Whole Task Presentation
Updated 2026-08-11
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A principle from instructional design associated with David Jonassen and the whole-task approach, related to advance organizers and situated learning. The core proposition is that presenting the entire task in its real context first builds a mental model of how the components interact, which gives the later practice of individual skills meaning and direction. The key qualification is that the whole must be followed by decomposition, since showing the complete task without breaking it down leaves learners unable to begin.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Full demonstration: show the finished task and its output before teaching any component. - Context anchor: keep each sub-skill practice inside the overall task setting. - Integration return: bring the parts back together into the complete task.
Anchor fast decisions
Learning isolated components produces knowledge that cannot be assembled, because the learner never sees how the parts relate. Encountering the complete task first creates a framework that later components attach to, which makes them retrievable in the right order. The framework also supplies the motivation that fragmented drilling lacks, since the learner knows what the parts are for.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- doi.orghttps://doi.org/10.15753/aje.2011.12.2.008verified
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