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CHAPTER-in
THEORETICAL OVERVIEW
In the previous chapter a review of related literature concerning with the
study on Advance Organizer Model and on different teaching models from
India and abroad has been presented. This chapter deals with the detail
description of the methodology adopted in the present investigation.
3.1 PHILOSOPHY BEHIND MODELS OF TEACHING
According to the report of the Secondary Education Commission: "Even
the best curriculimi and the most perfect syllabus remain dead unless quickened
to life by the right methods of teaching and the right kmd of teacher". It seems
that the teaching learning process has become more mechanical than
meaningful. Interesting, appealing and repeated encounters are a must for
meaningful learning.
Suitable instructional strategies are essential for achieving the educational
objectives. This led researchers to explore various methods and techniques for
the development of cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.
There is no single best way or teaching strategy that can be employed in
all situations since the number of teaching goals is large and diverse in nature.
The best technique is the one that will be most effective or reaching a particular
goal in a given situation (Eggen, Kauchack and Harvert, 1979). This is the
philosophy behind the Models of Teaching.
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3.2 CONCEPT OF MODELS OF TEACfflNG
People in different contexts use the word 'model'. In the teaching
learning process, models have the same interpretation, as they have in the case
of construction of dams, buildings, etc. Thus, Models of Teaching, like plans,
patterns, or blueprints present the steps necessary to bring about a desired
outcome. Models create the necessary environment, which facilitates the
teaching learning process. It consists of guidelines for designing educational
activities and environments. It is designed to achieve a particular set of
objectives. It is not a substitute to any teaching skill. Rather, it creates the
conducive teaching-learning environment by making the teaching act more
systematic and efficient. There are many powerful Models of Teaching
designed to bring about particular kinds of learning and to help students to
learn more effectively. How teaching is conducted, has a large impact on
students' abilities to educate themselves.
3.2.1 Models of Teaching: Definition
A Model of Teaching, as explained by Joyce and Weil (1972) is a
description of the learning environment. They describe it as " a plan or pattern,
which can be used to sharp curricula, to design instructional materials and to
guide instruction in the classroom and other settings". Models of Teaching
have great potentiality for developing the cognitive, affective and psychomotor
behavior of the learner in a balanced and integrated fashion.
A Teaching Model can be considered as a type of blueprint for teaching.
It provides structure and direction for teaching. Models of Teaching afford a
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lively and provocative introduction to the complexity of teaching (Joyce and
Weil, 1972). It consists of guidelines for designing educational activities and
environments.
A Model of Teaching emphasizes the need for variety in the classroom
by developing a teacher's repertoire of instructional approaches to meet a range
of objectives. But Models of Teaching are not cure-alls or applicable to all
teaching situations. Models of Teaching create the conducive teaching-learning
environment in which teachers teach more effectively by making the teaching
act more systematic and efficient.
3.2.2 Emergence of Models of Teaching
Although methods of teaching have passed through several
developments, teachers all over the world followed fixed ways of teaching. It is
because the educational programme for teachers prepares them to follow one of
a few mixed ways of teaching, such as the Herbartian Method.
Attempts have been made by researchers to master the different
approaches, strategies or styles of teaching with the objectives of instruction
and pupils' learning styles. Dunn and Dunn (1979), Fischer and Fischer (1979),
EHs (1979), and Joyce and Weil (1980), also believe that the strength in
education rests in the intelligent use of this powerful variety of approaches -
matching them with different goals and adopting them to the student's style to
reach out to differing children and to create a rich and multi-dimensional
environment for them. Models of Teaching emerged out of the search by Joyce
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and Weil (1972) to find a variety of approaches or strategies of teaching to
match the various learning styles.
3.2.3 Characteristics of Models of Teaching
The main characteristics of Models of Teaching are the following
1. A Model of Teaching is not a combination of facts but on the other hand it is
a systematic procedure to modify the behavior of the learners,
2. All Models of Teaching specify the learning outcomes in detail on
observable student performance,
3. Every Model of Teaching specifies in definite terms the environmental
conditions, under which a student's response should be observed,
4. A Model describes the criteria of acceptable performance, which is expected
from the students, and
5. All Models of Teaching denote mechanisms that provide for students'
reaction and interaction with the environment.
