Instructional material, also known as teaching/learning materials (TLM),[1] are any collection of materials including animate and inanimate objects and human and non-human resources that a teacher may use in teaching and learning situations to help achieve desired learning objectives. Instructional materials may aid a student in concretizing a learning experience so as to make learning more exciting, interesting and interactive.
They are tools used in instructional activities, which include active learning and assessment.[2] The term encompasses all the materials and physical means an instructor might use to implement instruction and facilitate students achievement of instructional objectives.
Background
The value of instructional materials as a pedagogical aid can be seen in Vachel Lindsay's poem "Euclid":
Old Euclid drew a circle
On a sand-beach, long ago.
He bounded and enclosed it
With angles thus and so.
His set of solemn greybeards
Nodded and argued much
Of arc and of circumference Diameter and such.
A silent child stood by them
From morning until noon,
Because they drew such charming
Round pictures of the moon.[3]
Types of instructional materials
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Instructional materials can be classified by type, including print, visual, and audiovisual, among others:
Print
Textbooks, pamphlets, handouts, study guides, manuals, blackboard and whiteboard
The Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online (PRIMO) Committee "'promotes and shares peer-reviewed instructional materials created by librarians to teach people about discovering, accessing and evaluating information in networked environments.' In doing so, it reviews librarian-created online tutorials dealing with information literacy and critical thinking skills, and highlights the highest-caliber projects through its "Site of the Month" posts on the ACRL Instruction Section blog (http://acrl.ala.org/IS/category/committees/primo)."[4] PRIMO's goal is to provide librarians quality tutorials for instructional use on a variety of topics in order to save time, effort and cost. PRIMO accepts non-promotional online instructional material intended for undergraduate or graduate-level audiences emphasizing quality over comprehensiveness.