Mosston's Spectrum of Teaching Styles & Learning Environments

Mosston's Spectrum of Teaching Styles

The spectrum is a unified theory of teacher behavior and student learning, a complete structure for understanding the processes of teaching and learning. The structure of the spectrum comes from the premise: instruction is a decision-making chain. Each teaching act is the result of a previous decision.

1. Focus on Teaching Behavior: The spectrum focuses on what the teacher says and does with students. The teacher's behavior creates the learning environment and influences student responses.
2. Teaching Style vs. Personality: A teaching style is about the teacher's behavior in class, not personality or philosophy. Teachers can learn to use all teaching styles effectively. Mastering more styles makes a teacher more comprehensive pedagogically.
3. Decision-Making: Teaching styles are defined by who makes specific decisions in the learning context: teacher or student. This results in different configurations of development decisions.
4. Anatomy of a Teaching Style: The decision-making structure supporting the spectrum is categorized into three phases: before, during, and after instruction.
5. Episodes: An "episode" is a period when the teacher and student use the same teaching style for a specific objective.

The Learning Environment

The environment consists of the space and its elements, influencing behavior and learning. The physical learning environment has two main elements:

• Architectural Installation: Provides the space for interactions between people and materials in the learning process. It establishes the basic space and organizes access to outdoor spaces and resources. In physical education, the impact of the installation is significant, often affecting motor tasks. Spaces can be grouped into indoor and outdoor facilities.
• The Learning Environment: More than a building or furniture, it includes the relationship between the physical environment and behavior. The organization of space and materials is fundamental. Manipulating the environment can activate learning. The teacher's didactic approach determines how they handle the environment.