concept attainment model

CONCEPT ATTAINMENT

Background

It seems that most of what we do in science is categorize or classify objects or events for the purpose of generalizing.  To do this, scientists must observe carefully.  Although scientists are certainly not the only people who classify, scientists often classify in different ways than the rest of us do.  Note that there is nothing about the ways in which scientists classify that is better than the ways others classify.  It is a different way, not better.  However, in science class, we want the students to learn to classify in similar ways to scientists.  We want them to be familiar with science categories so they can follow a scientific conversation – at least a little bit.  We want them to be able to read a newspaper science article and understand what they have read.  Better yet, they would be able to guess at some of the mistakes the journalist has made in interpreting what the scientists have learned.  Even better, they might also be able to critique the conclusions that scientists themselves have made.

A concept attainment method involves students learning to classify a set of objects or events in a way that scientists classify.  The students will be using the categories that scientists use, and will be attempting to determine the rationale behind the categories.

The Concept Attainment Method has a high tolerance for ambiguity.  This means that the students might seem to be following the wrong path, but eventually, they will come up with the expected answer.  You would use this method when the concept the students are expected to learn is fairly clear.  You would use this method instead of just telling the students or having them read, because students will learn the material much better when they figure it out for themselves.  As your students learn more about the classification, you will also learn more about it.  As well as learning the material better, and remembering it longer, the students will learn how to learn by using this model.  We want students to become independent learners and critical thinkers.  This method will help them with both these goals.

This method encourages certain of the Common Essential Learnings.  The most obvious are critical and creative thinking, communication, and of course, independent learning.  Personal and social values and skills might be included if you help your students work in a positive way with their peers.  As well, if the particular concept involves mathematical relationships, the students could use their numeracy.  If the particular concept involves understanding a technology, technological literacy might also be addressed.  Of course, as the students classify in the ways that scientists do, they will be learning a technique of science, and understanding techniques can be part of technological literacy.

Practicalities

Set up:

• Give your students sets of materials that have been classified.  You also tell them the names of the categories.  For example, you could give your students fifteen rocks, and organized into three groups:  five sedimentary rocks, five igneous, five metamorphic.
• Tell the students to find the characteristics that members of one group have in common that are different than the characteristics of members of other groups.  In other words, they should try to figure out why the five sedimentary rocks have been put in one group, and why the five metamorphic rocks have been put in a different group than the sedimentary rocks.  Etc.
• You might or might not have activities for the students to do with the materials so the students will study them in different ways.  If you want them to focus on the results of these activities for attaining their concepts, you will ask them to focus on these results.  For example, you might have them spill a little vinegar on their rock samples, you might have them hit their samples with another rock, etc.
• You will probably put your students into small groups.  Choose groups so they will work effectively together.
• If you wish to minimize your supervisory role, choose materials that are relatively safe to work with.  If there will be some danger in working with the materials, visualize what sorts of mistakes your students are likely to make.  Then warn them of the dangers in advance.

Carry out:

• The students study the materials, compare and contrast those that are in the same group and those that are in the different groups, attempting to determine the rationale that was used for the classification.  As the students are comparing and contrasting, they will develop different hypotheses, and will have opportunities to test their hypotheses by further examination of their materials, and by discussion in their small groups.
• The teacher's role at this stage is to meander through the classroom, observing the students at work.  You will act as referee and coach.  If students are hesitant about Ataking initiative", or if they are not testing the materials in a way in which they could, you might encourage them to go on with more tests.
• During this time, you could make anecdotal records, or fill in checklists of student actions.

Debrief:

For every teaching strategy involving a debrief, I will suggest a different method.   There are a number of ways in which debriefs can be done.  Please mix and match the different forms of debriefs you use.  In all large group (six or more students), encourage your students to use their conversation skills.  (Don't overteach this, though.  Tell them only once or twice in the year.  Remind them only when you see that they are really forgetting.)  Their conversational skills are to listen carefully to what other speakers say.  Then when they talk, they build on what others have said, and demonstrate this by using phrases such as "What I think is similar to what (another student) said", or "I disagree with what (another student) said, because ..."  Encourage them also to speak tentatively with phrases such as "I thought" or "it seems".

