Direct Instruction: A Research-Based Approach to Curriculum Design and Teaching

Abstract

Direct instruction has come to have many different meanings, all of which are associated with some form of structured teaching. In this article, Direct Instruction refers primarily to the work done by Engelmann and his colleagues. Further, this article focuses on curriculum analysis, an aspect of Direct Instruction that is frequently neglected or obscured by an emphasis in the literature on classroom management and teacher performance. We discuss explicit strategies as they are used to teach higher cognitive skills, the importance of teacher training to an appropriate use of Direct Instruction curricula, and the supporting empirical research—from the mildly to the severely handicapped—for this highly successful approach to instruction.