Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Prepare for your exams
Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points to download
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Community
Ask the community for help and clear up your study doubts
Discover the best universities in your country according to Docsity users
Free resources
Download our free guides on studying techniques, anxiety management strategies, and thesis advice from Docsity tutors
Education psychology is that branch of psychology in which the findings of psychology are applied in the field of education. In another words educational psychology is the application of psychological principles, findings, techniques and other sources of psychology in the field of education for finding the solution of educational problems like teaching, learning and classroom management. Edward Lee Thorndike is known as the father of Educational Psychology.
Typology: Lecture notes
1 / 125
This page cannot be seen from the preview
Don't miss anything!
(D.El.Ed.)
Pedagogic Processes in Elementary Schools
A - 24/25, Institutional Area, Sector – 62,NOIDA Gautam Buddha Nagar, UP – 201309 Website: www.nios.ac.in
Theory Study Hours
Block Unit Name of Unit
Content Activity
Practical Study
U1 Learning and Teaching during Early Schooling
6 4 Identification of the role of a teacher as facilitator from your own experience U2 Approaches to Learning and Teaching
8 5 Identification of the characteristics of child centred approach from the behvaiour of your colleagues U3 Methods of Learning and Teaching
7 4 Differentiation amidst different methods (as mentioned) in the kdf of learning and teaching
Block-1: Learning and Teaching Process
U4 Learning and Learner Centred Approaches and Methods
9 7 Seminar on classroom managerial problems in using different approaches mentioned in the unit U5 Management of Classroom Processes
6 3 Identification of material and demotivating actions taken in the classroom by teacher-colleagues U6 Teaching and Learning Materials
7 3 Separation of TLM in various concepts from different subject areas U7 Management of Multi-Grade and Multi-Level Situations
8 5 Development of activities in different subject areas in multigrade classes
Block-2 : Management of Learning- Teaching Process
U8 Planning Learning Activities
5 3 Development of Anmial calendar of scholastic & co-scholastic activities, lesson class & lesson note Block 3: Emerging
U9 Integrated Learning- Teaching Process
5 2 Development of activities integrating
BLOCK INTRODUCTION
As a learner, you will study block 1 : Learning and Teaching Process. This block consists four units related to learning teaching process. Every unit is divided into sections and subsections.
Unit-1 : This unit will provide you understanding about the concept and process of learning. It will detailed the factors which affect learning as every child is unique and learn in his/her own way. There are many ways to learn, for example imitation, observation, trial and error, participation, inquiry and learning through construction of experiences. This will empower you to understand the various dimensions of learning and teaching.
Unit-2 : This is the unit which will empower you to explain different approaches related to learning and teaching. Teachers centered approach and subject centered approach, both are considered as traditional approach. Competency based and child centered approaches are modern approaches of learning and teaching, NCF 2005 emphasis on constructivist approach as each and every child is the constructor of knowledge.
Unit-3 : This unit will make an attempt to provide you a thorough understanding of different methods of learning and teaching. There are some methods which are based on instructions for example lecture method, demonstration method, inductive and deductive method. There are also some methods which are learner friendly i.e. play way method, project method, problem solving method. For effective learning and teaching process, there is a need to choose the best combination.
Unit 4 : You will be able to understand the various approaches to learning which are as follows learner centered approach, cooperative learning, collaborative learning etc. Further you will be acquainted with activity based approach, the nature of learning activities and its elements activity based approach is considered as an important approach at elementary level.
