Anchored Instruction

Anchored Instruction is a technology centered learning approach, which falls under the social constructionism paradigm. It is a form of situated learning that emphasizes problem-solving within an integrated learning context, which can be examined from multiple perspectives. 'In other words, the learning is contextualized to provide students with realistic roles that serve to enhance the learning process', (Fried, Zannini, Wheeler, Lee, & Cortez, 2005). During teaching, activities are designed or tied around an 'anchor', such as an adventure or story, with a problem at the end, that needs to be resolved. The connection made between the content and the authentic context is referred to as 'anchoring'. These models typically embed all the information needed for the problem to be solved, such data and hints. Anchored instruction is akin to Problem-based learning (P.B.L.) with the exception of its open-endedness. Anchored Instruction is a technology centered learning approach, which falls under the social constructionism paradigm. It is a form of situated learning that emphasizes problem-solving within an integrated learning context, which can be examined from multiple perspectives. 'In other words, the learning is contextualized to provide students with realistic roles that serve to enhance the learning process', (Fried, Zannini, Wheeler, Lee, & Cortez, 2005). During teaching, activities are designed or tied around an 'anchor', such as an adventure or story, with a problem at the end, that needs to be resolved. The connection made between the content and the authentic context is referred to as 'anchoring'. These models typically embed all the information needed for the problem to be solved, such data and hints. Anchored instruction is akin to Problem-based learning (P.B.L.) with the exception of its open-endedness. The seven principles outlined, are used to govern the design of anchored instruction (Biswas, Goldman, & Bransford, 1997). Anchored instruction highlights the use of Instructional technology. Teachers are moved from the source of information to a coach. It is widely used at primary levels, and is applied to Mathematics, Reading and Language skills. Anchored instruction, promotes active learning, by motivating and challenging learners. The story or anchor contains embedded data along with other extraneous information; it is the learner's responsibility to decipher, extract and organize pertinent information. The problem that needs to be solved, often requires the learner to take multiple steps, by generating a man smaller questions, that ought to support and guide their thinking. Small groups of learners are the appropriate size for this type of instruction. Members of the group often provide multiple opinions, thus having multiple solutions to the problem. Students are responsible for establishing their learning goals The facilitators are responsible for providing the anchor, the problem statement and embedded data in the story. Anchored stories also contain hints that act as instructional scaffolding to resolve problems. Scaffolding provides a temporary framework to support learning. The facilitator coaches and guides the learners through the learning process. They assist students to establish their own learning goals. And accept that they are no longer the major source of knowledge.