Can modeling or demonstration be used with non-psychomotor skills?

Navigate The Training & Development Questions and Answers Section

Index Page - Training and Learning Myths and Stupid Trainer Tricks
Instructional Methods and Training Methods
Instructional Design
E-Learning
The Business of Training
Issues In The Training Industry

Many trainers believe that the use of demonstration (which also is related to the use of modeling) is restricted to psychomotor skills and behavioral type job skills. That's not true. In fact almost any skills can be transfered through modeling (having learners observe skilled performances), even those that are strictly cognitive in nature, PROVIDED the modeling is structured properly.

Modeling is a powerful technique for teaching thinking skills too, but the technique needs to be modified, since, obviously, an observer can't "observe" someone else's thinking to learn from it.

Regardless of the type of material to be learned, it's important for the demonstrator or model to not only show the behaviors, but to explain the THINKING that is occuring during the model's behavior. So, when the model talks out what he or she is doing (particularly with cognitive skills), the observer learns the thinking too.