Instructional design	117

Classification by:		Values:		Practical illustrations
•	Piagetian cognitive level	•	all learners are expected	for teachers:
•	subject area		to be creative	• curricula for the
		•	value is equated with	visual arts, music
			complexity of analysis	and drama have
			and appreciation	been developed
		•	a rational approach
			is expected

Some issues for further investigation

•Which authors have clearly articulated a theory of learning?

•Which frameworks most clearly distinguish between different ‘ways of knowing’?

•What kinds of learning are most clearly linear and which non-linear?

•Are there any general categories of cognitive process which are essentially too complex for some people to manage?

•Which frameworks describe the structure of cognition; which describe the processes through which cognition is constructed; and which do both?

•Do any of the authors concern themselves with the interplay between cognitive, emotional, social and societal dimensions of learning?

•Which later frameworks build most helpfully on the taxonomic efforts of Bloom and his co-authors?

•How has the work of each author been used, by whom and to what ends?

•Which frameworks can be used to support direct instruction as well as discovery learning?

•Which frameworks are most suitable for use in the context of assessment – and why?

•Which of these frameworks best accommodate learning situations in the social sciences and humanities?

•In what ways does the role of the teacher need to change when intensive use is made of computer-mediated learning?

•How do different authors envisage their framework of instruction design being put into practice and by whom?

118Frameworks for Thinking

•Which authors aim to advance theories of learning and instruction as well as to change classroom practice? What impact have they made?

•Which frameworks are most suitable for use in talking about thinking and learning with students?

•Are there pedagogical advantages in using several small frameworks (or in taking elements from different frameworks) instead of getting to grips with a more comprehensive framework?

•Which authors address the question: ‘What role, if any, do teachers have in advancing instructional design theory and practice?’

•Which frameworks are best supported by empirical evidence about ‘what works’ in education?

4

Frameworks dealing with productive thinking

Introduction
The second family group consists of frameworks for understanding
critical and creative thinking, which we subsume under the more
general term productive thinking. By productive thinking (a term used
by Romiszowski, 1981), we understand what Bloom refers to as
analysis, synthesis and evaluation and various combinations of these
and other processes, when they lead to deeper understanding, a
defensible judgment or valued product. It may involve planning
what to do and say, imagining situations, reasoning, solving problems,
considering opinions, making decisions and judgments, or generating
new perspectives. The phrase captures the idea that this kind of
thinking is not confined to the analysis of existing arguments, but is
also concerned with generating ideas and has consequences for action.
It makes little sense to separate critical thinking from creative thinking,
since in many situations they overlap and are interdependent.
Thinking as conceptualised within the frameworks included in this
family is considered to involve more than cognition, since most theor-
ists also specify dispositions which they believe to be extremely im-
portant in the development of productive thinking. Allen and
colleagues who limit themselves to argument analysis (Allen, Feezel,
and Kauffie, 1967) are exceptions to this generalisation. It should
be noted that the role of dispositions was one of the issues which
divided the American Philosophical Association’s expert panel on
critical thinking, although the majority (61%) did regard specific
dispositions to be integral to the conceptualisation of critical thinking
and 83% thought that good critical thinkers would have certain key
dispositions (Facione, 1990). In stressing the importance of affective	119