If a deductive approach is chosen, it is important to structure the learning experience in order to draw on students' prior experiences and learning, and to provide for their active involvement. The deductive approach is more predictable because the teacher selects the information and the sequence of presentation. Students tend to understand and remember when learning occurs inductively. The deductive approach is faster and can be an efficient way to teach large numbers of facts and concrete concepts. Instructional methods tend to be either deductive or inductive, although some methods apply to either sequence.
Many lessons can include both approaches.
Allowing for Student Choice and Responsibility A high degree of teacher direction in a classroom exists when the teacher, with little or no input from students, is the one that determines the objectives, content, learning activities, classroom management rules and procedures, and assessment. A high degree of student responsibility exists when students determine their own needs and select content, experiences, evaluation methods, and format for learning. There is a continuum between these two and in any given classroom there is room for both, depending on factors such as the nature of the content and the readiness of students to assume increasing responsibility for their learning. Teacher directedness and student responsibility can shift and vary during a lesson or unit. There is little disagreement that the ideas of students about their own learning should be sought and valued.