UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COASTDEPAR26492281850541TMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS25899501835785COURSE TITLE : PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION LECTURER'S NAME: DR. TONY OWUSU COURSE CODE :ESS 233 INDEX NUMBERS ED/BSS/16/0109ED/BSS/16/0135ED/BSS/16/0030ED/BSS/16/0144ED/BSS/16/0101ED/BSS/16/0127GROUP TOPIC: THE CONCEPT OF TEACHING AND TEACHING MODELSCONCEPTION OF TEACHING AND LEARNINGConception of TeachingScenariosTeacher A prepared a lot of materials and tried his best to explain in as much detail as possible.
He thinks the more he can tell the students, the more students can learn. Each question has a fixed answer and as soon as students make mistakes, he moves on to other students.Teacher B heard about Activity Learning and he decided the best way to teach is to play games and interact with his students. He accepted all students’ responses because he wanted to show the students he is a kind teacher.Teacher C thinks about what is important in the subject area as well as what students would be interested to know and how she can link concepts with experience when preparing the materials. She varied her activities from lecturing, question asking, to group work. She was interested to find out what students know and do not know and why they cannot understand.
The questions were of different types and she listened to student responses with interest to find out what they were thinking. Teacher D, in her science class asked the class to look at the diagram of a microscope in the textbook. She then explained and wrote notes about these different parts of a microscope. After that, she asked the students to complete the exercise in the textbook matching the names of the major components of a microscope with their functions.ReflectionWhich of the teaching practices do you like more? Why?Which of the teaching practices resemble your own teaching? What particular characteristics do they have in common?Definition and types of conception of teachingResearchers have found that teaching practices are often underpinned by a set of inter-related beliefs and values, which is generally known as ;conception of teaching;. There is also keen interest in understanding how teachers; conception of teaching affects their teaching as such influences the quality of students; learning.
SOME PROPOSED DEFINITIONS OF TEACHING BY SCHOLARS:According to Nilson and Albertalli (2002), teaching in its broadest sense is the process whereby a teacher guides a learner or a group of learners to higher level of knowledge or skills.Disgorges (1995) defined teaching as the management of peoples experience largely in classrooms with deliberate intention of promoting their learning.Melby (1994) states that teaching is not merely dispensing subject or lesson having but an art which involves the students in teaching learning process where the students is giving the chance to participate fully In the process- that the teacher accept each pupil and has a favorable attitude towards individual differences.Thring (2001) says pouring out knowledge is not teaching. Having lessons is not teaching… teaching is getting at the heart and mind so that the learner values learning and do believe that learning is possible in his own case.Smith (2004) sees teaching as the process of carrying out activities that experience has shown to be effective in getting students to learn.Definition: Conception of teaching is an umbrella term that refers to a teacher;s values, attitudes, beliefs and intentions towards teaching.
Types of conception of teaching: Kember (1997) reviewed studies that examined teachers; conceptions of teaching, and summarized the major categories. In general, there are two contrasting conceptions, the teacher-centered and student-centered. In-between these two poles, there is an intermediate kind of conception. We will explore each of these three forms of conception of teaching in turn.Student-centered conception of teaching includes the following set of beliefsTeaching is viewed as a process of facilitating students; learningTeacher is viewed as a facilitator to support students; learningStudents are considered to have agency and responsibility of how to learnKnowledge is constructed by the studentsTeacher-centered conception of teaching includes the following set of beliefsThe teacher is viewed as presenter of information and knowledge, whereasTeaching is viewed as a process of imparting information and knowledge from one end to another.Students are considered as passive receiver as if they are empty vessels receiving the ;pouring; from the teacherKnowledge is possessed by the teacherIntermediate transitional conception of teaching includes the following sets of beliefsIn-between the two ends of conception of teaching, there is one in the middle that bears some of the characteristics from each pole:Teaching is viewed as a process of student-teacher interactionTeachers serve the dual role of a teacher and a tutor to facilitate learningStudents are considered as participants in the processKnowledge is constructed by students within the teachers; framework Why does understanding conception of teaching matter?Conceptions of teaching affect an arrays of teachers; choices in practice, which include, teaching method, design and choice of learning tasks, design and choice of assessment tasks, assessment demands and workload of a subject/course. All of these can influence students’ ways of studying and the quality of learning.For example, if a teacher has a teacher-centered conception of teaching, it is highly likely that he or she will rely on the use of lectures as the main activity to teach;he sees student’s attentiveness to one;s lecture as the major criterion of goodness; and defines knowledge as clear-cut.
On the other hand, if a teacher endorses a student-centered conception of teaching, it doesn;t imply that he or she will never lecture in his or her class. On the contrary, it means that one will select the most appropriate form of activity to facilitate students; learning, and lecture is among one of the strategies. Furthermore, teacher will have a more malleable view of correctness and take mistake as good opportunities to aid students to construct knowledge. TEACHING AS AN ARTIt is believed that some people are born naturally to teach whiles others are not. Philosophers in education also have come out that the act of teaching is something that is not for everyone. To demonstrates ways in which the teacher may use creative ways to present the materials so as to make it fun and interesting for learners. It is said to be innate rather than acquired. With teaching as an art, teachers come out with their own philosophy and teaching methods base on their talents in teaching.
Mash and Willis (2003), teachers usually synthesize instinctively in keeping with their own artistic flairs, even when implementing what has been stipulates in the syllabus.TEACHING AS A SCIENCETeaching is said to be a science if it involves the accumulation of information, knowledge and skills and the improvement of teaching practices based on the information and skills gained. This information includes knowledge of the content( subject matter) knowledge about philosophy and psychology of teaching and learning and observation. No matter how good teachers are, they need to be enlighten on the subject matter, learning models, strategies as well as understanding of the needs of learners to make teaching and learning effect.
TEACHING AS A CRAFTIn curriculum under teaching concept, craft on the parr of the teacher means skills and experience. Therefore, teaching as a craft is the skills or set of skills that teachers acquire through experience. Experience can be as a result o long peroid of teaching as a professional teachers or experience obtain from solving everyday problems with regard to teaching and learning. Conception of LearningResearchers found that learning behaviors, in like terms as conception of teaching, are often underpinned by a set of inter-related beliefs and values, which is generally known as ;conception of learning;. There is also keen interest in understanding how students; conception of learning affects their studying and ultimately their quality of students; learning.Definition and types of conception of learningConception of learning is an umbrella term that refers to one;s values, attitude, beliefs and intention towards learning.
Quantitative conception of learningLearning is gathering and remembering bits of information in accumulative manner.Learning therefore is marked by countable number of facts and items remembered.Contents to be learnt are isolated and unrelated items.Process of learning is seen as transmission of knowledge from authority to oneself.Qualitative conception of learningLearning is about meaning making of new information encountered, understanding of self and ways of interpreting the worldLearning is therefore viewed as a developmental processContents to be learnt are complex and inter-related, and may have the potential to relate to one-selfLearning is the process of constructing meaning by students themselves with the facilitation of teachers. Why does understanding students; conception of learning matter?Conception of learning, like conception of teaching, affects an array of students; learning behavior, which includes, motivation to study, approach to study, perception of workload and how they understand what constitutes knowledge and knowing. And all of these relate to quality of learning.
For example, if a student endorses a quantitative conception of learning, he or she is likely to rely on rote learning and memorizing materials taught by teacher: and will not see the need to make sense of things learnt; will define knowledge as clear-cut and correctness can be neatly judged by the teacher. Furthermore, students with this conception will be less likely to persist when in difficulty and see ill-structured problem as difficult and unnecessary and therefore as extra workloadOn the other hand, if a student endorses a qualitative conception of learning, it is likely that he or she will actively make sense of those newly taught materials and relate them to their existing knowledge; they will treat knowledge as inter-related and complex and will therefore require -persistence to acquire and construct.TEACHING MODELSThe best substitute for a theory of teaching is a model of teaching. Teaching models merely suggest how various teaching and learning conditions are interrelated. In many fields models are prototypes of theories because they make possible our early conceptualization and study of phenomena. Unlike theories, in their early stage of development models lack factual support. Eventually useful models give way to empirically supported theories.
