Nicole A. Heal, Gregory P. Hanley, & Stacy A. Layer. (2009).
An evaluation of the relative efficacy of and
children’s preferences for teaching strategies
that differ in amount of teacher directedness.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
42, 123-143.
The manner in which teachers mediate children’s learning varies across
early childhood classrooms. In this study, we used a multielement design
to evaluate the efficacy of three commonly implemented strategies that
varied in teacher directedness for teaching color- and object-name relations.
Strategy 1 consisted of brief exposure to the target relations followed by
an exclusively child-led play period in which correct responses were
praised. Strategy 2 was similar except that teachers prompted the children
to vocalize relations and corrected errors via model prompts. Strategy 3
incorporated the same procedures as Strategy 2 except that a brief period
of teacher-initiated trials was arranged; these trials involved the use of
prompt delay between questions and prompts, and correct responses resulted
in tokens and back-up activity reinforcers. Children’s preferences for the
different teaching strategies were also directly assessed. Strategy 3 was
most effective in promoting the acquisition and generalization of the
color- and object-name relations and was also most preferred by the
majority of children, Strategy 1 was the least effective, and Strategy 2 was
typically the least preferred. Implications for the design of early educational
environments based on evidence-based values are discussed.
DESCRIPTORS: child preference, direct instruction, discovery learning,
embedded teaching, evidence-based teaching strategies