Train-the-Trainer by DataHomeLab

3.2 Establishing Set and Closure

Set and Closure are the two framing skills that bracket a lesson. Set opens the lesson by orienting the student to it; Closure ends the lesson (or a segment of it) by tying the new content into what the student already knows. Neither is a synonym for "introduction" or "summary": both are active operations the instructor performs to make the rest of the lesson land.

3.2.1 Set

The Set should allow the student to understand "Why" they are here. See 6.6 The A-W-A-R-E Model.

A Set is defined as "A predisposition to respond". In plainer terms it may be described as a mental bias or prejudice. Thus a student, when presented with a portion of new information, will tend to view it in the light of some previously established mental bias or Set.

It is important, therefore, that the instructor prepares his students for learning by establishing the appropriate Set. A Set Induction is sometimes called a "hook" to grab the student's attention. It is actions and statements by the teacher to relate the experiences of the students to the objectives of the lesson.

In most cases this will be his initial instructional move. It is most conveniently done by focusing the students' attention on some familiar object, event, condition or idea. The set which is established serves as a reference point, around which the instructor and the students communicate. It also facilitates the perception, or interpretation of sensory stimuli.

Although the establishment of Set usually occurs at the beginning of a lesson, Set induction is also carried out whenever the activity, the goal, or content of the lesson is changed so that a new modified frame of reference is needed.

The Anticipatory set or Set Induction then is used to put students into a receptive frame of mind:

  • To focus student attention on the lesson.
  • To create an organizing framework for the ideas, principles, or information that is to follow ("advance organizers").
  • To extend the understanding and the application of abstract ideas through the use of example or analogy. Used any time a different activity or new concept is to be introduced.

The mind, when exposed to a new piece of information, attempts to fit this information into an overall picture, i.e. it tends to place facts together in "Jigsaw" fashion to make a complete "whole".

This process, called Closure, is attained when the topic of a lesson or part of a lesson has been learnt so that the student can relate the new knowledge to past knowledge.

Although it is an unconscious action of the mind to attempt to achieve Closure, it is the duty of the instructor to assist his students to attain this. This will involve more than a quick summary of the lesson, for as well as grouping together the major points, it provides for the student a needed feeling of achievement.

Just as set induction is not limited to the start of a lesson, closure is not limited to the conclusion of a lesson. It is also needed at points within the lesson so that the students or trainees know what has been covered and what is to follow.

3.2.2 Closure

Those actions or statements by a teacher that are designed to bring a lesson presentation to an appropriate conclusion.

Closure is used to help students bring things together in their own minds, to make sense out of what has just been taught.

Closure is thus used:

  • To cue students to the fact that they have arrived at an important point in the lesson or the end of a lesson.
  • To help organise student learning.
  • To help form a coherent picture, to consolidate, eliminate confusion and frustration, etc.
  • To reinforce the major points to be learned, to help establish the network of thought relationships that provide a number of possibilities for cues for retrieval.

Closure is the act of reviewing and clarifying the key points of a lesson, tying them together into a coherent whole, and ensuring their utility in application by securing them in the student's conceptual network.

Connections