Since the transmission of knowledge to the learner is achieved through valid processes,there exist different teaching models that have been propounded and used extensively by educational psychologist.Four of these teaching models that are often use in contemporary education settings and are discussed below…
TEACHING AS AN ARTIt is believed that some people are born naturally to teach whiles others are not. Philosophers in education also have come out that the act of teaching is something that is not for everyone. It demonstrates ways in which the teacher may use creative ways to present the materials so as to make it fun and interesting for learners. It is said to be innate rather than acquired. With teaching as an art, teachers come out with their own philosophy and teaching methods base on their talents in teaching.
Mash and Willis (2003), teachers usually synthesize instinctively in keeping with their own artistic flairs, even when implementing what has been stipulates in the syllabus.TEACHING AS A SCIENCETeaching is said to be a science if it involves the accumulation of information, knowledge and skills and the improvement of teaching practices based on the information and skills gained. This information includes knowledge of the content( subject matter) knowledge about philosophy and psychology of teaching and learning and observation. No matter how good teachers are, they need to be enlighten on the subject matter, learning models, strategies as well as understanding of the needs of learners to make teaching and learning effect.TEACHING AS A CRAFTIn curriculum under teaching concept, craft on the part of the teacher means skills and experience. Therefore, teaching as a craft is the skills or set of skills that teachers acquire through experience. Experience can be as a result of long peroid of teaching as a professional teacher or experience obtain from solving everyday problems with regard to teaching and learning.
THE BASIC TEACHING MODEL-ROBERT GLASER’SRobert Glaser (1962) has developed a stripped-down teaching model which, with modifications, is the basic teaching model. The basic teaching model divides the teaching process into four components or parts. It will be useful in several ways. It helps to organize the great body of facts, concepts and principles which makes up the basic teaching model. The above diagram is a diagram of basic teaching model. The four parts of the model represent the basic divisions. Box A denotes Instructional objectives, Box B includes Entering behavior, Box C deals with instructional procedure, and finally Box D relates to performance assessment.
The diagram referred above applies to the four components of the basic teaching model, with its connecting arrows showing only the major sequence of events in the instructional process, it is possible to add many more connecting lines. Lines which connect the basic models are the three feedback loops as shown in the diagram shown above for example, connect performance assessment with each of the earlier components of the model.INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVESInstructional objectives are those the student should attain upon completion of a segment of instruction. In theory, objectives can vary in scope and character.
Instructional procedures, describe the teaching process; most decisions a teacher makes are on these procedures.One way to define instructional objectives is to identify the end product of instruction in terms of observable performance. The way to determine whether or not a student has learned something is to observe the outcome of his behavior. It is more precise to refer to these end products of instruction as terminal performances. In most schools these are verbal performances or motor skills.
ENTERING BEHAVIOREntering behavior describes the student level before the instruction begins. It refers to what the student has previously learned, his intellectual ability and development, his motivational state, and certain social and cultural determinants of his learning ability. Schools tend to define entering behavior in terms of the traditional curriculum rather than in terms of student ability, experience, and interest.
Although the model gives priority to the selection of instrumental objectives over the assessment of entering behavior, in practices these two components must interact. Depending on the requirement of the instructional situations, particularly on the entering behavior of the student, the classroom of the future will provide for more or less personal contact than the conventional classroom does now.Question.. A student with a more abstractive ability and interest of the mathematician, therefore, maybe viewed as having a higher level entering behavior than that of a student whose major interest and ability are in creating the visual, geometric forms of modern painting and sculpture..
Do you agree or not agree to this assertion? Explain your stand.INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURESInstructional procedures describe the teaching process; most decisions a teacher makes are on these procedures. Proper management of this component results in those changes in student behavior which we call learning or achievement. Procedures must vary with the instructional objectives.
