Decoding the Disciplines
Decoding the Disciplines is a process intended to increase student learning by narrowing the gap between expert and novice thinking. The process seeks to make explicit the tacit knowledge of experts and to help students master the mental actions they need for success in particular courses.
History
The Decoding the Disciplines approach was initiated by Joan Middendorf and David Pace, directors of the Indiana University Freshman Learning Project from 1998 to 2010, for collegiate learning. They found a discrepancy between the content taught and the actual prerequisites for success in many courses. They attributed this to automatic, and thus untaught, processes in expert knowledge. They hypothesized that students were often provided with incomplete conceptual frameworks, leaving them unable to tackle significant challenges.Guiding questions in the Decoding process
The Decoding process is structured by seven questions, referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.; Question 1 - Where do I experience a bottleneck to learning?
; Question 2 - What do students have to be able to do to get past the bottleneck?
; Question 3 - How can I show students what they have to do?
; Question 4 - How can I give my students practice and feedback?
; Question 5 - How can I deal with emotional bottlenecks to learning?
; Question 6 - How can I know if my students have mastered these operations?
; Question 7 - How can I share this process with others?