Полный текст:
CONTENTS
I
Introduction……………………………………………………………p.5
II 1 How
do we know a Good Teacher?.......................................p.7
1.1 A possible concept of a Good
Teacher………………………..p.7
1.2 Problems in Evaluating a Good
Teacher……………………...p.10
1.3 Conflicted Values……………………………………………….p.13
2 Education as
Enculturation……………………………………….p.15
2.1 Lesson plan and teachers
notes………………………………..p.15
2.2 Nontraditional
teaching…………………………………………p.16
2.3 Can an Individual's Approach to Learning Be Modified?......p.21
2.4 Can a teacher’s Approach
modify?......................................p.21
3 Active learning activities at
school………………………………p.23
3.1 Promoting Active
learning………………………………………p.23
3.2 Role plays in the classroom……………………………………..p.26
III
Conclusion……………………………………………………………p.29
Bibliography…………………………………………………………p.31
Appendix………………………………………………………..……p.32
I INTRODUCTION
The actuality of the problem. I think that there is a main question in
teaching. How do we know a good teacher? The answer to the question asked in
the title is approached in two ways: an analysis of a possible concept of good
teaching and a discussion of the problems involved in evaluating good teaching.
Conclusion: there is no such person as the good teacher but it is
possible to know when a teacher is good and what good teaching is.
What good teaching is and how to
recognize when a teacher is good are closely related problems, as baffling as
they are persistent. Except for those who claim an intuitive power of knowing
the instant they step into the classroom whether or not the teaching and
teacher are good, supervisors and administrators under the necessity of passing
such judgments are faced with truly bewildering dilemmas.
Here,
for example, is a teacher who obviously violates most of the accepted
principles of good teaching. But year after year his pupils return to visit him
with affection and appreciation.
Here
is another teacher whose pupils score high in all achievement tests, who learn
to read better and more quickly that other comparable groups but who seem to develop
very little in social attitudes and relationships.
Here is a teacher, warm and understanding,
whose room is a veritable bit of life with birds singing, white rats peering
out of cages, geraniums blooming in window boxes, children happy and contented.
But her pupils show a general sloppiness and lack of accuracy in the tool
subjects that are definitely disturbing.
Here
is a teacher whose pupils become identified with problems of the community and
even of the world. They correspond with children in ware-devastated countries;
they serve on traffic patrols; they send letters to their congressmen. But when
they are confronted as individuals with anything requiring a study,
concentrated effort they seem utterly incapable of settling down.
Here
is a teacher who believes in discipline, who proclaims aloud that ''order is
heaven's first law," and gets it. Her teaching techniques are almost
flawless but the children do not learn.
On the
upper levels, here is a teacher who proudly points to the fact that practically
all of his pupils go on to high school and college, and make good records. In
contrast, here is another teacher whose pupils marry early, settle down into
happy family life, and occupy obscure positions in the social scene.
And we ask-how are we to judge in
the last analysis which teaching is of most worth?
Difficult as it is, every
educator responsible in any way for the education of teachers must to the best
of his ability stake down what he, out of his experience, thinks a good teacher
is. What is expressed in the flowing paragraphs is by no means a complete
account of our concept of good teaching but it may be sufficient to indicate an
orientation toward a way of thinking about the problem. In any event it would
be impossible to draw up a set of criteria without regard to the needs and
goals of a particular situation.
The object of research – the
consideration of function of the teacher in developing innovation culture of a
future teacher.
The subject of research – the
role of function of the teacher in developing innovation culture of a future
teacher.
The aim of research – to
find ways of developing innovation culture of a future teacher.
The task of research:
1. To
analyze theoretical material on the problem of research.
2. To
reveal function of the teacher in developing innovation culture of a future
teacher.
3. To
find the advantages of function of the teacher in developing innovation culture
of a future teacher.
Following methods of research
were used during the writing of the work:
research and analysis of
methodical literature;determined observation on usage
of studying materials;experimental
usage of additional visual and entertaining materials.
The
articles from methodological journals, educational and methodological
literature were also used during writing of the work.
II 1 How do we know a Good
Teacher?
1.1 A possible
concept of a Good Teacher
We are accustomed to the idea
that a teacher should be someone who loves children. In fact, many a novitiate
thinks she has done extraordinarily well when in answer to the question,
"Why do you want to become a teacher?" she answers with feeling,
"I love children." It's a disarming answer, especially to the
interviewer who may have given the question a considerable amount of thought.
It's a good thing that she loves children, that she realizes that loving
children is an asset in a teacher. But if she thinks that is the end rather
than the beginning, she has a long way to go.
Children do need to be loved and
accepted by their teachers. The young teacher who naturally warms to children
has the fundamental ingredient of acceptance, but her growth as a fine teacher
will depend upon her ability to reach deeper and deeper levels of acceptance.
What these are can only be briefly suggested:
• accepting children on the basis of enjoying
their vitality, their charm, their freshness, their creativeness
• being able to handle the expression of raw
emotion occasionally involving negative feeling toward the teacher, especially
in younger children
• appreciating differences among children
with respect to ratio between potential and overt accomplishment
• including the concept of
children-within-families but not with the attitude of pointing an accusing
finger at the family for what the child may lack.
In fact, it is probably true that a deeply accepting teacher is involved
almost not at all in the process of blaming either the child or the family.
Instead she is always looking for ways into
rather than ways out 0/her
responsibility as a teacher.[1]
"What makes you think you
would be a good teacher?" often brings the direct reply, "I get along
very well with children." One might hope for a reply that included the
idea that the teacher gets along well with people, and children are people.
Teachers are happiest and most successful when they are natural
communicators-personalities who realize the best in themselves through their
interaction with other human beings.
