lesson 10

Demonstration in teaching

Abstraction:

In the demonstration of a new product, the speaker shows the product, tells all the  good thing about the product to promote it in order  to convince the audience that the product is worth buying.

In the activists’ demonstration, the activists air their grievances and publicly denounce the acts of a person or of an institution, like the government, against whom they are demonstrated.  When a master teacher asked to demonstration in teaching on a teaching strategy, she shows to the audience how to use a teaching strategy effectively.

What is a demonstration?

defines it as “a public showing emphasizing the salient , merits, utility, efficiency, etc, of an article or product..” in teaching it is showing how a thing is done and emphasizing  of the salient merits, utility and efficiency  of a concept, a method or a process or an attitude.

What guiding principles must we observe in using a demonstration as a teaching – learning experience? Edgar Dale (1969) gives at least three:

1. Establish rapport. Greet your audience. Make them feel at ease by your warmth and sincerity. Stimulate their interest by making your demonstration and yourself interesting. Sustain their attention.

2.  Avoid COLK fallacy (Clear Only If Known). What is this fallacy? It is the assumption that what is clear to the expert  demonstrator is also clearly known to the person for whom the message is intended. To avoid the fallacy, it is best for the expert demonstrator to assume that his audience knows  nothing or a little about  what he is intending to demonstrate for him to be very    thorough, clear and detailed  in his demonstration  even to a point of facing the risk of being repetitive.

3. Watch for key options. What are key options? Dale (1996) says “ they are the ones at which  an error is likely to be made, the places at which many people stumble and where the knacks and tricks of the trade are especially important”. The good demonstrator recognizes [possible stumbling blocks to learners and highlights them in some way. What are usually highlighted are the “don’t’s” of a process or a strategy.

To ensure that the demonstration works, we ought to plan and prepare very well before we conduct the demonstration. In planning and preparing for demonstration, Brown (1969) suggests methodical procedures by the following questions:

1. What are our objectives? How does your class stand with respect to these objectives?  This is to determine entry knowledge and skills of your students.

2. Is there a better way to achieve your ends?

3. If there is a more effective way to attain your purpose, then replace the demonstration method the more effective one.

4. Do you have access to all necessary  materials and equipments to make the demonstration? Have a checklist of necessary equipment and material. This may include written materials.

5. Are you familiar with the sequence and content of the proposed demonstration? Outline the steps and rehearse your demonstration.

6. Are the limits realistic?

You have planned and rehearsed your demonstration, your materials and equipment  are ready, you have prepared your students, then you can proceed to the demonstration itself. Dale (1969) gives several points to observe:

1. Set the tone for good communication. Get and keep your audience’s interest.

2. Keep your demonstration simple.

3. Do not wonder from the main ideas.

4. Check to see that your demonstration is being understood.  Watch your audience for signs of bewilderment, boredom or disagreement.

5. Do not hurry your demonstration. Asking questions to check understanding can serve as a “brake”.

6. Do not drag out the demonstration. Interesting things have never dragged out.  They create their own tempo.

7. Summarize as you go along and provide a concluding summary. Use the chalkboard, the over head projector, charts, diagram, power point and whatever other materials are appropriate to synthesize your demonstration.

8. Hand out written materials at the conclusion.

Lesson 8

Introduction

If for one reason or another, we cannot employ direct experiences as materials for instruction, let us make use of an “edited” version of direct experience the contrived experiences.

Abstraction

The model of the atom , the globe, the planetarium the simulated election process and the preserved specimen fall under contrived experiences, the second band of experiences in Dale’s cone of experience

Contrived experiences – these are “edited” copies of reality and are used as substitutes for real things when it is not practical or do the real thing in the classroom. These are designed to stimulate to real-life situation.

These include:

Model – is a reproduction of a real thing in a small scale, or large scale or exact size. It is a substitute for a real thing which may or may not be operational.

Mock-up – is an arrangement of real device or associated devices, displayed in such a way that representation of reality is created.

Specimen – is any individual or item

Considered  typical of a group, class

Or whole.

Objects- may also include artifacts

Displayed in a museum or objects

Displayed in exhibits or preserved

Insect’s specimen in science.

Simulation - is a representation of

Manageable real event in which the

Learner is active participants

Engaged in learning a behavior in or

In applying previously acquired skills

Or knowledge.

Seem to be more easily applied to    study of issues rather than to process.

Games- played to win

-        Are used of  any of these purposes:

To practice and/or to refine knowledge/skills already acquire

To identify gaps or weaknesses in knowledge or skills

To serve as a summation or review

To develop new relationships among concepts and principles

              

To serve as a summation or review

To develop new relationships among concepts and principles

Why do we make use of contrived experiences?

We use models, mock-ups, specimen and objects to :

               Overcome limitation of space and time.

                    

             To edit “reality” for us to be able to focus on parts or a process of a system that we intend to study.

   To overcome difficulties of size  To

   understand the inaccessible    Help the    learners understand abstractions.

