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Dr. David Breithaupt's personal theory of instruction serves as a useful guide for designing instructional lessons that work for the videoconferencing scenarios.  The theory works for lesson planning because it blends the best of learning theory into a practical and sensible guide to develop instruction.  Here is the essence of Dr. Breithaupt's theory - reprinted with his permission. 

MARS Theory - Dr. Breithaupt

"Regardless of the educational setting or the domain of instruction, each student must be motivated, the information must be associated with knowledge the students already possess, the knowledge and skills must be repeated until they are mastered by the students, and the students must be stimulated through multiple channels of communication to receive and integrate the information and store it for future retrieval and use."  

"MOTIVATION: In everything I teach, I try to motivate my students. I attempt to provide the background needed to place the information in context and show WHY this knowledge is important to them. Without knowing the context of the information and the “So what …?” of the knowledge, there is little use in trying to teach anything.

• Bribery gets you everywhere with students.

• Try to make the information interesting...relate new information to something most people are familiar with and activate prior knowledge so that appropriate links may be made in the propositional network

• Show how the information will benefit each student individually

ASSOCIATION: Going back to motivation, it is important to lay the groundwork for the students. I try to keep harping on the prerequisite information to the point of making it a litany. 

• Look to constructivism, Multiple Intelligences, and cognitivism for guidance. The question of WHAT to do is answered by constructivism. Build a framework. Introduce dissonance. Allow individual and group exploration and learning. The question of HOW it works is answered by Multiple Intelligences, and on a more general scale, cognitivism.

• Without activating that prior learning relevant to the topic of discussion, it is very difficult, especially for novices in a domain, to integrate new knowledge into their propositional network.

REPETITION: I am very much the cognitivist when it comes to repetition. Practice makes perfect. Even difficult tasks become less difficult with practice. What is changing? The task is not. Instead, you are proceduralizing the tasks, automating skills, developing viable strategies. In essence, the novice’s capacity is increasing. She is becoming an expert and can now do with ease what was once difficult.

• Practice

• Practice

• Practice

STIMULATION: For me, stimulation is a cross between behaviorism/Social Learning Theory and constructivism/cognitivism/Multiple Intelligences. Stimulation is an area of my theory that drives the selection of delivery systems, assignments, and examples aimed at providing additional avenues through which the student may acquire new knowledge.  Related to motivation, stimulation is aimed at heightening the students’ sensory perceptions of the information I am presenting; of opening additional channels of communication between me and my students to help them better receive, understand, store, and later retrieve the information I believe important. It may be pictures and manipulatives for young students. It may be computer programs for older students. It may be discussion groups for adult students. Anything I can find and use to heighten student awareness and participation to improve their academic performance."

Dr. Breithaupt is an employee of the Idaho State Department of Education, and teaches online classes in Learning Theory for Boise State University.

Learning Theories

• Learning Theories List

• Behaviorism

• Cognitive

• Constructivism

• Multiple Intelligences

• Social Learning Theory

ARCS Links:

• ARCS - How to Use Motivational Theory

• ARCS  - Article - The Magic of Learner Motivation
• ARCS Theory

Student Centered Instruction

• Project Based Learning Curriculum Activities
• HCR*TEC Project Based Learning
• SBC - Multimedia Learning
• Problem Based Learning Units
• Tech Tips - PBL

References/Site Map

conniepepper@cableone.net
Last updated 03/31/03