Course 524 Assignment

PDPET (DElEd Bridge Course), NIOS,                                                                 ~  Vijay Singh Rajput

Course 524 Assignment I       Block 1: Pedagogy of Languages

1. Which tools and techniques will you use for assessing reading skills of students? Explain one technique and tool with suitable example.

Reading in any language has a crucial role to play in creating independent learners and increasing their educational attainment. Reading is the basis of a student’s success at all levels of education. A careful assessment of reading skills is therefore essential.

Some of the tools and techniques used for assessing reading skills of students are Reading aloud a story, Retelling a story, Reading pictures, Cloze Test, Scanning tasks, Skimming tasks, Ordering tasks or Strip Story technique.

Retelling a Story:

Retellings require a child to read a text and then orally reconstruct a story. As part of retelling, students engage in ordering and summarizing information and in making inferences. The teacher can use retelling as a way to assess how well students comprehend a story, and then use this information to help students develop a deeper understanding of what they have read.

In Simple retelling at primary level the student can:

􀁸 identify and retell the beginning, middle, and end of a story in order.

􀁸 describe the setting.

􀁸 identify the problem and the solution of a problem.

Students who are able to comprehend texts gain an in-depth understanding of the text. This enables them to relate the knowledge to what they have previously learned as well as to what they may learn in the future. The above observation can be used to give marks or grades.

Course 524 Assignment II      Block 1: Pedagogy of Languages

2. Discuss Multilingualism as a Resource and Strategy. Share your experience of how you used your mother tongue in the English class during your practice of teaching. Did you find it was a resource or a hindrance? Give likely reasons for your answer.

Multilingualism is the act of using multiple languages. If we accommodate the languages spoken by children with different linguistic backgrounds in a class it gives acceptance to the child in the class and flexibility to the language learning process. Because languages flourish in company, so the interaction with and among the children strengthens multilingualism and pace of learning the language.

Multilingualism is a rich resource in learning a new language. It facilitates learning of other languages. When we already know a language, we can use this prior knowledge to construct the structures of any language that we learn later with much more ease and comfort. Knowledge of other languages makes us more open-minded and more receptive to varied cultural conventions, customs and usages.

While teaching English I use only English language. Hindi is rarely used and other regional languages are avoided as far as possible. However, it does not mean that there is no scope for Hindi and other regional languages.

In a chapter, it is written “Here is a woman we have discovered, sitting beside an old man who is completely paralyzed.” The word paralyzed can be explained as a muscular disease or inability of muscles to work properly. The students may understand that it is some type of muscular problem. But if I say it means ‘lakva’ in Hindi, the students will understand it better because they may be already familiar with what ‘lakva’ is.

Similarly, to explain the meaning of ‘pomegranate’, I can say that it is a fruit and describe how it looks like. The students may understand that it some fruit but they will not be able to identify it. The option with me is to show them a picture of pomegranate. This would be the best technique in this case. But if I don’t have such a picture at that time, it would be the best for me to tell that is ‘anaar’. This would avoid all the confusion on the part of students and all unnecessary efforts from my part.

When mother tongue is used in a limited amount and in a proper way, it is a resource and if it is used too frequently, it is a hindrance. In English class, our purpose is to learn and teach English. That can be done best by speaking English. If we depend too much on mother tongue, it will reduce opportunities of the students to learn English.

Assignment I               Block 2: Pedagogy of Environmental Studies

1. What is cooperative learning approach? What are its advantages? Write down the three principles of cooperative learning.

Cooperative Learning Approach

According to Brody and Davidson “CL is a pedagogy that generates a diversified body of methods of instructions, all of which organise students .to work in groups towards a common goal or outcome, or share a common problem or task in such a way that they can only succeed in completing the work through behaviour that demonstrates interdependence, while holding individual contributions and efforts accountable.”

According to G. Jacobs, “CL is a concepts and techniques for enhancing the value of group activities.”

Advantages:

·         CL helps increase students’ ability to appreciate others’ perspectives and view points, and help them develop inter-personnel skills, problem-solving skills, conflict management, as well as decision-making skills.

·         CL enables learners to react differently, yet appropriately in different situations.

·         CL situations provide learners the opportunity to explore multiple viewpoints and weigh the prospects and consequences of each of these and debate upon the same.

·         CL sessions can very much facilitate enhancement of such skills among the learners

Principles:

·         Positive Interdependence: It includes sharing a common team goal/objective, sharing common resources, creating common identity for a group.