6. Models of teaching are some sort of plans or guidelines or patterns or
strategies of teaching.
7. Models of teaching specify the criteria of acceptable performance expected
from the students.
It can be summarized that "A model of teaching implies a way of
teaching, involving systematically structured and logically sequential learning
experiences and specific and meaningful teaching strategies developed in their
own theoretical terms to accomplish a given objective or a set of objectives".
Models of teaching guide us in designing educational activities creating
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suitable learning environment and situations, in shaping the curriculum, in
designing instructional materials and to guiding instruction.
3.2.4 Functions of Models of Teaching
The following diagram explains the three functions of Models of Teaching.
Diagram 3.1
The diagrammatic representation of the functions of
Models of Teaching
Designing curriculum or course of study
Development and selection of instructional
materials
Guiding teacher's activities
3.2.5 Classification of Models
There are many Models of Teaching that are built around the mental
process as ranging from systems for teaching general problem solving ability to
procedures for teaching process.
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Joyce and Weil (1972) developed more than 20 Models of Teaching,
which are grouped on the basis of their chief emphasis. They had organized
these models into 4 families, which are as follows:
1. Social Interaction Models.
2. Personal Models.
3. Behaviour-Modification Models.
4. Information Processing Models.
Diagram 3.2
Classification of Models of Teaching
Families of Models
^ '
1 ' 1 r 1 ' T
Social Interaction Models
Personal Models Behaviour Modification
Information Processing
1. Social Interaction Models: Social Interaction Models emphasize the
relationship to society, and to other persons, and give priority to the importance
of democratic process, and the importance of society. The models in this family
are: Group investigation. Social Inquiry, Laboratory methods, Jurispredential,
Role playing and Social Simulation.
2. Personal Models: Personal Models emphasize the process by which the
individuals construct and organize their unique reality. These models stress on
personal development of an individual and the development of self-hood.
These models emphasize the processes by which individuals can establish a
productive relationship with their environment and construct and organize their
136
unique reality. They are more concerned with human feelings and emotions and
try to move towards the development of an integrated functioning self The
models included in this family are Non-Directive Teaching, Awareness
Training, Synectics, Conceptual systems and Classroom Meeting.
3. Behaviour Modification Models: These models attempt to develop efficient
systems for sequencing learning tasks and shaping behavior by manipulating
reinforcement. Exponents of the reinforcement theory such as Skinner have
developed these models based on the operant conditioning as their central
mechanism. They emphasize changing external behavior of the learners and
describe them in terms of visible behavior. Models included in this family are
Contingency Management, Self-control, Relaxation, Stress Reduction,
Assertive Training, Desensitization and Direct Training.
4. Information Processing Models: Information Processing refers to the way
pupils handle stimuli from environment, organize data, sense problems,
generate concepts and solutions to problems and employ verbal and non-verbal
symbols (Joyce and Weil, 1978). These models aim at fostering the information
processing ability in the learners. In other words, these models help the learners
to seek and master information, organize it, build and test hypothesis. Joyce
and Weil (1990) defme information processing as the way people handle
stimuli from the environment, organize data, sense problems, generate concepts
and solutions to problems and employ verbal and non-verbal symbols. It
involves intellectual skills required to analyze information, which include the
ability to make observation and through the use of inference, to generalize, to
predict and to explain events (Eggen, P. et.al 1979). The major models in this
family are: Inductive Thinking, Inquiry Training, Concept Attainment,
Cognitive Growth, Advance Organizer and Memory Model.
137
The diagrammatic representation of the families of models is given below.
DIAGRAM 3.3
Families of Models of Teaching
Social Interaction
Inductive Thinking
Model
Scientific Enquiry Model
Memory Model
Families of Models
ir ir
Personal
Non-directive Teaching Model
Classroom Meeting Model
Synetics Model
Behaviour Modification
Group Investigation
Model
Social Stimulation
Model
Role Playing Model
Information Processing
Contingency Management
Model
Self- Control Model
Desensitizing Model
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The main Models that are coming under the Information Processing Family are
given in Table 3.1
Table 3.1
Models coming under Information Processing Family
Model Major Theorists Goals
Inductive
Thinking
Model Hilda Taba
Designed primarily for development of model inductive mental process and
academic reasoning, of theory building but these capacities are useful for personal and social goals as well.
Inquiry
Thinking
Model
Richard
Suchman
Designed for the development of thinking skill in students
Scientific
Inquiry
Model
Joseph J Schwab
Designed to teach the research system of discipline, but also expected to have effect instructionally the other domains
Concept
Attamment
Model
Jerome S.Bruner
Designed primarily to develop and achieve reasoning but also for concept
development and analysis
Advance
Organizer
Model
David P.Ausubel
Designed to increase efficiency of information processing capacities
meaningfully absorbs and relate bodies of knowledge
Developmental
Models
Jean Piaget, Irvin Sigel and
Edmund Sullivan
Designed to increase the general intellectual developments especially
logical reasoning.
Memory
Model
Jerry Lucas Designed to increase the capacity of memorization
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3.2.6 Components of a Teaching Model
The components of a teaching model, according to Joyce and Weil
(1978) are as follows:
1. Syntax
2. Social system
3. Principles of reaction
4. Support system and
5. Instructional and Nurturant effects.
1. Syntax:
The syntax describes the Model in action. It is the sequence of activities
called phases. Each Model has a distinct flow of phases. Comparing the phases
of Model reveals the practical difference between Models.
2. Social system:
Social system describes student and teacher roles and relationship and
the kind of norms that are encouraged. The concept of hierarchical relationship
is explained as the sharing of intimating activity by the teacher and the learner,
the location of authority, and the amounts of control over activity that emerges
from the process of interaction. On the basis of social system, Models can be
classified as highly structured, moderately structured, and low structured
models.
3. Principles of reaction:
Principles of reaction guide the teacher's responses to the learner. They
tell how to regard the teacher and respond to what he or she does. In some
models, the teacher overtly tries to shape the behavior of the students by
140
rewarding certain student's activities and maintaining a natural stance towards
others. Principles of reaction provide the teacher with rules of the thumb by
which to "tune in" to the student and select an appropriate response to what the
student does.
4. Support system:
Support system refers to additional requirements beyond the usual
human skills, capacities and technical facilities necessary to implement a
Model.
5. Instructional and Nurturant effects:
The description of the effects of a Model can validly be categorized as
the direct or instructional effects and indirect or nurturant effects. The
instructional effects are those directly achieved by leading the learner in certain
directions.
3.3 Advance organizer model:
3.3.1 Origin and Background
Information processing models emphasize ways of enriching the human
being's innate drive to make sense of the world by acquiring and organizing
data, sensing problems and generating solutions to them and developing
concepts and language for developing them. Advance organizer model is the
one of such information-processing model, which is designed to enhance
general intellectual ability. These are useful for studying the self and society,
thus achieving the personal and social goals of education.
141
AOM is based on the "Theory of Meaningful Verbal Learning"
propounded by David P. Ausubel (1963). Meaningful learning presumes two
things: first, the learner manifests a meaningful learning set, that is a
disposition to relate the new material non-arbitrarily and substantively to his
cognitive structure; second, the material he learns should be potentially
meaningful to him, namely, related to his structure of knowledge on a non-
arbitrary and non-verbatim basis. It obviously depends on two principal factors
involved in establishing this kind of relationship, that is, both on the nature of
material to be learned and on the nature of the particular learner's cognitive
structure.
The term "Advance organizer" was first used by David .P. Ausubel
(1963) as a means of "anchoring foci for the repetition of new material". The
Advance organizer model organizes in advance what will be presented later
and acts as a 'cognitive road map', guiding the student over new content that is
linked to what a student already knows. In using the model, the teacher makes
liberal uses of analogies, visuals, examples, concept maps and the like to
introduce new material to the students.
The theory of Meaningful Verbal learning is concerned with three aspects of
teaching-learning processes:
• how knowledge (curriculum content) is organized;
• how the mind works to process the new information (learning); and
142
• how these ideas about curriculum and learning can be applied by
teachers when they present new material to students (instruction).
The theory of meaningful verbal learning is the advance organizer
model of teaching. According to Ausubel's theory of meaningful verbal
learning advance organizers are introduced in advance of new learning tasks
and are formulated so that they take into account ideas and concepts of the
learner. They are presented to higher levels of abstractness, generality and
inclusiveness than the material to be learnt and they serve to provide
specifically relevant anchoring ideas for the more differentiated and detailed
material that is subsequently presented. Mayer maintains that advance
organizers generally have five characteristics, which are as follows
i. Short set of verbal or visual information.
ii. Presented prior to learning a larger body of to be learnt
information,
iii. Containing no specific content from to be learnt
information,
iv. Providing a means of generating logical relationship among
elements in the to be learnt information and
V. Influencing the learners encoding process.
Ausubel believes that there is a parallel between the way the subject
matter is organized and the way people organize knowledge in their minds
(cognitive structures). His emphasis was that each of the academic discipline
has a structure concept (and/or propositions) that are organized hierarchically.
143
In other words, it can be said that at the top of each discipline are a number of
very broad concepts that include or subsume the inclusive concepts at the lower
stages of organization. Ausubel conceptualizes a discipline as levels of these
hierarchically organized concepts that begin with perpetual data at the bottom
and proceed through increasing levels of abstraction to the most abstract
concepts at the top. Thus, we may imagine a discipline as being composed of a
pyramid of concepts all linked together, with the most concrete concepts at the
bottom and more abstract concepts at the top.
As the Information processing system acquires new information and
new ideas, it reorganizes itself to accommodate the new ideas. Thus, the system
is in a continuous state of change. However, Ausubel maintains the new ideas
can be usefully learned and retained only to the extent that they can be related
to already available concepts or propositions that provide ideational anchors.
Although a new set of ideas can be incorporated into an existing cognitive
structure and, in fact, must be so incorporated for learning to persist. On the
other hand if the new material conflicts too strongly with existing cognitive
structure or is so unrelated that no linkage is provided, and then the information
or ideas may not be incorporated or retained. To prevent this from occurring,
the teacher must organize the sequence of knowledge and present it in such a
way that the ideational anchors are provided. In addition, the learner must
actively reflect on the new material, thinking through these linkages,
reconciling differences and discrepancies with existing information and noting
similarities.
144
3.3.2. Meaning and Definition
Advance organizer, an important content, may be a concept or statement
of relationship, generally based on the major concepts, propositions,
generalizations, principles and laws of discipline.
It is an important resource in the classroom is written material. A
perennial concern of educators in the preparation and use of materials that are
organized in such a way as to maximize learning. David.P.Ausubel, in his
theory of "meaningfiil verbal learning" advocates the use of advance organizer
to facilitate the learning of written materials.
David .P. Ausubel is one of the few educational psychologists to address
himself simultaneously to learning, teaching and curriculum. His theory of
meaningful verbal learning deals with three concerns.
a. How the mind works to process new information? (Learning)
b. How teachers can supply these ideas about curriculum and
learning when they present new material to student? (Instruction)
c. How knowledge is organized ? (Curriculum content)
Logical meaningfulness is a property of the material to be learnt. The fact
that the material is logically meaningful means only that it could be related to
ideas that lie within the realm of human learning capability. In order for the
material to be understandable by a particular individual, that individual must
possess ideas in his cognitive structure to which the new learning material can
145
be related in a substantive and non-orbitrary fashion then we say that, that
material is potentially meaningful to him. That it possesses potential
meaningfulness.
The material possess potential meaningfulness at this point because the
learner could make it meaningful if he wanted to, i.e., the material itself can be
related to some hypothetical cognitive structure and the particular individual
possesses the necessary ideas to which to relate this material. If the learner has
the intent to relate this material in a non-orbitrary and substantive fashion to
relevant items in his cognitive structure then meaningful learning results.
Definition :
The model approach to teaching was first described by Joyce and Weil
(1972) who defmed a model of teaching as "a pattern or plan that can be used
to shape curriculum or course, to design instructional materials and to guide
teacher's actions". According to Ausubel, Advance organizer is an introductory
material at a higher level of abstraction, generality and inclusiveness than the
learning material presented before the actual learning task. Its purpose is to
explain, integrate and inter-relate the material in the learning task with
previously learned material also, to help the learner discriminate the new
material from the previously learned material. An Advance organizer is a
statement preceding the lesson that is designed to help the learner store and
retrieve material which is learned. Further, an advance organizer statement is
designed to introduce the material which follows, and is broad enough to
encompass the information.
146
From the above given definitions, it is obvious that, as the name
suggests, the Advance organizer is given before the presentation of actual
learning task and it helps in organizing the relationship between previous and
new knowledge.
3.3.3. Types of Advance organizers
There are two types of Advance organizers
a. Expository b. Comparative
Expository organizers provide a basic concept at the highest level of
abstraction and perhaps some lesser concepts. These represent the intellectual
scaffold on which the student will "hang" new information as it is encountered
expository organizers are especially helpful because they provide ideational
scaffolding of unfamiliar material.
Comparative organizers on the other hand, are used most with relatively
familiar material. They are designed to discriminate between the old and new
concepts in order to prevent confusion caused by their similarity.
Whether the organizer is expository and comparative, the essential
features of the concept proposition must be pointed out and carefully explained.
Thus, the teacher and students must explore the organizer as well as the
learning task. To us, this means citing essential features, explaining them and
providing examples. The presentation of an organizer need not be lengthy but
it must be perceived (the learner must be aware of it) clearly understood and
continually to the material it is organizing. This means the learner must already
be familiar with the language and ideas in the organizer. It is also useful to
147
illustrate the organizer in multiple contexts and to repeat it several times,
particularly any new or special terminology.
Syntax:
The advance organizer model has three phases of activity, phase one is
the presentation of the advance organizer, phase two is the presentation of the
learning task or learning material, phase three is the strengthening of cognitive
organization, phase three tests the relationship of the learning material to
existing ideas to bring about an active learning process.
The activities are designed to increase the clarity and stability of the new
learning material so that fewer ideas are lost, confused with one another, or left
vague. The students should operate on the material as they receive it by relating
the new learning material to personal experience and to their existing cognitive
structure and by taking a critical stance toward knowledge.
Phase one consists of three activities; clarifying the aims of the lesson,
presenting the advance organizer and prompting awareness of relevant
knowledge.
Clarifying the aim of the lesson is one way to obtain students attention
and to orient them to their learning goals, both of which are necessary to
facilitate meaningful learning. (Clarifying aims is also useful to the teacher in
planning a lesson)
The presentation of the advance organizer in phase one, in phase two
the learning material is presented in the form of lectures, discussions, films,
148
experiments or reading. During the presentation the organization of the
learning material needs to be made explicit to the students so that they an
overall sense of discussion and can be see the logical order of material and how
the organization relates to the advance organizer.
The purpose of phase three is to anchor the new learning material in the
student's existing cognitive structure - that is, to strengthen the student's
cognitive organization. In the natural flow of teaching, some of these
procedures may be incorporated into phase two, however we want to
emphasize that the reworking of new material is a separate teaching task with
its own set of activities and skills. Ausubel identifies four activities.
1. Promoting integrative reconciliation
2. Promoting active reception learning
3. Eliciting a critical approach to subject matter and
4. Clarification
There are several ways to facilitate reconciliation of new material with the
existing cognitive structure. The teacher can
1. Remind student of the ideas (the larger picture)
2. Ask for a summary of the major attributes of the new learning
material.
3. Repeat precise definitions.
4. Ask for differences between aspects of the material.
5. Ask students to describe how the learning material supports the
concept or proposition that is being used as organizer.
149
Active Learning can be promoted by:
1. Asking students to describe how the new material relates to the
organizer,
2. Asking students for additional examples of the concept or
propositions in the learning material,
3. Asking students to verbalize the essence of the material, using
their own terminology and frame of reference and
4. Asking students to examine the material from alternative points of
view.
A critical approach to knowledge is fostered by asking students to
recognize assumptions or influences that may have been made in the learning
material, to judge and challenge these assumptions and inferences and to
reconcile contradictions among them.
It is not possible or desirable to use all these techniques in one lesson.
Constraints of time, topic and relevance to the particular learning situation will
guide their use. However it is important to keep in mind the four goals of this
phase and specific techniques for effective expository teaching.
Ideally, initiation of phase three is shared by teachers and students. At
first, however, teacher will have to respond to the students need for
clarification of some area of the topic and for integration of the new material
with existing knowledge.
Essentially, Ausubel has provided us with a method for improving not
only presentations, but also student's abilities to learn from them. The more we
150
teach students become active to look for organizing ideas, reconcile
information with them, and generate organizers of their own (Engaging in
inductive activity while reading or writing). The greater their potential for
profiting from presentations becomes.
Social System
In this model the teacher retains control of intellectual structure, as it is
continually necessary to relate the learning material to the organizers and to
help students to differentiate new material fi-om previously learned material. In
phase three, however, the learning situation is ideally much more interactive
with students initiating many questions and comments.
Principles of Reaction
The teachers solicited or unsolicited responses to the learners reactions
will be guided by the purpose of clarifying the meaning of the new learning
material, differentiating it fi"om reconciling it with existing knowledge, making
it personally relevant to the students and helping to promote a critical approach
to knowledge, ideally, students will initiate their own questions in response to
their own drives for meaning.
Support System
Well-organized material is the critical support requirements of this
model. The effectiveness of the advance organizer depends on integral and
appropriate relationship between the conceptual organizer and the content. This
model provides guidelines for building (or reorganizing) instructional
materials.
151
Instructional and Nurturant Effects
The probable instructional values of this model seem quite clear the ideas
themselves that are used as the organizer are learned, as well as information
presented to the students. The ability to them from reading, lectures and other
media used for presentations in another effect, as are an interest in inquiry and
precise habits of thinking.
Instructional Effects:
The Advance Organizer Model is developed for getting the following
instructional effects in the classroom.
• Conceptual Structure: The Advance Organizer Model helps in linking
the new information with the cognitive structure of the person. If this
happens, learning by rote will not take place but active reception
learning will be promoted. Once concepts become clear, the
understanding improves. Consequently, the learning will strengthen.
• Meaningftil assimilation of information and ideas: At present, students'
understanding of concept is poor. Consequently, students cram the
content which they forget after sometime. That is, students are not able
to assimilate the content. When students are taught through the Advance
Organizer Model, the understanding of concepts improves, which helps
in meaningful assimilation of information and ideas.
Nurturant Effects:
Apart from instructional effects, there are also the nurturant effects of
the Advance Organizer Model. These are as follows
152
• Habits of precise thinking. It is evident from the characteristics of
Advance Organizer Model that advance organizer is abstract and
inclusive of learning material. Students start learning the technique of
abstracting learning material. Students start learning the technique of
abstracting learning material and presenting it in precise words. This
may lead to the development of the habit of precise thinking.
• Interest in Inquiry: The conceptual understanding of the student
improves when taught through the Advance Organizer Model. Not only
this, even meaningful assimilation of information and ideas takes
place. Overall understanding of student strengthens. It helps in
developing interest in inquiry.
Diagram 3.4
Diagrammatic representation of Instructional and Nurturant effects
INSTRUCTIONAL AND NURTURANT EFFECT
Conceptual Structure
/ , \ ^ — / Adv3nce
1 organizer Meaningful
Assimilation of
Information and Ideas \ model
1 \ . \
Meaningful
Assimilation of
Information and Ideas
\
Interest in
Inquiry Instruct ional Interest in
Inquiry Instruct ional Interest in
Inquiry
i
Habits of Precise
thinking P Nurturant Habits of Precise
thinking
153
Summary Chart:
Phase one: Presentation of advance organizer
• Clarify the aims of the lesson
• Present organizer
• Identify defining attribute
• Give example and illustrations where appropriate
• Repeat
• Prompt awareness of teacher's relevant knowledge and
experiences.
Phase two: Presentation of learning task or material
• Present material
• Make logical order of learning material explicit
• Link material to organizer
Phase three: Strengthening cognitive organization
• Use principles of integrative reconciliation
• Elicit critical approach to subject matter
• Clarify ideas
• Apply ideas actively (as testing them)
154
The explanation of each phase is as follows:
Phase one: Presentation of advance organizer: This phase consists of mainly
three activities. The teacher begins by clarifying the aims of the lesson. This
can be done in a number of ways. Some are giving the topic as a title, stating a
generalization, making a statement, summarizing the main points, listing the
points on the blackboard, showing fihns, narrating a story, defining objectives,
asking students about the related topics using a combination of these strategies.
After clarifying the aim of the lesson, the Advance Organizer is to be
presented. The teacher can present the Advance Organizer in a number of
ways. Some of the ways are : writing the Advance organizer on the blackboard,
speaking loudly in the class, distributing pictures, typed or printed copies
among students and asking students to read it silently, projecting it with the
help of an overhead projector, slide projector or a LCD, or a combination of
these.
The teacher, after presenting the Advance Organizer, lists the major
attribute(s). Whenever this is done, one can say that the teacher is identifying
defining attribute(s). Next, the teacher gives examples from daily life situations
which will help students to comprehend the Advance Organizer. The teacher
can make use of such situations to prompt awareness of relevant knowledge
and experience from the learner's background.
Phase two: Presentation of learning task or material: This phase consists of
mainly four activities. The teacher may make logical order of learning material
155
explicit to the students in a number of ways. The teacher may list the points of
learning material in a sequence which according to him is the best. The flow
chart of learning material may be prepared and used for making the logical
order of learning material explicit to the students. For a highly structured
content, there is less scope for presenting the learning material in different
logical orders. In case of less structured learning material, the logical sequence
may change with respect to the teacher, target group, etc.
Next, the teacher presents the content. The organization of content should be
made explicit. There are several procedures for making the organization
explicit. Among them are employing the rule-example-mle technique, known-
to-imknown using explicating links, making the organization explicit by means
of an outline or diagram, using verbal markers of importance and repetition.
Content is presented according to its organization. During the presentation, the
students' attention is to be maintained. This can be done through the given
method, approach and technique used during the process of presentation. Other
techniques for maintaining the attention are varying stimuli (movement,
gesture, tone of voice etc.,) using other media to supplement the presentation,
using learning aids, involving students during the process of presentation and
inserting questions into the lecture. The teacher can invent new ways to
156
maintaining attention. Without maintaining attention, learning on the part of
students cannot be ensured.
Phase three: Strengthening cognitive organization: This phase consists of
mainly four activities. The facilitation of integrative reconciliation of a new
content with the content in the existing cognitive structure can be done
effectively in the following ways:
1. The teacher can remind students of the whole content that has been
taught to the students and also its sequence. It is equivalent to
recapitulation of main points of the lesson. It should be done quite
consciously, by reminding students that "today you studied the noun and
kinds of nouns" and so on.
2. The teacher can ask students to summarize the main points of lesson.
This should be done using the terminology of the subjects. The sequence
in which points are summarized by the students may be different from
that of the teacher. Wherever the sequence is necessary, the teacher
should insist that students repeat the main points in the same sequence
as taught by the teacher.
3. Whenever the teacher defines any concept, students may be asked to
repeat the definition given by the teacher or they may be allowed to
define it in their own words. Sometimes, it is desirable to ask essential
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characteristics of the concept and then help the students to define the
concept in their own words by incorporating the essential characteristics
of the concept.
4. As mentioned in phase one, the Advance organizer is presented to the
students at the beginning of the lesson. In this phase, students should be
asked to tell how the Advance organizer helps them in learning the
subject matter.
The teacher can promote receptivity of students for learning in the following
ways:
1. The teacher can ask students to give example of the concept on their
own. If students give additional examples of the concept, then it reflects
their understanding of the concept.
