Comparison of Direct Instruction and Problem Centered Instruction for Army Institutional Training

A direct instruction (DI)-based and a problem-centered instruction (PCI)-based version of an Army training module (NCO Evaluation Report Preparation) were constructed and administered to different Infantry Advanced Leader Course classes. A common post-test addressing both the well-defined and the ill-defined elements of the module was administered to all students. The hypothesis was that DI students would out-perform PCI students on tests of well-defined elements, while PCI students would out-perform DI students on tests of ill-defined elements. The results showed no statistically significant differences between DI or PCI students on either well-defined or ill-defined elements. Discussion of the results addresses methodological issues in comparing DI with PCI methods, and issues in trading training cost vs. training effectiveness in making choices among instructional models. Supporting document is attached to the report as a separate file (PDF).