Block 1 : Learning and Teaching Process
Notes
UNIT 1 LEARNING AND TEACHING
DURING EARLY SCHOOLING
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Learning Objectives
1.2 Learning Process
1.2.1 The Concept and Process 1.2.2 Factors Affecting Learning
1.3 How children learn
1.3.1 Imitation 1.3.2 Observation 1.3.3 Trial and Error 1.3.4 Participation 1.3.5 Discovery / Inquiry 1.3.6 Problem Solving 1.3.7 Learning as Meaning Making
1.4 Process of Teaching
1.4.1 Teaching for Behaviour Modification 1.4.2 Teaching for Development of Cognition 1.4.3 Teaching for Construction of Experience
1.5 Let Us Sum Up
1.6 Model Answers to Check Your Progress
1.7 Suggested Readings and References
1.8 Unit-End Exercise
Learning and teaching are two processes with which you, as a teacher, are very familiar, because you are engaged in teaching children to learn. You normally expect that all children in your class will excel in acquiring maximum learning experiences as per their potential. While all the teachers have similar expectations i.e. maximizing the students’ efforts to acquire new experiences, each individual teacher does not approach this goal in the same manner.
Notes
Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)
Let us consider the following two classroom situations in a primary school:
Situation 1: In class V, Mr.Raman was teaching his pupils to learn the different parts of a plant. He was explaining various parts of the plant such as; root, stem, branch, leaf, flower, fruit, seed etc. with the help of a figure of a plant drawn on the black board. He was occasionally asking questions to ensure whether the students understood the concepts. Sometimes he was humorous with the students and sometimes he was calling on the inattentive students to focus on the figure drawn on the board. At the end, he concluded the class by asking some students to show different parts of a sample plant he had brought to the class.
Situation 2: In another class,Ms. Seema was teaching the same topic i.e. the identification of different parts of a plant in a different way. She had earlier instructed each student to bring a sample of a plant from home to the class. She divided the students into small groups of five and asked them to draw the figures of the five plants on a piece of paper, color them and label the different parts of the plants. After the groups completed the task, they displayed their sheets on the wall for others to see. At the end of the class, when Seema asked to label different parts of a diagram of a mango tree, there was competition among the student to perform the task.
Can you identify the differences in the styles of teaching-learning process followed in the two classes?
The similarities in the two situations are :
(i) the teacher planned the activities, and (ii) both used some materials to teach.
However, the differences are as follows:
● In the first situation, the class was entirely teacher dominated. The teacher planned the lesson, arranged teaching-learning materials, explained the concepts, asked questions and did other classroom activities. The students were passive and were expected to be obedient to teacher’s instructions.
● In the second situation, the students in the class were actively engaged in learning activities than merely driven by the instruction of the teacher. They brought the materials with them, prepared charts, labelled the parts, displayed the chart and willingly took part in the evaluation task.
It seems that the differences between the two ways of teaching are due to attitudinal differences of the teachers towards the students. In fact the underlying belief in the
Notes
Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)
Given below are some statements about learning for you to read and ponder. ● Learning is the process of being modified, more or less permanently, by what happens in the world around us, by what we do, or by what we observe.
● Learning is the process by which behaviour is originated or changed through training procedure (whether in the natural environment or in the laboratory). ● Learning is a process by which the individual acquires various habits, knowledge and attitude that are necessary to meet the demands of the life in general. ● “Learning is relatively permanent change in personality (including cognitive, affective, attitudinal, motivational, behavioural, and experiential) and reflects a change in performance usually brought about by practice although it may arise from insight or other factors, including memory.” (Sahakian, 1976 p.3)
These statements lead us to understand learning in three broad ways.
Learning can be considered as:
● the relatively permanent modification of behaviour. ● acquisition of habits, knowledge and attitude necessary to meet the demands of life. ● the relatively permanent change in personality(all possible dimensions).
The characteristics of learning process are: ● Learning is a continuous process. From childhood every human being tries to change his/her behaviour, thinking, attitude, interest etc. continuously to fit himself/ herself to the ever changing conditions of life. ● Learning is goal directed. Every human being aspires to achieve some goals in his/her life. These goals may be achieved through learning. If there is no goal to achieve, then there would be no necessity of learning. ● Learning is intentional. Since an individual sets a goal to achieve, he/she has to deliberately do some activity to attain the goal. If he/she does not have any intention to reach the goal or is quite casual about it, then it is difficult to reach the goal and in that sense learning is weak or may not take place at all. ● Learning is an active process. One has to perform some activity, may be physical or mental or both to learn something. Mind has to remain active to acquire new experience; otherwise no learning can take place. ● Learning is individualistic. You might have observed that in a class there are some students who learn more quickly while others learn slowly. In fact, the pace of learning differs from person to person.
