General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) - Lesson 1-45 Handouts PDF

General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) Table of Contents: Lesson 01 Concept of Teaching 3 Lesson 02 Teaching as a Profession 8 Lesson 03 Profe...

General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) Table of Contents: Lesson 01 Concept of Teaching 3 Lesson 02 Teaching as a Profession 8 Lesson 03 Professional Behaviour and Context of School 13 Lesson 04 Teacher‟s Responsibility and the Level of Schooling 19 Lesson 05 Promoting Deeper Understanding 24 Lesson 06 Instructional Decision Making 29 Lesson 07 Types of Knowledge 34 Lesson 08 Educational Equity 39 Lesson 09 Planning for Instruction 47 Lesson 10 Blooms Taxonomy 52 Lesson 11 Affective and Psychomotor Domain 61 Lesson 12 Performance Objectives 68 Lesson 13 Levels and Limitations of Planning 73 Lesson 14 Overall Considerations for Instructional Planning 79 Lesson 15 Unit Planning 85 Lesson 16 Lesson Planning 90 Lesson 17 Lesson Plan format 99 Lesson 18 Content Forms and Sequencing 104 Lesson 19 Presentation Modes 109 Lesson 20 Information Processing Theory & Graphic Organizers 115 Lesson 21 Models of Lesson Organization 121 Lesson 22 Multi-Methodology as an Instructional Process 127 Lesson 23 Concept of Child 133 Lesson 24 Early Years Education 139 Lesson 25 Big Ideas and Generative Concepts 145 Lesson 26 Essential Questions in Adolescent Teaching 151 Lesson 27 Big Ideas and Essential Questions 155 Lesson 28 Integrated Themes 164 Lesson 29 Inquiry Teaching and Higher-Level Thinking 169 Lesson 30 Inquiry Processes and Constructivism 173 Lesson 31 Guided Inductive Inquiry 178 Lesson 32 Models & Considerations in Guided Inductive Inquiry 183 Lesson 33 Scientific Method 188 Lesson 34 Problem-Based Learning (PBL) 193 Lesson 35 Cooperative Learning 199 Lesson 36 Cooperative Learning Strategies 203 Lesson 37 Organizing Cooperative Learning 207 Lesson 38 Project Learning 211 Lesson 39 Discussion Method 217 ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 1 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Lesson 40 Direct Instruction 222 Lesson 41 Discovery Learning Vs Presentation 226 Lesson 42 Motivation for Learning 231 Lesson 43 Teaching Models for Motivation 238 Lesson 44 Teaching Tools 241 Lesson 45 Effective Teaching 245 ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 2 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Lesson No.1 CONCEPT OF TEACHING Objectives:  Perceive teaching as a social, political and ethical activity.  Describe teaching perceptions as culturally and socially embedded.  Use different metaphors to define teaching and teachers. Short interviews from three people were taken to know their perspectives about teaching and teachers. Interview 1: Teachers are the future makers of young generation. Teaching is a very respectable profession. Regarding this, teachers have some expectations that he will wear a hat of many roles. The roles are of a good communicator, evaluator, decision maker, class manager and member of a team or group. Teachers must play all these roles with complete responsibility. My philosophy of choosing teaching as a profession is that I want to motivate my students to learn in a way that has positive influence on what they think and act. I see teacher as a gardener and teaching strategies as a fertilizer to grow the students just like a seed. At the end, I must say that learning process in the classroom will never stop. Students learn from the teachers and teachers learn from the students. Interview 2: Teaching is a noble profession. Teacher is the source to impart knowledge to the students. The goal of teaching must be to provide the students with conceptual knowledge rather than focusing them to rote learning or memorization, so that they should not face problems in their practical lives. Teachers are the agents who can bring change to the society. Teacher is a path or a road map on which the students travel to get their destination or goal. Interview 3: Teaching is a self-oriented profession which serves to guide nation to access successful future. I adopted my career as a teacher because a teacher helps the students to become what they want to become. It is expected from a teacher that he should act as a professional educator who considers the needs of the students. Assumptions about teaching:  Teaching is a noble profession.  It is an activity to impart knowledge.  It is a way of developing certain desirable behaviors among students.  Teaching is an activity. It is way to teach people discipline, to teach students discipline. Different perspectives of education in history: The important role is of the Prophets and saints who teach in informal settings. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 3 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Informal education is education that is not given in proper schools. And if we see, Buddha, Pythagoras, Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) and Karl Marx They all did it in informal organizations. Informal settings are important means of learning. Apprentice ship model: is also a way of learning. A person who wants to learn a skill spends a certain period of time with a skilful person. In this way, the person who doesn‟t have the skill, learn those skills. It is based on Vygotsky‟s work, which involves peers working closely together with a teacher in joint problem solving. e.g. workshops and skill-learning centres. Assumptions:  To understand how things actually developed, and who the prominent people are, who worked in this area?  It was 16th century, actually which perceptions about education, teaching and learning developed. In past, except Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, rest of the people thought education as a means of status quo.  Extra-curricular activities are always considered as extra. What seems philosophy of education of Prophets?  To equip people with basic literacy  To give information  To make them learn skills  To bring societal change If teaching is not bringing societal change, then probably teaching is not fulfilling its spirit. If we believe that teaching is about bringing societal change then we really need to reflect or transform our actions so that we are able to bring change. Discussion:  How research takes/define teaching?  How other people have taken/perceive teaching? In opinion of Educationists or other people: (about role of the teacher) Educationist: 1 There was a focus on functions or process of instructions and behavior, but now in modern times, a role of a teacher and the expectations attached to it are completely different. The fast and foremost is consideration of a teacher being an agent of change. The one who could bring change to the society, one who would have some kind of outer box thinking. The role also demands the teacher to be a collaborator. It is no more a one-way process in which empty pitchers were filled up but its totally a two-way process of teaching and learning. And finally, the role also ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 4 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU demands not only of a facilitator but of a person who can trigger off higher order critical thinking skills. Educationist 2: The role of a teacher is very important in building the character of the students and in enhancing his natural skills. In old times, the role of the teacher was just to come, deliver a lecture, give the students tests and quizzes, assignments and check them, give them grades and that‟s it. In modern times, the teacher is an agent of transformation of the students from less skilled individuals to skilled individuals which have good skills for doing their work and are also responsible citizens. The role of a teacher is changed from a lecturer to an agent of transformation. Teachers should interact with students more than they do in previous times. Now method of teaching is called interactive teaching. Teachers involve the students in learning. Teaching as a social, political and ethical activity:  As social activity: Man is a social animal because it lives with other people, it socializes with other people. It is necessary for its existence and emotional strength to stay with other human beings. When we say that teaching is a social activity, it means that teaching can‟t be done in isolation. It needs people with whom teaching can be done. So, it is essentially a social activity.  As a political activity: If we say that teaching is a political activity then teacher needs to have some perception and teacher need to discuss those ideas with the students. Actually, both of them should work together for a social change. Because political ideas are important not only in the sense of politics, politics means a set of ideas. Teacher must share ideas with the students so that they can work for a change in society. If education is not serving this purpose and teachers are just providing the students with the content knowledge then essentially this teaching is not a political activity.  As ethical activity: It is a duty of a teacher to fulfill his responsibilities ethically. Ethics include that teachers need to be committed to their profession, they need to be honest, and dedicated. If teachers are not exhibiting the above then they are not taking it as an ethical activity. It is also important because teachers are role model for students. So, if a role model is not performing these duties ethically, then definitely this role model will not be a good example. Teaching perceptions as culturally and socially embedded Different cultures have different perceptions about education. The perceptions of education in Pakistan are different from other countries. In Pakistan there are urban and rural cultures and perceptions in both cultures are different. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 5 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Research says that the perceptions are socially and culturally embedded. Perceptions of teachers in Pakistan are different from the teachers of other countries. Although in Pakistan, there are different cultures and people living in those cultures hold different perceptions on education and teaching. A survey was conducted for the clarification of this concept. In this survey, some teachers were selected from rural and urban areas, and some from the private and government schools. Then the ideas of the teachers and parents of the students were analyzed to see whether they differ or not.  Firstly, the teachers from urban schools say that it is their responsibility to teach discipline to the students. The same was the perception of parents, they say that teachers are very respectable and must teach students discipline and behaviors. And students must obey them.  Secondly, the teachers from government schools of the city say that their role is to teach the students how to read and write. Because these students come to school to learn how to read and write so that they can get jobs in factories. The parents also respond the same, they say that their sons may get jobs in factories or some other work that they can do easily. The parents do not expect high potential jobs.  Thirdly, the opinion of teachers from the private schools is that they are the facilitators. Their responsibility is not only transmitting the content knowledge to the students but finding their hidden potentials. Parents respond the same that they are paying fees and it is the responsibility of the teacher to nurture the potentials of their children. The important thing in the above survey is the “Cultural difference”. We are living in a status stratified society, so the students studying in the government schools belong to low income group, their parents and teachers also think the same. So, we can say that perceptions on teaching are culturally and socially embedded. Metaphors on teaching and role of teachers: There are different metaphors of teaching, actually what we think about teaching is our metaphor. The metaphor is something that tells that how you take teaching? If we think that teacher  Is a source of light: Imagine that teacher is a sun or a candle; it is a source of light. It is spreading its light everywhere. The students don‟t have light; the teacher is giving light to students i.e. his knowledge.  Is like a tree Imagine if a teacher is a tree, it is giving his shadow to everyone. The one who come to that tree will definitely get shadow and fruit of knowledge.  Is a gardener If teacher is a gardener, and use the teaching strategies as a fertilizer to grow the students just like a seed. Thoughts of these perceptions:  Is there no knowledge gain, if there is no teacher? ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 6 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU  Teachers teach manners and behaviors.  Who decides that certain behaviors are appropriate and others are not that appropriate?  Do children really learn discipline in schools?  A formal education comprises of a basic education that a person receives at school.  Informal means unofficial and it takes place outside of the standard school setting. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 7 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Lesson No.2 TEACHING AS A PROFESSION Objectives:  Identified and reflected upon common misconceptions in Education, Teaching and Learning.  Reflected upon the statement “Teaching is an Art and Science.”  Reflected upon the criteria for professional and moral obligation of professionals. Some misconceptions in teaching:  Schools are isolated places. Sometimes teachers ask students not to exhibit certain behavior in schools e.g. sometimes they ask students not to shout but teachers themselves are shouting. It is actually very disappointing that whenever teachers ask the students not to shout, their own voice level is very high. Definitely, teachers are also the product of society; they have also learnt those behaviors in their homes and schools. So, it is very important not to consider schools as isolated places. Teachers believe that schools are isolated places that are totally detached from the society which is not true.  Education is about learning of different subjects: This educational view has vocational orientation. The word “Vocational” identifies use for job or utility for job market. It means that if we are sending the students to schools to learn different subjects, we want them to get prepared to get admissions in professional colleges. If they get admissions in professional colleges, they will become competent professionals. Education is serving the purpose of getting jobs in the job market. Now how can we claim that teachers are agents of social change? Most of the times we focus on teaching of different subjects and we assess students on performance of these subjects. We are always testing their knowledge but we just forget that purpose of education is much more than teaching students these subjects.  Learning is exploring different subjects: According to Friere: “In fact knowledge is created, when we act and reflect.” Knowledge about different facts is stratified knowledge. Your objective knowledge has its own importance but that is called static facts. Subjective knowledge is also very important. Subjective knowledge is something that is learnt by reflecting, acting on something. Learning is not only about exploring the static facts but it is to explore the knowledge.  Drama or debates are extra or co-curricular activities: These are neither extra nor co-curricular activities but these are all curricular activities. These are actually meaning of holistic development of a child. Holistic development means complete development; a child needs to develop physically, ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 8 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU intellectually, ethically, socially and spiritually. Unfortunately, when we say that aim of schools is to teach only different subjects, we do not focus on the holistic development of a child. So, it is really important for us to understand that participation in these kinds of activities is not something wasting time rather it is very important for their holistic development. Holistic development of a child requires participation in games, debates, dramas etc. we should provide these opportunities where students perform in dramas, develop their speaking skills by participating in debates or dramas. Similarly, essay writing competitions so that they can develop writing abilities. We should actually allocate time for these activities in their timetable so that they carry out such kind of activities.  Silence promotes learning: Teacher asks the students not to talk. They have a misconception that “Learning is when there is silence rather complete silence”. Teachers do not go through theories or research that is why this misconception is so dominant in our schools. We know that learning is when there is sharing of ideas. There is a concept of peer learning, children learn from their peers, they actually learn more from their peers than they learn in schools by teachers. Is teaching an art or science? Idea of “Teaching is an Art”, was developed by William James in 1891.So, an artist is able to create things. If we say that teaching is an art then we are expecting that teacher needs to be very imaginative, innovative, teacher must have the skills that an artist possesses. There is also a drawback that when policy makers claim that teaching is an art, they say that teachers are born teachers as artists are born artists. If teachers are born artists then we actually deny the importance of professional organizations or professional trainings. So, if we say that teaching is an art we must not say that teaching is by birth, or these are innate capabilities that could not be learnt. Science is an organized body of knowledge. Organized body of knowledge means that it is very systematic. It has some research underpinnings and theoretical underpinnings. Research and science go side by side. The claim that teaching is a science; it shows that there is research in teaching. All the theories of teaching are based upon research, research in psychology and sociology. It is actually true that teaching is an art and science. The criteria for professional and moral obligation of professionals: Like all professions, teaching also has some standards and criteria. Criteria to be a professional:  Learning a profession involves learning many concepts and principles of that profession. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 9 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU For example, if we consider medicine as a profession then there are number of key concepts involved in it. The students learning medicine needs to understand all the principles and concepts of that profession. We cannot compare a compounder to a doctor because a compounder does not know all the basic concepts and principles. The knowledge a compounder acquires is far less than that of a doctor. So, when we talk about a profession, we actually assume that the professional has acquired the knowledge of that particular subject.  A profession has a body of techniques and they may be transmitted: Every profession has its own techniques. A cameraman knows the techniques to handle camera, a doctor or surgeon knows how to handle medical instruments. Knowledge of the skill gained must be practiced, as you know that “practice makes the man perfect”. It is important for the professionals that they must know the skills of their profession. Transmission of skills It is actually believed that in professions, if a senior person has acquired certain skills than that person can transmit those skills to a junior person.  