Instructional Strategies Utilized by Physical Therapist Clinical Instructors: An Exploratory Study

Background and Purpose. Physical therapist clinical instructors (CIs) face several challenges to the suitability of the traditional apprenticeship. The Cognitive Apprenticeship Model (CAM) has been proposed to overcome the constraints of insufficient time and the difficulties inherent in conveying decision-making heuristics to students. Its hierarchy of operationally defined instructional strategies is intended to provide students with unobservable constituents of expertise. The purposes of this exploratory study were to examine which instructional strategies of the CAM physical therapist CIs utilize while providing instruction to physical therapist students and to consider the effect of certain demographic variables on that utilization. Subjects. The subjects were 15 volunteer physical therapist CIs. Methods. Divilbiss Random Reminder cued self-reports of instructional strategies that were used. Results. The dominant instructional strategies utilized were modeling, coaching, and scaffolding at a mean percentage of time (MPT) of 12.9%, 19.2%, and 19.6%, respectively. Articulation occur red at an MPT of 9.9%, reflection occur red at an MPT of 4.1%, and exploration occur red at an MPT of 34.3%. Discussion and Conclusion. Subjects tended to utilize instructional strategies relevant to an apprenticeship; they relied heavily on vetted independent practice. Effects of the demographic variables were confounded by sample size. Further, a larger study and application of the CAM's principles is warranted, as is investigation of CIs' preparation for the role. An examination of the time allocated by the CI to direct instruction in physical therapy clinical education should also be considered.