Block 1 : Learning and Teaching Process
Notes
● Learning is the outcome of the interaction of the individual with the environment. As a teacher, you have to organize the environment carefully to motivate the students so as to interact with you, peer students and teaching- learning materials.
● Learning is transferable. Learning in one situation can be used to solve problems in another situation. Learning of mathematics, science, social science and language helps the child to perform different activities in their real life.
E1. State any three characteristics of learning with examples.
You may have observed that some people learn driving or swimming or cooking easily, while some others do not. Why this happens? What could be the reasons for individuals to differ with respect to how and what they learn? To find answers to these questions, let us try to understand the various factors affecting learning.
● Learning and maturation : Maturation is related to the process of growth. It describes changes that are relatively independent of the environmental influence and are assumed to be closely related to the influence of heredity. Learning on the other hand is shaped primarily by individual’s interaction with the immediate environment. For example, beginning to walk depends on the maturation of certain muscle groups and on increasing control over their movements (maturational developments). But, without the opportunity to practice various skills involved in walking (environment and learning), one may not walk at all. Similarly, although to start speaking is mostly influenced by maturation, one cannot speak fluently and meaningfully without proper practice and training which is essentially influenced by learning. We also know that it is impossible to make a six months old baby learn multiplication table until a certain level of mental maturation is reached.
● Readiness to learn: While transacting learning material in the classroom you must have come across a pupil to be non-attentive. You become annoyed with him/her when he/she does not respond to your questions. Why does this happen? Have you ever inquired about the pupil?
Well, due to many reasons which maybe psycho-physical and/or social, the pupil may not be prepared to learn. There are various types of readiness, some relating to physical maturation (like one cannot join a race if he/she is not capable of
Block 1 : Learning and Teaching Process
Notes
engage in their learning. Safe, attractive and comfortable child-friendly environment help children engage in the activities you offered.
● Learning and Motivation: Motivation refers to the force originated or generated in the individual which sustains, directs and controls the activities of the pupil till the goal is achieved. There are two types of motivation- intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic Motivation refers to motivation that is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on any external pressure. Intrinsic Motivation is based on taking pleasure in an activity rather working towards an external reward. Intrinsic motivation results in high-quality learning and creativity For example; preparing any project in science/ mathematics may give pleasure to the pupil as a result of which he/she is motivated to undertake similar activities on his/her own.
Extrinsic Motivation: refers to the performance of an activity in order to attain an outcome, and comes from outside of the individual. For example, a student who does his homework only because he/she fears parental dissatisfaction for not doing it is extrinsically motivated because he/she is doing the work in order to attain the separable outcome of avoiding parental dissatisfaction. Common extrinsic motivations are rewards like money and grades. Parents and teachers often reward their child for successful completion of learning tasks.
However, proper motivation accelerates learning in the child. You as a teacher have to know various techniques to motivate the child. You have to be careful to draw the attention of the student by devising suitable mechanisms.
E2. State any two reasons as to why intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation for learning.
You must have seen several children coming to your school for the first time for enrolling themselves in class I. For these children who come to school for the first time formal learning begins with predesigned and prescribed curriculum. Do you think all these children have not learnt anything and are going to start learning?
Notes
Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)
Prepare a list of activities a normal child aged 6 years and coming to the school for the first time usually performs.
Mr. Binay, a teacher like you in a primary school observed and interacted with a newly entrant child named Jhumpa and listed the following activities which she could perform with ease.
● She expresses her feelings in simple sentences.
● She speaks using proper tense of the verb appropriate to the subject.
● She answers simple questions like “What have you taken in your lunch?”, “Which game do you like?”, “Who came to your house yesterday?”
● She is curious and asks a lot of questions.
● She understands and obeys teacher’s commands like “stand up”, “move to your left”, “close your eyes”, “come to the black board” etc.