Generally instructional procedures describe procedures for teaching skills, language, concepts, principles, and problem solving.PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTPerformance assessment is the process of measuring the student’s auxiliary and terminal performances during and at the end of instruction. Auxiliary performances are behaviors which must be acquired at the lower levels of a learning structure before the terminal performances are acquired at the higher levels. In the teaching of a principle, for example, the teacher must determine whether the student has acquired the component concepts, as auxiliary performances, before proceeding with the instruction which arranges these concepts in the proper relationship for the learning of the principle. Terminal performances, you already know, refer to the end products of instruction—usually verbal performances’ the emphasis on the measurement of both auxiliary(formative evaluation ) and terminal performances (summative evaluation) means that you should not think of performance assessment as occurring only at the end of a unit or a course. The assessment can occur whenever the teacher or student needs information about the adequacy of the student’s present learning for subsequent instructionCOMPUTER-BASED INSTRUCTION MODELComputer-based instruction, also commonly referred to as Computer Assisted Instruction, was introduced during the 1950s. The pioneers of the movement were a team of researchers at IBM, including Gordon Pask and O.
M. Moore. However, it wasn;t until the 1960s that the Computer-Based Instruction Theory began to take shape, thanks to federal funding for research and development for various industrial and educational labs throughout the United States.
More specifically, the US government funded two companies – Control Data Corporation and Mitre Corporation -, for the development of two separate projects, PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operation) and TICCIT (Time-Shared Interactive Computer Controlled Information Television).•TICCIT was designed to teach higher-order concepts with the use of an instructional design system called RULEG and was mostly addressed to adult learners.•PLATO was a computer-based training network, whose system provided access to a central library of courses.
As computer technology evolved, so did computer-based learning. Today, the Computer-Based Instruction model is used by myriad of learning programs throughout the world. Any instructional program that includes the use of a computer –CD-ROMs, DVDs, etc. is based on this concept, which can also be implemented in conjunction with traditional teaching methods to enhance the overall educational experience. Computers can also be used in the workplace, to educate employees about new work practices or regulations that must be followed within their professional environment.
More complex lessons can also be delivered via computers, allowing instructors to educate their learners in a more effective and profound way. Even students who are unable to attend school or individual courses are given the chance to learn through Computer-Based Instruction schemes.The Uses of Computer-Based InstructionThe most common uses for Computer-based Instruction are:•Simulations simplified representations of real situations, processes, etc.•Tutorials enriching background knowledge, ideal for verbal and conceptual learning, as well as for simultaneous attendance.•Practice increasing fluency in a new skill, and providing immediate feedback.•Instructional games providing motivation elements, such as competition, cooperation, etc.
, substituting exercises, and inspiring goal-setting, creativity, and respect for rules.•Problem solving focused, specialized, and designed to promote problem-solving abilities for a variety of situations.The advantages of CBI are numerous•As a method, is highly interactive.•It can motivate learners and provide immediate feedback.•It can store the performance of the learner for future use or further fine-tuning.•It generally requires less time than traditional methods.The limitations of CBI can be summarized as follows•Overly simplified applications might not be as effective, and may not make good use of the computer.•Their development is time-consuming and can be quite costly.
•Equipment and software can also be costly, and, thus, difficult to acquire.•Not all subjects or fields can be assisted or supported by CBI. THE MODEL OF SCHOOL LEARNING Definition•In 1993, John Carroll proposed a model for school learning. Learning was defined as function of efforts spent in relation to efforts needed. Most of the model is time based.
•According to Huitt: School Learning = f (time spent/time needed). (DSchneider believes that this definition does not capture the full model). The ModelAccording to Reeves (1997) Carroll;s model include six elements with one output variable, one input variable and 4 intermediate variables.•Academic Achievement is the output (as measured by various sorts’ standard achievement tests)•Aptitude is the main explanatory variable defined as the "the amount of time a student needs to learn a given task, unit of instruction, or curriculum to an acceptable criterion of mastery under optimal conditions of instruction and student motivation" (Carroll, 1989: 26). This definition of aptitude very much reminds the principle behind mastery learning. "High aptitude is indicated when a student needs a relatively small amount of time to learn, low aptitude is indicated when a student needs much more than average time to learn" (Carrol: 1989: 26).
•Opportunity to learn: Amount of time available for learning both in class and within homework. Carroll (1998:26) notes that "frequently, opportunity to learn is less than required in view of the student’s aptitude.•Ability to understand instruction: relates to learning skills, information needed to understand, and language comprehension.•Quality of instruction: good instructional design, e.g. like it is usually defined in behaviorist frameworks like nine events of instruction. If quality of instruction is bad, time needed will increase.•Perseverance: Amount of time a student is willing to spend on a given task or unit of instruction.