A profession is internally organized and self-disciplined (code of ethics): Internally organized means that there are different professional organizations that tells the professionals that what they have to do. E.g. Pakistan Medical Association, Engineering Council, Institute of Accountancy is also an organization that tells the chartered accountants that how they have to practice their profession. Self-Disciplined: means that the professionals are ethically bound to follow some norms and rules which are set by their organization. They develop their own code of ethics and do not violate them.  A profession has a social function: We are living in a society where we need to follow law and order and if there is any problem then we really need to go to court, so law profession is important as social function. When we talk about social function, those occupations are called professions which the people need rather people cannot survive without that profession. It should be the need of the people. So only that job is considered as profession which is based on people‟s need.  A profession allows independence or Autonomy: There are certain professions which have strong internal organizations where they can take decisions. There autonomy is at individual level as well as collective level. E.g. a doctor has the autonomy to prescribe medicines to patients. If there is a serious patient, then a group of doctors to decide the treatment of that patient. How can teaching be considered as profession? ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 10 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU  Concepts and principles in teaching profession: The students who are enrolled in 4 years B.Ed. program have the curriculum. This is basically a content which is based on all the concepts and principles to be learnt e.g. they will learn about how students learn? Philosophy of education, methods of teaching, educational research, assessment & evaluation etc. so all these subjects will provide them the knowledge which is a core requirement to be a teaching professional.  The techniques learnt by teachers: Every profession has its own techniques. Some teaching techniques are: how to motivate the students? What is its theoretical background? You can motivate children by a motivational strategy, but the same strategy cannot motivate elders. In the same way, a teacher must know the techniques to teach different subjects. Because each subject has different demands or flavours and teacher needs to know the difference between the teaching of English, science or mathematics and other subjects.  Is teaching internally organized and self-disciplined: Every profession has its organizations; Teachers unions in Pakistan are serving the purpose of protection of the teachers‟ rights. There is a society named as “Society for Pakistani English Language Teachers” (SPELT) which organizes different workshops and other developmental programs for the teachers.  Teaching as a social function: We all believe that teachers have a very important social function. It is very unfortunate especially in Pakistan that mostly teachers are teaching different subjects, they are concerned about grades of students, they are not concerned about their holistic development. It is obvious that teaching has a prime social function but unfortunately, it is not been taken care of in Pakistani context.  Teacher in Pakistan have individual autonomy or not? In Pakistan, teachers don‟t have the autonomy. He/she doesn‟t have the powers of decision making. There is no representative of schools who is involved in educational policy making. Curriculum is formed under Ministry of Education many times as in 2006, 2007, 2008 etc but when this curriculum is sent to schools, teachers are supposed to teach that curricula. They neither are not supposed to go beyond those curricula. School management decides that which subjects must be taught to the students. There is no autonomy given to the teachers. What future teachers actually need to learn is: You need to develop a belief that:  We are living in a changing world, thus being professionals, we constantly need to upgrade our knowledge. Being a teacher, you really need to equip with every new research that is ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 11 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU coming on motivation, pedagogy or any other. It can‟t be done unless you believe that you need to learn and need to change. So, it is said that “To Learn Is to Change”  You need to acquire the knowledge of foundations of education, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, assessment and evaluation and teaching techniques and skills.  Foundation of education: you will learn in the 4-year program about philosophy of education, psychology of education etc. these are actually the foundations of education.  Pedagogical knowledge: pedagogical knowledge means the knowledge about how to teach the students.  Pedagogical content knowledge: every subject has its own demands or flavors, so there are different ways to teach different subjects.  Assessment and Evaluation: being a teacher you should know that what to assess? How to assess? Why to assess? Similarly, how to report results? How to use data? All these things need to be acquired to be a good teacher.  Teaching techniques and skills: you must know the teaching techniques and skills that are expected from a good teacher. Things you have to learn, when you want to be a professional:  Teaching skills:  General teaching skills: - Planning lessons  Classroom management:  Assessing pupils learning  Motivating pupils  Managing pupils‟ behavior Develop professional values and practice: Professional values for teachers are:  Commitment  Honesty  Intellectual honesty  Reflection in action. Reflection on action There should not be gap in what teachers say and what do they do. Because if there is any gap then they would not be able to present themselves as true role models. So, being professionals, we should have certain knowledge of the profession. We should have skills but at the same time, we need to exhibit those dispositions which make us good role models. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 12 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Lesson No.3 PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOURS AND CONTEXT OF SCHOOLS Objectives:  Reflected upon the principles for professional behaviours.  Analysed educational, social and collegial context of schools. Principles for professional behaviours:  Commitment to the students: An educator needs to strive to help each student realize his/her potential as a worthy and effective member of the society. A teacher needs to effort individually that every student must realize his/her potentials and reach to the maximum level. If we are not successful in realizing the potential of every student, then actually we are not committed to the students. The level of commitment to the profession must be to the range of every student. In most of the cases, teacher really appreciates high achievers. At times, a teacher is very much concerned about the learning of low achievers. So, the teacher mostly focuses on the low achievers or the high achievers but the students with average learning are ignored. They also need the attention of the teachers as other high and low achievers. Educators work to stimulate the spirit of inquiry and acquisition of knowledge. We are inquisitive by nature. When a child grows up, he asks many questions about his surroundings. He wants to know what and how is happening around. But when he is sent to school, normally he asks many questions but those questions are not answered properly. So, being educators, we need to keep that spirit of inquiry in depth rather we need to stimulate that spirit e.g. if a student is not habitual of questioning in class then we need to develop that habit in him. If we do not develop that habit then ultimately, the students will not enjoy their acquisition of knowledge. Everything seems a burden to them. Being educators, if we say that we are very committed teachers then we really need to raise the potential in each child in our class and we need to stimulate the spirit of inquiry and acquisition of knowledge.  Commitment to the profession: 1. Raising professional standards 2. Professional judgment 3. Influencing policies 4. Professional organization The educators need to exert every effort to: ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 13 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU  Raise professional standards: If teaching is a profession, then what are the standards for teaching? A teacher needs to know  A pedagogical content knowledge: the subject a teacher is going to teach to class 8th must know the content of that subject and the methods to teach that particular subject.  Communication skills: communication skills must be so clear that a teacher can convey lecture to the students easily. A teacher must have a good eye contact with the students. A teacher must be able to read their verbal and non- verbal cues.  Assessing skills: a teacher must know how to assess learning of the students. A teacher must know different assessment methods.  How students learn: a teacher must know how students learn e.g. if I am a teacher of language, I must know how students learn their first language and how they learn their second language. A teacher must know the learning theories as well.  Recent developments: a teacher must know the recent developments related to the profession. Recent development means the recent research on the profession. Different theories to teach and assess the students. If I claim that I am a professional teacher, then I must come up to these standards. But the point is to raise the standards not only to meet them. To meet the standards is a minimum requirement, but a good professional is the one who go one step ahead to those standards. We educators really need to raise the professional standards.  