Not all professions are equally
dependent on this quality. To be in rapport with children is essential but good
rapport is not the same for all stages of growth, nor is there any one formula
for what it should be at any one stage. Teachers can get into rapport through:
• offering warmth, protection, unspoken
understanding (most essential in the younger years)
• establishing an atmosphere of camaraderie
that keeps feeling a little under the surface (important to children of the
middle years)
• being themselves happy, positive people in
whose presence it is natural to feel good about life
• having great resources of knowledge and
experience which they can transmit without exerting pressures
• their talents for helping children to
discover the intricacies of the world around them
•
being able to teach others how to learn for themselves, thereby
establishing confidence in the child's sense of his own prowess.
Actually, the modern educator is
deeply concerned with learning. He has broadened the concept of learning so
that he talks of growth as much as he talks of knowledge. But it is an error to
assume that knowledge-functioning, meaningful information-and the processes by
which knowledge is attained and absorbed
are not essential in his system of goals and values. The good teacher
needs:
• an organized reservoir of knowledge of the
world in which he lives-its physical nature, its work processes, its social
forms and problems, its historical background
• as much awareness of the concrete,
here-and-now environment as of the sources and origins which are remote in time
and space
•
understanding of the conceptual development of children in order to
judge intelligently the kind of information which children can absorb at
different stages of their growth
• to have his own information so deeply
absorbed and integrated that he can draw on it imaginatively and freely without
being too bound to lesson plans and courses of study
• knowledge of the psychological nature of the
learning process so that he teaches within a framework of basic principles such
as:
- children like to learn unless
something interferes with their motivation
- children learn most
successfully when they are identified with their teachers as people
- children learn best through a wealth of direct vital experience which
can be supplemented in gradual doses with vicarious experience as they grow
older
•
facility in the tools of acquiring knowledge -the three R's in the early
years; the skills of research, reference and organization in the later years,
and in modern methods for helping children acquire these skills
• an approach to problem-solving that has the
scientific attitude at the base, a willingness to search for evidence behind
opinion, a high threshold for prejudice
•
delight on his own adult level in clarifying confusion and an equal
delight in the dawning of understanding on the part of children and in their
growing ability to fathom ever more complex relationships.
Children need teachers who have:
• sensitivity to all the ways in which life
experiences can be re-expressed by children
•
experience with expression
through the arts on their own level
•
developed values concerning the life-problems which each growing
generation rediscovers and struggles with for itself
•
beliefs, ideals, and a quality of devotion to a way of life that is
transmitted to children in the atmosphere which the teacher creates.
The good teacher needs to bring a
fine blend of strength and delicacy to her job. She needs to be person so
secure within herself that she can function with principles rather than
prescriptions that she can exert authority without requiring submission, that
she can work experimentally but not at random, that she can admit mistakes
without feeling humiliated.[2] In her
role as a teacher she has to maintain an intricate system of delicate balances
between:
•
giving support, sympathy,
comfort, protection, and nurturing
reliance, independence, growing up
•
clearing away confusion, being the agent of reality and remaining sensitive to the
importance of phantasy in wholesome growth
• allowing a full measure of freedom from
restraint and prohibition and establishing
clear limits and boundaries of acceptable behavior
• being efficient, orderly, careful and not
becoming rigid, exacting and executive
•
being soft, understanding, yielding but not sentimental or sloppy.
1.2 Problems in
Evaluating Good Teaching
Even though only suggestive, the
characteristics of good teaching as discussed above are never found in
completeness in any one good teacher. Only a paragon would embody them all and,
fortunately, children thrive very well with something less than paragons for
teachers.
The deeper one probes into the problem of evaluation of teachers the
more insurmountable the obstacles become. Should emphasis be placed upon the
teacher's performance? If so, on what – memoes, tecnniques, attitudes,
relations, evidence of scholarship? And how should these be weighted?
Or, should emphasis be placed
upon children's performance? Again, if so, on what-knowledge, skills, human
relations, attitudes toward self and others? If emphasis is placed on
performance, a certain immediacy is assumed: that evaluation can be made on
what is happening in the classroom in the present. But, is it the present that
matters after all? Isn't it results that count? If so, how long must one wait
before being able to appraise the worth of, say, a year's work in the
classroom?
Growth is very slow; there are
plateau periods in which the growth that is taking place is far from apparent.
And yet who knows but that some of the most profound changes may be taking
place in these quiescent periods? Again, if judgment is to be postponed as to
the value of daily classroom teaching, where is the emphasis to be placed-upon
honorable mention in the community, on happy family living, on the success in
college and profession?
Of course none of this is an
either-or proposition. Combinations of these criteria must be made. But how can
they be determined? Any by whom? Situations vary so greatly that it would be
totally unreasonable to expect on one what might be expected of another. Needs,
too, in situations vary, and good teaching that meets the needs of one
situation might be totally inadequate in another. These considerations have led
to certain conclusions:
First,
before any evaluation is attempted, the hypotheses on which the evaluation is
being made must be clear or there will inevitably be widely divergent opinions
as to the worth of the teaching. That is, there must be consideration of the
kind of world that is desirable, of the kind of society that it is assumed will
make for the fullest development of the individual, of what constitutes the
good life, of whether reliance must be placed primarily upon force or upon the
infinite potentialities of human nature.
The
second conclusion is a corollary to the first. Since values are not here
regarded as absolutes, the values upon which the evaluation is to be made must
be agreed upon by those to be evaluated and by those doing the evaluating.
These values must be constantly re-articulated because the point of view of even
the same group broadens and deepens. Unless this common base is established
there can be only divergent opinions as to the worth of teaching and a feeling
offrustration in all concerned. Procedure on the opposite base-the base of
absolutes in traits of teachers and characteristics of the teaching function-is
responsible for much of the failure of past efforts.
Appraisal
in terms of all-inclusive standards should seldom be attempted. Instead, it is
concluded that appraisal should be made in terms of specifics. Once having
established the point of view from which evaluation is to be made, the next
step is to determine the specific goals toward which the teaching is to be
directed and hence, evaluated. What these goals should be, how simple or
elaborate, how few or how many will grow out of the situation and the values of
the people in it. The important consideration is that the values be clear and
real and that they be accepted as significant by all who must work toward their
realization.
Fourth,
the setting of goals needs to be followed by decision as to how to determine
when the goals are achieved. If, for example, the goal of greater participation
in group discussion is set, it would mean that ways of recording the
participation should be made. Or, if more freedom of expression in the use of
art materials is the goal, dated samples of the children's work would be kept.
Or, if speed and accuracy in arithmetic are desired, tests for measuring speed
accuracy would be agreed upon. Such measures are in terms of child performance
and child growth. They all presuppose continuity of evidence in terms of
periodic testing, dated samples of work, dated anecdotal records.
But what of the
teacher? Is he
or she to stand or fall as a teacher solely in terms of child growth and
performance? Certainly it is the results in such terms that count the most. But
here again we cannot divorce the act from the environment. Hence along with all
evaluations there must be consideration of the situation for, without question,
some situations are more conducive and some less conducive to child growth.
Again,
the measures suggested are more or less immediate. They do not seem to take
into consideration what eventually happens to the child when he becomes an
adult. Must this future goal be abandoned except in expensive long-term
research projects?
Most certainly not. Any school can contribute to long-time
evaluation of its efforts if it will merely repeat the process suggested here
and keep year after year statements of the point of view from which the
evaluation was attempted, of the goals set, of the measures used to accomplish
them, and the records of accomplishment.] In fact, it is not until
the school assumes such responsibility that it will ever have any valid way of
knowing if its accomplishments are consistent with its efforts, financial as
well as intellectual and spiritual. Out of the cumulative records of years,
too, will come some measure of fair evaluation with the teacher. Similarly will
come the possibility of a broad evaluation of the effect of the school upon the
community.
Finally,
the conclusion is reached that evaluation is just an inseparable part of the
total educational process. It cannot stand alone. It cannot be performed apart
from the situation. It must follow clarification of point of view and goal
setting. It must have regard for the fundamental principals of democracy in
that it is participated in by the governed and the governing. The process must
be regarded as continuous and an essential factor in healthy growth.
There really is no such person as
the good teacher. Instead,
there are many kinds of good teachers and many kinds of good teaching. They are
good only in terms of the environment in which they exist.
Values
are principles, qualities, or objects that a person
perceives as having intrinsic worth. Every individual has a personal hierarchy
of values that may include success, wealth or monetary comfort,
love/companionship, a sense of accomplishment or achievement, and of course,
survival. When a teacher spends time after school to help a student, he may
feel he has sacrificed his own needs to the needs of the student. At the same
time, he is likely to have gained something for himself—perhaps a heightened
sense of self-worth or the good feelings that come with the student's gratitude.[3]
Beliefs support and reflect our
values. For example, if Jenny believes
studying harder produces better grades, she is motivated to study
harder. Why? Because she also believes
getting better grades is a way to achieve success. Success is something
Jenny values. Through her
beliefs, she has equated getting good grades with becoming successful. Is there
actually a cause-effect relationship between high grades in school and success?
That depends on how one defines success, but the lives of such people as Albert
Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Grandma Moses, and Thomas Edison attest to the fact
that it is not always true.
It's often easier to identify the
hierarchy of a person's values by her behavior than by what she says she values. For example, Sheila
says she values higher-level thinking skills. Yet her tests rarely require
students to do anything more than simple recall or recognition—skills that
machine-graded multiple-choice questions can easily test.
This doesn't mean Sheila is lying.
She simply has another value of which she is unaware— perhaps time to spend
with her family. Taking the time to grade essay tests that assess higher-level
thinking would cut into her family time. She fails to notice that she's not
"walking her talk" because she believes
a good teacher values higher-level
thinking skills and Sheila perceives herself as a good teacher.
1.3 Conflicted Values
Teachers become frustrated when
outside pressures force them to choose one value at the expense of another.
Raymond believes students learn most effectively in a stimulating and
varied classroom environment. In his ideal classroom, individual students are
actively engaged in activities appropriate to their interests, abilities, and
preferred cognitive processes. They are excited about learning. Creating that
learning environment gives Raymond a tremendous sense of accomplishment (value 1). Because of his regard for
individual students, his students like
and respect him (value
2). Raymond's beliefs and values march hand-in-hand and he feels good about
himself and his job.
Along comes an in-service day. A
well-known educational speaker gives a forty-five-minute talk embracing all of
the behaviors in which Raymond already engages. Wow! An expert has validated
his beliefs and values. Raymond is elated!
At the end of the workshop, the principal makes a brief announcement.
The district has selected a battery of tests that will assess student knowledge
of the standards adopted by the district. The results of the tests will influence
teacher evaluations. Oh, oh! Conflict of values!
In addition to valuing a sense of
accomplishment and the good will or me students, Kaymona values eating and
keeping a roof over his head— survival! Raymond's focus is more on in-depth
understanding than on the acquisition of testable facts. If he continues to
teach in his typical way, the students may not "learn" all of the
specific bits of information covered by the standards and included in the
tests. Their test scores will suffer. Raymond's evaluation will go down,
negatively influencing his professional future.
On the other hand, if Raymond
changes the way he's teaching, he will lose the respect of the students. Worse,
according to his belief system, he will fail to provide the most effective
learning environment, so his self-concept suffers. Raymond's sense of
accomplishment disappears.
At this point, whatever decision
Raymond makes must deprive him
of one or more of the things he values. Is it any wonder he feels
conflicted—less than satisfied with whatever decision he makes?
Teachers are often confronted
with situations that threaten their sense of self-respect—an important value
for most people. Many teachers have experienced similar situations that result
in frustration, stress, and dissatisfaction. Understanding where these
conflicts in values and beliefs lie is the first step in resolving them.[4]
2
Education as Enculturation
2.1 Lesson plan and teacher’s notes
People often speak of
"cultural" or "societal" values. Society and culture are
constructs—not actual entities. Society
is a group of individual people.
The culture of a school
is the set of complex relationships among the people in the school—the students, teachers, administrators,
support staff, parents, and members of the school board. Each teacher within
that culture has personal values, but it's difficult to avoid buying into
values many others in the immediate environment possess.
One need only read a few of the
arguments for tougher standards to recognize the values that are reinforced in
the minds of school personnel and ultimately, the students.
Here is a statement from the New
Jersey Mathematics Curriculum Framework: ".. .our students need to meet
these standards in order for them to be well
prepared for careers in the 21st century, and in order for our state and
country to have suitable employees in the 21st century. " -[Author's
emphasis] No mention is made of students becoming concerned, thoughtful, and
involved citizens. No mention is made of the psychological and moral
development of the student. Careers and employment are the values named and thus, the values taught.
Even if a "list" of cultural values existed, each teacher
would possess his or her own "take" on those values. In every action,
every decision, every interaction with students, teachers are teaching values.[5] Values
are part of the learned and the implicit curriculum.
Shouldn't educators at least identify the more fundamental values they hold,
and therefore, teach?
Warm-up/Review:
Do an information gap with body parts for review. Create own activity
using the New Oxford Picture
Dictionary body parts page. Make an A and B with half of the body parts listed on
each. Students work in pairs to find out correct information. Then, do a Simon Says
game for practice.
Introduction:
Tell students they are going to
talk about different kinds of health problems and symptoms so that they can
explain what is wrong with them (or family member or friend) when they call for
a doctor's appointment.
Presentation:
Brainstorm different kinds of
problems. Put list on board: I have...., I feel...., I am ..., My ____ hurts
when I _____.
Make a list of student generated
ailments and have students describe symptoms. For example, flu- fever,
nauseous, chills, etc.
Practice
1:
Model a sample dialog.
If possible, schedule computer
lab time for students to do a guided dictation on the "Doctor's
Appointment Site" Internet-
RandaH's ESL Lab, or give students copies of guided dictation and read the
dialog.
Teacher can choose how many of
these to practice.
Practice
2 (Grammar):
Using sample language from the
dialogs, point out the verb tense used. Do a mini-lesson on present perfect and
present perfect continuous- how to form, when to use.
Practice
3:
Using teacher made index cards
with some symptoms and the duration of these symptoms, have students work in
pairs to write a dialog between a receptionist and patient. Pairs practice
their own dialog and then role-play in front of the class without their notes.
During the role-play, the audience takes notes by writing the problem and the
date of the appointment. Have students divide their paper into three parts:
names, problem, time & day of appointment. They must fill in the chart and
hand in to teacher when finished. Teacher also takes notes in a similar fashion
and then checks students' work.
Evaluation:
Teacher observes spoken dialog
between students doing the role-play and checks to make sure students are
communicating in a proper and comprehensible fashion and are using expressions
that the class has learned. Teacher collects the student-generated dialogs and
reviews. Teacher collects the audience's papers, mainly to check listening
comprehension and if audience was paying attention.
2.2 Nontraditional
teaching
Traditional lecturing isn't
necessarily the best way to go, according to presenters who will participate in
an upcoming education conference.
"Non-Traditional Teaching
Methods" will focus on a series of techniques and models for improving the
conventional type of lecture that is generally used for teaching introductory
college chemistry. The online conference is all about "making the student
a more active participant in the learning process," says associate
professor of chemistry Gabriela C. Weaver of Purdue University, West Lafayette,
Ind. Weaver coorganized the conference with professor of chemistry and
biochemistry George M. Shalhoub of LaSalle University, Philadelphia. It will
cover "alternatives to lecture or balancing lecture with activities that
allow students more direct access to the learning process."
A major disadvantage of the traditional lecture "is the inability
of students to focus on a lecture for any considerable length of time-exceeding
10 minutes or so," says chemistry professor James N. Spencer of Franklin & Marshall College (F&M), Lancaster, Pa.,
who is presenting a paper at the conference. "In the traditional lecture,
the teacher talks about 80% of the time," he says. "This makes it
difficult for students to learn the material." And the conventional
lecture format fails to provide students with opportunities to exchange ideas
easily and develop oral communication and writing skills.
The approach encourages
process-oriented skills—such as problem solving, critical and analytical
thinking, and oral and written communication—and employs guided-inquiry
learning, a technique in which students work together with a facilitator to
construct knowledge rather than simply having it handed to them.[6]
In the online conference,
"we're reporting results and providing literature that support the
program," Spencer says. Several POGIL presentations are also included in
the Division of Chemical Education program at this month's American Chemical
Society national meeting in New
Orleans.
POGIL is based on the premise
that students learn better when they are actively engaged, when they're
encouraged to construct knowledge and draw their own conclusions by analyzing
data and discussing ideas, and when they are able to work together to
understand concepts and solve problems. Students work in self-managed teams.
"We have a cooperative structure in the classroom, usually involving
groups of four students," Spencer says. "The instructor acts as a
facilitator or mentor."
"We design activities in a
variety of contexts-in the classroom, in the laboratory, on the computer—that
are structured to guide students to develop an understanding of concepts on
their own," says F&M chemistry professor and POGIL principal
investigator Richard S. Moog.
"We have materials prepared
for general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physical chemistry that are
designed for this group-learning approach," adds James Wakefield, project
administrator for the POGIL program at F&M.
A consortium of four
institutions—F&M; the State University of New York, Stony Brook; Washington
College, Chestertown, Md.; and Catholic University, Washington, D.C.—recently
won a $1.5 million National Science Foundation grant to further develop and
evaluate the POGIL program. "By and large, chemical educators are supportive
of the point of view that we have taken, the materials we have developed, and
the general idea that students teaching students is the most effective way for
them to learn," Moog says.
A major
disadvantage of the traditional lecture "is the inability of students to
focus on a lecture for any considerable length of time—exceeding 10 minutes or
so.
