B.Ed.
Teaching Notes
Prepared by
SABARISH-P
M.Sc., M.Ed., JRF & NET
Lecturer in Physical Science, Arafa Institute for Teacher Education
Attur, Thrissur.
LEARNING - THE
GENERATIVE PROCESS
(“Learning
is the process of building up the tree of cognition. Adding new branches to the
existing ones”.)
For example
a small boy has a preliminary idea about the size of an aeroplane; it is as big
as a dragonfly! (This notion he has
acquired by direct seeing the plane flying in the sky). But as he grows he sees the enlarged picture
of an aeroplane from a magazine and he corrects his earlier idea to accommodate
the new features of the plane he has observed.
Later when he sees the real aeroplane he further modifies his ideas in
the light of the new evidences.
Testing
of ideas require thinking, experimenting, generalizing, observing etc. These are the processes of acquiring knowledge. It requires mental skills and physical skills
to process evidence and ideas. Thus such
skills are called process skills. But the
changing of ideas using process skills need to be systematic and scientific,
otherwise it leads to misconceptions.
Thus the development of ideas depends crucially on the processes
used.
DEVELOPING CHILDREN’S
CONCEPTS (LEARNING)
Children
do not come to their classrooms with empty heads but with ideas which they have
formed in earlier activities and observations.
If we value this notion of children “owning” their ideas, then teachers
are supposed to provide certain kind of opportunities for these changes to take
place in a way which gives the child this ownership.
By
modifying, ideas become,
- more widely applicable.
- More abstract, more complex
- More precise and quantitative
Ways
of helping children develop their concepts
- helping children to test their ideas
- helping children to apply ideas in
new situations
- discussions to know other’s ideas.
- Representing ideas in appropriate
ways
Concept
A
concept is a generalized idea about things, persons or events that satisfy
certain common attributes. It stands for a general class. It is the general
mental image of objects or events perceived earlier. Example: Tree, fruit,
Father, mother, teacher, Honesty, atom, molecule etc.
Levels of concept
attainment.
1) Concrete
level: Meaningfully perceive the object
2) Identity
level: Able to discriminate the object from others.
3) Classificatory
level: Able to classify
4) Formal
level: Individual can give the name and attributes of the concept.
Five
elements of a concept
Every concept has
1) Name
: Common name
2) Exemplar
: Examples for concept
3) Attribute
: Characteristics of the items
4) Attribute value:
How much the characteristic is present?
5) Definition:
Complete description in a statement