Promote a climate that encourages the exercise of professional judgement: A judgement that is given by a professional himself is a professional judgement e.g. in education, if a teacher is giving a judgement about the students that he has a good vocabulary but he is weak in grammar. This judgement is a professional judgement because this judgement has evidence on which the judgement is made. If a judgement is made by parents, they do not have direct involvement with the education of the child as the teacher has. So, we will say that is not a professional judgement. This professional standard demands from us to create a climate that promotes the professional judgement. This climate can be created through parent-teacher meetings where parents are told about the role of the teachers, teacher‟s expectations from the parents as well as students and the community. In this way, we are going to educate teachers as well as the community. We cannot achieve this standard by being indifferent.  Achieve conditions that attract persons worthy of the trust to careers in education: Unfortunately, our own self-image is that we could not get admissions in engineering or medicine or computer science so that is why we have come into teaching. So, we have to change our own self-image as well as of the others regarding teaching as a career. We have to advocate that make teaching your first career option. As far as our own image ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 14 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU cannot be changed, we could not convince others. Being teachers, we need to advocate teaching as a career.  Assist in preventing the practice of the profession by unqualified persons: Unqualified means that those people are teaching who do not have degrees in education i.e. B.Ed. or M.Ed. but they are teaching and they are considered good teachers. We must have to stop such practices that unqualified people must be replaced by the qualified. In government sectors, if you want to be teachers then you need to get a degree in education. But unfortunately, in private sectors and specially in street schools there are many teachers who are unqualified. They started teaching after their matriculation or intermediate exams. As a result, there is no education, there is just schooling. So, if we say that we are professional teachers, then we need to show our commitment to the students and we need to show our commitment to the profession. We need to raise professional standards. We need to promote a climate that encourages exercise of professional judgement. We need to advocate teaching career and we need to stop practices of unqualified people. Key context of schooling: Some interviews were taken from the people to know their views about schooling. The brief view of those interviews is given below one by one. Interview 1 (Parent): We sent children to school to become a better human being. They may know what is right and what is wrong. They can get better job opportunities. The more educated the child is the better job he will get. There are lots of activities in school. The child learns the attitudes of winning and losing. Students get self-confidence through schools. Interview 2 (Student): I like to go to school because there are number of activities like colouring and painting. I like my teachers because they speak to me very politely. They do not scold the students and it must not be allowed in schools. Interview 3 (Teacher): School is a platform where children‟s moral, physical, emotional and ethical development takes place. A teacher is responsible in the cognitive development of a child. A child considered school as a new place and feel difficulty in adjustment. But it is the responsibility of a teacher to provide him with such environment that his social development can take place. In schools, not only different subjects must be taught but also there should be co-curricular activities. Assumptions on schooling:  Group orientation activity: Schooling is not about a single person; it is a group orientation. A successful school is the one whose group orientation is so strong. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 15 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU  Schools are composed of many different types of people, sects, religion, classes and economic beliefs: It is very unfortunate that sometimes we think that wearing a same uniform will also make their thoughts uniform. They are never alike; they are diverse people coming from different classes, economic beliefs, and different religions.  Schools follow a certain curriculum: Educationist named the key context of schooling as:  Educational  Social  Collegial (Professional)  Schooling in educational context: If we assume that teaching of different subjects is a part of schooling then these subjects are called an important part of the schools. Then we should help the students to learn the content of the subject at different levels. These are:  Literal level: it means that whatever you teach the students, the students get it well. E.g. If you teach them some definitions, they can learn them. If you taught them some facts, they can understand them.  Application level: whatever the content is taught to the students, they must know its application as well. E.g. you teach the students about map reading, and then you ask them to tell you what map reading is? They will tell definitely. But can they find any location from the map? Can they use the map in their practical life? It is a teacher‟s responsibility to teach them in the way so that they can identify different locations using the map.  Higher thinking levels: educational context is not about memorizing different facts and concepts. It is not coping things from the board or books. Educational context is much more than that. It is actually developing thinking skills among students. It is about creating creativity. It is about developing questioning skills among students. Social context of schooling: A sign in the Singapore International Airport reads “Welcome to Singapore: where our only National Resource is Our People.”  What does this sign board indicate?  What is the responsibility of a school in Singapore? This statement shows that in schools the most valuable thing is not its building, computer labs or multimedia rooms but the people. Teachers are bound to develop social capital of the people, not only students but all of the people. Social capital: ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 16 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU  Sum of interpersonal relationships: the person who has many contacts or relations is considered as he has more social capital. Can we live in isolation in schools? Definitely, no. because there is group orientation in schools. We need people. We live with people. No one can actually live in isolation.  So, we have to increase the social capital of every student. (It is the responsibility of a teacher to increase the social capital of every student. Most of the times, teachers come to the class with lesson plan, teach the lesson to the students. They expect from the students to listen to the lesson, they give them written work and then leave. There is no time for the students to communicate with each other except in break or after school. It is the responsibility of the teacher to increase the social capital of students by organizing group activities. Instead of doing things alone, they may communicate with each other. In this way, they will increase their thinking skills also. We are not teaching in a school to an individual but it is actually a group- oriented activity. Students must know that how to resolve conflicts? How to solve problems? The interpersonal skills of the students are improved when they work with their opponents instead of their friends. We need to make the students learn that all students are diverse and we need to learn how we communicate with different kinds of people.) Collegial context of schooling: Is characterized by or having power and authority vested equally among colleagues. “Collegial context is something that emphasizes that power and decision-making should be shared among some or all members of the organization.” (Bush, 2003) Power is shared among some or all members of the organization who are thought to have a shared understanding about the aims of the institution. Reflect upon the following statements displayed in the school staffrooms:  “School business is not discussed here” it means that the matters of schools are not discussed in the staffroom. People don‟t like to talk about textbooks, students, performance of the students, examination papers, or issues of classroom management in the staffroom. It means that in this school the collegial context is too weak. Colleagues are not support of professional development. Whenever we go into profession, we always have to learn from people, the seniors are our assets. If they do not discuss the things with us how can we develop professionally? People in this school are not ready to grow as the statement in their staffroom shows.  “We believe in sharing ideas, work and food” the statement shows that the teachers in this school are good colleagues. Because they want to share the ideas so that they can learn from each other. They want to share the work habits so that they become the support for their colleagues.  “Let‟s establish a learning community” it shows that the community working in a school is a learning community. We all learn from each other. A teacher is the most important learner in the ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 17 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU class. Because he has to explore the realities of every student. Their intellectual abilities and how he has to enhance them. A good teacher is the one who actually strives to help each student achieve their maximum potential. At times, we are unable to identify the realities of every student and we need the support of our colleagues. And in a learning community we can get support of our colleagues very easily.  “My colleagues are my mentors” the statement shows that there is respect for the mentors and we have to learn from them. It again indicates the sharing of ideas.  “Relaxing time” this statement also indicates as the first statement that school business is not discussed here. This is our time to relax. When we talk about profession, we need to raise professional standards. When we wrote in staffroom that it is a relaxing time, we are not meeting the standards even how we can raise the professional standards. So, when we talk about the collegial context, we need to ensure that we are going to learn from our colleagues. They should be our strength. We need to grow professionally. Collegial context is not restricted to the schools rather now it has become web based. So, when we say that we are professionals we need to ensure that we maximize this collegial context we learn from each other. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 18 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Lesson No. 4 INCENTIVES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEACHERS Objectives:  Analysed teachers‟ incentives and their level of functioning.  Reflected upon the teachers‟ decision making and responsibility.  Analysed the terms: Teachers‟ efficacy and reflective practitioner. Incentives for teachers: According to research, following are the incentives for the teachers:  Recognition as an excellent teacher (reflected in students‟ warmth, enthusiasm, appreciation). The question here is the recognition to the teachers should be given by government of Pakistan? Or from the schools? According to research, the best recognition is got from students and not from the government or the school administrators. The warmth, respect and appreciation in the eyes of the students for the teacher are the actual recognition. This recognition is so appreciating that the teachers get energizes.  Respect of colleagues: there was an organization, whose motive was the following statement: “The esteem of our colleague is the foundation of power” If you want to be powerful and if you want to asset then you need to have respect and your esteem should be very high. Actually, when you are doing someone‟s esteem high, then there is another feeling of efficacy. Feeling of efficacy is very important for the teachers e.g. there are number of activities in schools like morning assembly, debates, games, plays etc. teachers are very competent in the school, they are teaching their subject very well but when they are asked to organize such activities they feel that they can‟t do it well. But if their colleagues start motivating them and say that you are able to organize such activities. This is the feeling of efficacy and there is a great role of the colleagues in developing this feeling. This feeling is also an incentive. Teachers who do not get this incentive actually leave the profession quite early.  Working with other professionals: this is also an incentive that if you got an opportunity to work with other professionals, you will feel energize. But if you are working in such an organization where you are not allowed to work with other professionals like if you are a math‟s teacher, you have to work with other math‟s teachers or if you are a language teacher you have to work with other language teachers but not with other professionals. So, you may not be motivated. What are different motivating factors and incentives for our Pakistani teachers? ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 19 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Some interviews are taken from the teachers in Pakistan to know their motivation factors. These are discussed below: Interview 1: Money is only a motivating factor that insists you to go to your job in routine regularly. But the incentives that are really important are the primary and secondary sources with which the students interact with you in their every aspect of life. We feel affiliation motivation that we are affiliated with the students in so many aspects. We get an opportunity to develop competence not only in ourselves but the students as well. You are the source of motivation for the students not only in terms of your profession rather you are also helping them in their daily life routines as well. That is the biggest achievement for a teacher. Interview 2: As a teacher trainer, I feel that motivation factor is something when student gain positive change in their thinking, behaviour and attitude. By the end of the day, I feel happy that I help them in bringing change in them. Interview 3: When there is no motivation, you cannot work properly at your working place. A teacher should be self-motivated. If a person is not self-motivated, then he could not perform a variety of tasks. By being in an organization, I have learned many things from many people. Besides that, the workshops and seminars also play a very important role in motivation of the teachers. These tell us where we stand and what we can learn from others. Recognition as a teacher is also motivating. Students come to you and they feel satisfied after you answer their questions. This shows that you are there to help somebody out. The students, the way they benefit from you, the way they seek help from you is also a motivation. Common assumptions from the above interviews:  Recognition: recognition from the students is actually a motivating factor for the teachers.  Esteem: where the teachers think that their self-esteem is becoming lower, they don‟t want to work at that place.  Growth (working with other professionals): teachers want career growth. They want growth in their learning. They want to learn the new methods of teaching, classroom management and other new activities. E.g. in an educational institute, you may start your career as a lecturer, then move to assistant professor, then associate professor and professor. But unfortunately, in schools, there is no professional growth seen. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 20 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Teacher‟s levels of functioning: 1. Intentionally Disinviting 2. Unintentionally Disinviting 3. Unintentionally Inviting 4. Intentionally Inviting 1. Intentionally Disinviting: In this state of functioning, a teacher does not invite people to give you suggestions. There is no sharing of ideas. 2. Unintentionally Disinviting: When you are working at a place for a long time. You realize that it is not a good norm, that you are not sharing your ideas. You must share your ideas and ask for advice. 3. Unintentionally inviting: In some cases, teachers start sharing their classroom management with other teachers unintentionally. It means that they do not want to share but share the things with others unintentionally. E.g. in a staffroom, a teacher is saying that I could not finish the lesson on time which I have planned. You also become the part of that conversation by saying that it happens to me sometimes also. Now actually you invite suggestions on how to resolve this problem unintentionally. 4. Intentionally inviting: This is the highest level of your teaching development. You come to realize that you didn‟t know everything and you need development. You are able to identify your flows and mistakes. And you need help and advice from your colleagues. You are intentionally inviting the people to advice you. Teacher as a decision maker: There are some common questions that will show that whether the teachers have the power of decision making or not. These questions are discussed below one by one. 1. What to teach? (No autonomy) Teachers have no autonomy when the content of the subject is decided or selected. If a teacher is working in a school system, then the school decides that what content should be taught to a particular class. If we talk about government sector, the books published by the Punjab textbook board or the content which is decided by the ministry of education will be taught. There is no autonomy of a teacher. 2. How to teach? (Autonomy) ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 21 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Teacher has the autonomy of how to teach in a class. He can decide which teaching method should be used. 3. How to manage class? (Autonomy) Teacher has the autonomy that he can manage the class in the way he feels feasible. 4. How to assess pupil‟s learning? (Autonomy) Teacher has the autonomy in this context also. He can assess the students‟ learning according to the methods he teaches. 5. How to give feedback? (Autonomy) Teacher can give feedback about every student. Because he is the one who is directly involved in his learning. 6. Which resources to be used in classroom learning? (Autonomy to certain extent) Teacher here also have the autonomy to certain extent because resources are provided by the school administration and now the teacher can use them accordingly. 7. Which activities to be used? (Autonomy) Teacher can manage different activities in the school for the moral, social and ethical development of a child. A teacher must use only those activities which maximize students‟ learning. Teacher‟s responsibilities as a decision maker: Being a teacher, I need to: 1. Learn about learning styles of students and use strategies which match with learning styles. 2. Manage classroom to maximize pupil‟s learning. 3. Give constructive feedback to maximize learning. 4. Use different assessment strategies to maximize students‟ learning. 