• Put pairs of small groups together, so that if you originally had ten small groups of 3 students, you now have five small groups of six people.  The groups are to discuss their observations and the reasons they think the objects have been classified together.  Limit the time they will have for this discussion.  When their time is up, give them a limited amount of time to come up with a ten word (or twenty, whatever you think is appropriate) phrase to summarize what they think the rationale is for the classification scheme.  Tell the group that they should select one member to be the presentor.
• Have each of the larger groups present their results to the class.
• If your students have not come up with the rationale they should have, think of why they haven't.  What background knowledge were they lacking, or what background knowledge contributed in a non-science way?  What other materials might have helped them to form the concept you wanted them to form?

Check up:

• Once your students have come up with their rationales for the classification scheme, give them a sample which is not labelled.  They are to choose which category this non-labelled sample fits in, and explain why they have classified it with this group.
• You could then ask how many groups changed their categories.

Hints

• For this teaching model to work well, the teacher should ensure that the initial samples given to the students are the clearest possible prototypes.  In other words, if you had given the students samples of vertebrate animals:  mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians, you would not give them whales and duckbilled platypuses amongst the mammals.  These mammals are not generally what is expected of mammals.  After the students have come up with the description of Abasic" mammals, then you could supply the exotic ones.
• Give the students time to develop their definitions of each category.  Do not interrupt them when their first hypotheses are wrong.  If you have set the model up correctly, the students will come up with the correct rationales eventually.

Examples of concept attainment models:

• Give your students pictures of animals which are classified as mammals, fish, reptiles, birds.  If you add skin samples to your selections, you could also include amphibians.
• Give your students a magnet, and let the magnet choose the materials which are magnetic and which are not, and then the students attempt to determine what the qualities of magnetic materials are vs. non-magnetic.
• Any two or more categories, and science is full of them, will be appropriate.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring and Evaluation :

Monitoring is the systematic and routine collection of information from projects and programmes for four main purposes:

• To learn from experiences to improve practices and activities in the future;
• To have internal and external accountability of the resources used and the results obtained;
• To take informed decisions on the future of the initiative;
• To promote empowerment of beneficiaries of the initiative.

Monitoring is the systematic process of collecting, analyzing and using information to track a programme’s progress toward reaching its objectives and to guide management decisions. Monitoring usually focuses on processes, such as when and where activities occur, who delivers them and how many people or entities they reach.

Monitoring is conducted after a programme has begun and continues throughout the programme implementation period. Monitoring is sometimes referred to as process, performance or formative evaluation. (Adapted from Gage and Dunn 2009, Frankel and Gage 2007, and PATH Monitoring and Evaluation Initiative)

Monitoring is a periodically recurring task already beginning in the planning stage of a project or programme. Monitoring allows results, processes and experiences to be documented and used as a basis to steer decision-making and learning processes. Monitoring is checking progress against plans. The data acquired through monitoring is used for evaluation.

Evaluation is assessing, as systematically and objectively as possible, a completed project or programme (or a phase of an ongoing project or programme that has been completed). Evaluations appraise data and information that inform strategic decisions, thus improving the project or programme in the future.

Evaluation is the systematic assessment of an activity, project, programme, strategy, policy, topic, theme, sector, operational area or institution’s performance. Evaluation focuses on expected and achieved accomplishments, examining the results chain (inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts), processes, contextual factors and causality, in order to understand achievements or the lack of achievements. Evaluation aims at determining the relevance, impact, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of interventions and the contributions of the intervention to the results achieved. (Adapted from Gage and Dunn 2009, Frankel and Gage 2007)

An evaluation should provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful.  The findings, recommendations and lessons of an evaluation should be used to inform the future decision-making processes regarding the programme.

Evaluations should help to draw conclusions about five main aspects of the intervention:

• relevance
• effectiveness
• efficiency
• impact
• sustainability

Information gathered in relation to these aspects during the monitoring process provides the basis for the evaluative analysis.

Monitoring & Evaluation is an embedded concept and constitutive part of every project or programme design (“must be”). M&E is not an imposed control instrument by the donor or an optional accessory (“nice to have”) of any project or programme. M&E is ideally understood as dialogue on development and its progress between all stakeholders.