● She sings some songs according to her liking.
● She plays games with other children in the class strictly following the rules of the game.
Notice that the list is quite long. Every normal child can perform such activities. But how did Jhumpa learn to perform so many activities correctly and with ease? Although there were several individuals around her in the family and neighbourhood, no one deliberately taught her so many activities she is performing.
Clearly school is not the only place for learning, and one can acquire a wide range of experiences from the world around him/her. If we know the processes that help one to gather experiences in a natural way, we can use those processes in the classroom for making school learning more natural, meaningful and easier to adopt and internalize. Let us understand some of the basic processes of acquiring new experiences which are usually used by children and others as well for learning in a very informal way.
Much of human learning is a function of imitating and observing the behaviour and action of others and these are also the main processes through which children acquire new experiences and behaviour. Imitation is copying or reproducing others’ actions or behaviours. One does not imitate everybody one comes across. One chooses consciously or otherwise a person for imitating some of his/her behaviours or actions
Notes
Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)
● The eliciting effect is related to responses of the model not to his/her behavioural characteristics per states. An illustration of the eliciting effect is the mass behaviour. In any sporting event, one person’s clapping or booing might elicit similar behaviour from others in the crowd. Sometimes, many in the crowd do not know why they behaved in the way they imitated.
As a teacher, what can you do in the classroom/school to use imitation for enabling young students to acquire positive and socially desirable behaviour? Well, you can do the following:
● Try to be a model for imitation by your students. Demonstrate positive aspects of your behaviour to your students. A teacher’s positive practices like cleanliness, punctuality, truthfulness, and fairness to all have immense impact on the students to imitate. Nevertheless, do not expose your weaknesses to your students.
● While teaching history, social science, literature and telling stories to children, always highlight the positive aspects of the important characters for imitation by the students.
● When any student imitates positive behaviour, try to recognize it and provide verbal praise encouraging him/her to repeat it.
E3. What can you do to discourage your students to avoid imitating undesirable/deviant behaviour of a model?
Learning from observation is a common and natural method of human learning. Observational learning (also known as vicarious learning, social learning, or modelling) is a type of learning that occurs as a function of observing, retaining and replicating novel behaviour executed by others. Observational learning is a key learning method for children when acquiring basic tasks such as language and cultural norms. But it is different from imitation in which the observer copies and reproduces the behaviour of the model. In observational learning we think and judge and learn not only how to do certain things but also what the consequences of our action are likely to be. Therefore, learning through observation is not exact reproduction of the model’s behaviour but developing behaviour based on the observed behaviour.
According to Bandura (1977), following four distinct processes are involved in observational learning:
Block 1 : Learning and Teaching Process
Notes
● Attention Process: We do not imitate the total behaviour of a model….rather we focus on specific aspects that we are interested to learn. We pay attention to significant features of the behaviour we want to learn. For example, a child learning to write in good hand writing watches her teacher and keenly observe the way she is holding the pen, moving her fingers, where she is using capital letters and does not pay attention to how the teacher is dressed or how she walks.
● Retention Process : 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. We need to remember the things observed through some way of using symbols, understanding and organizing our observations. Usually we employ two processes for retention: first storing the things observed as visuals in our memory and then rehearsing the sequence of actions mentally. For example, if anyone is trying to bowl like Zahir Khan, then he should mentally rehearse the sequences of the bowling actions of Zahir after observing him in person or in TV telecasts and forming a visual image of the actions. Bandura (1977) suggests that the best way to learn from a model is to organize and rehearse the observed behaviour cognitively (mentally with proper thinking) and then act it out.
● Motor Reproduction Process : After we have retained the observed behaviour through rehearsal of the visual images, the behaviour has to be transformed into physical actions. For this one needs two things. First, he/she must have basic requirements for the action to be performed by him/her. If one desires to be a batsman like Tendulkar, the basic requirement is the physical capability of a batsman. If one is too weak, no matter how perfectly one rehearse the sequences of batting of Tendulkar, one will not be able to perform because it would be difficult to lift and move the bat in the same manner..