AT
STONY BROOK, a Web-based learning and
assessment system called LUCID (Learning and Understanding through
Computer-Based Interactive Discovery) supports process-oriented guided-inquiry
learning in several ways. LUCID uses Web technology to provide guided-inquiry
activities, instant feedback on responses to questions, team-reporting
features, and learning assessments.
LUCID was developed at Stony
Brook by chemistry professor David M. Hanson and instructional support
specialist Troy Wolf skill.
"Students work together in
teams of four, solve problems, and answer questions," Hanson says.
"They become active agents in the classroom, as opposed to having somebody
just talking to them," he adds.
The students explore Web-based
lessons in a guided-inquiry mode to acquire knowledge and then go on to apply
that knowledge in exercises and problems. Feedback is provided by computer and
by ratings from other student teams, using a Web-based reporting system.
At the online conference,
"what we're presenting is LUCID plus an assessment component," Hanson
says. "The assessments measure student learning. Students take diagnostic
quizzes, document what they've learned, and get instant feedback. Faculty
members can also get feedback about the status of individual students, groups
of students, or entire classes."
The assessment system is designed to measure student learning at four
different levels-information, application, conceptual understanding, and
problem solving. "In our experience, students in a general chemistry
course are typically performing just at the information and algorithmic
application level," Hanson says. "They typically memorize facts and
algorithms, and they answer questions on exams by repeating things they've
memorized or by doing pattern matching." LUCID helps them advance to the
conceptual and problem-solving levels.
At Stony Brook, LUCID "is
working out really well," Hanson says. "Students like the workshops,
and grade distributions have shifted up."
Another Web-based learning
program—Mastering Chemistry for the Web (MCWeb, http://titanium.fullerton.edu)
has been developed by professor of chemistry and biochemistry Patrick A. Wegner
of California State University,
Fullerton.
MCWeb is currently in use by about 6,000 students at several universities,
community colleges, and high schools.
Wegner, Cal State Fullerton
assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry Barbara L. Gonzalez, and
chemistry lecturer Ramesh D. Arasasingham of the University of California,
Irvine, have
been comparing such Web-based programs to traditional approaches. They have a
U.S. Department of Education FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary
Education) grant to look at how Web-delivered tools impact outcomes in
first-semester general chemistry.
WE
WANTED TO KNOW particularly if the
Web-delivered tools could impact students' learning outcomes for the kinds of
problems that require visualization and proportional reasoning," Gonzalez
says. Visualization is important for learning about atomic and molecular
orbitals, for instance, and proportional reasoning is essential for most basic
stoichiometry problems. "Were the Web-based tools we were using making an
impact, and could we see student improvement in these areas?" In initial
results, "we did see improvement compared to the control group,"
Gonzalez says.
In addition to MCWeb, guided
instructional activities (GIAs) are used in Cal State
Fuller-ton's general chemistry program. GIAs are small-group lessons that use
chemical data to help students learn problem-solving processes and skills that
are often challenging for first-year chemistry students.
In their assessments, the
researchers saw improvements for students who used both MCWeb and GIAs,
compared with those who used neither. However, they have not yet been able to
tease out the relative instructional benefits of the two learning tools.
Another program for encouraging
greater student participation in the learning process has been developed at the
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, by chemistry professor F. Geoffrey
Herring. Herring has adopted a concept known as just-in-time teaching in an
effort to increase student participation in a large lecture hall chemistry
session with over 200 students. Just-in-time teaching refers to the ability of
a teacher to adjust his or her lecture to student needs—as expressed in a
Web-based test students take before class on material from a reading assignment.
"Students read material
before they come to class, they answer a few conceptual questions on the Web,
and they answer an important question about what they found to be difficult or
interesting about the assignment," Herring explains. Based on student
responses to the preassigned material, "I adjust my lecture to reflect any
problems I perceive students to be having."
To avoid student passivity during
lectures, Herring uses a technique called interactive engagement, "where I
pose a question in class based on material they've read," he explains.
"Students then answer that question by voting-either using numbered flash
cards or an electronic personal response system, both of which work quite well.
I can gauge how the students are doing based on these responses."
DURING LECTURES, Herring also uses a wireless mouse that enables him to write on a screen
and control his slides remotely. This enables him to roam around the lecture
hall, talk to students directly, and ask them questions informally.
When Herring analyzed his class's
exam grades, there was a distinct improvement relative 10 other sections that
use the traditional lecture system. This improvement was primarily "in the
middle cohort of students," Herring notes. "For the top students, you
hardly even have to turn up to lecture."
Many students only remember about
the first 10% of a 50-minute lecture "because they drift off,"
Herring says. "We're all like that. With these interactive engagements,
you're continually waking students up, if you like, and getting them involved
in the material again."
He concedes that some of his more
traditional colleagues would refer to this as spoon-feeding, "but I really
disagree with that," he says. With interactive engagement, 'Tm getting
students to be more motivated and more involved than they would otherwise be.
And I'm using the time that would traditionally be used by lecturing to pose
questions and get students to understand chemistry better."
Teaching and learning styles are
the behaviors or actions that teachers and learners exhibit in the learning
exchange. Teaching behaviors reflect the beliefs and values that teachers hold
about the learner's role in the exchange. Learners' behaviors provide insight
into the ways learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the environment
in which learning occurs.[7]
2.3 Can an
Individual's Approach to Learning Be Modified?
Because learning is an ongoing
process, occurring over the span of one's lifetime and delivered by a variety
of instructors with a variety of teaching styles in a variety of situations,
learners need to be able to adjust their cognitive styles. They need to become
better all-around learners by "investing extra effort in underdeveloped or
underutilized styles". Pithers reports on studies by Rush and Moore that explore the
feasibility of promoting learner adaptability through training. These
researchers discovered that students whose cognitive styles were more field
dependent were able to change the strength of their style through training,
which suggests that cognitive style may be a flexible construct and malleable
over the long term. These views were also noted by Hayes and Allinson, who
contend that "exposing learners to learning activities that are mismatched
with their preferred learning style will help them develop the learning
competencies necessary to cope with situations involving a range of different
learning requirements".
