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UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE As Per Updated Syllabus UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 1  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE TEACHING Teaching...

UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE As Per Updated Syllabus UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 1  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE TEACHING Teaching is one of the instruments of education and is a special function is to impart understanding and skill. The main function of teaching is to make learning effective. The learning process would get completed as a result of teaching. So, teaching and learning are very closely related. Concept of teaching Teaching is a process in which one individual teaches or instruct another individual. Teaching is considered as the act of imparting instructions to the learners in the classroom situation. It is watching systematically. Dewey:- considers it as a manipulation of the situation, where the learner will acquire skills and insight with his own initiation. Teaching is an activity that influences a learner to learn and acquire desired knowledge and skills and also their desired ways of living in society. It is a process in which the learner, teacher and other variables are organized in a systematic way to attain some predetermined goals. Teaching definition- (1) H C Morrison:- Teaching is an intimate contact between the more mature personality and a less mature one. (2) Jackson:- Teaching is a face to face encounters between two or more persons, one of whom ( teacher) intends to effect certain changes in the other participants ( students). (3) J B Hough and James K Duncan:- Teaching is an activity with four phases, a curriculum planning phase, an instructing phase, and an evaluating phase. This definition presents the organizational aspect by which we can describe and analyze the teaching process. (4) N.L. Gage (Democratic point of view):- Teaching is interpersonal influence aimed at changing the behavior potential of another person. (5) Clerk:- Teaching refers to activities that are designed and performed to produce in students behavior. We can define teaching according to the following three viewpoints. (a) Authoritarian (b) Democratic (c) Liassez faire. (a) Authoritarian:- According to this viewpoint-  Teaching is an activity of memory level only  This teaching does not develop thoughts and attitude in the students.  Is known as thoughtless teaching  This teaching is teachers centric criticism of the teachers. (b) Democratic teaching:- According to this-  Teaching is done at understanding level.  Memory level teaching is the prerequisite (concept) is first memorized and then understand COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 2  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  Such teaching is known as thoughtful teaching.  According to this point of view, teaching is an interactive process, primarily involving classroom talks which takes place between teachers and student.  Here students can ask questions and criticize the teachers.  Here students can ask the questions and self-disciplined is insisted. (c) Laissez Faire Attitude:-  It is known as reflective level teaching.  It is more difficult then memory level and understanding level of teaching.  Memory level and understanding level teaching are must for the reflective level of teaching.  It is highly thoughtful activity.  In this level both students and teachers are participants.  This level produces insights. Nature and characteristic of teaching:- Teaching is a social and cultural process, which is planned in order to enable an individual to learn something in his life. We can describe the nature and characteristics of teaching in following way:- (1) Teaching is a complete social process: Teaching is undertaken for the society and by the society. With everchanging social ideas, it is not possible to describe exact and permanent nature of teaching. (2) Teaching is giving information: Teaching tells students about the things they have to know and students cannot find out themselves. Communication of knowledge is an essential part of teaching. (3) teaching is an interactive process: Teaching is an interactive process between the student and the teaching sources, which is essential for the guidance, progress, and development of students. (4) Teaching is a process of development and learning. (5) Teaching causes a change in behavior. (6) Teaching is art as well as science. (7) Teaching is face to face encounter. (8) Teaching is observable, measurable and modifiable. (9) Teaching is skilled occupation:- Every successful teacher is expected to know the general methods of teaching-learning situations. (10) Teaching facilitates learning (11) Teaching is both conscious and an unconscious process. (12) Teaching is from memory level to reflective level. (13) Teaching is a continuum of training, conditioning, instruction, and indoctrination. Separation of teaching from other similar processes:- In order to understand the meaning of teaching, it is essential to understand the difference between teaching and other similar concepts like conditioning, training, instruction, and indoctrination. Here, a brief description is given below:- Conditioning v/s Teaching COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 3  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE Teaching  Teaching aims at the development of potential and intellect.  It has broader scope  Reinforcement is not necessary for teaching.  In teaching repetition of the taught subject matter is not necessary.  In teaching, there is a curriculum that is very comprehensive  In teaching qualitative and quantitative techniques are used for evaluation.  Teaching is a broader process with various levels. Conditioning  It aims at modification of behavior and learning habits.  Scope of conditioning is relatively narrow  Reinforcement plays a vital role here.  Conditioning is done by the repetition of behavior to be acquired.  In conditioning, curriculum is fixed  Evaluation in conditioning is done on the basis of the acquisition of a behavior or a habit.  Conditioning is considered as the lowest level of the entire process of teaching. Teaching and instruction Instruction is the act of telling the learner what to do or what not do. Teaching  Scope is wide  It is both formal and informal  teaching is a continuum for modification of behavior  Teaching means the development of potential of an individual  Range of methods used in teaching is very wide  Teaching is imparted in school, library, political group etc. Instruction  Its scope is narrow and limited  Instruction is always formal  Instruction is a part of teaching  Instruction means to impart knowledge of specific subjects  Instruction is generally confined to the classroom Teaching and Indoctrination Indoctrination is the process of forming certain beliefs. Some ideas are infused in the mind of the learner from the beginning. These ideas are continuously put in the minds of the learners and thus such ideas become their firm believes. Teaching  The scope is broad.  Aims at the development of the potential of the learner.  Teaching points out that there are different solutions, often to the Same problem  It provides freedom to the child to learn. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 4  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  Discipline is democratic and social discipline is emphasized Indoctrination  Scope is very narrow  It aims at changing some beliefs and attitudes.  Indoctrination poses the belief that there is only one solution to the problem  There is no freedom for the child.  Discipline is very rigid. Models of teaching a. Pedagogy model: In this method, the teacher, more or less, controls the material to be learned and the pace of learning while presenting the course content to the students. It is also called instructor-centred approach. In this, the learner is dependent upon the instructor for all learning. b. Andragogical model: In this model, the learner is mostly self-directed and is responsible for his or her own learning. In this method, the instructors facilitate the learning of participants and help them by offering opportunities to learn themselves and acquire new knowledge. Objectives of teaching A good objective should be specific, outcome-based and measurable. The objectives of teaching and learning must integrate at the end of the instruction. The objectives of teaching are:  To bring desired changes in students' attitude.  To shape behaviour and conduct.  Acquisition of knowledge.  To improve the learning skills of students.  Formation of belief.  To become a social & efficient member of society. General objectives of teaching The classification of the general objectives of teaching in terms of school subject matter is not sufficient to explain the ultimate ends of education. They include, essentially, the promotion of a well-integrated person capable of taking a responsible, active role in society. With such a purpose in mind, one may achieve more insight by choosing a psychological analysis of the objectives into the attainment of intellectual abilities and social insights (cognition), the learning of practical active skills (psychomotor learning), and the development of emotions, attitudes, and values (affective learning). Cognitive growth begins at the level of the infant school, with the acquisition of early language and numerical capabilities, and continues increasingly to dominate education to the secondary and higher levels. But the learner is more than an enlarging reservoir of information. With that acquisition goes a growing power to generalize, abstract, infer, interpret, explain, apply, and create. Cognitive training produces a thinker-observer aware of the modes of thought and judgment making up human intellectual activity. In the final stages, the teacher aims at a thinker, critic, organizer, and creator. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 5  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE In the development of psychomotor learning, the teacher is concerned with the promotion of coordinated skills and their creative use. Instruction begins with the acts of handwriting and plastic art play, characteristic of earlier years of schooling. It includes painting, games, workshop skills, and practical science. It has a high prestige value among the pupils themselves and the wider community. The permeation of emotional learning throughout the whole educative process is not always obvious, in part because very often it is brought about incidentally. Teachers may be self- conscious and self-critical about the deliberate inculcation of emotional responses, which will provide the energy and a mainspring of social life. The acquisition and application of values and attitudes are most marked by the time of adolescence and dominate the general life of the young individual. Theoretical, aesthetic, social, economic, political, ethical, and sometimes religious values pervade the school curriculum. Literature, art, the humanities, and sometimes religious teaching are all directly involved, and the teaching of science and mathematics can bring about a positive attitude toward cognitive and theoretical values. An individual’s emotional structure is the pattern of personal values and attitudes. Under the influence of instruction and experience, that structure shows three kinds of change. First, pupils learn to select those situations and problems to which they will make appropriate emotional responses. Second, in general, an increasing range of situations includes happenings more remote from the learner. At first, emotions are aroused by situations directly affecting the child. As children become more mature, they are increasingly involved in affairs and causes far removed from their own personal lives. Third, their repertoire of emotional responses gradually becomes less immediate, expressive, and linked with physical activity. LEVELS OF TEACHING Teaching is a purposeful activity. Through teaching the teacher brings a desirable change in the learner. Both the concepts teaching and learning are interrelated to each other. Development of all-round personality of the learner is the final goal of teaching and learning. During teaching an interaction takes place between an experienced person (teacher) and an inexperienced person (student). Here the main aim is to bring change in the behavior of the student. Teachers teach students at three levels. They have to keep in mind about the developmental stage of the learners so that desired educational objectives can be achieved. These three levels are: a. Memory level: Thoughtless teaching b. Understanding level: Thoughtful teaching c. Reflective level: Upper thoughtful level COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 6  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE Memory level of teaching The objective of the Memory Level of teaching is just to impart information or knowledge to the learner. This knowledge or information is factual in nature, which is acquired through a mechanical process (i.e. memorization or rote learning). Memory Level of teaching covers only the knowledge-based objective of Bloom’s taxonomy where the students learn to identify, recall, or remember the objects, events, ideas, and concepts and retain them in memory. Memory level teaching lacks insight. Psychologically, it is cognitive level teaching. Teaching and learning at memory level are committing factual material to the memory. The learner learns the material, retain the meaningful material and reproduce the material as and when required. It is the first and thoughtless level of teaching. It is concerned with memory or mental ability that exists in all living beings. Teaching at memory level is considered to be the lowest level of teaching. At this level,  The thinking ability does not play any role.  Students only cram the facts, information, formulas and laws that are taught to them.  The teaching is nothing but learning the subject matter by rote.[Bigge, Morris L(1967)]  The role of the teacher is prominent and that of the student is secondary.  The study material is organized and pre-planned. The teacher presents the study material in a sequential order. Important Points of Memory Level of Teaching (MLT)  It is supported by Herbart Theory of Appreciation, which states that this level of teaching seeks the learner to acquaint himself with the relationship between the facts and principles.  It is the first stage of teaching to get factual information.  Useful for children in the lower classes because of their intellect is under development, and they have a rote memory. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 7  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  MLT aims to get factual information, to train memory, to retrain the learning material in-memory storage, to reproduce and recognize the learned information when required  Teacher dominated methods are used- like drill, review, and revision and asking questions.  The evaluation system mainly includes oral, written, and essay-type examinations.  Good memory includes rapidity in learning, stability of retention, rapidity in recalling, and ability to bring only desirable contents to the conscious level.  Memory level teaching acts as the first step for understanding and reflective levels of teaching. It is a pre-requisite for understanding level teaching. Memory level teaching lacks insight. Psychologically, it is cognitive level teaching. Merits of memory level teaching 1. Useful for children at lower classes. This is because of their intellect us under development and they have a rote memory. 2. The role of the teacher is important in this level of teaching and he is free to make choices of subject matter, plan it and can present it at will. 3. The knowledge acquired at memory level teaching forms a basis for the future i.e. when student’s intelligence and thinking is required. 4. Memory level teaching acts as the first step for understanding and reflective levels of teaching. It is pre-requisite for understanding level teaching. Demerits of memory level teaching 1. This does not contribute to the development of the student’s capabilities. 2. Since at this level student learns by rote, the knowledge gained does not prove helpful in real life situations as it does not develops the talents of students. 3. The pupils are kept in strict discipline and cramming is insisted on this teaching. 4. Intelligence does not carry any importance in this type of teaching and it lacks motivation. Objectives of memory level teaching 1. Imparting knowledge and information to the learner. 2. Knowledge or information gained by the learner is factual in nature. It is acquired through memorization or rote learning. 3. It covers only the knowledge-based objectives of Bloom’s Taxonomy. At this level, the student learns to identify, recall or remembers the objects, events, ideas and retain them in memory. Nature of subject matter 1. At this level, teaching is subject centered. 2. Simple things are taught to students that can be memorized easily. 3. The subject matter is well organized and is simple in nature so that it can be acquired through rote learning. 4. Subject matter includes the information about simple concepts, terms, and elements related to different things of the world around us. 5. Thus the knowledge delivered to learners is definite, structured and observable. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 8  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE Method Used 1. We know that at this level of teaching is subject-centered so teacher dominant methods like drill, review, and revision, and asking questions are often used. 2. Drill means repetition or practice for the purpose of attaining proficiency in memorizing the material. 3. Review or revision is considered the method of revising the elements to relate them to new experiences and to form new associations for the development of new skills or learning to solve new problems. 4. Asking question technique is used to examine whether or not knowledge level objectives of teaching have been achieved. Role of the teacher 1. The teacher plays a very dominating and authoritarian role. 2. He is the authority to instruct, deliver, direct, control and evaluate performance. He is the stage setter, learning resource and manager of every classroom activity. 3. So, in this level of teaching right from the selection of the subject matter to its evaluation, the key process of teaching and learning remains with the teacher. Role of Learner 1. In memory level teaching role of the learner is a passive one. 2. This is because contents of the subject matter, teaching tools, and methods employed for teaching are all decided by the teacher. 3. The characteristics of the learner should be taken care of while framing objectives and curriculum, and selecting teaching-learning activities and methods of teaching and evaluation. Teaching Equipment 1. Teaching equipment work as an assistant in the process of teaching and learning 2. Different kinds of teaching aids like visual, audio and audio-visual aids, e.g. models, charts, maps, pictures, T.V., radio etc. develop a curiosity of the learners towards the subject-matter. 3. The teacher can use a variety of teaching aids to make students attentive to learning. Nature of Motivation 1. Motivation is something that drives students to learn. To satisfy his own desire of learning should be an intrinsic feeling, not a forced one. 2. In memory level of teaching the teacher forces the students to learn the content through the process of memorization. 3. Hence the nature of motivation at this level of teaching is purely extrinsic. Evaluation system 1. In the evaluation, the teacher measures the learning outcomes based on predetermined objectives. 2. Here both oral and written tests are used to test the memory power of students. 3. In the written test, short type, recall type, recognition type, multiple choice, and matching type test items are used. 4. Students are required to attempt the maximum number of questions. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 9  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE Psychological Bases of Memory Level of Teaching According to Jean Piaget, beginner learners in school are at the pre-operational level of cognitive development and they cannot operate upon abstract concepts. As per their mental development, they can learn simple concepts without analyzing their true meaning and nature. They should not be expected to reflect upon them. The Herbartian theory of apperception supports that the young children’s mind is ready for perceiving themselves and the world around. Their mind is ready for a great mass of factual information including concepts, elements, structures, models and theories. They can acquire and retain information about a large number of things, objects, and material through memorization. Conditioning theory has been advocated, Pavlov and Skinner. It underlies the idea that correct response made by the individual is strengthened by reinforcement to retain the learned subject-matter longer and to facilitate ease in further learning. Classical conditioning of Pavlov involves the mechanical process as is applied at memory level teaching; and thorough review or retrieval, correct learning by the student is rewarded and retained for further use. Overall Thoughts on memory level teaching In sum, it cannot be said that memory level teaching is totally meaningless and useless. It is useful for young children when their mental ability is not so well-developed and their cognitive development is at a low level. They are not expected to reason out and reflect upon teaching material and contents. It is the age when they have to expand and broaden their view by receiving and accepting more information about concepts, elements, things, objects, and structures. Suggestions for Memory Level Teaching 1. The teaching material should be meaningful and purposeful. 2. The teaching material should have a definite structure and it should be simple to complex. 3. Adequate and appropriate teaching aids should be used for teaching. 4. All parts of the content should be integrated and well sequenced. 5. The subject-matter should be presented in a systematic and organized way. 6. There must be a continuous evaluation to measure the improve the memory power of students. 7. The retention of the material in memory of students can be increased by more practice and exercise. 