In general, monitoring is integral to evaluation. During an evaluation, information from previous monitoring processes is used to understand the ways in which the project or programme developed and stimulated change. Monitoring focuses on the measurement of the following aspects of an intervention:

• On quantity and quality of the implemented activities (outputs: What do we do? How do we manage our activities?)
• On processes inherent to a project or programme (outcomes: What were the effects /changes that occurred as a result of your intervention?)
• On processes external to an intervention (impact: Which broader, long-term effects were triggered by the implemented activities in combination with other environmental factors?)
• The evaluation process is an analysis or interpretation of the collected data which delves deeper into the relationships between the results of the project/programme, the effects produced by the project/programme and the overall impact of the project/programme.

Importance of monitoring and evaluation 

Monitoring and evaluation are critical for building a strong, evidence base for assessing the wide, diverse range of interventions being implemented .It is a tool for identifying and documenting successful programmes and approaches and tracking progress toward common indicators across related projects. Monitoring and evaluation forms the basis of strengthening understanding around the many multi-layered factors and the effectiveness of the response at the stakeholders level like school management, affiliating bodies, principal,community, parents etc 

At the programme level, the purpose of monitoring and evaluation is to track implementation and outputs systematically, and measure the effectiveness of programmes. It helps determine exactly when a programme is on track and when changes may be needed. Monitoring and evaluation forms the basis for modification of interventions and assessing the quality of activities being conducted.

Monitoring and evaluation can be used to demonstrate that programme efforts have had a measurable impact on expected outcomes and have been implemented effectively. It is essential in helping managers, planners, implementers, policy makers and donors acquire the information and understanding they need to make informed decisions about programme operations.

Monitoring and evaluation helps with identifying the most valuable and efficient use of resources. It is critical for developing objective conclusions regarding the extent to which programmes can be judged a “success”. Monitoring and evaluation together provide the necessary data to guide strategic planning, to design and implement programmes and projects, and to allocate, and re-allocate resources in better ways.

INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH IN EDUCATION

INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH IN EDUCATION

Meaning of Interdisciplinary

Interdisciplinary  allows the student to learn by making connections between ideas and concepts across different disciplinary boundaries. Students learning in this way are able to apply the knowledge gained in one discipline to another different discipline as a way to deepen the learning experience. The most effective approach to interdisciplinary study enables students to build their own interdisciplinary pathway by choosing courses which make sense to them.  For example, it is not too difficult to find a theme which crosses over disciplinary boundaries in literature, art and history or science and mathematics. Studying topics thematically is one way to bring ideas together resulting in more meaningful learning. This can occur by allowing students to choose their own subjects and their learning is deepened when they reflect on the connections between what they are learning in different disciplines.

One of the biggest barriers to achieving true interdisciplinary study in education environments is the necessity for collaboration of educators.  This can be difficult to achieve, but not impossible. Interdisciplinary teaching and learning is maximised when professionals from different disciplines work together to serve a common purpose and to help students make the connections between different disciplines or subject areas. Such interaction is in support of the constructivist paradigm which allows for new knowledge construction and a deeper understanding of ideas than disciplinary study.

Man is a part and parcel of society. He not only satisfies his quality of living but also quality of life. The quality of living enhances his economical aspect of life, which fulfills his bread and butter aim. On the other hand the quality of life helps to flourish all educational efforts in an equitable social order. Thus it can be said that education cannot be separated from the real life experiences. Education being the pivotal point around which ethical, religious, spiritual, physical and psychological aspect of human being revolve. All these aspects are so closely interwoven with one another that if any of its aspects are removed, education fails to achieve its aim.

The aim of education is the unification of knowledge existing in different branches of learning. In social science we study different aspects of human life and its various activities. The process of water-tight compartments of subjects will not give a clear picture of a complete society. Education is a social science in which we study educational activities of human beings in association with other members of a common society. Therefore there is a close relationship with other subjects. No subject can be taught in isolation. Education grows itself in society, made for the society and by the society, which go to develop a nation.

The existing system of education is alienated from real life. There is a gap between the subjects and the objectives and so cannot achieve the objective of national development. The following problems will reveal that there is a gap between the existing systems of education and real life situation: -

*        Education does not attach importance to agriculture.
*        Education does not achieve the goal of economic development.
*        Schools and colleges do not stress on nation- building.
*        No importance is given to ethical, religious and spiritual values.

The national development objectives can be achieved if the above points are fulfilled as all the above facts are interrelated.

The objective of interdisciplinary approach is to give practical shape to the knowledge of various subjects. The education commission has clarified the idea by giving the example of education as a subject. Therefore subjects like physics, chemistry, Mathematics; economics etc. inter related courses can be useful. The Kothari Commission felt that the interdisciplinary approach should be dealt with departments having close relationship. For example education may be offered a new combination with subjects as education and psychology, education and philosophy and education and sociology. Philosophy is the reflective or the thinking process where as the education deals with the implementation of things already philosophized.