2.4 Can a Teacher's
Approach to Teaching Be Modified?
"How educators select their teaching strategies and implement
techniques is a function of their beliefs and values regarding the methods and
can be modified to fit within the unique belief system of the educator. The
manner in which any method, whether lecture or game, discovery-based learning
or discussion is used within a learning event is the choice of the educator and
should be a reflection of his or her philosophy". Thus, before teachers
can attempt to develop more flexible teaching styles, they must be receptive to
the idea of change, beginning with a change in their beliefs about the
students' role in the learning environment.
Being student centered engages
teachers in a humanistic approach to education in which they function as
facilitators of learning. Teachers who desire to be more students centered must
be aware of the kinds of learning experiences that students most value, as
these may differ depending on the learners' particular stages of development,
age, and gender. In studying a group of international students in a business
administration program, Ladd and Ruby found that of primary interest to
students was establishing warm personal relationships with their instructors.
Their preferred style of learning was to have direct contact with materials,
topics, or situations being studied. Knowing this type of information can help
instructors develop course structures that provide a better fit between
instructional goals and students' learning style preferences.
Pratt presents five perspectives
on teaching and urges teachers to use these perspectives to identify, articulate,
and justify their teaching approaches rather than simply adopting one practice
or another.
•
Transmission: Teachers focus on content and determine what students should learn and
how they should learn it. Feedback is directed to students' errors.
•
Developmental: Teachers value students' prior knowledge and direct student learning to
the development of increasingly complex ways of reasoning and problem solving.
•
Apprenticeship: Teachers provide students with authentic tasks in real work settings.
•
Nurturing: Teachers focus on the interpersonal elements of student
learning-listening, getting to know students, and responding to students'
emotional and intellectual needs.
•
Social Reform: Teachers tend to relate ideas explicitly to the lives of the students.
"Most teachers have only one
or two perspectives as their dominant view of teaching... [however] similar
actions, intentions, and even beliefs can be found in more than one
perspective". Proficient student-centered teachers are able to use a
variety of styles so that their ultimate style is integrated.[8]
3 Active learning activities at school
3.1 Promoting Active learning
Are most students in physics courses acquiring a sound conceptual grasp
of basic physics principles? Extensive studies of students' basic conceptual
knowledge before and after introductory college physics courses have convinced
some in the larger community of physics teachers that they are not. The results
of these studies show that students in selective universities, whether they be
science majors or not, fail to use the same physical models as physicists when
they answer the simplest conceptual questions. These same students are able to
solve many traditional problems involving the solution of algebraic equations
or even those requiring the methods of the calculus. Even so, they enter and
leave the courses with basic misunderstandings about the physical world
essentially intact. The ineffectiveness of these learning experiences seems to
be independent of the apparent skill of the teacher, or whether students have
taken physics courses in secondary school.
Although a Newtonian framework is
essential to understanding non-relativistic motion, it is common for more than
80% of students to answer most questions from a non-Newtonian point of view
after an introductory physics course. Such students may believe, for example,
that a net force is required to keep an object in motion at a constant
velocity, that there is a residual force (impetus) on an object that has been
pushed and released that keeps it moving, and that acceleration must increase
as velocity increases. In contrast, those using a conceptual framework based on
Newton's laws
of motion understand that a body moving at constant velocity requires no net
force to keep it moving and so no residual forces are required. They also
understand that a constant linear acceleration produces a uniformly increasing
velocity. Research has shown that traditional instruction commonly changes the
conceptual point of view of only 5% to 15% of the students.[9]
Appendix 1 shows the results of
composite research data for thousands of students at US universities who took
the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation-. Such results do not only
apply to the US.
For example, our research at The University of Sydney in Australia shows
that entering students are better prepared than many students in the US, and more
believe the Newtonian model before university instruction. However, good
traditional university instruction again results in only an additional 10% of
students adopting the Newtonian model for force and motion.
What is needed to change the
state of physics education is agreement on a set of underlying principles about
the teaching and learning of physics that will support the integration of the
work of many different groups into a coherent educational response based on
careful research.
Eleven physics education
researchers from the US
were assembled at Tufts
University in 1992 to
examine student learning in physics-. The researchers came to agreement on the
following generalizations about student learning in physics and the
inadequacies of traditional instruction:
- Facility in solving standard
quantitative problems is not an adequate criterion for functional understanding.
- A coherent conceptual framework
is not typically an outcome of traditional instruction. Rote use of formulas is
common.
- Certain conceptual difficulties
are not overcome by traditional instruction.
- Growth in reasoning ability
does not usually result from traditional instruction.
- Connections among concepts,
formal representations (algebraic, diagrammatic, graphical), and the real world
are often lacking after traditional instruction.
- Teaching by telling is an
ineffective mode of instruction for most students.
Each generalization is supported
by research from different sources using different techniques. These include,
for example, the results from student interviews by the Physics Education Group
at the University of Washington-, eliciting detailed accounts of understanding;
the analysis carried out at the Center for Science and Mathematics Teaching at
Tufts University on responses from thousands of students at many different
institutions to research-based multiple choice and short answer questions that
are part of the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation and the results
on benchmark conceptual examinations designed by David Hestenes and his
colleagues at Arizona State University-. It is difficult for physicists who
look at the accumulating evidence to find justifications for continuing to
teach in a traditional manner (Appendix 2).
Most physics education
researchers believe that students must be intellectually engaged and actively
involved in their learning, and that traditional instruction is failing to
provide this engagement. However, which methods of teaching and what learning
contexts will help students learn most effectively? Can educational technology
improve physics learning? Under what conditions does collaborative learning
work well? What role should experimentation play in student learning?