8. The continuous reinforcement should be provided during the course of instruction. UNDERSTANDING LEVEL It comes in between the memory level and reflective level. This stage of teaching involves a moderate level of thoughtful behaviour. It is a pre-requisite for the reflective level teaching- learning, which requires the use of higher mental processes. The term “understanding” literally means to comprehend, to grasp, and to have knowledge of, to learn, to interpret and to infer, etc. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 10  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE Understanding something is to perceive the meaning, grasp the idea and comprehend the meaning. In the field of Education and Psychology, the meaning of ‘understanding‘ can be classified as  Seeing the total use of facts  Seeing relationship  A generalized insight The teaching at the understanding level is of a higher quality than the one at the memory level. It is more useful and thoughtful from the point of view of mental capabilities. At this level of teaching, the teacher explains the student about the relationship between principles and facts and teach them how these principles can be applied. Memory level teaching barrier is essential to be crossed for this level of teaching. As compared to memory level teaching, the understanding level teaching has greater merit. This enables students to have complete command over subject material. In the understanding level role of the teacher is more active. The students at this level are second any. At this level, no cramming is encouraged. The new knowledge acquired at this level is related to the earlier knowledge gained. A generalization is made on the basis of facts and the facts are used in the new situations. Morris, L. Bigge, in his book, ‘Learning theory for Teachers’, defines that understanding level teaching, “seeks to acquaint students with the relationships between generalizations and particulars, between principles and solitary facts, and which show- the use to which the principles may be applied.” Herbart mentions three forms of mental reality which play an important role in teaching- learning at the understanding level. They are sense impressions, images, and elective elements of pleasure and pain. In Herbart’s arrangements, the teacher is conceived as an architect as well as the builder of the minds of the students by manipulating ideas to construct a student’s circle of thought. He advocated six steps of teaching:  Preparation,  Presentation,  Comparison,  Generalization,  Application, And  Evaluation Morrison very clearly stated that understanding is not merely being able to recall something; it is not mere generalization deduced from specific facts; it is an insight into how it may be used in future situations. Morrison asserted that the outcome of all teaching is ‘ Mastery’ and not memorization of facts. He proposed a unit plan, each unit representing an insight which is relatively complete in itself. Important points:  Morrison is the main proponent of understanding level of teaching.  It is ‘memory plus insight’ as it goes beyond just memorizing facts. It focuses on the mastery of the subject. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 11  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  It makes pupils understand generalizations, principles, and facts.  It provides more and more opportunities for the students to develop ‘intellectual behaviour’.  It provides an active role for both the pupil and the teacher for the assimilation of facts. 6. The evaluation system mainly includes both essay and objective-type questions. Merits of the understanding level of teaching 1. At this level of teaching students to make use of their thinking abilities. 2. Knowledge acquired at this level forms the basis of the reflective level of teaching. 3. Here the teacher presents subject matter before the students in an organized and sequential form. The new knowledge acquired is related to the previously acquired knowledge. 4. Here the students do not learn by rote. Here they learn by understanding the facts and information and their use and purpose. Demerits of the understanding level of teaching 1. Teaching at this level is subject centered. There is no interaction between the teacher and students at this level. 2. This type of teaching mastery i.e., emphasized. 3. Ignores higher cognitive abilities 4. Less emphasis on intrinsic motivation 5. No individualized learning 6. Teacher centred Reflective level of teaching This Level of teaching is the highest level of teaching-learning activity. It is the stage of learning when students do not merely repeat and revise or answer the questions as asked for; nor do they only understand, learn, interrelate or interpret the concepts but also they ponder upon, contemplate and pay serious thoughtful consideration to the presented contents. This level is also known as introspective level. Reflecting on something means giving careful thought to something over a period of time. It also means thinking deeply about something. Reflective level of teaching is considered to be the highest level at which teaching is carried out.  It is highly thoughtful and useful.  A student can attain this level only after going through memory level and understanding level.  Teaching at the reflective level enables the students to solve the real problems of life.  At this level, the student is made to face a real problematic situation. The student by understanding the situation and using his critical abilities succeeds in solving the problem.  At this level emphasis is laid on identifying the problem, defining it and finding a solution to it. The student’s original thinking and creative-abilities develop at this level. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 12  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  The role of the teacher in this level of teaching is democratic. He does not force knowledge on the students but develops in their talents and capabilities.  The role of the students is quite active.  Reflective level of teaching is that which is problem-centered and the student is busy in original imagination. The main objectives of Reflective Level of Teaching are:  To develop insight into the learner to solve problems.  To develop rational and critical thinking in the students.  To develop the ability of independent thinking and decision making in the students. Important Points  Hunt is the main proponent of reflective level of teaching.  It is the highest level of teaching and includes both ULT and MLT.  It is problem-centric approach of teaching.  The students are assumed to adopt some sort of research approach to solve the problem.  Classroom environment is to be sufficiently ‘open and independent’. The learners are self-motivated (intrinsic) and active.  The aim is to develop the reflective power of learners so that they can solve problems of their lives by reasoning, logic, and imagination, and lead successful and happy lives.  The pupil occupies the primary place and teacher assumes the secondary place.  Essay-type test is used for evaluation. Attitude, belief, and involvement are also evaluated. Merits of reflective level teaching 1. The teaching at this level is not teacher-centered or subject-centered, it is leaner- centered. 2. There is an interaction between the teacher and the taught at the reflective level teaching. 3. At this level, teaching is appropriate for the higher class. 4. At this level, teaching is highly thoughtful and useful than the teaching at the memory or understanding level. Demerits of reflective level teaching 1. Not suitable for small children at the lower level of teaching. It is suitable only for mentally matured children 2. At this level, the study material is neither organized nor pre-planned. Therefore students cannot acquire systematic and c;rganized knowledge of their study courses. BASIC REQUIREMENTS IN TEACHING  Three variables in teaching -Includes the Teacher, Student & Environmental factors.  Professionalism  Suitable Environment.  Teacher Student Relationship. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 13  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  Students Discipline  Teacher & Students devotion to teaching & learning. The teaching process involves the following variables: 1. Dependent Variable: The student is a dependent variable. He is subjected to changes and developments through the efforts of the teacher and teaching process. In the process of teaching, the dependent variable plays the functional or active part. 2. Independent Variable: The teacher is an independent variable. He is responsible for the functioning of students, the dependent variables. He is free to act in the process while students are quite dependent on him. The teacher does plans, organizes, leads and controls the process of teaching. Like dependent variables, independent variables also play the functional or active part. 3. Intervening Variables: There is a need for desirable interaction between the dependent and the independent variable to achieve the goals of teaching. This role is played by the intervening variables. The content of teaching, methods and techniques, tactics and strategies management of instructional material and teaching environments, etc., are the Intervening Variables. Basic requirements of teaching include, I. The Teacher: The teacher is an innovator of information and knowledge. He is the creator and transmitter of knowledge, values and ethos to our youngsters for latter’s physical, mental, emotional and social development. In the process of teaching-learning, the teacher is the main vehicle, and he knows what is right and what is wrong in the society. The teacher masters over his subject and uses an effective language for the communication in order to bring a positive change in the behavior of the learner. Since, it is the age of science and technology, the teacher ought to have a sound knowledge of science and technology. He should therefore use the latest means of media communication in the process of teaching. II. The Learner: The learner is a dependent one and immature. He has to cooperate in the teaching-learning process with the teacher and try to get as much information and knowledge as possible from him. He must follow the teacher for understanding and getting knowledge. The learners may be categorized as the students of primary schools, elementary schools, secondary schools, senior secondary schools, colleges or universities. III. The Subject (Topic): The subject is the main concern in the whole endeavor of teaching and learning process. The topic is generally decided by the teacher but the learner can also contribute in deciding a topic, so that, a balanced and harmonious development takes place. It is for the teacher to prepare necessary charts, maps, tables and models that pertain to the decided topic. Media based technological and scientific aids may also be made available by the teacher to make the teaching more interesting and understandable. IV. The Environment: The leamer’s growth and all round development are the main objectives of teaching. This is possible only when there is a suitable environment for the teaching- learning process. The teacher as such creates such environment and nurtures the’ learner in that environment. Learners are not passive objects. For long, the child or the learner was viewed as a natural or given category. This undermined the importance of the fact that the COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 14  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE development of the learner is intimately linked to changes in the sociocultural and historical conditions in a given society. OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING System of actions: Teaching is a system of actions varied in form and related to content and pupil behaviour under the prevailing physical and social conditions. Professional activity: It is a professional activity involving a teacher and student with a view to the development of students’ personality. Professionalism helps students in being regular and making harmony with their objects towards those they are concentrated. Subjected to analysis and assessment: Teaching can be analysed and assessed and analysis and assessment provide feedback for further improvement. Interactive process: Teaching is highly dominated by communication skills. Teaching is an interactive process carried with purpose and objectives. Specialized Task: It is a specialized task and may be taken as a set of skills for the realization of certain objectives. Collection of various modes: Teaching is a collection of various modes of itself. It is a broader term. Terms like conditioning, training, instruction, indoctrination denote a kind of teaching. They are a part of teaching but not a synonym with teaching. These are various modes of teaching contributing to teaching. 