Anchored Instruction

By Cjp24 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Anchored Instruction draws on the best aspects of Goal Based Scenarios and  Situated and Problem-Based Learning in that the problems and their required skills are "situated", making this type of learning meaningful and authentic to students.  This model also draws in Cooperative Learning with a strong emphasis on student discussions, reflections, and problem solving.  Using problem-solving skills also simulates the Apprenticeship Learning model.  The multimedia tells the story, students extract data and the key problems from the story, put the problems into their own words, and then break off into cooperative learning groups to formulate solutions to the analogous problems using the data from the media as a foundation.  

Anchored Instruction is really a plethora of learning models, where students are using problem-solving skills in situational and shared environments, sustaining exploration of active learning but tying it back to students' intuitive knowledge.  This is fantastic!  It provides students with opportunities to experience why these skills are so important in an authentic setting.

One disadvantage I see from the learner's perspective is that students have a difficult time formulating the problem from the video.  Since the video is shown to the whole class at first, I would think some discussion could be integrated into this part of the lesson.  Students need to grasp the big picture in order to stay focused on the direction they will be heading into.

This model is not meant to purposefully improve test scores; that is not the goal at all!  In fact, the authors call traditional math skills education out of context and point out the lack of authenticity.  Using this model to teach math could have some really positive effects on student learning.  There are many ways to solve problems using mathematics, and this model would promote individual student learning, facilitate deeper meaning and provide a situational arena where students could enjoy math and possibly formulate a positive attitude about math!  The technology one could easily integrate would be calculators, spreadsheets, graphing programs, but I could also see online database searches such as USDA.gov and Gapminder.com as a place to direct students to gather additional data. 

TIME and CREATIVITY are the two biggest drawbacks for using this model.  I can't imagine a solitary teacher creating Anchored Instruction models for teaching/facilitating a whole semester of math instruction.  It would be cool to implement this learning model once a week though -- say have Problem-Solving Fridays where math class becomes like a learning center.  Then there is the creativity aspect!  Holy cow!  If the instructor is creative enough to create videos that incorporate data and problems, that is wonderful -- but realistically most educators have too much on their plates to be this creative on a regular basis.  It would be great to see PLTs building these models -- either by content area or even grade level teams (allowing for all kinds of integration).

I do like this model and would love to build one for an elementary math and science integration class.