5. Use relevant low-cost resources. Reflective practice: To explain reflective practice, I will first explain the light of reflection. The light of reflection is “bouncing back of light to create an image.” Teaching reflection is related with the light reflection for better understanding, the definition of teaching reflection or reflective practice is: “Answering some key questions to create an image of the classroom teaching and learning.” The definition means that there are certain questions that teacher must answer by himself. He must notice his classroom environment that if there are 30 students in a class, how much students are answering the questions asked at the end of the lesson. How many students participate in discussion? How many students participate in activities? These questions must be answered by the teacher himself. The answers to these questions will actually tell the teacher that what the environment of his class was. So, reflective practice is very important for a teacher. Being a ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 22 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU professional, I need to raise standard of my profession and reflective practice is definitely one of the standards of teaching profession. Reflection is of two types: 1. Reflection in action 2. Reflection on action 1. Reflection on action means that you have to answer some questions so that you may know what the environment of your class was. 2. Reflection in action comes from experience. Once a teacher is in class, she/he needs to reflect on all his/her actions. The reflection on every action at the same moment when the action is being taken is reflection in action. Basically, reflection is the means of creating a dialogue. A teacher is creating dialogue to himself and as a result he knows his strengths and weaknesses. Reflective practice is an important thing which we need to develop. To be a reflective practitioner, means a lot of hard work and attitude to learn. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 23 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Lesson No.5 CONCEPTUAL CHANGE, LEARNING THEORIES AND MODELING PROCESS Objectives: By the end of the lecture, you will have reflected upon:  The term conceptual change.  The formula for teacher‟s growth.  Theories on how children learn.  Social cognitivism and modeling. Outline of the lecture:  Conceptual change  Teacher growth  How do humans learn  Beliefs on learning  Modeling effects  Modeling process  Social cognitivism Most of the times, teachers required memorization of the facts and concepts from students. “Even students who have been well trained and who exhibit all the signs of success. Typically, do not display an adequate understanding of the materials and concepts with which they have been working.” (Howard Gardner) Conceptual change: What actually most of the teachers do is that they focus on the missing knowledge of the students instead of conceptual change. Conceptual change is important but it does require time. It is difficult to accomplish conceptual change. We must not provide the students with superficial knowledge but the deep learning is a conceptual change. (Teacher is more interested in covering the syllabus instead of bringing conceptual change in the students) Teacher growth: Teacher growth is also a conceptual change: Knowledge + Experience + Reflection = Growth ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 24 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU If any single element is eliminated or missed from the above statement then it is not growth. If you have knowledge and experience, it is necessary for growth that whatever you have gained from your experience you must reflect on that. E.g. if you teach mathematics to grade 2 students a year and then you are supposed to teach mathematics again in the next year to grade 2. You have same notes and textbooks that you used earlier. You teach mathematics to grade 2 for the next 5 years in the same way then there is no growth. You are just using your experience but there is no change. But if a teacher gains experience to teach mathematics to grade 2 students and at the end, reflect upon his experience is actually growth. By the end of the year, he will think that what techniques must be use to improve students learning. What motivational strategies work and which motivational strategies do not work. These things are actually part of your reflection. If you are reflecting on the things, it means that you will teach the students the next year in a much-improved way. It means that you are developing yourself professionally. So, teacher growth is also a conceptual change and it requires three elements. These are: knowledge, experience and reflection. How do humans learn? Before we discuss theories on how children learn, there are some questions that must be taken into consideration. And their answers will be discussed through theories. 1. How does a child learn to talk? 2. How did you learn different skills like cooking/ gardening/ stitching/ cycling/ using dictionary? 3. How do people learn to debate? 4. How do people learn to perform in drama? 5. Did you learn multiplication before addition? “Knowledge is actively constructed by learners.” Nolan and Francis (1992) If you look at the question # 2, can you learn cooking without you cook? Can you learn stitching without doing it? Can you learn to use dictionary without using it? Definitely, no. so it is true that knowledge is actively constructed by learners. What do we teachers do in the classroom is we start teaching concepts to the students. The students are just listening to the lecture; they are not actively involved in learning. If you look at the question # 1, that is how a child does learn to talk? If we do not allow a child to talk or to explore different words of vocabulary, he cannot lean a language. It again shows that knowledge is constructed by learners.  Prior knowledge greatly influences learning. Why is it necessary to learn addition before multiplication? Because multiplication is repeated addition. If a child does not know addition, then he can‟t learn multiplication. If a prior learning of a student is good, then you can bring conceptual change very easily. It is important for a teacher to know that what is the students‟ existing knowledge or prior knowledge. Because it actually influences ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 25 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU learning. If a student has no prior knowledge about a concept, then he will take more time in getting it. E.g. if a person has seen how to use injection, and you teach him to use it. He will learn quickly as compare to the one who has never seen an injection. So prior knowledge influences learning.  Learning is there when teachers try to help learners change their cognitive structures instead of focusing on their own teaching. We have to judge the prior knowledge of the students and help them in learning new concepts by recognizing their prior knowledge. So that they may have cognitive change and deep learning. What do we teachers do that we focus on our own teaching e.g. a teacher is asked to cover the syllabus in 2 weeks, his focus will be on covering the syllabus and not on the learning of the students. So, good learning shift on focus to students.  Learning is a social endeavour. It is said that “Learning is social by nature.” It is because learning is enhanced when you are learning in a group. We said in previous lectures that schools have group orientation. It is because the learning in schools is in groups. There are many things that cannot be learnt individually but in groups. In one in one process, a student made a mistake that is corrected by the tutor individually. But when a student makes a mistake in a class, many students learn from that mistake. Whether it was their mistake or not but they learn from them also. So, students learn in a social environment. And learning is definitely a social process. Social cognitivism and modelling: We will discuss the modelling process in social cognitivism. There are some questions to take into consideration: 1. How does a child learn to hold spoon? 2. How does a child learn to wear clothes? 3. How does a child learn to play? The answer to these questions can be formulated by a video in which a child is copying an adult in studying, playing and praying. But according to assumptions and from books, the answer to these questions is: “Much human behaviour is learnt by observing the behaviour of others.” (Bandura ,1978) There are few things that can be learnt by observing others. According to Bandura, there are three things in modelling: 1. Observational learning. 2. Inhibitory effect. 3. Disinhibitory effect. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 26 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU 1. Observational learning: Observational learning is something that we learn by observing others. There are number of people who learn things by just observing other people. If someone is cooking, you can observe them and learn how to cook food. You can learn cycling by observing, you can learn using computers by observing others. It means that we can learn many things by observation. Teachers are said to be role models because whatever teachers do, students used to copy them and learn. E.g. a small survey was conducted on impressions and it shows that the teacher whose hand writing was very good on the board, his students‟ handwriting was also very good and clear. But a teacher with average or poor handwriting on board shows the poor hand writing of the students as well. This is a new learning that is learnt by observing others. 2. Inhibitory effect: When you learn something, and then observe others, you think that it is not right. So, you left that thing. E.g. if a person is wearing new style clothes, you have bought the same dress as well. When you observe the other person and feel that the dress is not looking nice, you reflect on yourself and think that it might not suits me as well so you stop doing it. This is not a new learning. It is what you leave by observing others. To unlearn something that was learnt. 3. Disinhibitory effect: Disinhibitory effect takes place when you think that whatever you have learnt is right and you can carry on with it. That is not a new learning. E.g. when a child is writing an alphabet wrong and his teacher is also writing it in the same way. The child gets ensure that the way in which he is writing is right because the teacher is also writing it in the same way. His learning gets strong in this way. So, we may claim that modeling does affect children‟s learning. Modeling processes: There are 4 important modeling processes and research has established these modeling processes. These are: 1. Attention In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that detracts your attention is going to have a negative effect on observational learning. If the model interesting or there is a novel aspect to the situation, you are far more likely to dedicate your full attention to learning. 