1. Begins class promptly and in a well-organized way. 2. Treats students with respect and caring. 3. Provides the significance/importance of information to be learned. 4. Provides clear explanations. Holds attention and respect of students….practices effective classroom management. 5. Uses active, hands-on student learning. 6. Varies his/her instructional techniques. 7. Provides clear, specific expectations for assignments. 8. Provides frequent and immediate feedback to students on their performance. 9. Praises student answers and uses probing questions to clarify/elaborate answers. 10. Provides many concrete, real-life, practical examples. 11. Draws inferences from examples/models….and uses analogies. 12. Creates a class environment which is comfortable for students….allows students to speak freely. 13. Teaches at an appropriately fast pace, stopping to check student understanding and engagement. 14. Communicates at the level of all students in class. 15. Has a sense of humor! 16. Uses nonverbal behavior, such as gestures, walking around, and eye contact to reinforce his/her comments. 17. Presents him/herself in class as ‘real people.’ 18. Focuses on the class objective and does not let class get sidetracked. 19. Uses feedback from students (and others) to assess and improve teaching. 20. Reflects on own teaching to improve it. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 15  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE Characteristics of Teaching “The aim of teaching is simple: it is to make student learning possible…To teach is to make an assumption about what and how the student learns; therefore, to teach well implies learning about students’ learning” (Ramsden, 1992). The task of the teacher in higher education has many dimensions: it involves the provision of a broad context of knowledge within which students can locate and understand the content of their more specific studies; it involves the creation of a learning environment in which students are encouraged to think carefully and critically and express their thoughts, and in which they wish to confront and resolve difficulties rather than gloss over them, it involves constantly monitoring and reflecting on the processes of teaching and student understanding and seeking to improve them. Most difficult of all perhaps, it involves helping students to achieve their own aims, and adopt the notion that underlies higher education: that students’ learning requires from them commitment, work, responsibility for their own learning, and a willingness to take risks, and that this process has its rewards, not the least of which is that learning can be fun. So what is good or effective teaching? Smith (1995) suggests that learning ‘is a consequence of experience’ (p.588). He argues that education and therefore teaching, should be focused on the creation of ‘appropriately nourishing experiences so that learning comes about naturally and inevitably’ (p.589). He states that schools should focus less on ‘talking about learning and teaching’ and ‘more about doing’ (p.589) Alton-Lee (2003) has provided ten clearly defined and research-supported characteristics of quality teaching 1. A focus on student achievement. 2. Pedagogical practices that create caring, inclusive and cohesive learning communities. 3. Effective links between school and the cultural context of the school. 4. Quality teaching is responsive to student learning processes. 5. Learning opportunities are effective and sufficient. 6. Multiple tasks and contexts support learning cycles. 7. Curriculum goals are effectively aligned. 8. Pedagogy scaffolds feedback on students’ task engagement. 9. Pedagogy promotes learning orientations, student self regulation, meta cognitive strategies and thoughtful student discourse. 10. Teachers and students engage constructively in goal oriented assessment. (Alton-Lee, 2003: vi-x) These are not easy tasks, and there is no simple way to achieve them. Still less are there any prescriptions that will hold good in all disciplines and for all students. How we teach must be carefully tailored to suit both that which is to be learnt and those who are to learn it. To put it another way – and to add another ingredient – our teaching methods should be the outcome of our aims (that is, what we want the students to know, to understand, to be able to do, and to value), our informed conceptions of how students learn, and the institutional context – with all of its constraints and possibilities – within which the learning is to take place. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 16  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE 1. The main character of teaching is to provide guidance and training. 2. Teaching is interaction between teacher and students. 3. Teaching is an art to give knowledge to students with effective way. 4. Teaching is a science to educate fact and causes of different topics of different subjects. 5. Teaching is continues process. 6. Teacher can teach effectively, if he has full confidence on the subject. 7. Teaching encourages students to learn more and more. 8. Teaching is formal as well as informal 9. Teaching is communication of information to students. In teaching , teacher imparts information in interesting way so that students can easily understand the information. 10. Teaching is tool to help student to adjust himself in society and its environment. The following statements represent characteristics that are common to all content areas. Section One: Learning Climate A safe environment supported by the teacher in which high, clear expectations and positive relationships are fostered; active learning is promoted Teacher Characteristics A. Creates learning environments where students are active participants as individuals and as members of collaborative groups B. Motivates students and nurtures their desire to learn in a safe, healthy and supportive environment which develops compassion and mutual respect C. Cultivates cross cultural understandings and the value of diversity D. Encourages students to accept responsibility for their own learning and accommodates the diverse learning needs of all students E. Displays effective and efficient classroom management that includes classroom routines that promote comfort, order and appropriate student behaviors F. Provides students equitable access to technology, space, tools and time G. Effectively allocates time for students to engage in hands-on experiences, discuss and process content and make meaningful connections H. Designs lessons that allow students to participate in empowering activities in which they understand that learning is a process and mistakes are a natural part of learning I. Creates an environment where student work is valued, appreciated and used as a learning tool Student Characteristics A. accepts responsibility for his/her own learning B. actively participates and is authentically engaged C. collaborates/teams with other students D. exhibits a sense of accomplishment and confidence E. takes educational risks in class F. Practices and engages in safe, responsible and ethical use of technology COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 17  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE Section Two: Classroom Assessment and Reflection The teacher and student collaboratively gather information and reflect on learning through a systematic process that informs instruction Teacher Characteristics A. Uses multiple methods to systematically gather data about student understanding and ability B. Uses student work/data, observations of instruction, assignments and interactions with colleagues to reflect on and improve teaching practice C. Revises instructional strategies based upon student achievement data D. Uncovers students’ prior understanding of the concepts to be addressed and addresses students’ misconceptions/incomplete conceptions E. Co-develops scoring guides/rubrics with students and provides adequate modeling to make clear the expectations for quality performance F. Guides students to apply rubrics to assess their performance and identify improvement strategies G. Provides regular and timely feedback to students and parents that moves learners forward H. Allows students to use feedback to improve their work before a grade is assigned I. Facilitates students in self- and peer-assessment J. Reflects on instruction and makes adjustments as student learning occurs Student Characteristics A. Recognizes what proficient work looks like and determines steps necessary for improving his/her work B. Monitors progress toward reaching learning targets C. Develops and/or uses scoring guides periodically to assess his/her own work or that of peers D. Uses teacher and peer feedback to improve his/her work E. Reflects on work and makes adjustments as learning occurs Section Three: Instructional Rigor and Student Engagement A teacher supports and encourages a student’s commitment to initiate and complete complex, inquiry-based learning requiring creative and critical thinking with attention to problem solving. Teacher Characteristics A. Teacher instructs the complex processes, concepts and principles contained in state and national standards using differentiated strategies that make instruction accessible to all students. B. Teacher scaffolds instruction to help students reason and develop problem- solving strategies. C. Teacher orchestrates effective classroom discussions, questioning, and learning tasks that promote higher-order thinking skills. D. Teacher provides meaningful learning opportunities for students. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 18  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE E. Teacher challenges students to think deeply about problems and encourages/models a variety of approaches to a solution. F. Teacher integrates a variety of learning resources with classroom instruction to increase learning options. G. Teacher structures and facilitates ongoing formal and informal discussions based on a shared understanding of rules and discourse. H. Teacher integrates the application of inquiry skills into learning experiences. I. Teacher clarifies and shares with students learning intentions/targets and criteria for success. Student Characteristics A. Student articulates and understands learning intentions/targets and criteria for success. B. Student reads with understanding a variety of texts. C. Student applies and refines inquiry skills. Section Four: Instructional Relevance A teacher’s ability to facilitate learning experiences that are meaningful to students and prepare them for their futures. Teacher Characteristics A. Teacher designs learning opportunities that allow students to participate in empowering activities in which they understand that learning is a process and mistakes are a natural part of the learning. B. Teacher links concepts and key ideas to students’ prior experiences and understandings, uses multiple representations, examples and explanations. C. Teacher incorporates student experiences, interests and real-life situations in instruction. D. Teacher selects and utilizes a variety of technology that support student learning. E. Teacher effectively incorporates 21st Century Learning Skills that prepare students to meet future challenges. F. Teacher works with other teachers to make connections between and among disciplines. G. Teacher makes lesson connections to community, society, and current events. Student Characteristics A. Student poses and responds to meaningful questions. B. Student uses appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze and interpret information from quantitative and qualitative evidence. C. Student develops descriptions, explanation, predictions, and models using evidence. D. Student works collaboratively to address complex, authentic problems which require innovative approaches to solve. E. Student communicates knowledge and understanding in a variety of real- world forms. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 19  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE F. Student communicates knowledge and understanding for a variety of purposes. Section Five: Knowledge of Content A teacher’s understanding and application of the current theories, principles, concepts and skills of a discipline. Teacher Characteristics A. Teacher demonstrates an understanding and in-depth knowledge of content and maintains an ability to convey this content to students. B. Teacher maintains on-going knowledge and awareness of current content developments. C. Teacher designs and implements standards-based courses/lessons/units using state and national standards. D. Teacher uses and promotes the understanding of appropriate content vocabulary. E. Teacher provides essential supports for students who are struggling with the content. F. Teacher accesses a rich repertoire of instructional practices, strategies, resources and applies them appropriately. Student Characteristics A. Student demonstrates growth in content knowledge. B. Student uses and seeks to expand appropriate content vocabulary. C. Student connects ideas across content areas. D. Student uses ideas in realistic problem solving situations. Goals of Teaching The aims of teaching concept with respect to its various modes are as follows-  Teaching – To bring changes in the behaviour of students.  Conditioning – To improve the learning skills of students.  Training – Shaping behaviour and conduct.  Instruction – Acquisition of knowledge.  Indoctrination – Formation of belief. LEARNERS CHARACTERISTICS A Learner is someone who is consistently learning. We all are the learner at some or the other time in our daily life. To be precise, a learner at a particular time is that person who is learning about a particular subject. For a decision maker, it is important to know the learner’s characteristics. It is essential to know what factors affect their learning. Learning can be described that the process of acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, skill values, behaviour and preferences. Learning is strongly based on the intellectual level, cognitive ability, perception, personality and attitude of a learner. As individual many factors affect the learning of a person. They are bound to get influenced by the social arena, cultural habits, and willingness of a person to adopt change. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 20  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE No successful outcome strategy can be expected without analyzing learner characteristics. Learner characteristics can be identified by collecting the information based on their cognitive, physiological, affective and social characteristics. Different methods are used to collect information about learners such as surveys, interviews, observation, current knowledge/ skill levels and performance result. Learning is a key concept in human behaviour. It is the axiom of all teaching and learning. It includes everything the learner does and thinks. It influences the acquisition of information, attitudes and beliefs, goals, achievements and failures, behaviour, both adaptive and maladaptive, and even personality traits. Learner’s characteristics are many such as personal, academic, social/emotional and/or cognitive in nature. Personal characteristics can be defined as demographic information about the learner such as age, gender, cultural background, maturation, language, social economic status and specific needs of a learner group such as particular skills and disabilities for and/or impairments to learning. Academics characteristics of respondents including the education type, education level, and knowledge. The learner has social/emotional characteristics. Cognitive characteristics of learner can be described such as memory, mental pressure, solve problems, intellectual skill, remembers, organizes and store information in the brain. Definitions of Learning  Gardener Murphy: “The term learning covers every modification in behaviour to meet environmental requirements.”  Henry P. Smith: “Learning is the acquisition of new behaviour or the strengthening or weakening of old behaviour as the result of experience.” Learning means a permanent change in the behaviour of the learner through experience, instructions, and study. It is very difficult to measure the learning but the result of learning can be measured. Learner characteristics can be described as measuring the characteristics of learners such as behavioural nature, attitudes and psychological towards everything related to learning. In learner characteristics aptitude is defined according to Cronbach and Snow as “any characteristic of a person that forecasts his probability of success under a given treatment” or “whatever makes a person ready to learn rapidly in a particular situation (or, more generally, to make effective use of a particular environment)” Various components were described in learner characteristics such as gender, attitude, motivation, learner style and cultural background. Learning has been defined as a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience and practice. Any good definition of learning should have three elements: 1. Learning is a change in behaviour; 2. This change takes place through experience or practice. Changes due to growth, maturation and inquiry cannot be considered as learning 3. The occurred change must be relatively permanent, i.e. the learned response must last for a fairly long time. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 21  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE Learners Characteristics- During a learning phase, a learner faces different issues such as doubts, fear of exam, exam pattern, study material and syllabus etc. These problems can be tackled through hard work, consistent efforts and more practice. There are the few characteristics of learners given below-  Good learners are curious A learner is never satisfied. They are always hungry for information, love the discovery and try to find out the solution to problems. Learner collects the information about best study material and latest information which was provided by UGC.  Carefully understanding A good learner possesses the attribute of careful understanding. Most of the knowledge can be gained with the hard work and efforts. A learner should try to understand the subject matter carefully. An effective learner always tries to interpret the stimulus, combine and differentiate them and give them some meaning. Learner’s characteristics are divided into following categories which are explained as follows:  Social and Personal quality- A learner who has personal quality understands subject matter easily and solves the problems very fast. Different learners have different personal and social cognitive power. A Learner who belongs to the different social structure may face the problem during the study at other place but a good leaner easily adapts and adjust environment of the class.  Growth and development- Learner’s characteristics are subject to his mental & intellectual growth and development. Education and training are helpful to positive growth and development. A good educationist takes the responsibility to himself of identifying the characteristics of the learner and developing skills into him/her.  Willingness to learn- A Learner is always willing to learn and open for information. He has a broad mental space and accepts the changes consistently. Inquisitive nature of learner develops an urge in them for acquiring more and more knowledge from their parents, siblings, neighbours, relatives, teachers, society and many more.  Interests and attitude of learner There is a difference between the interest and the attitude of leaner. A teacher always plays an important role to assess the learners for their interest and aptitude so that they can guide according to their aptitude.  Easily Adjustment to Change- Although, it is not possible to every learner to adjust in every situation as a different learner has different characteristics of adjustment. Some learner easily adapts classroom environment and some feel uncomfortable in the class environment. So, a good learner should adjust according to the situation.  Internal Motivation- COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 22  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE Motivation is an important factor for a learner to achieve their goals. Learners differ in their capacity of motivation. Some learners are easily motivated while some feel hesitation for a long time before they get motivated by their instructors.  Social-cultural background Learners come from different culture, area and family background. These learners perform in a homogenous group. Learner takes some time to understand the class environment and adapt. It is very difficult for leaner to adapt, understand and merge the different disciplines in the beginning.  Learning power Some learners very quickly understand the questions and solve the problems. If the learners solve the problems easily, it means the understanding level of a learner is high as compared to another person who takes the more time to understand and solve the problems.  