Editing Decoding the Disciplines (section)

==Guiding questions in the Decoding process==
The Decoding process is structured by seven questions.<ref name=":0">Middendorf, J.; Pace, D. (2004): [[Decoding the Disciplines: A Model for Helping Students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking|Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking]]. New directions for teaching and learning, 2004(98), 1 – 12.</ref><ref>Middendorf, J.; Shopkow, L. (2018): [[Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks]]. Sterling: Stylus</ref><ref>Pace, D. (2017): [[The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm: Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning]]. Bloomington: Indiana University Press</ref> In the Decoding literature these questions usually are referred to as steps. The order of the steps is not mandatory and can be changed as needed.
===[[Step 1 - Identify a Bottleneck to Learning|Question 1: Where does the student experience a bottleneck to learning?]]===
Answering this question is usually the starting point of the Decoding process. Instructors identify an activity or task in their course that students are supposed to learn but often fail. The activity may well be a mental activity.

===[[Question 2: Uncovering the tacit mental moves|Question 2: What does the specialist do to get past the bottleneck?]]===
This question leads to a key activity of the Decoding process: Instructors explore in depths the steps that disciplinary experts go through to accomplish the activity or task identified as a bottleneck. This exploration is often carried out via a [[Decoding interview]] with typically two interviewers helping the instructor to make his or her expertise explicit. 

There are a number of [[Question 2: Uncovering the tacit mental moves|alternative ways to “''Decode''”]] the mental move of the specialist besides the interview, “flash” techniques which include analogies and game mechanics, the bottleneck writing tour, concept/mind mapping or flow charting, 3-d modeling with playdough or other simple materials, and rubric building, to name a few. All of the various ''Decoding'' techniques involve conversation with an interlocutor, preferably one from a different discipline
===[[Step 3 - Modeling Mental Operations|Question 3: How can I show students what they have to do?]]===
A way for instructors to do this is by modeling or demonstrating how they accomplish these activities as an expert. In order to do so, instructors may

*Introduce the mental move through analogies, metaphors, or narratives.
*perform the (mental) steps in front of your students using a subject-specific example.
*explicitly highlight critical operations.

===[[Step 4: Give Students Practice and Feedback|Question 4: How can I give my students practice and feedback?]]===
Often instructors provide their students with tasks or learning activities that allow students to perform the activity identified as a bottleneck and receive feedback.

===[[Step 5 - Motivate and lessen resistance|Question 5: How can I deal with emotional bottlenecks to learning?]]===
The Decoding the Disciplines process can lead to considerable changes in teaching. Students might resist such changes. These resistances can be viewed as a further kind of bottleneck which is [[Emotional Bottleneck|emotional]] rather than [[Cognitive Bottleneck|cognitive]]. Instructors are encouraged to anticipate such resistances in order to better cope with them.

===[[Step 6 - Assess Student Mastery|Question 6: How can I know if my students have mastered these operations?]]===
In order to find out, instructors give assessments that provide information on the degree to which students can perform the activity identified as a bottleneck.

===[[Step 7 - Share What Has Been Learned Through the Decoding Process|Question 7: How can I share this process with others?]]===
Instructors may share their findings informally with colleagues or more formally through publications or presentations as a form of [[wikipedia:Scholarship_of_teaching_and_learning|Scholarship of Teaching and Learning]]. As of 2024 instructors and researchers have published more than 150 articles on Decoding.<ref>[http://decodingthedisciplines.org/bibliography/ Bibliography of Decoding Work]</ref>