2. Retention ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 27 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning process. Retention can be affected by a number of factors, but the ability to pull up information later and act on it is vital to observational learning. 3. Production Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is time to actually perform the behavior you observed. Further practice of the learned behavior leads to improvement and skill advancement. 4. Motivation Finally, in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be motivated to imitate the behaviour that has been modeled. Reinforcement and punishment play an important role in motivation. While experiencing these motivators can be highly effective, so can observing other experience some type of reinforcement or punishment? Modeling can be made very effective if you take care of these four things. These are attention, retention, production and motivation. And motivation is the most important term or process because attention and retention are the initial levels but motivation takes place throughout the learning process. There is not only a single way to motivate students. Different teachers use different strategies to make children attentive in the class and make them motivated. Social cognitivism: We discuss in the learning theories that learning is an active process. Basically, students can get involved actively alone but the social process is still necessary. Because we are social beings, human beings are social animal and we live in groups. So when we live in groups, our learning will be enhanced due to group orientation. Comments:  Social cognitive theory, used in psychology, education, and communication, posits that portions of an individual's knowledge acquisition can be directly related to observing others within the context of social interactions, experiences, and outside media influences. In other words, people do not learn new behaviors solely by trying them and either succeeding or failing, but rather, the survival of humanity is dependent upon the replication of the actions of others. Depending on whether people are rewarded or punished for their behavior and the outcome of the behavior, that behavior may be modeled. Further, media provide models for a vast array of people in many different environmental settings. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 28 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Lesson No.6 LEARNING OF CHILDREN AND PERSPECTIVES ON INSTRUCTIONAL DECISION MAKING Objectives:  The prior knowledge and social context of learning as essential conditions of learning.  Language, learning and development as interwoven areas.  The three perspectives on instructional decision making:  Developmental  Behavioral  Cognitive Outline:  Prior knowledge and social context of learning as essential conditions of learning.  Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)  Active learning  Perspectives on instructional decision making  Developmental perspective  Behavioural perspective  Cognitive perspective There is a video that shows the students learning. In this video the teachers ask the students to make words using different sounds. We will relate this video to Vygotsky‟s theory. Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist. He worked a lot on the theories of social constructivism. Vygotsky‟s theory about prior learning and social context included four major ideas. They are: 1. Children construct their own knowledge. Most of the time, teachers say the students that the knowledge is present in the book, and you must acquire the knowledge by learning. But Vygotsky says that the students do not acquire knowledge in that way rather they construct their own knowledge. Students can cram knowledge but they cannot construct knowledge. Vygotsky put a question mark to the following statement: if there is no construction of knowledge by the students, then can we say that students have learnt? 2. Language plays an important role in child‟s learning. Language is an important medium for learning. When a child doesn‟t understand a language then how can he learn a concept? Vygotsky says that when a child born; his ultimate purpose is that he wants to communicate with the people around him. When he starts communicating, he used many words like mama, baba etc. Before he can communicate, he only starts weeping ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 29 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU when he is hungry, when he wants to sleep etc., he communicates in weeping. But as the child grows up, he needs to learn language for communication. So, Vygotsky says that unless a child learns a language, it is very difficult for him to learn anything. Language is basically a developmental tool. 3. Learning can lead development: Learning may be defined as behavioral change or any other change like thinking change etc. Vygotsky says that learning is there only when there is development. E.g. there are some people of the same age i.e. 60 years; you feel that one person is more mature than the other. The one who is more developed seems more mature. His learning or experiences are more than the other person. As a result of those experiences, we think that this person is more mature. On the other hand, a person with fewer experiences seems less mature. There is a misconception in the Pakistani context, it is said that males are more mature, experienced and developed as compare to the females. It does not mean that females do not have intellect. They can also be more developed and experienced if they are given an equal opportunity to experience learning, and create their social capital. Their experiences will be equal to that of males and they would be equally developed. So, learning leads to development. 4. Learning/ development cannot be separated from the social context in which it occurs: In the video, you have observed that the students who do not know the English language, don‟t know what are words producing sound of “pla”. But when her peer told her what are those words, she understood and respond well. So, social context is very important. Prior knowledge is also very important. Teacher must try to know the prior knowledge of his students. It is not necessary that if there are 30 students in the class, all of them have the same prior knowledge. So, if a teacher tries to teach all students with a same method then all students cannot benefit from it. Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): The gap between actual and potential level of a child is Zone of Proximal Development. Vygotsky is very famous for this concept of his theory. Actual level is the initial level of child‟s learning and potential level is the level where a child can stand. The potential level is usually one step ahead the actual level. If student is at the actual level, he has the potential to come up to the potential level. The important role here is of the teacher, if a teacher helps the student, he/she can reach to the potential level very easily. The teacher helps the students at actual level of learning, or at the first level of any learning, it is easier for the student to go one step ahead of that level. When a student is standing at his potential level, he is one step ahead of the previous and needs the support of his adults or teachers again to go ahead of that potential level as well. E.g. if you are teaching mathematics to a student, you teach him about one-digit addition. You cannot take him straight to the concept of two-digit addition unless he is expert in one-digit addition by practicing it. You teach him the concept of ones and tens here. After he has learned one-digit addition, he couldn‟t start doing two-digit addition by himself. He needs the help ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 30 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU of his elders or teacher to help him. Now the student has jumped from the actual level to the potential level i.e. from one-digit addition to two digit addition. After that you give him the concept of ones, tens and hundreds, and he can go to the third level by himself i.e. three-digit addition. Perspectives on Instructional Decision-making:  Developmental perspective  Behavioral perspective  Cognitive perspective If I am going to teach in a class, I have to decide that what I am going to teach and how it should be taught? How should I assess the students? How can I manage the classroom? All these things are the part of instructional decision-making. The perspectives beyond this decision-making are developmental, behavioral and cognitive. Piaget and Vygotsky are the key people who developed theories. These perspectives are important for the teachers because whatever they are going to teach to the students, they can make decisions accordingly. When teachers will take decisions according to these perspectives, the students will be more important in their eyes. Developmental perspective: If we take decisions in the class according to the developmental perspective and notices the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, we will conclude the following. Piaget‟s theory: If followed by his theory, we will say that a child learns by himself. He plays with the things, get into different experiences and as a result he learns. Piaget‟s perspective is stage-wise i.e. a child will learn essential concepts at the first level then moves to the second and learns some other concepts like- wise. E.g. when a child born, he learns to sit at the first level. Then at