General models and families of teaching methods are guides for designing educational activities,
environments and experiences. They help to specify methods of teaching and patterns for these
methods. Instructional strategies, or teaching methods, depend on a number of factors such as the
developmental level of students, goals, intent and objectives of the teacher, content, and
environment including time, physical setting and resources. Imagine a course that challenges
teachers to meet a number of objectives. A single method cannot meet all of our goals nor can a
single method accommodate all learning styles at once. For example, demonstrations or projects
are effective for meeting some goals but ineffective for meeting others. So we need a toolbox of
methods, not merely a single tool.