● The second aspect for transforming the observed behaviour to action is to actually practice the sequence of actions. Having a perfect visual imagery and mental rehearsal of the actions will not help the observer to perform the act spontaneously. To perform effectively, repeated practice combined with continuous feedback on practice and making appropriate corrections after each practice are necessary.
● Motivational Process : You must have come across some children who have learnt very well through observational learning as they can vividly describe the steps of action and can perform it perfectly. But often they do not perform as and when required. In such cases, what they lack is proper motivation to act. The child is required to be motivated especially self-motivated to act.
In summary we can say that observational learning begins with observation of a modelled event and undergoes following four processes before being transformed into a matching performance on the part of the observer.
Block 1 : Learning and Teaching Process
Notes
law of disuse. The first relates to the strengthening of the connection of stimulus (cause) and response(the behaviour) by repetition and the second, the opposite of the first, relates to the weakening of connection when not used frequently.
● Law of Effect: Of the several responses, that occurs just before a satisfying state of affairs tends to be learned easily. Those that occur before an annoying state of affair tend to be forgotten or rejected. In other words if the consequence to a behaviour is satisfying, then the behaviour is likely to be learnt. In this connection the role of reward and praise have positive effects of strengthening the learned behaviour whereas punishment and rebuff have the opposite effect on the behaviour being learned.
● Law of Readiness: Effective learning takes place when the student is ready to learn. The educational implication of this law is quite clear. A child who is ready for a specific type of learning is far more likely to profit from such learning experiences than another who is not ready. Earlier in this unit, we have discussed about the importance of readiness to learn and the teacher’s role in understanding children’s readiness.
These laws of learning drawn by Thorndike from his experiments have influenced classroom practices even though several researchers found limitations of these laws in their practical uses.
E6. Considering trial and error method of learning, give an example that you have experienced as a teacher.
Learning by doing or through participation is considered as effective means for meaningful learning. Doing gives the real experience of solving real life problems. It is a way of combining thinking and reasoning with the practical act of manipulating objects for solving a problem. Undoubtedly it promotes self-learning and self-assessment which are the ultimate goal of learning process. But, in classroom situations, individual work cannot always be conducted. Therefore, encouraging students for participation in small group work always proves beneficial for learning. Research findings consistently show that the more pupils are involved as active participants in small group activities, the better they do. The more provisions for group activities are arranged in the classroom situation, the more participation is expected from the students. What are the benefits of participation in enhancing learning? Well , it promotes:
● Active and meaningful learning in a contextual situation;
Notes
Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)
● Sharing of experience among each other;
● Pooling combined resources for successful completion of the task;
● Searching, debating and coming out with innovative and alternative ways of solving problem;
● Developing social qualities like helping, sharing, fellow feeling, and accepting responsibility;
● Developing personal qualities like self-confidence, self-esteem, courage to ask questions.
Considering participation in group tasks has positive effect on learning, it seen that in actual situation all the students cannot participate in equal degree in all group works. What can you do then to increase the level of participation in students in the classroom activities? You may consider the following points:
● Ideally, the goal of increasing participation is not to have every student participate in the same way or at the same rate. Instead, it is to create an environment in which all participants have the opportunity to learn and in which the class explores issues and ideas in depth, from a variety of viewpoints.
● There are always different types of students. For example, some students who do not speak often in class are reflective students who typically develop ideas and questions in their minds before speaking; others are shy students who feel uncomfortable speaking in front of groups (at least initially). Many students who frequently volunteer to contribute are active students, who typically think while they speak. Therefore it is necessary to create conditions that enable students of various learning preferences and personalities to contribute. For this you will need to take extra steps to encourage quiet students to speak up and, occasionally, ask the more vocal students to hold back from commenting in order to give others a chance.
● There is a need to provide pupils with training and support for group discussion. For this you need to:
● Collaborative group work is important for enhancing pupil participation. The key features of effective group work discussions include pupils:
