Methods of instruction Essay

Education is like taking a whole series of journeys. There are destinations and there are different routes to those destinations. In the most common approach, the teacher determines both the destination and the route, that is, he or she decides what is to be studied and how. Many educators recognize the importance of talk as a route in teaching, and many consider teaching as an interactive process. But because learners now had so little attention span to lectures, it pauses a challenge to teachers to look for ways to attract their attention to classroom learning. Creating a situation conducive for learning can be facilitated by introducing various teaching strategies. As it is important that both the teacher and the learners know whether they are on the right track or not and whether the journey has been satisfactorily completed or not, regular assessment is also needed. Parents , school officials and employers also require information about students progress. TEACHING STRATEGIES Teaching strategies deals with teaching-learning procedures that encourage active learning to take place. It suggests a variety of routes that aim to expose students’ prior knowledge and challenge it in such a way that students want to make delve into new concept areas and new understanding. Meaningful learning results when students can relate new information with what they already know. In selecting appropriate strategies, teachers should consider their own objective, understanding of how students learn; and the desire or teach in a way which caters to the individual needs of the students n the classroom. A. Strategies Involving Interaction and Collaboration Many strategies which elicit student’s active participation in learning use group work. Groups can find solution to problems, brainstorm and undertake open-ended investigation or teacher-directed investigations. These strategies give students a chance to work and learn together, and to interact and collaborate with other students and with the teacher. 1. Brainstorming is a simple strategy of group discussion designed to collect ideas without criticism and restrictions from others through free expression of thoughts that leads to the possible solution to problems. The advantage of this strategy is that it removes inhibitions, thereby developing self confidence among members. It is best used in discussing social and environmental issues. 2. Problem Solving is a student centered strategy which requires students to find either a scientific or technological solution to problems. It helps students to develop the necessary process skills to become successful problem-solvers. Students are given the chance to display their own initiative, inventiveness, and persistence. Problem-solving could be used after students have gained substantial knowledge of relevant scientific ideas and appropriate practical techniques. 3. Open-ended Investigation is similar to problem solving but here, the students are given considerable amount of choice concerning what they might choose to investigate and how they will go about it. It allows students to demonstrate the scientific and investigative skills rather than the knowledge gained in that particular investigation. 4. Teacher- directed Investigation is a strategy which takes the students through aseries of teacher-planned instructions given for each step in the procedure. Though highly structured, it is designed as a discovery task so that all students record a similar set of results and make inferences. Strategies Involving Transformation Active thinking involves the skilled use of important media: talking, listening, reading writing, pictorial representation, three-dimensional models, play or drama, etc. A. Translation provides opportunities for the students to alter the form of their understanding. For example, students can simplify a more complicated text, diagram, flowchart or procedure for their classmates. In doing so they are challenged to develop a clear understanding of the original text. This engages them into thinking, talking and further exploration. B. Role Play poses a challenge to students to do their best in acting out a basic concept or phenomenon. It provides students opportunities to respond and analyze a range of viewpoints about an issue with the intension of reaching a personal view on the issue. Though it varies from teacher to teacher, role playing has a number of important stages which are as follows; 1. Warming up the group- identify problem; introduce some of the issues which will be raised by the role play; explain role playing. 2. Selecting Participants- analyze roles, select role players. 3. Setting the stage- role players outline the scene. 4.. Enacting- role players enact the situation. 5. Discussing and Evaluating- review role play; discuss issues raised; relate problem situation to real experience. C. Games can provide variety as a change from other classroom activities. They are generally used to reinforce particular items of knowledge. These can be developed in such a way that they will require students to search for new information or strengthen ideas previously known. D. Reporting Back is a sharing process that involves a small group presenting its findings to the rest of the class. The report can take any form i. e. , written, chart, pictorial representation, etc. ). In preparing the report , the group could be involved in transformation, translation, collaboration, reflection(valuing) , and asking questions. E. Model Building gives students the task of making representations of abstract ideas and helps them develop a broader understanding of the concepts. In model building, the teacher may either provide a step by step procedure with the set of materials required to produce almost identical models. If more creative solutions and wider variety of outcomes are expected, a less structured set of instructions and wider range of materials may be provided. Strategies on Knowledge Acquisition Strategies which focus on knowledge acquisition are concept formation or concept attainment, Predict-Observe-Explain, and concept mapping. Thses teaching strategies enable students to formulate new ideas based on their previous knowledge and experience. They give students the chance to rethink and change their misconceptions. A. CONCEPT MAPPING – a concept map is a visual, structure representation of concept and their interrelationships. The simplest concept map would consist of two concepts linked by logical connectives. Concepts are terms in boxes and the verb or logical connectives are called prepositions which are explanatory notes describing the relationships. It is used as a learning or diagnostic device which helps a learner to change or modify his understanding of the concept as he makes associations with a wider array of concepts and specific propositions. It also serves as a guide for the teacher during the classroom interaction and as a chapter summary for students. Guidelines for constructing concept map should be well defined, such as 1. identifying the central concept and key subordinate concepts of the lesson to be mapped.. 2. arrange the concepts in hierarchy from the most inclusive, most abstract and general concepts to the least inclusive, most concrete and specific. 3. Place the concepts down the map. Highlight each concept by enclosing in a box. 4. Connect the concepts that are related by drawing lines with arrows between them 5. Carefully describe the nature of relationship by adding proposition for each relationship line. B. PREDICT-OBSERVE-EXPLAIN (PROBEX) develops students’ ability to form hypothesis, make accurate observations and offer plausible explanations. It challenges the students to think and gives them a certain degree of satisfaction when their predictions jibe with the observations. Steps: I. PREDICT 1. Teacher shows/demonstrates a phenomenon which is reasonably familiar to the students 2. Teacher changes one factor in her demonstration and asks students to predict what might happen. 3.. teacher manages predictions – may be group or individual predictions written on the board or on a paper or given orally. I. OBSERVE 1. Demonstrate or have students perform the changed situation. 2. Students record observations and repeat activity if necessary. 3. Teacher checks observations. II. EXPLAIN 1. Teacher employs various methods at this stage, e. g. , students may give explanations individually or in groups. 2. Teacher summarizes and checks explanations. Teaching strategies could vary in many directions and many forms. It is now dependent on the teacher to modify basic knowledge on different teaching strategies that would best fit the lesson and the learners as well. EVALUATION In order to assess the success of a given teaching strategy, student learning, should be assessed/evaluated. Measuring students learning is a means by which teachers can keep track of what they have learned and understood. It is important that whenever a test is constructed, all levels of learning are assessed. It should be emphasized that assessment is not an end –of-topic activity but rather a part of their ongoing task in the classroom. Thus, it can provide a framework in which student’s progress is chartered and expressed. Furtheremore, assessment helps teachers to effectively plan the next step in the student’s learning.