Consider a simple activity that is included in three of the
activity-based, computer-assisted, guided-inquiry curricula developed by
members of the Activity-Based Physics group- -Workshop Physics, RealTime
Physics Mechanics-, and Tools for Scientific Thinking Motion and Force-.
At the beginning of their study of motion, students first explore position,
velocity and acceleration concepts using real-time graphs of body motions
produced by walking in front of a "motion detector". They generally
work in groups of three, are required to make predictions of experimental
outcomes, and are encouraged to discuss with other group members the graphs
resulting from their movements. Students answer simple conceptual questions as
they work that have them describe motion verbally, in standard written
language, graphically, quantitatively, and in vector representations.
What effective practices for
teaching physics does this example embody? In terms of general course structures
we have found student learning is improved when we:
- use peer instruction and
collaborative work;
- keep students actively involved
by using activity-based guided-inquiry curricular
materials;
- use a learning cycle beginning
with predictions;
- emphasize conceptual
understanding;
- let the physical world be the
authority;
- evaluate student understanding;
- make appropriate use of
technology - in this case graphs (an abstraction) are linked to
actual physical motion, and also
linked to the kinesthetic; and
- begin with the specific and
move to the general.
Small interactive groups working
with computer-assisted data gathering are certainly not possible in all
learning contexts. We have developed a method to change a classroom or a
lecture hall with a single computer into a more active learning environment.
(Appendix 3). The (computer-supported) Interactive Lecture Demonstrations
consist of a sequence of simple experiments (6 to 8 per session)
based on research of the conceptual foundation needed to learn a particular
topic area in physics. The computer is equipped with data logging software, an
interface and appropriate MBL (microcomputer-based laboratory) probes. For
force and motion, we might use a force probe and a motion detector with
low-friction carts to explore the result of various forces on the carts'
motion. To examine the interaction forces in a collision between two objects,
we would use two force probes. Figure 3 shows such an arrangement. An
experiment in which one cart is much heavier than another is part of the Newton's Third Law Interactive
Lecture Demonstration sequence. The actual results from such a collision
are shown in Appendix 4.
In an Interactive Lecture
Demonstration session students are given a "prediction sheet"
with space to write their individual predictions. The sheet is collected to
encourage participation. They are also given an essentially identical
"results sheet" which they may fill out with the actual experimental
results and keep. For each simple experiment or demonstration in the sequence,
we use the following protocol.
1. Describe the demonstration and do it for the
class without MBL measurements.
2. Ask students to record individual predictions.
3. Have the class engage in small group
discussions with nearest neighbors.
4. Ask each student to record final prediction
on handout sheet (which will be collected).
5. Elicit predictions and reasoning from
students.
6. Carry out the demonstration with MBL
measurements displayed.
7. Ask a few students to describe the result.
Then discuss results in the context of the demonstration. Ask students to fill
out "results sheet" which they keep.
8. Discuss analogous physical situations with
different "surface" features. (That is, a different physical
situation that is based on the same concept.)
These methods embody many of the
same successful teaching and learning practices described above.
3.2 Role plays in the classroom
Sometimes you might not react
very negatively to your own failures, but you never know how other people in
your life will react to your failures. Pair students off to take part in this
role-play:
• Person A: You were expecting a big job promotion complete with salary raise and
added prestige. You found out today that you were passed over. Your wife/husband
was counting on you getting thus promotion and now you have to go home and
break the unhappy news.[10]
• Person B: You are the expectant spouse. You have been planning ways all month on
how to spend the extra income. Already your spending habits this month have
reflected your certainty that your spouse would get this promotion. You are
really shocked to hear what your spouse has to say.
It is not enough merely to
provide students with opportunities to speak in English, as teachers we need to
encourage students to speak in a variety of different situations, and hence
help them to learn to speak with confidence.
The ideal would be to travel to
different locations and carry out different tasks, the next best thing however
is to enact those situations in a classroom.
However, many teachers and
students in an ESL class dread the words "role-play". Even though
there is little consensus on the terms used in role-playing literature. Just a
few of the terms which are used, often interchangeably, are "simulation,"
"game," "role-play," "simulation-game,"
"role-play simulation," and "role-playing game".
The effective use of role-plays
can add variety to the kinds of activities students are asked to perform. It
encourages thinking and creativity; lets students develop and practice new
language and behavioural skills in a relatively safe setting, and can create
the motivation and involvement necessary for real learning to occur.
Unlike skits, role plays
shouldn't be scripted out in detail, instead you should give the student a
general scenario with different elements and suggested ideas for complications
to occur.
Role play cards can be a very useful tool here. For example:-
Student A
You are booking into a hotel.
Elements
Book in to the hotel - you have a
reservation.
Complications
You are on your own.
You want a shower.
You want breakfast in the
morning.
You have an early meeting and
must not be late.
Student B
You are a hotel receptionist.
Elements
Welcome the guest. Find them a
room.
Complications
You can't find their reservation.
You only have a double room with
bath available.
Before asking them to perform a
role play you should prepare the students by asking questions. The questions
should incorporate the major parts of the role play and the vocabulary/idioms
involved. After the question answer session the students should be comfortable
with what they need to do.
Allow them a few minutes to study
the role cards and work out some key sentences. Give help where needed.
Each role play should be
performed at least twice with the students changing roles.[11] In
group situations have the stronger students act out the role play to the whole
class.
You as the teacher can take one of the roles if you need to.
Avoid making corrections until
the role play is finished.
Recording or videoing role plays
can be a very useful tool for giving feedback, but only if the students are
comfortable with this.
CONCLUSION
In my conclusion I’d like to say
that research has shown the uniqueness of different teaching and learning
styles and identified the characteristics associated with each style. Although
there are benefits to the matching of teaching style and learning style, it
appears that this alone does not guarantee greater learner achievement. Age,
educational level, and motivation influence each student's learning so that
what was once preferred may no longer be the student's current preferred
learning style.