Nervousness Nervousness is the natural attribute an of learners. If the learner feels nervousness, it means that they have lack of knowledge about the things. It can be removed with the help of teaching-learning process.  Application of mind & Creativity All Learners have the different approach to their lives. Most of the learners accept what is taught to them but there are have many creative abilities. They have the ability to explore the things and think innovations. Moreover, application of mind is necessary to remain ahead. In society different person have the different profession such as doctor, scientist, innovators and discovers are from the categories of learner who are creative. A few other important outcomes of learning are also-  Learning is a blend of new or old learner  It is helpful to develop learner as well as society.  It enhances the purposeful ability of learners.  It helps the learner in adjusting to his environment.  It results in a change in behavior of the learner.  Learning is a product of heredity and environment. Types of Learning We can classify learning in a dozen ways from general to the specific. Making general distinctions, psychologists have divided learning categories: A. Conditioning: Generally speaking, the individual has to learn about the stimulus or the response/group of responses. If we learn something about a stimulus, it is perceptual learning. But when we learn to make a particular response or a group of responses, it is called response learning. Response learning could be single or multiple-response learning. When an individual learns a single response associated with a specific stimulus or a stimulus situation, it is conditioning. Conditioning, where; using the sequence of pairing a conditional stimulus (CS) with an unconditioned stimulus (US), a conditioned response (CR) is learned. In this way, a number of conditional responses can be learned. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 23  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE This type of conditioning occurs in human as well as animal subject, single-response learning can be subdivided into classical conditioning, operant learning, and aversive conditioning. B. Motor Learning: It is also labelled as psychomotor learning or skill learning. This includes all kinds of things, people learn to do, such as eating with a spoon or fork, swimming, typewriting, drives a car etc. Learning of such skills depends upon maturity, sensory-motor coordination and integration of the responses related to the intended skill learned at initial preliminary stages. C. Discrimination Learning: We see that animal and human beings discriminate between a number of things in daily life. The general feature of this type of learning is that the subject has to differentiate between the two stimuli which occur to him simultaneously or in close succession and one or the other is frequently rewarded or punished. Differentiation between mother and a stranger, a dog and a doll, a taste of learning. Three important situations of discrimination learning are probability learning, incidental learning and reversal learning. D. Verbal learning: It is the most important kind of learning for human beings because it involves words and formal education situations, and even the most informal learning in older children and adults occur by the verbal route. It also provides an important link between elementary nonverbal learning processes on one hand and learning of language and thought on the other. E. Concept Learning: It is more specifically meant for human subjects. Learning a concept is learning to react to some common property/properties in a group of objects. In children, concept learning starts at a very young age. At a very early stage, they try to learn about various stimuli of the environment and attach verbal labels for them, such as a house, wood, fruit, man, girl etc. Once the concepts are learned, they are manipulated in language and thinking. At a higher stage of learning, power of thinking and judgment is developed, and the individual becomes capable of solving the problem in his own way. F. Problem –Solving: This is the highest level of learning. In problem-solving learning, a problem is given to the organism, which discovers some of its relationship with its environment by some sort of manipulation. In fact, problem-solving in human beings and higher animals like chimpanzees is certainly more than operant conditioning. Human beings very occasionally in solving their problems by more trial and error method. They make use of prior verbal learning; they evaluate the whole situation, employ verbal reasoning, and sometimes also use trial and error activity, and ultimately some solution to the problem is found out. Gestalt Psychologists have made a series of experiments in this direction. Learners Characteristics The concept of learners characteristics is used in the sciences of learning and cognition to designate a target group of learners and define those aspects of their persona, academic, social or cognitive self that may influence how and what they learn. Learners characteristics are important for an instructional designer as they allow them to design and create tailored instruction for a target group. It is expected by taking account of COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 24  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE characteristics of earners, more efficient, effective, and/or motivating instructional materials can be designed and developed. Learners characteristics can be  Personal,  Academic,  Social and emotional, and  Cognitive Personal characteristics often relate to demographic information such as age, gender, maturation, language, social-economic cultural background and specific needs of a leader group such a particular skills and disabilities for and/or impairments to learning. Academic characteristics are more education and/or learning-related such as learning goals of an individual or a group, prior knowledge, educational type, and educational level. Social and emotional characteristics related to the group or individual with respect to the group. Ex. of social/emotional characteristics are group structure, place of the individual within group, sociability, self-image, feelings of self-efficiency and mode etc. Cognitive characteristics relate to such things as attention span, memory, mental procedures, and intellectual skills which determine how the learner perceives, remembers thinks, solves problems, organizes and represents information in her/his brain. Characteristics of Adolescent Learners The characteristics of Adolescent learners can be explained in the following factors: Physical Development  Restlessness and fatigue due to hormonal changes.  A need for physical activity because of increased energy.  Developing sexual awareness, and often touching and bumping into others.  A concern with changes in body size and shape.  Physical vulnerability resulting from poor health/dietary habits or engaging in risky behaviours.  Bodily changes that may cause awkward, uncoordinated movements. Intellectual (Academic) Development:  Moving from concrete to abstract thinking.  An intense curiosity and a wide range of intellectual pursuit, few of which are sustained over the long term.  High achievement when challenged and engaged.  Prefers active over passive learning experiences.  Interest in interacting with peers during learning activities.  An ability to be self-reflective.  Demand the relevance in learning and what is being taught.  Developing the capacity to understand higher levels of humour, some of which may be misunderstood by adults to be sarcastic or even aggressive Social Development: COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 25  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  Experimenting with ways of talking and acting as part of searching for a social position with peers.  Exploring questions of racial and ethnic identity and seeking peers who share the same background.  Exploring questions of sexual identity in visible or invisible ways.  Feeling intimidated or frightened by the initial middle school experience.  Liking fads and being interested in popular culture.  Overreacting to ridicule, embarrassment, and rejection.  Seeking approval of peers and others with attention-getting behaviours.  As interpersonal skills are being developed, fluctuates between demand for independence and a desire for guidance and direction. Emotional and Psychological Development:  Mood swings marked by peaks of intensity and by unpredictability.  Needing to release energy, with sudden outbursts of activity.  A desire to become independent and to search for adult identity and acceptance.  Self-consciousness and being sensitive to personal criticism.  Concern about physical growth and maturity.  A belief that their personal problems, feelings, and experiences are unique to themselves.  Overreacting to ridicule, embarrassment, and rejection.  Seeking approval of peers and others with attention-getting behaviours. Moral Development:  An understanding of the complexity of moral issues (question values, cultural expressions, and religious teachings).  Being capable of and interested in participating in democracy.  Impatience with the pace of change and underestimating how difficult it is to make social changes.  Needing and being influenced by adult role models who will listen and be trustworthy.  Relying on parents and important adults for advice but wanting to make their own decisions.  Judging others quickly but acknowledging one’s own faults slowly.  Show compassion and are vocal for those who are downtrodden or suffering and have a special concern for animals and environmental issues. Characteristics of Adult Learners  Problem-cantered; seek educational solutions.  Results-oriented; have specific results in mind for education.  Self-directed; typically, not dependent on others for direction.  Often sceptical about new information; prefer to try it out before accepting it.  Seek education that relates or applies directly to their perceived needs, that is timely and appropriate for their current lives. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 26  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  Accept responsibility for their own learning if learning is perceived as timely and appropriate. Individual Differences Individual differences are found in all psychological characteristics physical mental abilities, knowledge, habit, personality and character traits. The psychology of individual differences is largely the study of group differences. This study classifies individuals by age, traits, sex, race, social class and so on, and observes the differences within and between those groups. Physical, mental, social and cultural differences etc. are being studied, under individual differences.” – John P.De Ceeceo According to Skinner, “Today we think of individual differences as including any measurable aspect of the total personality.” It is clear from this definition of individual differences that it comprehends every aspect of human personality which is in some manner measurable. With respect to learner characteristics, there are often large differences between the characteristics of different learner and groups of learners such as children, students, professionals, adult, older people and disabled persons. This group differ in their motivation, prior knowledge, expertise level, study time, and physical abilities, etc. Individual differences can be categorized on the following factors: 1. Physical Appearance 2. Intelligence 3. Attitudes 4. Achievement: It has been found through achievement tests that individuals differ in their achievement abilities. These differences are very much visible in reading, writing and learning mathematics. 