                                       

                                   

           

Lesson 9

Something dramatic that catches and holds our attention and has an emotional impact. If our teaching is dramatic, our students get attracted, interested and affected.

Dramatized experience can range from the formal plays, pageants to less formal tableau pantomime, puppets and role playing.

·      Plays depict life, character or culture or a combination of all three. They offer excellent opportunities to portray vividly important ideas about life.

·      Pageants are usually community dramas they are based on local history, presented by local actors.

·       Pantomime ad tableau, when compared to a play and a pageant, are less demanding in terms of labor, time and preparation.

·       A pantomime is the art of conveying a story through bodily movements only.

·       A tableau is a picture like scene composed of people against a background.

Dale (1996) claims that a puppet, unlike the regular stage play, can present ideas with extreme simplicity-without elaborate scenery or costumed, yet effectively.

Types of puppets :

1.   Shadow puppet – flat back silhouette made from light weight cardboard and shown behind a screen.

2. Rod puppet – flat cut out figures tacked to stick, with one or more movable parts, and operated from below the stage level by wire rods or slender stick.

3. Hand puppets – the puppet’s head is operated by the forefinger of the puppeteer.

4.  Glove and finger puppet – make use of old gloves to which small costumed figure are attached.

5.  Marionettes – flexible, jointed puppets operated by strings or wire attached to a cross  and maneuvered from directly above the stage.

Lesson 6

Instructional materials are highly important for teaching, especially for inexperienced teachers. Teachers rely on instructional materials in every aspect of teaching. They need materials for background information on the subject they are teaching. Young teachers usually have not built up their expertise whenever they enter into the field. Teachers often use instructional materials for lesson planning.  These materials are also needed by teachers to assess the knowledge of their students. Teachers often assess students by assigning tasks,creating projects, and administering exams. Instructional materials are essential for all of these activities.

Because students spend a significant amount of their classroom time using instructional materials and because of the large variety of available materials, both print and nonprint, it is crucial that all materials be thoroughly evaluated.

Instructional materials shall be evaluated and selected according to specified procedures by qualified certified staff to ensure that the materials in the educational structure support the curriculum and meet the diverse needs of students. The instructional materials selected must be age and grade appropriate and must contribute to, and be aligned with, the curriculum and competencies.

Instructional materials are print and non-print items that are designed to impart  information to students in the educational process. Instructional materials include items such askits, textbooks,magazines,newspapers,pictures,recordings, slides, transparencies, videos, video discs, workbooks, and electronic media including but not limited to music, movies, radio, software, CD-ROMs, and online services.

Library books are literary works, narratives, and other texts that are selected for research or use but not used for guided or directed instruction.

 

Instructional staff shall consider the following factors in the selection evaluation and use of instructional materials:

• Directly support student achievement

• Impact on instructional time

• Authenticity

• Age/grade appropriateness

 Criteria for Selection

Instructional materials selected should:

1. Support achievement of the content standards of the Learning Results;

2. Support the goals and objectives of the educational programs;

3. Enrich and support the curriculum;

4. Take into consideration the varied interests, abilities, and maturity levels of the students served

Lesson 7

 

·      From the rich experiences that our senses bring, we construct the ideas, the concepts, the generalizations that give meaning and order to our lives.

·      Direct experiences are first hand experiences that serve as the foundation of learning.

The opposite of direct experiences are indirect or vicarious experiences.

·      Direct experiences lead us to concept formation and abstraction. We go beyond the concrete by reaching the level of abstract concepts .

·      Direct experiences are basically what the students can learn by doing it. This way of teaching is known to be the most effective way of teaching the students because experiences are the best teacher.

What are referred to as direct, purposeful experiences ?

·      These are our concrete and first hand experiences that make up the foundation of our learning.

·      These are the rich experiences that our senses bring from which we construct the ideas, the concepts, the generalizations that give meaning and order to our lives (Dale, 1969). They are sensory experiences.

·      Example of direct activities.

-        Preparing meals

-        Doing power point

-        Delivering a speech

·      In contrast, indirect experiences are experiences of other people that we observe, read or hear about

·      They are not our own self-experiences but still experiences in the sense that we observe, read and hear about them. They are not first-hand but rather vicarious experiences.

·      Why are these direct experiences described to be purposeful?

·      They are experiences that are internalized in the sense that these experiences involve the asking of questions that have significance in the life of the person undergoing the direct experiences.

·      These experiences are undergone in relation to a purpose, i.e. learning

·      It is done in relation to a certain learning objective.

lesson 5

 Lesson 5

The cone of experience

. Arranged from the least to the most abstract the learning resources presented in the cone of experience are:

Direct proposal experiences

  - These are first hand experiences which serve as the foundation of our learning. We build up our reservoir of meaningful information and ideas through seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. In the context of the teaching-learning process, it is learning by doing. If I want my student to learn how to focus a compound light Microsoft, I will let him focus one, of course, after I showed him how.

Contrived experiences

  - In Here, we make use of a representative model or mock ups of reality for practical reasons and so that we can make the real-life accessible to the students’ perceptions and understanding. For instance a mock up of Apollo, the North capsule for the exploration of the moon, enable the North American Aviation Co. to study the problem of lunar flight.

Dramatized experiences

  - By dramatization, we can participate in a reconstructed experience, even though the original event is far removed from us in time. We relieve the outbreak of the Philippine revolution by acting out the role of characters in a drama.

Demonstrations

  - It is a visualize explanation of an important fact, idea or process by the use of photographs, drawings, films, displays or guided motions. It is showing how things are done. A teacher in Physical Education shows the class how to dance tango.

Study Trips

  - These are excursions and visits conducted to observe an event that is unavailable within the classroom.

Exhibits

  - These are displays to be seen by spectators. They may consist of working models arranged meaningfully or photographs with models, charts, and posters. Sometimes exhibits are “for your eyes only”. There are some exhibits, however, that include sensory experiences where spectators are allowed to touch or manipulate models displayed.

 Television and Motion Pictures

  - Television and motion pictures can reconstruct the reality of the past so effectively that we are made to feel we are there. The unique value of the value of the messages communicated by film and television lies in their feeling of realism, their emphasis on person s and personality, their organized presentation and their ability to select, dramatize, highlight and clarify.

Recordings, Radio, Still Pictures

  - These are visual and auditory devices may be used by an individual or a group. Still pictures lack the sound and motion of a sound film. The radio broadcast of an actual event may often be likened to a televised broadcast minus its visual dimension.

Visual Symbols

  - These are no longer realistic reproduction of physical things for these are highly abstract representations. Example are chart, graphs, maps and diagrams.

Verbal Symbols

  - They are not like the objects or ideas for which they stand. They usually do not contain visual clues to their meaning. Written words fall under this category. It may be a word for a concrete object (book), an idea (freedom of speech), a scientific principle (the principle of balance), a formula ( e=mc²)

Lesson 4

Systematic approach to teaching

-       A plan that emphasizes the parts may pay the cost of failing to consider the whole, and a plain that emphasizes the whole must pay the cost of failing get down to the real depth with respect to the parts. –c. west churchman.

Systematic- methodical in procedure or plan ( systematic approach)

Organize, relating to or consisting of a system

Logical- presented or formulated as a coherent body ideas or principle ( systematic thought)

Efficient- effective in class that marked by thoroughness and regularity ( systematic efforts).

Systematic approach to teaching:

The systems approach views the entire educational program as a system of closely interrelated parts. It is an orchestrated learning pattern with all parts harmoniously integrated into the whole: the school, the teacher, the students, the objectives, the media, the materials, and assessment tools and procedures. Such an approach integrates the older, more familiar methods and tools of instructions with the new ones such as the computer.

·     The focus of systematic instructional planning is the student.

·     It tells about the systematic approach to teaching in which the focus in the teaching is the student.

Define objectives- instruction begins with the definition of instructional objectives that consider the students’ needs, interests and readlness.

Choose appropriate methods- on the basis of these objectives the teacher selects the appropriate teaching method to be used.

Choose appropriate experience- in turn, based on the teaching method selected, the appropriate learning experiences an appropriate materials, equipment and facilities will also be selected.

Select materials, equipment and facilities- the use of learning materials, equipment and facilities necessitates assigning the personnel to assists the teacher.

Assign personnel role- defining the role of any personnel involved in the preparation, setting and returning of this learning resources would also help in the learning process.

Implement the instruction- planned instructions with the use of the selective teaching method, learning activities.

Evaluate outcomes- after instruction, teacher evaluates the outcome of instruction.

Refine the process- if the instructional objective was not attained, then teacher proceeds to the next lesson going through the same cycle once more.

Lesson 3

The roles of Educational technology in learning

Traditional role of technology delivery vehicles for instructional lessons and traditional way technology serve as a teacher. 

Constructivist role:

Partners in the learning process.

Technology is a learning tool to learn with not from.

From a constructivist perspective, the following are the roles of technology in learning: jonassen 1990

Learning to solve problems with technology.

Technology as tool to support knowledge construction:

·     for representing learner’s ideas, understandings and beliefs.

·     For producing organized, multimedia knowledge bases by learners.

Technology as information vehicles for exploring knowledge to support learning-by-constructing:

·     For accessing needed information.

·     For comparing perpectives, beliefs and world views.

Technology as context to support learning-by-doing:

·     For representing and stimulating meaningful real-world problems, situations and context.

For representing beliefs, perspectives, arguments and stories of others

·     For defining a safe, controllable problem space for student thinking.

Technology as a social medium to support learning y conversing:

·     for collaborating with others.

·     For discussing, arguing, and building consensus among members of community.

·     For supporting discourse among knowledge-building community.

technology  as intellectual partner( jonassen 1996) to support learning-by-reflecting:

·     For helping others to articulate and represent what they know.

·     For reflecting on what they have learned and how they came to know it.

·     For supporting learners internal negotiations and meaning making.

·     For constructing personal representations of meaning for supporting mindful thinking.