Direct Instruction is a fast-paced program in which the teacher 'performs' from a script, modeling what is to be said, signalling students to say it in unison until they can do so without hesitation, then testing verbally to see if they say or do the task correctly. When students have difficulty, the teacher loops back and reinstructs, has them repeat again, and tests again. Because of the fast pace and continuous teacher praise, students are excited by this method.

An Incredibly Brief Overview by Michael Maloney.

Direct Instruction is a highly systematic instructional design technology developed at the University of Oregon by Zig Engelmann, Wes Becker, Doug Carnine, Jean Osborne, and their colleagues over the past 35 years. D.I. design has resulted in over 50 programs in reading, reading comprehension, spelling, expressive writing, mathematics, and science. There are program series for both regular and special needs students.

Direct Instruction programs have shown themselves to be the single most effective remedial method in a host of studies since the 1970's with children at risk of school failure. D.I. programs have been consistently ignored by Public Education systems despite their prepeatedly consistent success with hundreds of thousands of children and adults with school problems. (In the Hartford area, Kennelly Elementary School has taken on Direct Instruction for its reading intervention, with excellent results.)

Direct Instruction extracts the rules for any domain of learning, teaches a wide range of examples of the rule, and non-exampes of the rule. It shows the student what the rule is and how it works.

Some Good References:

Becker, W.C., & Carnine, D. W. (1980). Direct Instruction: An effective approach to educatinal intervention with disadvantaged and low performers. In Lahey, B. B., & Kazdin, A.K. (eds.) Advances in Clinical and Child Psychology. Vol. 3, New York: Plenum.

Engelmann, S., & Carnine, D. (1982). Theory of Instruction: Principles and Applications. New York: Irvington Publishers. ISBN 0-8290-0977-9.

Maloney, Michael, Teach Your Children Well; A Solution to Some of North America's Educational Problems. Cambridge MA: Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, 1998.