Psychology is the science of behavior which education tries to bring out in man's personality. Similarly sociology is the science of society of which education is a part.

For the success of interdisciplinary approach the Kothari Commission established educational departments in four or five universities with the help of UGC. These departments will: -

*        Ensure research development in interdisciplinary approach.
*        Organize summer training to encourage inter disciplinary approach.

Interdisciplinary approach is a technique or tool that establishes reciprocal relationship for better understanding of the subject. No knowledge is permanent unless we correlate one subject with the other. Knowledge is an indivisible whole and cannot be divided. There is a definite relationship between an engineer and a cotton producer because it is a joint venture of the two that a cloth is made. Correlation between subjects or inter-discipline is essential because it: -

*     Makes knowledge stable.
*     Enables to acquire knowledge in a short period.
*     Develops interest in the reader.
*     Lightens the burden of curriculum.
*     Makes knowledge broad based.
*     Develops various human and social activities such as cooperation generosity, harmony etc.
*     Maintains correlation with life.

Education deals with activities in regard to his livelihood. Since livelihood cannot go on without other aspects of social life i.e. social values, norms and standards. Therefore education must be correlated with other subjects. This co-relation between education and other subjects can go hand in hand only if activities of one influence the activities of the other.

This interdisciplinary approach can be strengthened if in Educational research work people choose the topic of one discipline, which shows relevance to another discipline. This should be conducted by team working in interdisciplinary spheres. At the most one supervisor may be assisted by a co-supervisor, both having mastery over two different discipline. Therefore the Ph.D. degree awarded will not possess stamp of one department but of two departments. For example the topic "A Critical Evaluation of Contemporary Indian Theories of Education", can be claimed by both the department of philosophy and education. It is highly philosophical as the topic deals with the philosophical thinking of the philosophers who are educationalists also.

Life is complex, therefore a liberal and eclectic approach should be encouraged. In order to study the complexities of education interdisciplinary study between the department of education, sociology, philosophy, psychology etc. is the need of the hour. Subjects like educational psychology, educational sociology, educational philosophy, comparative religious study etc. should be in vogue in the present day situation. Interdisciplinary approach is an excellent means to creating harmony between various levels and faculties. It is required for a long term plan for any specific study. Knowledge is a unity and in order to maintain its unitary nature it is essential to adopt the interdisciplinary approach.

Benefits of interdisciplinary study :

Students are highly motivated as they have a vested interest in pursuing topics that are interesting to them. As a result, the content is often rooted in life experiences, giving an authentic purpose for the learning and connecting it to a real world context. Consequently, the learning becomes meaningful, purposeful and deeper resulting in learning experiences that stay with the student for a lifetime.
Students cover topics in more depth because they are considering the many and varied perspectives from which a topic can be explored.
Critical thinking skills are used and developed as students look across disciplinary boundaries to consider other viewpoints and also begin to compare and contrast concepts across subject areas.
Students begin to consolidate learning by synthesising ideas from many perspectives and consider an alternative way of acquiring knowledge.
Exploring topics across a range of subject boundaries motivates students to pursue new knowledge in different subject areas.
Transferable skills of critical thinking, synthesis and research are developed and are applicable to future learning experiences.
Interdisciplinary knowledge and application of different disciplines can lead to greater creativity.
Worthwhile topics of research can fall in the ‘spaces’ between the traditional disciplines.

M.Ed syllabus for session 2012-13

Paper IV (Option i ): Educational Technology – I

Time : 3 Hours Max. Marks : 100 (External : 80, Internal : 20)

NOTE : a) FOR PAPER SETTER

i) Paper setter will set 9 questions in all, out of which students will be required to attempt 5 questions.

ii) Q.No. 1 will be compulsory and will carry 16 marks. It will comprise of 4 short answer type questions of 4 marks each to be selected from the entire syllabus.

iii) Two long answer type questions will be set from each of four units, out of which the students will be required to attempt one question from each unit. Long answer type questions will carry 16 marks each.

b) FOR CANDIDATES

Attempt five questions in all, selecting at least one question from each unit. Question No. 1 is compulsory. All questions carry equal marks.

Course objectives: After completing the course, the students will be able to: ␣ explain the meaning, types and scope of Educational Technology

␣ formulate instructional objectives for different domains ␣ explain the concept of variables, phases and levels of Teaching ␣ describe different Models of teaching and develop two sample lesson plans ␣ explain Microteaching and Flander’s Interaction Analysis along with their principles and

processes.

COURSE CONTENTS UNIT – I

a) Educational Technology: Concept, Nature and Perspective. b) Development of Educational Technology in Historical Perspective, Components of

Educational Technology: Psycho-Technology, Planning Technology, Management- System Technology, ICT.

UNIT – II

a) Objectives: Differentiation and Derivation from Aims to Goals, General Objectives from Goals and Instructional Objectives from General Objectives.

b) Formulating Instructional Objectives, Categorization of Objectives in Taxonomic Categories of Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor Domains.

UNIT – III

a) Teaching: Concept, Variables, Phases and Levels of Teaching: Memory, Understanding and Reflective level.

b) Models of Teaching: i) Inductive Thinking Model, ii) Mastery Learning Model,

iii) Non-directive Model.

UNIT – IV

a) Teacher Training Techniques: Simulated Teaching and Microteaching.

b) Observation of Classroom Interaction: Flanders Interaction Analysis: Concept, Assumptions, Coding and Decoding Procedures.

SELECTED READINGS

1. Ahuja, M. (2007), Mastery Learning- A Practical Approach, Meerut: Vivek Publishers. 2. Bhushan, A & Ahuja, M. (1992), Educational Technology, Meerut : Vikas Publication. 3. Bigge, M.L.& Hunt,M.(1968), Psychological Foundation of Education, London : Harper

and Row Publishers. 4. Bloom, B.S. (1972), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. A Hand Book- I (Cognitive

Domain), New York: Devid Mokeay Campo. 5. Das, R.C.(1993), Educational Technology : A Basic Text, New Delhi : Sterling

Publishers. 6. Dececco, J.P. & Cramford, W.R.(1970), Psychology of Learning and Instructions, New

Delhi : Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd. 7. Flanders, Ned A. (1978), Analyzing Teacher Behaviour, London : Addison Wesley

Publishing Co. 8. Gage, N.L. (1978), The Scientific Basis of the Art of Teaching, London : Teacher’s

College Press. 9. Joyce, B. Weil, M. & Showers, B. (1985), Models of Teaching, New Delhi : Prentice

Hall of India Pvt. Ltd. 10. Mehra, V. (2010), A Text book of Educational Technology, New Delhi : Sanjay

Prakashan.

viva voice - guidelines for students

What is a viva?

The viva voce, shortened to the word ‘viva’, is:

‘an oral examination, typically for an academic qualification’, derived from the Latin: ‘with the living voice’ (Ask Oxford 2006).

Your dissertation demonstrates your skill relating to the written presentation of your research. In the viva you will demonstrate your ability to participate in academic discussion with research colleagues: ‘with the living voice’.

Its purpose is to:

• confirm that the dissertation is your own work;
• confirm that you understand what you have written;
• investigate your awareness of where your original work 
• provide a developmental opportunity for considering future research options.

1. All students are advised to re-read their dissertation carefully. If you notice any mistakes, don’t panic. Make a note of them so that it won’t be a surprise to you if they are mentioned in the viva, and so that you can address them when you are making your final corrections following the viva;

• as you read, make summary notes on the main points on each page;
• print out the contents pages with plenty of spacing, and write very brief summaries of the content under each heading;
• practice telling the story of the whole research in 2 minutes;
• practice telling the story of different chapters, each in 2 minutes;
• identify areas of weakness and make notes on each;
• identify the elements of originality in your dissertation;
• identify your contribution to knowledge;
• identify the theoretical, research, and practical implications of your findings.

1. You are not expected to memorise your thesis. You can take it into the viva with you, and it is acceptable to refer to it to remind yourself of specific details. However, it will not impress the examiners if you flick forwards and backwards trying to find what you are looking for. Some people choose to use small ‘post-it notes’ to attach to the top of pages they think they might want to refer to so that they can locate them quickly and easily if needed.

Mini viva

You need to practice answering viva questions. A list of typical questions is provided in this mini viva handout, and you can add to this yourself. Make sure you include the difficult questions so that you have a chance to practice how you might answer them.

• Think positively. 
• anticipating a potentially interesting discussion;
• confident in your preparation;
• excited at the challenge ahead;
• looking forward to completing the process.h.

General questions

Why did you decide on this particular research question?

What have you found the most interesting aspect of your research?

How did your thinking about this topic develop as you went through this research process?

Now that you have finished the research, which part of the process would you say you enjoyed the most, and why?

How did doing this research change you as a researcher?

Tittle of your dissertation:........

Context or key elements of the dissertation are.......

Definition or meaning of the key terms used in the tittle 

delimitations of the study .....

justification of the study.......

variable in the study....

a. independent variable 

b. dependent variable 

How well did the study design work in practice?

Did you have any problems with the data collection process?

which  research method you have used and why?

How did you establish the limits around the scope of your data collection?

what are method of analysis.

Did you encounter any problems with applying this method of analysis?

Do you think the data you collected were the most appropriate to answer your research question, or are there any other data you would have liked to have collected?

Can you describe your main findings in a few sentences?

Conclusion/implications

What are the research, practice, theoretical implications of your findings?

.

1. Flanders interaction Analysis 

• FIACS - Meaning of interaction analysis 
• what is a coding and decoding procedure
• how matrix is construction
• what are various method of analysis 
• how to calculate various Ratios- TTK,DTR etc.

1. community survey

• topic of your community survey
• what are your findings of community survey 

1. psychological test

• what are the name of the psychological test u administered 
• what are your finding 
• what u have learnt in your process of psychological test administration 

1. case study of a problematic chid

• how you have identified the problematic chid 
• what do you mean by case study 
• what are the advantage for using case study method for helping the child

1. case study of institution 

• what is the importance of case study of institution

1. construction and validation of achievement test 

• meaning of  difficulty value 
• meaning of discrimination index

Micro Teaching - outline

CONCEPT OF MICRO-TEACHING 

Micro-teaching is a teacher training technique which helps the teacher trainee to master the teaching skills. It requires the teacher trainee

1. to teach a single concept of content

1. using a specified teaching skill

1. for a short time

1. to a very small member of pupils

1. Knowledge Acquisition Phase.

1. Skill Acquisition Phase.

1. Transfer Phase of Micro-teaching.

In this way the teacher trainee practises the teaching skill in terms of definable, observable, measurable and controlable form with repeated cycles till he attains mastery in the use of skill.

ASSUMPTIONS OF MICRO-TEACHING

From the foregoing discussion about the concept of micro-teaching you might have thought of the assumption on which it is based. Let us pinpoint them :

Teaching is a complex process but can be analysed into simple skills.

Teaching skills can be practiced one by one upto mastery level under specific and simplified situation.

Appropriate feed back if systematically given proves very significant for obtaining mastery level in each skill.

When all skills have been mastered taken one by one, they can be integrated for real classroom teaching.

The skill training can be conveniently transferred from simulated teaching situation to actual classroom teaching situation.

Steps of Micro-teaching 

The Micro-teaching programme involves the following steps :

Step I Particular skill to be practised is explained to the teacher trainees in terms of the purpose and components of the skill with suitable examples.

Step II The teacher trainer gives the demonstration of the skill in Micro-teaching in simulated conditions to the teacher trainees.

Step III The teacher trainee plans a short lesson plan on the basis of the demonstrated skill for his/her practice.

Step IV The teacher trainee teaches the lesson to a small group of pupils. His lesson is supervised by the supervisor and peers.

Step V On the basis of the observation of a lesson, the supervisor gives feedback to the teacher trainee. The supervisor reinforces the instances of effective use of the skill and draws attention of the teacher trainee to the points where he could not do well.

Step VI In the light of the feed-back given by the supervisor, the teacher trainee replans the lesson plan in order to use the skill in more effective manner in the second trial.

Step VII The revised lesson is taught to another comparable group of pupils.

Step VIII The supervisor observes the re-teach lesson and gives re-feed back to the teacher trainee with convincing arguments and reasons.

Step IX The ‘teach – re-teach’ cycle may be repeated several times till adequate mastery level is achieved.

Micro-teaching Cycle

The six steps generally involved in micro-teaching cycle are

Plan : This involves the selection of the topic and related content of such a nature in which the use of components of the skill under practice may be made easily and conveniently. The topic is analysed into different activities of the teacher and the pupils. The activities are planned in such a logical sequence where maximum application of the components of a skill are possible.