·         Individual Accountability: It is important that there is a task for each one and also there is some task to be completed as a group together

·         Equal Status Interactions among the team members is essential for smooth teamwork.

Assignment II             Block 2: Pedagogy of Environmental Studies

2. What do you mean by Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation? Differentiate between formative and summative evaluation with the help of an example. What characteristics make evaluation effective?

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) refers to a system of school-based evaluation of students that covers all aspects of student’s development.

It is a developmental process of assessment which emphasizes on two fold objectives. These objectives are continuity in evaluation and assessment of broad based learning and behavioural outcomes on the other.

In this scheme the term `continuous' is meant to emphasise that evaluation of identified aspects of students `growth and development' is a continuous process rather than an event. The second term `comprehensive' means that the scheme attempts to cover both the scholastic and the co-scholastic aspects of students' growth and development. and aims at assessing a learner's development in areas of learning like: Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Skill etc.

Difference between Formative and Summative Evaluation

Formative assessment is a tool used by the teacher to continuously monitor student progress in a non-threatening, supportive environment. It involves regular descriptive feedback, a chance for the student to reflect on the performance, take advice and improve upon it.

Summative assessment is carried out at the end of a course of learning. It measures or 'sums up' how much a student has learned from the course. It is usually a graded test, i.e., it is marked according to a scale or set of grades. Assessment that is predominantly of summative nature will not by itself be able to yield a valid measure of the growth and development of the child. It, at best, certifies the level of achievement only at a given point of time. The paper pencil tests are basically a one-time mode of assessment and to exclusively rely on it to decide about the development of a child is not only unfair but also unscientific. The overemphasis on Summative Assessment system also produces enormous stress and anxiety among the learners.

Characteristics of Effective Evaluation

·         Valid assessment is the one which is relevant to the EVS objectives and also to the learning experiences provided. It addresses the essential skills and knowledge and dimensions of competency, as well as more importantly values.

·         Reliable assessment produces consistent outcomes when applied by different teachers in a range of contexts. Objective assessment like ‘match the pairs’ is likely to be more reliable than subjective assessment such as essay writing.

·         Fair assessment does not disadvantage any student and takes into account the personality and preferences of every student being assessed.

·         Flexible assessment tools and processes make an assessment suit/ relevant in a range of teaching learning contexts.

Assignment I               Block 3: Pedagogy of Mathematics

           

1. All round development of a human being can be done with the help of mathematics. With reference to this line explain the importance of mathematics. Write objectives of teaching mathematics at elementary level.

The Importance of Mathematics

The purpose of school education is the all round development of a child. And this can be achieved by the teaching of mathematics. Mathematics is very important in real life situation. It is used in games and sports, in vocations, in entertainment, while shopping etc. Mathematics is closely related to other school subjects like science and art education. Likewise, it is also correlated to literature, environmental studies, history, physical education etc. Learning mathematics and developing problem solving abilities among the learners are nearly synonymous. The problem solving ability of the learner is dependent on the acquisition of mathematical knowledge. Thus, mathematics can do all round development of the child.

Objectives of Teaching Mathematics

Developing the ability of mathematization includes developing such abilities as problem solving, use of heuristics, estimation and approximation, optimisation, use of patterns, visualization, representation, reasoning and proof, making connections, mathematical communication including developing aesthetic feeling.

Considering the broader and narrower aims of mathematics education, the followings are some of the major aims of mathematics education:

·         To develop the powers of thinking and reasoning.

·         To solve mathematical problems of daily life.

·         To understand and acquainted with the environment and culture

·         To prepare the child for various technical and general future professions.

·         To prepare the child for higher study.

·         To develop in the child the power for invention.

Assignment II             Block 3: Pedagogy of Mathematics

2. Select any topic of your choice from mathematics textbook of class VI. How you will use mathematics laboratory to teach this topic. Explain with suitable examples.

Topic chosen: Area of right angled triangle

This topic can be taught in the classroom. Later an activity can be performed in the mathematics laboratory.

Mathematics laboratory is a place where students can learn and explore various mathematical concepts and verify different mathematical facts and theories using varieties of activities and material. The use of mathematics laboratory helps to integrate theory and practical work in mathematics teaching /learning.