This is an operational and measurable definition for motivation for learning. Time needed to learn and quality of instructionThe most important question the Carroll model (and numerous follow-up studies) raises is: What is appropriate time needed to learn (TTL)?”The model of school learning assumes that students differ in the amount of learning time they need. If these differences are to be adequately taken account of, considerable skill in classroom management is required of teachers” (Carroll 1989: 29). Flanders’ interaction analysis systemFlanders’ system is an observational tool used to classify the verbal behavior of teachers, and pupils as they interact in the classroom. Flanders’ instrument was designed for observing only the verbal communication in the class room and non-verbal gestures are not taken into account.
BASIC THEORITICAL ASSUMPTIONS OF INTERACTION ANALYSISThe various theoretical assumptions which are basic to the very idea of interaction analysis are as follows; 1. In a normal classroom situation, it is verbal communication which is predominant (Flanders 1965)2. Even though the use of spoken language might resort to non-verbal gestures in classroom, verbal behavior can be observed with higher reliability than most non-verbal behavior and also it can reasonably serve as an adequate sample of the total behavior in classroom.3. We can normally assume that verbal statements of a teacher are consistent with his non-verbal gestures and, in fact, his total behavior.
This assumption was sustained in terms of experience in Minnesota studies. (Flanders, 1966).4. The teacher exerts a great deal of influence on the pupils. Pupil’s behavior is affected to great extent by this type of teacher behavior exhibited. (Anderson and others, 1946).5. The relation between students and teacher is a crucial factor in the teacher process and must be considered an important aspect in the methodology.
(Haggerty, 1932).FACTORS TO CONSIDER BEFORE TEACHING CONTENT OF KNOWLEDGE: As implementers of the curriculum, teachers must have a fair idea of the subject matter, skills, ideas to be taught. The teacher must do through research to be more enlighten in his subject area of study including concepts, principles, values, and theories as well as other important issues that are current and of relevance to the philosophy of education and the country as w whole. The teacher must also have knowledge in other field to study so as give better interpretation outside the teachers field of study.
PADAGOGICAL SKILLS OR KNOWLEDGE: This consist of the methods, approaches, theories that are put in place to present instruction to learners. This is in line with the learners knowledge and characters with regard to assimilation of instruction. Since there are INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND DIFFERENT CONCEPTION OF UNDESTANDING, teaches must vary their pedagogy in order to each a higher level of understanding among students. Teaching can be in the form of presentation, lecturers asking questions , using examples, presenting using diagrams, mathematical formulae, student to student interaction. These constitute some of the teachers pedagogy and can help aid in easy understanding of learners.KNOWLEDGE OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES OR AIMS: Every teacher must set target which he/she will achieve at the end of the instructional secession. This aim will NEP the teacher have in mind appropriate material, tools and equipment that will help the teacher to reach this set target. This educational objective of the teacher must be in line with the general goal of the curriculum.
In this sense, we say that the teacher has the philosophy of education in mind. Educational objective cab be measured by various means including exams, asking questions, both formative and summative evaluations among others.In all, the preparation of the teacher including his knowledge of content, pedagogy, individual differences, knowledge of education objectives among others can help in effective teaching and implementation of the curriculum. References• Huitt, Overview of Classroom Processes / Carroll;s Model of School Learning, HTML (retrieved 17:24, 23 May 2006 (MEST)).• Carroll, J.
B. (1968). On learning from being told. Educational Psychologist, 5, 4-• Carroll, J. B.
(1963). A model of school learning. Teachers College Record, 64, 723-733.Fox, D. (1983). Personal theories of teaching. Studies in Higher Education, 8, 151-163.Kember, D (1997).
A reconceptualization of the research into university academics conception of teaching, Learning and Instruction, 7, 255-275.Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning. San Francisco: Joseey-Bass.Pratt, D. D. (1992).
Conceptions of teaching, Adult Education Quarterly, 42, 203-220.
