Mosston's spectrum of teaching styles
Mosston describes ten distinctive teaching styles based on the degree that the teacher and/or students assume responsibility for what occurs in the lesson.
Mosston (1994) describes ten distinctive teaching styles based on the degree that the teacher and/or students assume responsibility for what occurs in the lesson.
- Command – All decisions are controlled by the teacher.
- Practice – Students execute teacher-prescribed movement tasks on their own.
- Reciprocal – Partner helps in some teaching/coaching prescribed by the teacher.
- Self-check – Teacher plans and students monitor their own performance against criteria.
- Inclusion – Planned by teacher, students monitor personal progress.
- Guided discovery – Teacher provides clues to solving movement problems.
- Problem-solving – Students find answers to problems set by the teacher.
- Individual – Teacher sets content, student plans programme.
- Learner-initiated – Student plans programme, submits evaluation to teacher.
- Self-teaching – Student is teacher and learner, takes responsibility for own learning.
The first five teaching styles focus predominantly on reproducing what is known. The last five styles focus on discovery learning. All styles, with the exception of the first two, are useful in developing personal and social learning outcomes through increasing student ownership of the learning process.
The last five styles of Mosston's teaching spectrum provides opportunities for students to:
- take ownership and responsibility for their learning
- plan and implement the programme
- receive personal and specialised skill and behavioural learning programmes as the teacher becomes free from full class direct instruction.
Mosston, M., & Ashworth, S. (1994). Teaching physical education (4th ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill Publishing Company.
This approach is incorporated in the sport studies units: