Lesson 10

                              Demonstration in Teaching                         (Good demonstration is Good communication)

•In demonstration, you have to use both verbal and action communication for your learners to understand what you are talking and what you are showing to them. But, a good demonstrator must present or show how a specific thing is done while following it up with an explanation. It is best for your learners to see it in actual or to do it while showing it, for them to really understand it. To be a good demonstrator you have to make your demonstration lively and interesting to get the attention of your audience so that, they would be able to participate. Once they have been participated with the topic, you can probably say that you’re a good demonstrator because there is a communication between you and your audience.

DEMONSTRATION

  ·  Is showing how a thing is done emphasizing the salient merits, utility and efficiency of concept, a method or a process or an attitude.

   ·   Demonstration is a method of presentation of skill which shows a particular procedure is performed.
  ·  Demonstration increases interest of students and persuades them to adopt recommended practices.

    ·      A good demonstrator is an audio-visual presentation. It is not enough that the teacher talks. To be effective, his/her demonstration must be accompanied by some visuals.

Guiding principles that we must observe in using demonstration as a teaching-learning experience: Edgar Dale (1969)

   1. Establish rapport.

   2. Avoid the COIK fallacy (Clear Only If Known).

   3. Watch for key points.

Planning and Preparing for Demonstration Brown (1969)

1. What are our objectives?

2.How does your class stand with respect to these objectives?

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

4. Do you have access to all necessary materials and equipment to make the demonstration?

5. Are you familiar with the sequence and content of the proposed demonstration?

6. Are the time limits realistic?

Several points to observe in the actual conduct of demonstration: Dale (1969)

1. Set the tone for good communication.
2. Keep your demonstration simple.

3. Do not wander from the main ideas.

4. Check to see if your demonstration is being understood.
5. Do not hurry your demonstration.
6. Do not drag out your demonstration.
7. Conclude with a summary. 
8. Hand out written materials at the conclusion.

What questions can you ask to evaluate your classroom demonstration? Dale (1969)
1.Was your demonstration adequately and skillfully prepared?
2.Did you follow the step-by-step plan?
3.Was the demonstration itself correct?
4.Did you keep checking to see that all your students were concentrating on what you were doing?
5.Could every person see and hear?
6.Did you help students do their own generalizing?
7.Did you take enough time to demonstrate the key points
8.Did you review and summarize the key points?
9.Did your students participate in what you were doing by asking thoughtful questions at the appropriate time?
10.Did your evaluation of student learning indicate that your demonstration achieved its purpose?

Lesson 9

Teaching with Dramatized Experiences

What is a dramatized experience?  

• A process of communication in which both participant and spectators are engaged.
• Is something that is stirring or affecting or moving.
• It is something that catches and holds our attention and has an emotional impact.

Formal Dramatized Experiences

1. Play- depicts life , character, or culture or a combination of all three.

2. Pageants- are usually community dramas that are based on local history, presented by local actors

Less Formal Dramatized Experiences

1. Pantomime- is the art of conveying a story through bodily movements only.

2. Tableau- is a picture-like scene composed of people against a background.

3. Puppets- a movable model of a person or animal used in entertainment and typically moved either by strings from above or by a hand inside it.

-unlike the regular stage play, can present ideas with extreme simplicity, without elaborate scenery or costume, yet effectively

Types of Puppets

a. The Marionette- are generally fashioned from wood and resembles a human body.

b. Shadow Puppet- flat black silhouette made from light weight cardboard and shown behind a screen.

c. Stick Puppet- as simple as a styrofoam ball head attached  to a stick, or a two-dimensional picture attached to a stick. 

d. Hand Puppet- most common type of puppet they are relatively simple to create.

e. Mouth Puppet- are distinguished from other puppets in that they have movable mouths, thus allowing the puppets to talk more realistically.

f. Rod Puppet- flat cut out figures tacked to a stick, with one or more movable parts, and operated from below the stage level by wire rods or slender sticks.

g. Glove-and-Finger Puppets- make used of gloves to which small costumed figure are attached.

  

Lesson 2

Technology: Boon or Bane?

Technology is in our hands. We can use it to build or destroy.

"Is Technology a Boon or Bane?"

Stated more simply is it: 

• A Blessing or a Curse?
• A Blessing or s Detriment to a person's development?

Technology is BOON

Technology is a blessing for man. With technology , there is a lot that we can do which we could not do then. 

With cellphones, webcam, you will be closer to someone miles and miles away.

Just think of many human lives saved because of speedy notifications via cellphones.

Just think of how your teaching and learning have become more novel, stimulating, exciting, fresh and engaging with the use of multimedia in the classroom.

With your TV, you can watch events as they happen all over the globe.

Technology is BANE 

When not used properly, technology becomes a detriment to learning and development.

   

It can destroy relationships.

Think of the husband who is glued to TV unmindful of his wife seeking his attention.

This may erode  marital relationship.

Think of the student who surfs the Internet for pornographic scenes.

He will have trouble with his development. 

In education, technology is bane when:

• The learner is made to accept as Gospel truth information they get from the Internet
• The learner surfs the Internet for pornography
• The learner has an uncritical mind on images floating on televisions and computers that represents modernity and process
• The TV makes the learner a mere spectator not an active participant in the drama of life
• The learner gets glued to his computer for computer- assisted instruction unmindful of the world and so fails to develop the ability to relate to others
• We use overuse and abuse TV or film viewing as a strategy to kill time.   

Is technology boon or bane to education? It depends on how we use technology. If we use it to help our students and teachers become caring, relating, thinking, reflecting and analyzing and feeling begins, then it is boon, a blessing. But if we abuse and misuse it and so contribute to our ruin and downfall and those of other persons, it becomes a bane.

Lesson 3

The Roles of Educational Technology in Learning

“Technology makes the world a new place”

Traditional role of technology:

•    Delivery vehicles for instructional lessons.

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, et al 1990]

•  Learning to solve problems with technology.

1. Technology as tool to support knowledge construction:

•  For representing learners’ ideas, understandings and beliefs.
•  For producing organized, multimedia knowledge bases by learners.

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

• For accessing needed  information.
•  For comparing perspectives, beliefs and world views.

3. Technology s 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.

4. Technology as a social medium to support learning by conversing:

• For collaborating with others
• For discussing, arguing, and building consensus among members of community.
• For supporting discourse among knowledge-building community.

5. 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.

Whether used from the traditional or constructivist point of view, when used effectively, research indicates that technology not only "increases students' learning, understanding and achievement but also augments motivation to learn, encourages collaborative learning and supports the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills" (Schacter and Fagnano, 1999).

Lesson 4

Systematic Approach to Teaching

As depicted in the chart, the focus of systematic instructional planning is the learner. Instruction begins with the definition of instructional objectives that consider the learners’ needs, interests and readiness. On the basis of these objectives, the teacher selects the appropriate teaching methods to be used, and in turn, based on the teaching method selected, chooses also the appropriate learning experiences and appropriate materials, equipment and facilities. 

The use of learning materials, equipment and facilities necessitates assigning the appropriate personnel to assist the teacher and defining the role of any personnel involved in the preparation, setting and returning of these learning resources. The effective use of learning resources is dependent on the expertise of the teacher, the motivation level or responsiveness, and the involvement of the learners in the learning process. With the instructional objective of the mind, the teacher implements planned instruction with the use of the selected teaching method, learning activities, and learning materials with the help of other personnel whose role has been defined by the teacher.

Examples of learning activities that the teacher can choose from, depending on his/her instructional objective, nature of the lesson content, readiness of the students, are reading, writing, interviewing, reporting or doing presentation, discussing, thinking reflecting, dramatizing , visualizing, creating judging and evaluating.

Some examples of learning resources for instructional use are textbooks, workbooks, programmed materials, computer, television programs, video clips, flat pictures,slides and transparencies, maps, charts, cartoons, posters, models, mock ups, flannel board materials, chalkboard, real objects and the like.

After instruction, teacher evaluates the outcome of instruction. From the evaluation result, teacher comes to know if the instructional objective was attained. If the instructional objective was attained, teacher proceeds to the next lesson going through the same cycle once more. If instructional objective was not attained, then teacher diagnoses what was not learned and finds out why it was not learned in order to introduce a remedial measure for improve student’s performance and attainment of instructional objective. This way no learners will be left behind. 

Summary:

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 -West Churchman.

What is systematic? 

Methodical in procedure or plan (systematic approach) 

Organize relating to or consisting of a system ted 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.
• lt tells about the systematic approach to teaching in which the focus in the teaching is the student.

1. Define Objectives- Instruction begins with the definition of instructional objectives that consider the students' needs, interests and readiness.

2. Choose appropriate Methods- On the basis of these objectives the teacher selects the appropriate teaching method to be used.

3. 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 .

4. Select Materials, Equipment and Facilities - The use of learning materials, equipment and facilities necessitates assigning the personnel to assists the teacher.

5. 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.

6. Implement the Instruction- The instructional objectives in mind, the teacher implements planned instructions with the use of the selective teaching method, learning activities and learning materials with the help other whose role has been defined by the teacher.

7. Evaluate Outcomes- After instruction, teacher evaluates the outcome of instruction. From the evaluation results, teacher comes to know if the instructional objective was attained.

8. Refine the Process- If the instructional objective was attained, teacher proceeds to the next lesson going through the same cycle once more if instructional objective was not attained, then teacher diagnoses was not learned and finds out why it was not learned in order to introduced a remedial measure for improved student performance and attainment of instructional objectives.

Lesson 5

The Cone of Experience

Let us tackle Edgar Dale’s cone of experience to get acquainted with various instructional media which form part of the system’s approach to instruction. If you remember the 8 M’s of instruction, one element is media. Another material. These 2 M’s (media, material) are actually the elements of this Cone of Experience  to be discuss in this Lesson.

Edgar Dale (1900-1985)

Serves on The Ohio State University faculty from 1929 until 1970. He was an internationally renowned pioneer in the utilization of audio-visual materials in instruction.

Professor Dale’s most famous concept was called “Cone of Experience”, a graphic depiction of the relationship between how information is presented in instruction and the outcomes for learners.

Abstraction

The Cone of Experience is a visual model, a pictorial device that presents bands of experience arranged according to degree of abstraction and not degree of difficulty.The farther you go from the bottom of the cone, the more abstract the experience become.

Dale (1969) asserts that:

The pattern of arrangement of the bands of experience is not difficulty but degree of abstraction – the amount of immediate sensory participation that is involved. A still photograph of a tree is not more difficult to understand than a dramatization of Hamlet. It is simply in itself a less concrete teaching material than the dramatization.

Dale further explains that: “the individual bands of the Cone of Experience stand for experiences that are fluid, extensive, and continually interact” (Dale 1969). It should not be taken literally in its simplified form. The different kinds of sensory aid often overlap and sometimes blend into one another. Motion pictures can be silent or they can combine sight and sound. Students may merely view a demonstration or they may view it then participate in it.

Dale (1969) categorically says:

No. We continually shuttle back and forth among various kinds of experiences. Everyday each of us acquires new concrete experiences- through walking on the street, gardening, dramatics, and endless other means. Such learning by doing, such pleasurable return to the concrete is natural throughout our live- and at every age level. On the other hand, both the older child and the young pupil make abstractions every day and may need help in doing this well. 

What are these bands of experience in Dale’s Cone of Experience? It is best to look back at the Cone itself. But let us expound each of them starting with the most direct.

Direct purposeful experiences – Those 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.

Contrived experiences – In here, we make use of representative models of mock ups of reality for practical reasons and so that we can make the real life accessible to the student’s perceptions and understanding.

Dramatized experiences- It is a visualized explanation of an important fact, idea or process by the use of photographs, drawings, films, displays, or guided motions.

Study trips- These are excursions, educational trips, 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.

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.

Still pictures, Recordings, Radio- These are visual and auditory devices which 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.

Ex. charts, 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).

Application

Jerome S. Bruner- Harvard psychologist, he presents a three-tiered model of learning where he points out that every area of knowledge can be presented and learned in three distinct steps.

It is highly recommended that a learner proceeds from the ENACTIVE to the ICONIC and only after to the SYMBOLIC. The mind is often shocked into immediate abstraction at the highest level without the benefit of a gradual unfolding.

Lesson 6

Using and Evaluating Instructional Materials

      The use of instructional material can be effective if it is properly selected depending on the topic and if it is properly used. It should be appropriate and satisfactory for the ultimate goal of facilitating learning. There are guidelines to be followed and the first is the selection of instructional materials.

These are factors to be considered as standards for the selection of instructional materials:

• Does the materials  give a true picture of the ideas they present?
• Does the materials contribute meaningful content the topic under study?
• Is the materials appropriate for the age, intelligence and experience of the learners.
• Is the physical condition of material satisfactory?
• Is there a teacher's guide  to provide a briefing for effective use?
• Can the material in question  to make the students better thinkers and develop their critical faculties?
• Is the material worth the time, expense and effort evolved?

      The second guideline is the usage of instructional materials.After you have properly selected the material, you should as well effectively utilize it. According to Thomas Nagel, to ensure effective utilization of the instructional material, he advised us to abide by the acronym PPPF. 

Prepare yourself. It simply means that you should know your lesson objective and your expectation from the class after the session. There should be a planning ahead on how you're going to proceed  the discussion and evaluate after. 

Prepare your students. It implies setting class expectation and learning goals. This comes by throwing them guide questions and motivating them as a way of keeping them interested and engaged.

Present the material. It means you should rehearsed first the materials you are going to use before presenting them to the class. This is important especially if the materials you are using are mechanical in nature, for example, Power Points and other multimedia presentations. This is to avoid what they call as R.O.G. Syndrome of Running Out of Gas. This syndrome usually occurs due to lack of planning.

Follow Up. The main function of using instructional material is to achieve an objective and that is ultimately the learning of the students.Using this is not an end in itself but a means to an end so there is a need for follow up to know if you have attained your objective.