Didactic
Mortimer Adler referred to this as "Teaching by telling." According to Adler
"It employs textbooks and other instructional materials and is accompanied by laboratory demonstrations. The mind here is improved by the acquisition of knowledge.... History and geography are to be understood as including our knowledge of human and social affairs, not only within the boundaries of our own nation, but with regard to the rest of the world. ...when formal study begins, it should be sequential and systematic, combining a narration of events with knowledge of social, political, and economic institutions and diverse phases of cultural development."
--Mortimer Adler, The Paideia Proposal (1982, pgs. 24 & 25)
While many have misconstrued didactic instruction as active teaching and passive learning (therefore teacher centered), done properly didactic is anything but a passive learning process. At its best (meaning NOT as a teacher lecturing off of powerpoint slides, which provides little instructional value), didactic can be an interactive and engaging means of coming to know and understand content. Consider this take on didactic instruction from the world of classical education;
"When a teacher engages in didactic instruction, she presents models to the students for mutual contemplation. For example, if I want my students to understand Renaissance art, then I place some Renaissance works of art in front of them and we contemplate them together. If I want my students to learn a proof in geometry, I place some examples of that proof before them and we contemplate them together. If I want my students to understand a poetic device, a noble soul, or a musical idea, I place before them examples of the poetic device, the noble soul, or the musical idea.
Note that in this approach to didactic instruction the teacher and the student are engaged in a mutual contemplation. Both are actively thinking about the models placed before them. As a result, both move toward a more accurate understanding of the ideas contained in the object.
To make didactic instruction effective, begin with an idea you want your student to understand. Find models of the idea and, together, analyze each model individually for its properties and qualities. Next, compare the models with each other to find common properties. Finally, compare the models with other models of different types. This enables you to establish what is unique to the idea you are contemplating."
(Memoria Press, 2003; https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/two-methods-instruction/)
In the text above, to help us understand how this might look in a history/social studies classroom, wherever you see the word "models" or "object," substitute the words "interpretations," "thesis," "arguments," or "accounts" to get a sense of what instruction might look like.
Even done more traditionally, and more like what you might see in a typical classroom, there are ways to make your didactic instruction more powerful and engaging. The resources below will help you get a sense of how to engage students in interactive and meaningful didactic instruction.
"It employs textbooks and other instructional materials and is accompanied by laboratory demonstrations. The mind here is improved by the acquisition of knowledge.... History and geography are to be understood as including our knowledge of human and social affairs, not only within the boundaries of our own nation, but with regard to the rest of the world. ...when formal study begins, it should be sequential and systematic, combining a narration of events with knowledge of social, political, and economic institutions and diverse phases of cultural development."
--Mortimer Adler, The Paideia Proposal (1982, pgs. 24 & 25)
While many have misconstrued didactic instruction as active teaching and passive learning (therefore teacher centered), done properly didactic is anything but a passive learning process. At its best (meaning NOT as a teacher lecturing off of powerpoint slides, which provides little instructional value), didactic can be an interactive and engaging means of coming to know and understand content. Consider this take on didactic instruction from the world of classical education;
"When a teacher engages in didactic instruction, she presents models to the students for mutual contemplation. For example, if I want my students to understand Renaissance art, then I place some Renaissance works of art in front of them and we contemplate them together. If I want my students to learn a proof in geometry, I place some examples of that proof before them and we contemplate them together. If I want my students to understand a poetic device, a noble soul, or a musical idea, I place before them examples of the poetic device, the noble soul, or the musical idea.
Note that in this approach to didactic instruction the teacher and the student are engaged in a mutual contemplation. Both are actively thinking about the models placed before them. As a result, both move toward a more accurate understanding of the ideas contained in the object.
To make didactic instruction effective, begin with an idea you want your student to understand. Find models of the idea and, together, analyze each model individually for its properties and qualities. Next, compare the models with each other to find common properties. Finally, compare the models with other models of different types. This enables you to establish what is unique to the idea you are contemplating."
(Memoria Press, 2003; https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/two-methods-instruction/)
In the text above, to help us understand how this might look in a history/social studies classroom, wherever you see the word "models" or "object," substitute the words "interpretations," "thesis," "arguments," or "accounts" to get a sense of what instruction might look like.
Even done more traditionally, and more like what you might see in a typical classroom, there are ways to make your didactic instruction more powerful and engaging. The resources below will help you get a sense of how to engage students in interactive and meaningful didactic instruction.
Resources to help with Didactic Instruction
Click on the image below to go to Dr. Finley's blog post on how to make lectures interactive...