Variety of Teaching Methods - Coursework Example

METHODS OF TEACHING It is difficult for one to say particular teaching method is better than another. An obvious response is to measure what the students learn as a result of each approach. Apparently, if one method is better than the other, the students taught by the better method will learn more, or learn better. Therefore, it can be said that the relative merits of the two methods are from the assessments of student performance. However this approach may be or may not be always true as the students performance also depends on the effort put by them to study. Although the educational outcomes may be the same, most teachers and students would prefer a teaching method that produces those outcomes with less effort (Kalman, 1998). Students will be more interested and active learners if they are introduced to a variety of teaching methods. How much information a learner retains varies from method to method. Reading, hearing to lectures, seeing, personally reproducing what ever learned through demonstration and practice will help students to learn more effectively. It is believed that students retain about 10 percent of what they read. Printed materials and other literature are important ways to share knowledge, but they should be supplemented with other teaching methods. Students will retain about 20 percent of what they hear in the lectures. Most teachers talk too much, however if students are given a chance to explain and discuss what is studied in the previous sections, it would be very useful. Students will generally retain 30 percent of what they see. For instance, exhibits, posters, and illustrations are useful tools in teaching. When they see and hear materials, they will retain about 50 percent. Observing demonstrations, seeing movies, slide-tapes, etc., and participating in tours are all ways that students can see and hear, and are generally popular teaching methods. Students will retain about 70 percent of what they personally explain or reproduce. When students become an active part of the learning process, the amount they learn increases dramatically. Discussion groups and judging experience are two important ways students can express their ideas. When students are actively involved in saying and doing, they will retain about 90 percent of the material. Most people learn best by actually doing it. It is important to provide opportunities for the students to practice and explore what they have learned. Actual project work, planning and presenting a demonstration, and teaching other students encourage learning process (Indiana 4-H, N.D.). There are a number of teaching methods. There is not one superior teaching method, and teaching methods are not exclusive of one another. The best strategy is to use a combination of different teaching methods. The combination of teaching methods to use depends on a number of factors such as type of student, number of students in the class, subject material, instructor’s personality, objectives of the course, and physical conditions of the room. In general, types of teaching methods can be classified as lectures, discussion, group work or cooperative learning, active learning or guided inquiry and teaching through case studies. Lecture In a lecture section, the teacher presents study material to the students. This format allows material to be clarified and presented to a large group in a short period of time. It also allows an instructor to show his or her passion about a subject, and thereby increase students’ interest in the subject. Teaching through lectures gives the instructor the most control of the class in terms of amount of interaction, type of substance presented, and organization or material. Lectures are useful for a larger group of students and allow the instructor to motivate the students to enjoy the subject. However, if the instructor fails to gain the interest of students in a particular subject, it will become a passive section and the students may not gain any benefit. Such lectures may turn out to be a one sided lecture. In other words the instructor fails to bring about useful discussion in the class. “Effective lecturers combine the talents of scholar, writer, producer, comedian, showman, and teacher in ways that contribute to student learning.” (McKeachie, 1994) In order to have an effective lecture it is important to combine lecturing with other teaching methods. As students’ attention span is only about 15-20 minutes long, lecturing should be combined with activities where students are actively involved for at least 5-10 minutes. Skillful questioning or carefully chosen problems encourage students to use high-level cognitive processes such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The more interaction an instructor has with the students during a lecture, the more active the learning will be. Again, judicious use of questions moves the lecture forward, makes the students more active, can increase the use of higher-order thinking processes, and makes the lecture more interesting. An effective lecturer must focus student attention, must engage students in the topic, and must stimulate student interest and response. The classroom has many characteristics of a stage, and an effective instructor uses it as such. This is especially important in a large group. It is common for students to be very sensitive to an instructor’s reaction. Group Discussions Discussion in the class rooms is yet another method of teaching. These help the instructor to stimulate knowledge that students have. Ideas and concepts are exchanged between all participants, students and instructor. The communication is multi-way. Discussions are to encourage students to apply abstract concepts and develop critical thinking skills. The discussion format encourages active learning by the students and draws on the group’s knowledge, and not just the instructor’s expertise. This format encourages students to develop higher-order reasoning skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Besides, it also develops student’s abilities to formulate questions and communicate ideas. However, there are a few disadvantages of this technique of teaching. The discussion can become unfocussed or dominated by a small group of people. It is difficult for students to summarize the important points in a discussion. It is hard to have participation of all students. Participation is what ensures active learning is taking place. The use of the discussion format is not practical for more than 20-30 students. It can occur in larger groups, but the facilitator must be very skilled. The discussion format requires careful planning by the facilitator and depends highly on the skill of facilitator to guide the discussion. There often seems to be a lack of organization and clearly defined goals in a discussion. In order to make an effective discussion it is important that there must be a beginning, middle, and end for each session. An effective discussion requires more planning than most instructors understand. An instructor should have definite objectives for each session and a plan to obtain those objectives. The instructor should have a number of carefully crafted questions (link to handout) to ensure that the discussion moves forward and that the main points are brought forth. There should be a wrap-up at the end to summarize the important points that were discussed during the session. The instructor must do prior planning and have use adequate preparation time. Clear goals need to be developed for each session. The discussion leader must negotiate the line between controlling the group and letting the group members speak Because the success of a discussion depends on participation and transfer of knowledge from many participants, the instructor needs to know his or her students, what skills and perspectives the students have and use this information to keep the discussion moving forward. The instructor needs to create a comfortable and non-threatening environment. For students to be able to participate, the students need to feel that their opinions will be listened to. Rules of discussion should be explained on the first day. The instructor must show respect for all questions and comments. This is especially important when discussing an emotionally charged issue. It is also important to know how to respond to a comment that is incorrect or far off the issue currently being discussed. The instructor must integrate student responses into the discussion without making the discussion a student-teacher interaction. The interactions should be student-student, as well as student-teacher. Group work or cooperative learning Learning occurs as a result of group interactions. The role of instructor is to create an atmosphere to have productive group work. The emphasis is on cooperating to ensure the learning of all members of the group, not just the student’s own learning. However, there is still a demand for individual accountability in the learning. These methods are most often paired with active-learning methods. This method helps the students to learn to work in groups and develop teamwork skills. Besides it encourages active learning, improves student communication skills and develops student critical-thinking skills. The disadvantages of this method are as follows- Students need to be taught how to conduct effective group work. Group work may become defocused and major points may be missed. Each student need to contribute and must agree that one of the major goal is the learning everyone. Instructors need to state directions and instructions clearly and precisely. The tasks given must require the need for cooperation within the group. Active learning or guided inquiry Students learn course content through problem-solving and small-group activities. The major emphasis in these teaching methods is that the students must be doing something. In this method active learning takes place. Students learn to work in groups, most of the time, improves higher-order thinking skills. However here again major points or concepts can be missed. The instructor must determine how to assess the group work fairly and still be aware of individual goals and the students may feel that the course is too unstructured. Case Studies Classroom knowledge is applied to a real-life situation that is presented as unresolved. Case studies are used to show a general principle or a problem-solving strategy. Case studies can be group work or class discussion. This method helps and strengthens analytic and problem-solving skills. Gives opportunity to read different source documents and shows direct application of concepts previously learned. It is important to see that case must be clearly defined. Case preparation is time consuming for the instructor. Students must be well prepared in the background material. And case study works best in smaller classes (Washington University Teaching Center, 2003). Finally, it can be said that education provides several opportunities in societies, the most important ones being its role as a means for social development and democratic empowerment and advancing of the general well-being and economic competitiveness of societies, means of accumulating and sharing knowledge and cultural capital as well as a means for personal growth and well-being. The teaching faculty must adopt most effective and popular teaching techniques or methods looking into the need of the students. The teacher needs to use knowledge of efficient written, visual, verbal and nonverbal communication techniques to promote learning process, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom. References Goldberg, S. (2005) Ready to Learn. New York: Oxford University Press. Highet, G. (1966) The Art of Teaching. New York: Knopf. Indiana 4-H, (N.D) Teaching Techniques. Retrieved January 23, 2006, from http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/4H/4-H-687-W.pdf Kalman, D. (1998) Difficulty Based Evaluation of Teaching Methods and Materials. Retrieved January 22, 2006, from http://www.american.edu/academic.depts/cas/mathstat/People/kalman/pdffiles/Eval.pdf McKeachie, W. (1994) Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. 10th ed. Lexington, Massachusetts: D. C. Heath and Company. Washington University Teaching Center (2003) Teaching Methods- Teaching-Topics Handout Retrieved January 23, 2006, from http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~teachcen/WUTC/Faculty/teach_methods.pdf Willis, I.H. (1977) Perspective Teaching. Illinois: Thomas Press. Read More