the second level, his muscles get strong and he starts crawling, after that when his muscles get stronger, he starts walking. When his muscles get stronger than he starts running. These are linear stages of learning that at a particular stage a child will learn this thing and the second at the next level. Vygotsky‟s theory: Vygotsky also says that a child constructs his own knowledge. But according to him, social context is very important. He says that it is not a linear process that a child must learn stage-wise. If a child‟s social context is so enriched then he can learn many things through his social environment. Whenever I will teach the students according to Vygotsky theory, I will first try to judge their prior knowledge. Unless I don‟t know that where the students stand, I can‟t help them in development and learning. Behavioral perspective: Behavioral perspective means that students may get any change in their behavior. The new concept you are going to teach to a student must be measurable and can be seen from his behavior that the certain concept has been taught. E.g. you taught the students about rural and urban life, after that their observable behavior will be seen when you give them the task to differentiate between urban ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 31 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU and rural life. Whatever the difference a child will explain, it will show his behavioral change. If a child doesn‟t know the differences before, you will notice the change that the child was not aware of the differences but now he is able to identify those differences. It means that the child has learnt. If being a teacher, I will take decisions according to the behavioral perspective then I will merely focus on the direct instruction. I will teach the students in such a way that at the end they are able to show that particular behavior or change in behavior. The preferred teaching methods in this perspective will be lecture method and direct instruction. When you are going to teach to higher classes, then teacher‟s decision-making comes from behavioral perspective. At that time, it becomes difficult for us to take decisions at developmental level. Lecturing is done with adults, if lecturing is done with children, it may not be useful. Cognitive perspective: Cognitive perspective is to develop students‟ academic and thinking skills from a novice level to a more expert level. Cognitive perspective can be related to ZPD but in that an adult‟s presence is important. In cognitive perspective, presence on adult is not necessary but complexity of task is important. If your target is to improve a child‟s thinking skills, then your task will be of such kind that a child will learn from them. E.g. if we write on board and ask the students to copy that on copies, or if we say that these things are written in your books, learn them, both are very low-level tasks. If you want to improve their thinking skill then you need to have projects with them. Thinking skills can never be improved, unless you do not put them in a situation where they are supposed to think. If a person has high problem-solving skill, it means that he has experienced many situations where he has solved many problems and as a result, he has got this higher problem- solving skill. So, cognitive perspective says that if a teacher wants to take his/her child to a certain level of thinking then we need to provide that range of experience to those people. This perspective includes tasks like portfolios, projects, independent tasks, inquiry tasks etc. an important perspective of cognitive development is Active learning. Active learning: Active learning is where human mind is actively involved in constructing meaning of the experience. When a teacher is teaching in a class, this is not active learning unless there is no questioning in the class. When questions are asked from the students, then actually students construct meanings. A good teacher is the one who engages the students in active learning. Summary:  In order to make students learn something, teachers must first understand how the students are representing a given concept or procedure. When we understand that what is the existing knowledge of the students then we can develop them easily. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 32 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU  Children do have their prior conceptions and being teachers, we should first explore their prior conceptions.  Speech is a powerful psychological tool that lays the foundation for basic structures of thinking later in one‟s development. We have learnt from Vygotsky‟s theory that speech is a tool as brick is the tool for the foundation of the building; similarly, speech/language is a tool for higher level of thinking.  Speech initially arises out of the need for a child to communicate with others who share his/her environment. A child speaks by his need. He speaks with the people who are there in his immediate environment. If a stranger comes to them, they usually do not talk in front of him. As a teacher, we should speak and we should use this speech as a tool for learning. We should talk and we should let our children talk. Learning can never happen in silence. Where there is silence, there is no learning. According to Vygotsky‟s theory, language, learning and environment is a social context. They are interlinked. COMMENTS:  Complexity of task means that you give student task independently. He will work independently and will get cognition accordingly. If you give students easy tasks, he will get cognitive development slowly. But if you give him complex tasks, he will ultimately have higher thinking skills. ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 33 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU Lesson No. 7 KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE AND ASSUMPTIONS OF TEACHERS Objectives: By the end of the lesson, you will have:  Identified different kinds of knowledge i.e. declarative, procedural and metacognitive.  Identified lecturing, direct instruction and cooperative learning methods as useful teaching methods.  Identified some key assumptions of teachers. Outline:  Declarative knowledge  Procedural knowledge  Metacognitive knowledge  Teaching methods use to teach declarative, procedural and metacognitive knowledge.  Key assumptions of teachers If teachers do not teach, students do not learn.  Learners learn best by working alone.  Learners need feedback on everything they do.  Students‟ tests indicate their learning.  Intelligence is a fixed capacity.  People learn in the same way. Look at the following learning and place them in three different categories: 1. Using dictionary 2. Types of pollution 3. Dissecting frog 4. History of Pakistan 5. Community service 6. Research on school pollutants 7. Solving problems 8. Working in teams In category 1: While learning about pollution and types of pollution, you are using your brain whether you are reading books or a teacher is telling you that these are different kinds of pollutants and environmental pollution is caused by these things. These are different ways to stop environmental pollution. These things that you are studying are becoming part of your memory. In the same way, history of Pakistan. To learn different facts and concepts are part of your knowledge. This kind of knowledge is called Lecturing – Declarative Knowledge. When you are learning in ______________________________________________________________________________ ©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 34 General Methods of Teaching (EDU 301) VU such a way that you are declaring knowledge. Knowledge that has been declared either in the form of facts or in the form of concepts. In category 2: There are two things, dissection of frog and using dictionary. Knowledge of such kind is Direct instruction – Procedural knowledge. If you want to search any meaning from the dictionary, you need to follow a certain procedure. In the same way, if you want to dissect a frog then you have to follow instructions. In category 3: There is problem solving, community service, working with others, research on school pollutants. This is a knowledge or skill that if a problem has occurred in front of you then you are able to solve that problem. Working with others doesn‟t mean that you are working in a group. But you have to solve the problems while working with new kind of people. Similarly, when you are going for a community service, then you are working with the people. If you have learnt to live with the people then you can handle community service. Research is not something that is in your mind that you can conduct research in such a way. But it is actually practically conducting research. This is Cooperative groups - metacognitive knowledge. 1. Lecturing – Declarative knowledge: This is the knowledge that is declared in books, research papers, newspapers or you acquired that knowledge from your elders/teachers. There are two parts in this knowledge: facts and concepts. Facts are something that you memorize e.g. Pakistan came into being on 14 august 1947, this is a fact and students learn it as it is. There are many facts in general knowledge books of elementary level, and this is called declarative knowledge because it is the collection of different facts and students memorize it. Concepts are Newton‟s law, rules of grammar, writing patterns, and we say that these are also part of our declarative knowledge. Unfortunately, we very much focus on this declarative knowledge. We think that this is the most important knowledge and we used to test our students on this knowledge. 2. Direct Instruction – Procedural knowledge: This knowledge is a step ahead from that declarative knowledge. In which you have acquired the knowledge but still you need to know its procedures as well. E.g. you told a student that a frog is dissected in such a way, and its steps as well. And then you ask him about it by a written test