Teach : This  involves the attempts of the teacher trainee to use the components of the skill in suitable situations coming up in the process of teaching-learning as per his/her planning of activities. If the situation is different and not as visualised in the planing of the activities, the  teacher should modify his/her behaviour as per the demand of the situation in the class. He should have the courage and confidence to handle the situation arising in the class effectively.

Feedback : This term refers to giving information to the teacher trainee about his performance. The information includes the points of strength as well as weakness relating to his/her performance. This helps the teacher trainee to improve upon his/her performance in the desired direction.

Re-plan : The teacher trainee replans his lesson incorporating the points of strength and removing the points not skillfully handled during teaching in the previous attempt either on the same topic or on another topic suiting to the teacher trainee for improvement.

Re-teach : This involves teaching to the same group of pupils if the topic is changed or to a different group of pupils if the topic is the same. This is done to remove boredom or monotony of the pupil. The teacher trainee teaches the class with renewed courage and confidence to perform better than the previous attempt.

Re-feedback : This is the most important component of Micro-teaching for behaviour modifiction of teacher trainee in the desired direction in each and every skill practice.

Phases of Micro-teaching

There are three phases of the Micro-teaching procedure which you have studied in the previous section of this Unit. They are :

Let us discuss these phases one by one.

Knowledge Acquisition Phase :  In this phase the teacher trainee learns about the skill and its components through discussion, illustrations and demonstration of the skill given by the expert. He learns about the purpose of the skill and the condition under which it proves useful in the teaching-learning process. His/Her analysis of the skill into components leading to various types of behaviours which is to be practised. The teacher trainee tries to gain a lot about the skill from the demonstration given by the expert . He discusses and clarifies each and every aspect of the skill.

Skill Acquisition Phase :   On the basis of the demonstration presented by the expert, the teacher trainee plans a micro-lesson, lesson for practising the demonstrated skill. He practices the teaching skill through the Micro-teaching cycle and continues his efforts till he attains mastery level. The feed-back component of micro-teaching contributes significantly towards the mastery level acquisition of the skill. On the basis of the performance of teacher trainee in teaching, the feed back is provided for the purpose of change in behaviour of the teacher trainee in the desired direction.

Transfer Phase of Micro-teaching :  After attaining mastery level and command over each of the skills, the teacher trainee integrates all these skills and transfer to actual classroom teaching is done during this transfer phase.

TEACHING IS ..........

Teaching is 

Teaching means many different things, that teaching act varies from person to person and from situation to situation. (Bar, 1961)

The behaviour or activities of persons as they go about doing whatever is required of teachers, particularly those activities which are concerned with the guidance or direction of learning of others.

(Ryan, 1965)

Teaching is the arrangement of contingencies of reinforcement under which students learn. They learn without teaching in their natural environment, but teachers arrange special contingencies which expedite learning and hastening the appearance of behaviour which would otherwise be acquired slowly or making scene of the appearance of behaviour which might otherwise never occur.

(B.F. Skinner. 1968)

Teaching as an act of interpersonal influence aimed at changing the ways in which other persons can or will behave.

(N.L. Gage, 1963)

The minimum requirement of any training programme is that it should enable the trainee to acquire the basis skills and competencies of a good teacher.

(Challenge of Education, A Policy Perspective 1986,

 National Commission on Teachers)

Teachers’ performance is most critical in-put in the field of education ……….

(Challenge of Education, A Policy Perspective 1986,

  National Commission on Teachers)

The teacher training too is not planned and organised to develop the spirit of inquiry, initiative, scientific temper, manual-dexterity, conceptual clarity and linguistic skills for effective speaking and writing which teachers are expected to impart to their students. Adequate attention is also not given to develop communication skills which is critical to the function of the teachers …….

(Challenge of Education, A Policy Perspective 1986,  

National Commission on Teachers)

It may not be wrong to say that in such defective practical and theoretically overloaded teacher education programme, the trainee remains almost at the same level in his teaching competence even after training ……

(R.C. Das and associates, 1980, NCERT)

From the definitions of teaching given  it is evident that teaching is a very complex activity. However it can be roughly concluded that teaching activity :

• is imparting knowledge or skill.

• it involves doing all things that may lead to learning.

• it is a social act of influence. 

From all these components of teaching we can say that there is no specific and universally accepted definition of teaching and teacher effectiveness.