation of prior experience" the instructors can communicate objectives and the expectations that are to take place as they engage in the activity. Students are given opportunity to act on or recall previous experiences and describe experience that can be used as a "foundation for the new knowledge." (Merrill, 2001, p. 462)
David Merrill's second phase provides opportunities for the learners to actually see how a process or concept takes place. Through demonstration the learner can observe and connect new knowledge to the actual activity. When a student is shown examples of learning they can see the relevance to the course they have chosen. the facilitator can focus on the importance of each step involved during a demonstration and help the students understand why each step is in fact important. For example, if you were making bread, once you have poured the ingredients together, it is important to demonstrate how to knead the dough. Seeing how it is done and the technique used will help create a visual understanding of the process and help the learners be able to move into the next phase in which is the application phase. (Merrill, 2001, p. 463)
The applicaiton phase allows the student to engage in the actual experience and use problem solving to complete a task. The facilitator can ask open ended questions to encourage further learning. It is important that the "problem solving is consistent with the learning goal." (Merrill, 2001, p. 463). The facilitator will use questioning and help the student to detect or correct errors. With coaching as a method to guide learning the learner can use the skills learned at that time to complete a task like making bread. The students will be told that the dough needs to rest in order to rise and allow the yeast to activate and they will be able to use that knowledge to move into the next phase in which is Integrate.
The student can now take the problems they experienced, reflect on it and independently correct them and as a result incorporate them into real life situations. The student may now be able to make a variety of breads and use and modify methods and techniques to create Pretzels and a variety of other doughs in the future.