Direct instruction is a method of teaching in which the teacher uses structured lessons with a specific goal.  This site provides links to web sites that discuss research on the direct instruction method.  Much of the research supports the use of direct instruction in the classroom.

1.  DISTAR -- a Direct Instruction Program  This article is from the on-line version of Education Week, March 17, 1999, issue.  The author discusses the methods and results of various research on DISTAR, which is a direct instruction program.

2.  Research on Positive Effects of Direct Instruction  This web site was constructed by the American Association of School Administrators and is part of a much larger web site discussing the research of twenty-four different approaches to teaching.  It includes a discussion of the research on direct instruction methods.

3. Evaluations of General Education Math Programs  This site summarizes the methods, results, and discussions of the results for several studies of math programs which use direct instruction.  It names the periodical used as a source for each study.

4.  Scripting Success  The site is an online article in Teacher Magazine.  It discusses general information about the research on direct instruction, as well as specific studies on direct instruction.  A majority of the research on direct instruction supports its use in the classroom.  It also discusses some the criticisms of direct instruction.

5.  Back to Basics of Direct Instruction  This site is a short on-line article sponsored by the National Center for Policy Analysis.  It briefly discusses the history of direct instruction and gives an overview of some of the research about direct instruction.

6.  Research Comparing Direct Instruction and Discovery Learning  Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are conducting a four-year field study comparing the Control of Variable Strategy, a direct instruction used to teach science, and discovery learning.  CVS is proving more effective.

This web site was constructed by Sarah Chilcutt for the Educational Psychology course (PSY 306) at Freed-Hardeman University, Nov. 17, 1999.