[2][3] Anticipating programmed learning, Edward L. Thorndike wrote in 1912: If, by a miracle of mechanical ingenuity, a book could be so arranged that only to him who had done what was directed on page one would page two become visible, and so on, much that now requires personal instruction could be managed by print.Thorndike, however, did nothing with his idea.
"[8] In World War II, with largely conscript armies, there was great emphasis on training.
The short answer is "stimulus control", by which is broadly meant the teaching material itself.
[19] Crowder's system was to set multiple choice questions in the text, and provide feedback for each of the alternatives.
[20][21][22] Examples of this method show that the alternatives offered in questions were chosen to cover mistakes which students were likely to make.
[23] His scheme of programmed instruction was to present the material as part of a "schedule of reinforcement" in typical behaviourist manner.
The programmed text of Skinner's theory of behaviorism is the most complete example of his ideas in action.
[24] Skinner's system was generally called "linear programming" because its activities were placed in otherwise continuous text.
[28][29] Programmed learning ideas influenced the Children's Television Workshop, which did the R&D for Sesame Street.
[32][33] Unlike Sesame Street, which tested a third of its episodes,[34] the Blue's Clues research team field tested every episode three times with children aged between two and six in preschool environments such as Head Start programs, public schools, and private day care centers.
[33]182 Their tests of the pilot, conducted throughout New York City with over 100 children aged from three to seven,[32]21 showed that the attention and comprehension of young viewers increased with each repeat viewing.
[37] Perhaps the only distinction was the way the "terminal behaviours" (the final test demonstrating what the learner had learnt) were arrived at.
In training, the goals were decided by a process called task analysis,[38] or critical incident technique.
Subjects differ greatly in their basic aims, but where programmed learning suited a topic, most field trials gave positive results.
Daily Oral Language and the Saxon method, a math programme, are specific implementations of programmed instruction which have an emphasis on repetition.
[42] Well-known books using programmed learning include the Lisp/Scheme text The Little Schemer,[43] Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess,[44] Engineering Mathematics,[45] by Ken Stroud, and Laplace Transform Solution Of Differential Equations: A Programmed Text, by Robert D. Strum and John R. Ward of the Naval Postgraduate School.