5. Motor ability 6. Sex 7. Racial differences 8. Economic status 9. Interests 10. Emotion 11. Personality FACTORS AFFECTING TEACHING RELATED TO: TEACHER, LEARNER, SUPPORT MATERIAL, INSTRUCTIONAL FACILITIES, LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND INSTITUTION The awareness about the factors affecting teaching would help the teacher to make teaching and learning more effective. Its well-known fact and based on various study to examine the direct and indirect effects of factors affecting the learning process or teaching significant evidence was provided that the learning process and teaching is affected both by direct and indirect variable. Not only this teaching process also gets impacted based on ‘individual’s characteristics’ of learner and teacher along with the environmental factors that influence their integration in the class room. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 27  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE Learning is the one of most important factor that brings changes in the behavior of the learner, but there is some factor which influences the acquisition of knowledge provided by teachers. The Factors can be Categorised on the following basis:  Factors affecting teaching related to Teacher.  Factors affecting teaching related to Learner.  Factors affecting teaching related to Support Material.  Factors affecting teaching related to Instructional Facilities.  Factors affecting teaching related to Learning Environment.  Factors affecting teaching related to Institution. Factors Affecting Teaching related to Teacher If the learner stands on one end of the ongoing teaching-learning process as one of the poles then the teacher act as the other pole for the desired one of the teaching-learning activities in the classroom. Hence, factors related to teacher play a significant role in the process of teaching. The following are the factors affecting teaching related to the teacher in the teaching-learning process:  Subject Knowledge: There is a saying that a teacher is only as good as what they know. If a teacher lacks knowledge in a subject, that dearth of understanding is passed along to the students. A teacher who knows his subjects well can only play a decisive role in leading the journey of the teaching-learning process.  Knowledge of learners: This is a broad category that incorporates knowledge of the cognitive, social and emotional development of learners. It includes an understanding of how students learn at a given developmental level; how learning in a specific subject area typically progresses like learning progressions or trajectories; the awareness that learners have individual needs and abilities; and an understanding that instruction should be tailored to meet each learner’s needs.  Teaching Skills: A teacher may know his subject well but for sharing, communicating and interacting various experience related to the learning of the subject, he needs specific teaching skills. The proficiency and deficiency possessed by a teacher in this regard are quite responsible for turning the teacher learning process a big success or failure.  Friendliness and Approachability: Because it’s the teacher’s job to help students learn, they must be easy to approach. Students will have questions that can’t be answered if the teacher isn’t friendly and easy to talk to. The unapproachable, mean, arrogant, rude, teacher can’t last long. If the students think of their teacher as their enemy, they certainly won’t learn much. The best teachers are the most open, welcoming, and easy to approach. A good teacher possesses good listening skills and takes time out of their busy schedule to solve all kinds of problems for their students.  Personality and behaviour: A teacher as a leader has to lead his students in the teaching-learning process through the magnetic influence and incredible impression left on the minds of the students on the basis of his personality traits and behaviour. He is a COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 28  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE role model for his students. His actions, behaviour pattern and personality traits carry great meaning to his students for being imitated and brought into practice.  Level of Adjustment and Mental health: How adjusted a teacher feels in his personal and professional life and the state and level of mental health maintained by the teacher carry much weight in influencing his teacher behaviour and teacher effectiveness needed for the effective control and management of the teaching, learning process. While a teacher possessing poor mental health and lack of adjustment in his personal and professional life may prove totally failure in the realization of teaching-learning objective, a teacher possessing good mental health and adjustment may prove an ideal image to his students and boon to the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process.  Discipline: In a classroom, a teacher uses discipline to ensure routine is maintained, school rules are enforced, and the students are in a safe learning environment. A great teacher has effective discipline skills and can promote positive behaviours and change in the classroom. Without discipline, learning cannot be accomplished. Factors Affecting Teaching related to the Learner Both physiological and psychological factors of the learner affect learning outcomes. These can discuss as follow:  Maturation: – Maturation is the process of development of bodily systems and co- ordination in the functioning of bodily organs and It is the physical readiness of the individual for learning. Maturation governs not only certain specific motor behaviour such as walking and talking etc., it also plays an essential role in acquiring other skills such as reading and writing. This readiness or potentially within the individual determines “what to learn” and ‘how to learn’.  Age: – Mental abilities and potentialities develop with age, so learning efficiency increases with age up to a certain level, and after that, it tends to decrease. As children are in growing and developing age, their capacity to learn and acquire new things is greater as compared to that of the older individuals. Grown-up children have greater potential to learn than very young children.  Motivation: – Motivation is the core of learning. It is of pivotal importance in affecting an individual’s persistence to learn. Motivation is important in at least three ways; (i) It is a condition for eliciting behaviour. In other words, it brings out appropriate behaviour to be learned, (ii) Motivation is necessary for reinforcement, which, in turn, is an essential condition for learning, i.e. motivation permits reinforcement to occur, and (iii) It increases the variability of behaviour and thus raising the probability of occurrence of correct responses. For example, curiosity and exploratory drive bring the individual into wider contact with the environment which increases the possibility of performing correct behaviour/response. Thus, motivation provides a powerful incentive for the learner to perform.  Previous learning: –Rate of learning is partially determined by the learner’s previous learning experiences with similar or somewhat similar material. In the same or somewhat similar learned previous situation, the individual might have “learned how to learn,” it at least prepares the ground to learn and provides ease in learning in the new set-up. So, the factor or relevant previous learning is of great COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 29  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  Intelligence: – Intelligence, innate mental ability is basic to the cognitive development of an individual. There is individual difference in the intellectual ability of learners. Intelligence, in terms of I.Q. score obtained on intelligence tests, is positively related to learning. Generally, children with higher I.Q. learn new material more rapidly as compared to the average I.Q. children. However, learning is not always linearly related to I.Q. One point of caution is that intelligence cannot be defined solely in terms of learning ability or the learned material by the learner.  Mental health: – Good mental health in terms of the absence of anxiety, conflict, worry, and frustration, etc. provides the learner with a good ground to learn better. All learning, especially for the beginners, entails a certain amount of anxiety, but anxiety above certain limits hampers learning and the outcomes in terms of the learned material decreases. Thus, the teacher should take care that children must not be put in such an emotional state as may prove a hindrance in learning.  Physical handicaps and dysfunctioning: –Malformation and malfunctioning of physical organs or some system cause great hindrance in children’s proper learning. Defects in vision, hearing, and other diseases such as epilepsy, paralysis, cardiac problems, etc. affect learning. Needless to say that poor vision, hearing defects, and physical handicaps have far-reaching psychological consequences in learning.  Diet and nutrition: – Good diet and other nutrients are an essential part of good physical health. These are essential for developing children and for better learning. For example, 90% of the glucose taken by a person is consumed by brain cells, so naturally, poor diet lacking adequate nutrients has an adverse effect on learning.  Attention and interest: –Both are interrelated to each other and are also a part of the motivation. Interest originates attention, and attention creates interest in the material/subject to be learned. If a child has an interest in some subject, he will pay more attention to that; and if he pays more attention, he may develop an interest in the learning of that subject.  Goal-setting and level of aspiration: – Goal-setting and level of aspiration both related to the psychodynamics of behaviour. Goal set, high or low, by the individual, goes with the expectation of the individual to achieve. Teachers should take care that learners make a realistic view of their abilities, set the goal accordingly, and go on increasing it on its achievement. Factors Affecting Teaching related to the Subject-Matters Educationists and psychologists set the syllabi according to the physical and mental development of children; even then, the important material related factors influencing learning can be discussed as follows:  The difficulty of the task: the material to be learned should be of appropriate difficulty level. Whereas a very easy task fails to challenge children, a very difficult task disappoints them and results in a slow rate of acquisition. The same task varies in difficulty for children of different developmental levels or capacity and previous experiences. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 30  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  Length of the task: A lengthy material poses a big problem for young learners. The longer a material the more difficult it would be to learn. The difficulty task should also be presented in small parts.  Meaningfulness of the task: – Learning outcomes are associated with the meaningfulness of the learning material. Rapid learning occurs when children have to learn something. So, the kind of material to be learned makes a considerable difference in the rate of learning. Some tasks are hard, others are easy. The tasks that have some meaning make learning easier.  The similarity of the task: – Tasks which have some elements similar to the previously learned material make learning quick and comfortable. As in life, it is equally applicable in teaching-learning situations.  Organised Material: – The subject-matter should be logically organized so that we have better outcomes. The organization of learning material should be from simple to difficult, from concrete to abstract and from direct to indirect keeping in view the physical and mental development of learners, otherwise much of teacher’s efforts and learner’s energy will be wasted.  Life learning: The task to be learned must be presented in an interrelated manner. No subject-matter should be taught in an isolated way. Most of the material from different subjects can be taught keeping in view their interrelationship. If some part of the subject- matter is related to life while teaching, its effectiveness increases, and forgetting, in that case, is minimized. Factors Related to Methods of Teaching (Instructional Facilities) and Environment Knowledge of methods of teaching is very essential for effective learning. For better outcomes, teachers should use the appropriate methods of teaching considering chronological age and mental development of children. However, a summary of the generally used methods is presented below:  Distribution of practice: – It is also called a method of masses V/s spaced practice. Learning depends upon the rate at which the individual practices with the task. Short periods of practice inters read with a period of rest permit more efficient learning than does continuous or masses practice.  Whole V/s part learning: – One important question is whether the material should be learned as a whole or in One may go over the whole learning material several times or take one part at a time and learn it in the piecemeal method.  Recitation: – One way to secure the active participation of the learners in teaching- learning is to use the recitation method. After learning certain material once, the learner recites and tries to recall it loudly.  Knowledge of result: – the learner goes on improving his performance if he is given information about the correctness of his responses or his progress in learning at each stage of mastery. The learner can sustain his efforts, if, during the course of learning, he may periodically know how well he has done or how far he is away from the target. Knowledge of result aids learning by being an incentive. Some information about his accomplishment helps in maintaining his interest and motivation in learning. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 31  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  Learning by doing: –Participation of the learner is of central significance. So, the students should be encouraged to learn things by doing. It will bring more of their involvement in the task. They would take more interest in learning that task and pay more attention to it. Therefore, the teacher should devise means and ways to ensure active participation of the students.  Suitability of Method: – Methods of teaching adopted by the teacher and environmental factors affecting learning are many and varied. These can be elaborated to any extent. Learning is affected by the suitability of methods of teaching like; Discussion method, Demonstration method, Lecture method, Project method, Heuristic method, Programmed learning method, Plat-way method, Story-telling method, Field- work, excursion and trips.  Teacher and Environments related Factors: – These factors also play an important role in the effectiveness of teaching-learning outcomes. Physical environment, social environment, classroom culture, curricula, time table; and fatigue and rest very important for providing a conducive environment to learn. Factors affecting Teaching related to Institution The teaching-learning process depends on many factors and they are interdependent to each other. Institutions is one of the factors that directly affect teaching. The following factors can be summarised as Factors affecting Teaching related to Institution:  Teacher -Student ratio  Quality of Teachers and Their Commitments  Infrastructure  Adopted teaching Methods  Management  Institutional Achievements  Stability  Environment  Physical and Material Resources TEACHING METHODS IN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING Teaching Methods: Teaching is both, art and science. It requires mastermind creativity that the students of different nature and community should be handled carefully. Therefore, it is an art. On the other hand, it calls for the exercise of talent and creativity making it and involving repertoire of techniques, procedures, and skills that can be studied systematically, described, and improved, making it science. Methods of Teaching in Institutions of Higher Learning The teaching profession has successfully faced many challenges and transformations and adopted recent sophistication and technological innovations suitably. All these developments have helped the teaching community to regain a high status in academic campuses worldwide. The principles of learning and teaching are the tools available to a teacher to teach in a classroom or through TV. Successful teaching needs systematic planning and careful execution. Teaching is done in sequential steps. These steps are called the phases. The teaching act follows in three stages: COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 32  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  Pre-active phase. It is the planning phase.  Inter-Active Phase. It concerns the implementation and carrying out what has been planned. Therefore, it is a stage of actual teaching.  Post-Active Phase. This phase concerns the evaluation activities, which serve as feedback for improvement. There are different types of teaching methods which can be categorized into four broad types. 1. Teacher-centred methods, 2. Learner-centred methods, 3. Content-focused methods; and 4. Interactive/participative methods. 1. Instructor/Teacher Centred Methods Here the teacher casts himself/herself in the role of being a master of the subject matter. The teacher is looked upon by the learners as an expert or an authority. Learners, on the other hand, are presumed to be passive and copious recipients of knowledge from the teacher. Examples of such methods are expository or lecture methods – which require little or no involvement of learners in the teaching process. It is also for this lack of involvement of the learners in what they are taught, that such methods are called “closed-ended”. 2. Learner-Centred Methods In learner-centred methods, the teacher/instructor is both a teacher and a learner at the same time. In the words of Lawrence Stenhouse, the teacher plays a dual role as a learner as well “so that in his classroom extends rather than constricts his intellectual horizons”. The teacher also learns new things every day which he/she didn’t know in the process of teaching. The teacher “becomes a resource rather than an authority”. Examples of learner- centred methods are discussion method, discovery or inquiry-based approach and the Hill’s model of learning through discussion (LTD). 3. Content-Focused Methods In this category of methods, both the teacher and the learners have to fit into the content that is taught. Generally, this means the information and skills to be taught are regarded as sacrosanct or very important. A lot of emphases is laid on the clarity and careful analyses of content. Both the teacher and the learners cannot alter or become critical of anything to do with the content. An example of a method which subordinates the interests of the teacher and learners to the content is the programmed learning approach. 4. Interactive/Participative Methods This fourth category borrows a bit from the three other methods without necessarily laying emphasis unduly on either the learner, content or teacher. These methods are driven by the situational analysis of what is the most appropriate thing for us to learn/do now given the situation of learners and the teacher. They require a participatory understanding of varied domains and factors.  It creates new ideas. COPYRIGHT DIWAKAR EDUCATION HUB Page 33  UNIT-I TEACHING APTITUDE  It is good for a large class.  The teacher is experienced and has mastery on the subject, explain all points and can answer all questions raised by students.  Students can ask if they need any clarification.  Learn through listening  The teacher explains all the points.  Students give their input  Teacher discusses the whole topic in the class in easy language students can easily understand the topic.\  It is good for a large class.  The teacher provides all knowledge related to the topic.  Time-saving as a teacher is supposed to finish the lecture on time.  Students give their views at the end of the lecture.  Students can ask the question if they have any problem to understand the lecture.  Students attentively listen to a lecture and take notes as the teacher ask questions at the end of the lecture.  Students know and understand basic concepts.  The teacher knows all the students so he/she can use suitable strategies for the class to make them understand.  The teacher is experienced and has mastery on a subject and can answer all questions by students.  Teacher share information with students so it creates interest in students.  Students are more involved and participate when teacher ask the question.  The teacher provides notes.  Students easily understand every point.  Students share knowledge with the teacher.  The teacher is a role model for students. Teaching Methods According to different Schools of Philosophy Methods by idealism Buttler is right when he says, “Idealists consider themselves creators and determiners of methods, not devotees of someone method.” They speak of the general nature of teaching methods only. They do not specify any method to be adopted in the centres of learning. Therefore, the method is the weakest aspect of the philosophy of idealism. Different idealists have adopted different methods. Socrates laid adopted the question method. Plato, his disciple, changed the question method into the conversational method and made it logical. His disciple, Aristotle followed inductive and deductive methods. Hegel adopted a logical method. Pestalozzi adopted the self-activity method. Herbart on methods says, “I have no conception of education without instruction and do not acknowledge any instruction which does not educate.” He also takes the help of the d