Learners get hands-on experience for different activities here. Mathematics Laboratory can foster mathematical awareness, skill building, positive attitude and learning by doing in different branches of mathematics. It is the place where students can learn certain concepts using concrete objects and verify many mathematical facts and properties using models, measurements and other activities. Mathematics

Laboratory is a learning environment where learners decide that mathematics is more than practicing ‘sums’ that the teacher assigns.

The activity in the mathematics laboratory is explained below:

Activity: Area of right angled triangle

Objective: To show that the area of a triangle is half the product of the base and the height using paper cutting and pasting.

Pre-requisite knowledge

1. Formula for the area of a rectangle.

2. A diagonal of a parallelogram divides it into two congruent triangles.

Material Required: Chart paper, pencil, compass, scale, a pair of scissors, cello tape.

Procedure

1. Cut a right angle triangle. [Fig 1]

2. Cut a triangle congruent to the right angle triangle. [Fig 2]

3. Align the hypotenuse of the two triangles to obtain a rectangle. [Fig 3]

Observations

The students observe that two congruent triangles aligned on hypotenuse forms a rectangle.

They can see that area of rectangle = area of two congruent triangles.

Area of rectangle = base × height

Therefore, Area of triangle = ½ × Area of rectangle = ½ × base × height

     Fig 1                       Fig 2                   Fig 3

Assignment I               Block 4: Pedagogy of Science

1. What is scientific method? Explain different steps of scientific method.

According to Lundberg “Scientific method consists of systematic observation, classification and interpretation of data”.

Carl Pearson says “The scientific method is marked by the following features: Careful and accurate classification of facts, observation of their co-relation and sequence, and discovery of scientific laws with the aid of creative imagination and their self-criticism.”

Steps of the Scientific Method

·         Ask a Question: The scientific method starts when you ask a question about something that you observe: How, What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where?

·         Do Background Research: Get some information from textbooks, internet etc or use your previous experience.

·         Construct a Hypothesis: A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work. It is an attempt to answer your question with an explanation that can be tested.

·         Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment: Your experiment tests whether your prediction is accurate and thus your hypothesis is supported or not.

·         Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion: Once your experiment is complete, you collect your measurements and analyze them to see if they support your hypothesis or not.

·         Communicate Your Results: To complete your project you will communicate your results to others in a final report.

Assignment II             Block 4: Pedagogy of Science

2. What is the use of preparing a lesson plan in science teaching? What questions need to be answered while preparing a lesson plan? Write down important steps of writing a lesson plan.

Use and Need of Preparing a Lesson Plan:

·         When we attempt the complicated teaching-learning process, it is necessary to plan and prepare for this important activity. The quality of planning affects the quality of results.

·         A careful preparation results in excellence. To be effective in our class we should devote much time and energy in carefully planning and preparing for the whole year for each unit of the syllabus and for the daily lessons.

·         To ensure optimum learning, we must carefully select and arrange activities that will produce the desired learning outcomes in our students. Only through careful planning we can be certain that we include all necessary information and have our lesson plan properly organized to achieve the lesson objectives.

·         A lesson plan is a teacher’s detailed description of the course of instruction for one class. Daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide her classroom instruction.

·         A well-developed lesson plan reflects interests and needs of students. It features best practices of curriculum transaction.

Questions to be Answered

Whom to teach? (Understanding the needs of students)

When to teach? (Deciding a suitable time)

What to teach? (Selecting the content/concepts)

Why to teach? (Deciding the learning outcomes)

How to teach? (Selecting methods and strategies)

How to assess? (Deciding the assessment procedures)

Important Steps of Writing a Lesson Plan

When you put all the above stages together you will find that the complete cycle of lesson planning includes eight steps:

1. Determine the objectives

2. Research the topic as defined by the objectives

3. Select the appropriate instructional method

4. Identify a usable lesson planning format

5. Decide how to organize the lesson

6. Choose appropriate support material

7. Prepare the beginning and ending of the lesson

8. Prepare a final outline.

While planning the lesson you need to rigorously focus on the following points:

·         Framing the learning objectives:

An objective is a statement of purpose for the whole lesson. It specifies what students will be able to do by the end of the lesson.

·         Selecting the teaching-learning strategy

An effective teaching strategy will decrease classroom management problems and will increase involvement of students in the teaching–learning process.

·         Selecting teaching learning activities/learning experiences

This relates directly to the objectives and the identified scientific concepts involved. It also provides the basis for assessment. It is necessary to arrange the activities logically and sequentially.