Hilda Taba teaching strategies

1. Hilda Tabateaching strategies Trinette Atri, Secondary Specialist Sheena Miracle, Compliance and Testing Coordinator

2. Today’s Agenda • 8:30-8:45 – Overview/Introduction to Taba • 8:45-9:30 – Concept Development • 9:30-10:15 – Interpretation of Data • 10:15-10:30 – Break • 10:30-11:30 – Application of Generalizations and Resolution of Conflict

3. Who is Hilda Taba? • Curriculum theorist and teacher educator • Developed theory of Inductive Thinking • Believed higher-order thinking is built on a strong foundation of quality information • Thinking skills are combined with facts to lead students to abstract generalizations through questioning strategies • Studies on children’s thinking over 15 years form the basis of these strategies

4. Strategies • Concept Development • Interpretation of Data • Application of Generalizations • Resolution of Conflict • All strategies grounded in the theories of Tyler, Piaget, Vygotsky, and Ausubel

5. Assumptions About Learning “…[thinking] skills will arise from dynamic interaction between the students and the stimulation he receives from well-phrased and carefully sequenced questions, from interesting and socially significant content, and from the kind of classroom climate which encourages free-ranging and uninhibited responses.” (Taba, Durkin, Frankel, & McNaughton, 1971, p.65)

6. Assumptions About Learning (cont.) • Students can reach higher levels of thinking using a small quantity of quality information. • Meaningful generalizations are formed by working with information in depth. • Thought processes evolve in a natural sequence. • Facts  Abstract Generalizations • Higher-order thinking is achieved through structured question sequences. • Open-ended • Focusing • Draw into deeper levels of thinking • Cognitive Map and discussion analysis

7. Benefits • Empowers both students and teachers as discussions evolve and shift with the questions • Allows for more sophisticated instruction • Flexibility in the topics you can use, selection of questions and specific ideas you pursue in depth • Encourages students to think at higher levels to produce generalizations • Helps students develop greater openness and flexibility in thinking and better processes for developing and organizing data • Can be used across disciplines

8. Concept Development • Step 1: List Data Gather a list of about 25 items that can be placed under one category • Students can work in groups to generate data and share out their top 5 What is an example of ______? What do you think of when you hear __________?

9. Concept Development (cont.) • Step 2: Grouping and Labeling Group items together that have something in common and assign a label to each group. • Students should be able to explain their reasoning for grouping. • Cannot use a word in the category as the label for the category Which items on our list can we group together based on an important shared characteristic? Why do these items go together? What 1-2 word label would best describe this group?

10. Concept Development (cont.) • Step 3: Subsuming One group might fit into another group Which of the items in one group could also go under another group?

11. Concept Development (cont.) • Step 4: Regrouping and Labeling Think of new ways that the data could be grouped What completely new ways can you find to group the items on our list? If you shift your aspects of thinking away from ______________ and towards other aspects of __________, what new groups do you see?

12. Concept Development (cont.) • Step 5: Generalizing Looking at your groups, create generalizations about the data. Based on our original list, the groups we’ve created and the way we’ve subsumed the groups, what would you conclude about ______________?

13. Now let’s try it!!! • Step 1: List Data: What is an example of food that comes from nature? • Step 2: Group and Label: Which items could go together because they are alike in some way? • Step 3: Subsuming: Which items under one group could also go under another group? • Step 4: Regrouping and Labeling: Let’s go back to our original list – how else could you group and label the data? • Step 5: Generalizing: Based on the data, our groups and our conversations, what statements can you make about the food we get from nature?

14. Interpretation of Data • Should be done during or after a unit, not as a pre-assessment! • Select a concept and think about the relationships you want to focus on within that concept. Write your questions based on the relationships you want to focus on.

15. Interpretation of Data (cont.) • Step 1: Enumerate Data Gather data based on your focusing question. • Step 2: List Causes Why is the data the way it is? What leads to those things? • Step 3: Prior Causes Why do you think those causes are the way they are? • Step 4: Causes Conclusions Based on our discussion, what are the main reasons for _________? Why?