2. The students may be encouraged to examine the content fi^om alternative
points of view. This may encourage divergent thinking. It also helps in
broadening the cognitive map of the students.
3. The teacher can ask students to relate the new learning material with a
single aspect of their existing knowledge. This helps in retention of the
content for a longer duration.
4. Sometimes, the learned content may contradict the students' experience
or knowledge. If this be so, the students may be encouraged to see the
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contradictions and the teacher should help in the resolution of the
contradictions.
5. Whatever has been taught in the class, students may be asked to describe
it in a nutshell, in their own words. The teacher may identify the gap in
the verbalization of the facts and make relevant corrections.
The teacher in a number of ways may elicit a critical approach to the subject
matter:
1. The teacher may ask students to recognize assimiptions that may have
been made in the learning material. This encourages analysis.
2. After recognizing the assumptions, these are to be challenged. It
encourages divergent thinking.
3. Lastly, if there are contradictions between the subject matter and
experience, try to resolve these. This is usually done by the teacher by
saying that there are certain exceptions.
Finally, students may have questions about parts of the learning material
or content those are unclear to them. The teacher can clarify it further by
giving additional and/or new information, re-phrasing previously given
information, or applying the idea to a new problem.
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3.4 Need and Importance of the study:
In the point of view of teaching according to Joyce and Weil (1985) a
model of teaching is a plan or pattern that can be used to shape curricula, to
design instructional material and to guide instruction in the classroom and other
settings.
There are varying instructional goals for different classes and different
subjects. We can refer Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives, which is
categorized into three domains cognitive, affective and psychomotor. To
achieve these educational objectives or goals, the teachers must practice
different teaching strategies. Model approach was proposed by a niunber of
educationists and psychologists.
The most important aim of any model of teaching is to improve the
instructional effectiveness through an interactive atmosphere. Models of
teaching serve as simplifying metaphase to concept, the model also nurtures
awareness to alternative perspectives, a sensitively to logical reasoning in
communication and a tolerance of ambiguity.
In education, learning is measured through academic achievement.
Achievement is the accomplishment of proficiency of performance in a given
skill or body of knowledge. The knowledge attained or skills developed in a
school subject usually designated by test scores or by marks given/assigned by
the teacher or by any other is known as achievement.
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Ausubel describes the mind as an information processing and
information storing system that can be compared to the conceptual structure of
an academic discipline. Like the disciplines mind is a hierarchically organized
set of ideas that provide anchors for information and ideas and that serves as a
storehouse for them. AOM maintains that new ideas can be usefully learned
and retained only to the extent that they can be related to already available
concepts or propositions that provide identical anchors. If the new material
conflicts too strongly with existing cognitive structure or is so unrelated that no
linkage is provided, the information or ides may not be incorporated or
retained. To prevent this from occurring, the teacher must sequence the
material to be learned and present it in such a way that the ideational anchors
are provided. In addition the learner must actively reflect on the new material,
think through these linkages, reconcile differences or discrepancies and note
similarities with existing information. We would expect an increase in the
learner's grasps of factual information linked to and explained by key ideas.
AOM can also be shaped to teach the skills of effective reception
learning, critical thinking and cognitive reorganization can be explained to the
learners, who receives direct instruction in orderly thinking and to the notion of
knowledge hierarchies ultimately they can apply these techniques
independently to new learning.
Models of teaching is not only intended to accomplish a range of
curriculum goals (learning to read, to compute, to understand mathematical
systems, to comprehend literature, science and the social world, and to engage
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in performing arts and athletics) but is also designed to help students to
increase their power of learners.
This model is especially useful to structure extended curriculum
sequences or courses and to instruct students systematically in the key ideas of
a field step by major concepts and propositions are explained and integrated so
that at the end of a period of instruction the learners should gain perspective on
the entire areas bemg studied.
It can also be easily combined with other models.
Eg: When presentations are mixed with inductive activities.
AOM is very important to study because it is designed to provide
students with a cognitive structure for comprehending material presented
through lectures, readings and other media.
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