Teachers need to examine their
belief structure regarding education and engage in an "ongoing process of
diagnosis, with self and with learners, including observation, questioning,
obtaining evaluative feedback, and critical reflection". "Each teacher is unique and can use his
or her style to be as effective an educator as possible". Graded material with scope and sequence for
180 days x 12 years
• Teacher's manuals, tests,
record keeping materials available- Textbook: Lesson in book, assignment and
tests on paper
• Workbook: Lesson given by
teacher, assignment and tests in workbook- Worktext: Lesson, assignment and
tests in workbook. Including mini tests or checkpoints to ensure mastery in
each section before the student moves on to the next section.
In my opinion, in summary, there
is considerable evidence collected by researchers in physics teaching and
learning that traditional instructional methods - largely lecture and problem
solving - are not effective in promoting conceptual learning in physics. There
is also widespread evidence that active learning methods, some of which were described
here, work well in many different environments.
There is enough agreement among
careful researchers that the physics teaching community would do well to use
curricula and methods based on practices that have actually been demonstrated
to enhance student learning. It is prudent to examine in a scientific way the
learning results of these new methods in specific learning contexts. Initial
results show that activity-based, computer-supported, interactive learning
environments well serve the diversity of students studying physics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Ager, D.E., Clavering, E., and
Galleymore, J. 1998. “Teaching process”.
2. Allwright, R.L. 1999.
'Abdication and responsibility in language teaching', Studies in Second
Language Acquisition, 2: 105-21.
3. Allwright, R.L. 1999.
'Perceiving and pursuing learners' needs' in Geddes and Sturtridge, pp. 24-31.
4. Altman, H.B., and James, C.V.
1997. “Foreign Language Teaching”. Pergamon
Press.
5. Altman, H.B., and Politzer, R.L.
1997. Individualizing Foreign Language Instruction. Final Report. US
Department of Health Education and Welfare, ERIC Documents ED 051 722.
6. Bachman, J.G. 1997.
'Motivation in a task situation as a function of ability and control over the
task', Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 69:272-81.
7. Bartley, D.E. 1999. “Role
playing”. Collier Macmillan.
8. Beswick, N.W. 1972. Schools
Council Working Paper 43. Evans/Methuen Educational.
9. Beswick, N.W. 1975. Organising
Resources: Six Case Studies. The Final Report of the Schools Council
Resource Centre Project. Heinemann Educational Books.
10. Blake, T. 1982. 'Storage and
retrieval systems for self-access centres' in Geddes and Sturtridge.
11. Blundell, L., and Stokes, J.
1981. Task Listening. Cambridge
University Press.
12. Bockman, J.F. 1971. The
process of contracting' in Altman and Politzer, pp. 119-22.
13. Bockman, J.F., and Bockman
V.M. 1972. 'The management of individualized programmes' in Gougher.
14. Boud, D. (ed.) 1981. Developing
Student Autonomy in Learning. Kogan Page.
15. The British Council 1978. Individualisation
in Language Learning, ELT Documents, 103.
16. The British Council (Pickett,
G.D.) 1978. The Foreign Language Learning Process, ETIC Occasional
Paper.
17. Brown, H.D. 1973. 'Affective
variables in second language acquisition', Language Learning, 23:
231-44.
18. Brown, S. 1980. 'Self-access
at Saffron Walden', Appendix 1 in Sturtridge and Bolitho.
19. Carroll, E.R., McLennan, R.,
Boyd-Bowman, P., and Gougher, R.L. 1971.
'Report and recommendations of the committee on adapting existing materials to
individualized instruction' in Altman and Politzer.
Appendix 1
Composite
assessment of US student understanding of kinematics (labeled Velocity and
Acceleration concepts) and dynamics, as described by Newton's Laws (labeled
Force concepts), using the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation. Dark
bars show student understanding coming into beginning university courses,
striped bars are after all traditional instruction. While the percentage of
students who know concepts coming in can vary with the selectivity of the
university, the effect of traditional instruction is to change the minds of
only 5% to 15% of students. New methods described later in this paper result in
up to 90% of students understanding concepts (lighter solid bars).
Appendix 2
Student
walking in front of an ultrasonic motion detector while his position is being
graphed as he moves. The context and importance of this simple activity is
described in the text.
Appendix 3
Arrangement
for one of the experiments in Newton's
Third Law Interactive
Lecture Demonstration sequence. The force probes measure the interaction forces between the
carts. An actual result of such an experiment is shown in Appendix 4.
Appendix 4
Actual
result for one of the experiments in Newton's
Third Law Interactive
Lecture Demonstration sequence shown in Appendix 3. In this case, cart 1 is three times heavier
than cart 2 but just as Newton would predict, the
interaction forces are equal and opposite.
[1] Ager, D.E.,
Clavering, E., and Galleymore, J. 1998. “Teaching process”. (p.20)
[2] Ager, D.E.,
Clavering, E., and Galleymore, J. 1998. “Teaching process”. (p.28)
[3] Ager, D.E., Clavering, E., and Galleymore, J.
1998. “Teaching process”. (p.37)
[4] Ager, D.E.,
Clavering, E., and Galleymore, J. 1998. “Teaching process”. (p.47)
[5] Altman, H.B.,
and James, C.V. 1997. “Foreign
Language Teaching”. Pergamon Press (p.78)
[6] Altman, H.B.,
and James, C.V. 1997. “Foreign
Language Teaching”. Pergamon Press (p.84)
[7] Altman, H.B.,
and James, C.V. 1997. “Foreign
Language Teaching”. Pergamon Press (p.93)
[8] Altman, H.B.,
and James, C.V. 1997. “Foreign
Language Teaching”. Pergamon Press (p.97)
[9] Bartley, D.E. 1999. “Role playing”. Collier Macmillan (p.10)
[10] Bartley, D.E.
1999. “Role playing”. Collier Macmillan (p.16)
[11] Bartley, D.E.
1999. “Role playing”. Collier Macmillan (p.20)