16. Interpretation of Data (cont.) • Step 5: Effects (go back to original data) What happens because of _______? • Step 6: Subsequent Effects What happens because of those effects? • Step 7: Effects Conclusions From our discussion, what happens because of ___________? Why? • Step 8: Generalizations Relate back to your concept: What statement can you make about ______? Why does ___________ exist and what happens because of it? Why?

17. Concept: Propaganda • Step 1: What aspects of being part of the Jungvolk would be enticing to German youth? • Step 2: Why are those aspects so appealing? • Step 3: Why would German youth feel drawn to those aspects? • Step 4: What conclusions can you draw about why the Nazi party tried to entice youth to join them?

18. Concept: Propaganda • Step 5: What would you say happens as a result of the tactics used to entice youth to join the Nazi party? • Step 6: What happens because of those effects? • Step 7: What happened as a results of the youth joining the Nazi regime? • Step 8: Overall, what would you say about the use of propaganda in Nazi Germany?

19. Application of Generalizations • Objective: Apply previously learned generalizations and facts to new situations • Students will use previously learned generalizations to “explain unfamiliar events and to make predictions about what will happen in hypothetical or proposed situations” (Baker & Nielson, 1995, p.240). • Encourages divergent thinking in making predictions • Allows students to make connections between cause and effects and connect conditions to predictions

20. Application of Generalizations • Step 1: Predictions: Use creativity in brainstorming possible results of hypothetical situation (If ________, then __________). Student must explain reasoning behind their prediction. • Step 2: Inferring Conditions: Students must build a logical, justifiable chain of relationships. What factors must be present in order for _____________ to occur? • Step 3: Inferring Consequences and Conditions: Extend steps 1 and 2 further • Step 4: Conclusions: Students should consider all the information discussed and make a judgment about which conditions they think are likely to prevail and lead to a specific prediction happening. • Step 5: Examining a Generalization: Students form generalizations and critique one another’s statements/generalizations http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=67839

21. Resolution of Conflict • Also called interpretation of feelings, attitudes and values • Human behavior is the focus of the data to be interpreted • Helps students deal with conflict rationally and effectively by exploring feelings, attitudes and values behind the behaviors • Encouraged to take multiple viewpoints • Generate many alternatives and their consequences • Make generalizations about how people usually handle conflicts of a specific nature

22. Resolution of Conflict (cont.) • Step 1: Listing: Students list the facts of the situation • Step 2: Inferring Reasons and Feelings: Students examine the motivations and feelings of all individuals involved in the situation. • Step 3: Generating Alternatives and Their Consequences: Students carefully consider all courses of action and their potential consequences. • Step 4: Evaluation: Students must decide on the most appropriate course of action. • Steps 5-8: Transfer to Real-Life: Students apply the first 4 steps to a real-life situation that one of them may be experiencing. • Step 9: Generalizing: Students form an abstract statement about how people usually handle those types of situations.

23. Application of Taba’s Strategies At your table or with a small group, brainstorm situations where some of these strategies would be most appropriate to use.

24. Contact Information • TrinetteAtri: • Trinettej.atri@cms.k12.nc.us, (980) 343-2644 • Sheena Miracle • Sheenal.miracle@cms.k12.nc.us, (980) 343-2700

25. References Gallagher, S.A. (2012). Concept development: A Hilda Taba teaching strategy. Unionville, NY: Royal Fireworks Press. Maker, C.J. & Nielson, A.B. (1982). Curriculum development and teaching strategies for gifted learners. 2nd ed. Austin, TX: ProEd, Inc. Maker, C.J. & Nielson, A.B. (1995). Teaching models in education of the gifted. 2nd ed. Austin, TX: ProEd, Inc. Stokes, A., Weed, K., Kollar, K. & Huber, C. “Hilda Taba Teaching Strategies: Concept Development and Interpretation of Data.” PowerPoint presentation. Charlotte, NC.10 July 2013.