Most Boring Teacher Ever - Case Study Example

Case study: Most boring teacher ever Name: College: Course name/number: Professor’s name: Assignment number: Date: Case study: Most boring teacher ever While humankind has the unique ability to engage in a learning process that is structured and programmed, the effectiveness of the learning process is dependent on various prevailing conditions and circumstances as well as the approaches employed. While much learning occurs spontaneously when people interact with each other and with their environment, more learning can occur when conscious effort is exerted and the skills and knowledge to be acquired is structured. However, research has indicated that the learner must have sustained interest in the new skill and knowledge in order to have sustained attention during the learning process, a condition known as motivation. The ensuing analysis is of a case in which a tutor is undertaking a physics lesson in a class of adolescents or young adults who are probably in high school or in the initial years of college. The case presents a typical scenario of a tutor teaching fundamental theories of physics, which raises questions concerning whether the approach employed, and the class atmosphere observed, facilitate or hinder learning. Prior to the analysis of the case, the learner and learning need to be defined because both terms are central to the case. A learner is an individual that is actively engaged in activities and processes that aim at the development of new skill and inculcation of new knowledge as well (Oduro & MacBeath, 2016). Therefore, learning is the process of acquiring new skill and knowledge by an individual. It can also be termed as the process of reinforcing or modifying of existing skills and knowledge. Interestingly, learning can occur consciously or unconsciously, is time consuming and results in changes in behavior, attitudes, values, skills and knowledge. Indeed, in the formal setup, learning occurs in educational institutions although it can also occur informally during interactions with other individuals socially and with the environment. From these perspectives, the ensuing analysis delves into interrogating whether learning took place or not, and the role played by motivation or lack of motivation in the learning process illustrated in the case. Analysis of the case Situation analysis The video presents a case of a classroom scenario in which a male tutor is presenting a physics class to a group of adolescents or young adults who either in a high school or a college. The lesson is about fundamental laws and concepts of physics, specifically forces, gravity, motion and acceleration. He is using a bottle hanging from a measuring scale to illustrate the type and magnitude of forces acting on the free-hanging bottle when at rest and when it is swinging back and forth. While the class is generally quiet as the teacher offers explanations to explain his demonstration, it appears to have minimal interaction between the tutor and his students. Indeed, some students help the teacher finish his sentences when he poses questions although he does not solicit answers directly. However, towards the end of the lesson, one student poses a question, which the tutor proceeds to answer. Various teaching and learning aspects are apparent in this lesson. First, the tutor employs a number of teaching tactics, including direct instruction, demonstration, and lecture. However, the tutor does not provide much motivation to the students because engagement is minimal and the tutor keeps on explaining his demonstration without confirming whether his students are following or not. Indeed, some students appear to be following the lesson by gesturing directions as the tutor explains. Overall, although the lesson is handling an interesting and practical lesson in the laws and concepts of physics that are encountered in everyday life, the lesson appears boring to the students, some of whom are seen looking down, fidgeting and talking under their breath. Problem statement Student involvement is pertinent when teaching topics in physics and indeed any physical sciences because it enables students to understand complicated concepts better. In addition, student motivation is pertinent in sustaining the interest and engagement of students throughout a lesson. However, the problem identified in this class is that the lesson is not interesting enough to engage the students’ attention wholly and elicit their interaction and participation, which would facilitate the learning process. Therefore, it is likely that while some students appear to grasp the concepts being taught, it is not possible to identify those who may have been left out as not feedback is provided. Therefore, in all, it is difficult to determine whether all students in the class have learnt at all. Options for improving the learning process To identify how the learning process in the class may be improved and made more effective, it is pertinent to explain which aspects and theories of learning have been employed and those that have not been utilized by the tutor. Indeed, the class is one situation in which learning occurs, and therefore it is expected that since the students were in a class or lecture room, then they were well situated for learning to occur. However, according to Jarvis (2012) learning occurs in any situation of interaction among people, which may include classrooms and social gatherings as well. However, for learning to occur, the cognitive development of the learner needs to be considered in order to employ the appropriate teaching approaches that are appropriated to the development al level of the learners. In this aspect, the Zones of Proximal Development theory developed by Vygotsky and the stages of cognitive development proposed by Piaget become useful. According to Vygotsky, students need to be in the zone of proximal development to benefit from the learning assistance provided teachers, parents and adults. This precept is underpinned in the sociocultural theory of development, which argues that learning occurs in the process of social interactions and through culture as well (Olson & Dweek, 2008). From this perspective, the cooperative learning method should be in the physics class, which is an environment that facilitates social interaction between the teacher and the students and between the students and their peers as well, as suggested by Vygotsky (Olson & Dweek, 2008). However, according to Piaget, the students in the physics class, who are in early adulthood, are in the formal operations stage of cognitive development, and are thus able to employ both deductive and inductive skill during the learning process. Therefore, after considering the cognitive developmental stage of the students in the physics class, the physics tutor could employ other methods of teachers that facilitate cooperative learning such as discussions and group work. In addition, in choosing the approach to learning that best suits students, the intelligence of the learners need to be considered. Indeed, the theory of multiple intelligences developed by Gardner helps expand the concept of intelligence beyond the hereditary and singular perception, which was advanced by the traditional theory of intelligence (Chisholm, 1998). Therefore, identifying which intelligences a student is best endowed with out of the nine intelligences can facilitate the enhancement of learning of individual learners, particularly in the physics class presented in the case under consideration. According to Gardner, intelligence is the set of skills that either enable an individual to solve life problems or offer the potential to create solutions for specific problems (Armstrong, 2009). Nine types of intelligence exist according to the theory of multiple intelligences, and include verbal-linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, naturalist intelligence, existential intelligence, and spatial-visual intelligence (Armstrong, 2009; Chisholm, 1998). From this perspective, the learners in the physics classroom would learn the concepts of physics being taught best when they employ their logical-mathematical intelligence, naturalist intelligence, and spatial-visual intelligence. Indeed, the tutor has attempted to leverage the spatial-visual intelligence, verbal-linguistic intelligence, and logical-mathematical intelligence though lecturing and demonstrating. The manner in which students process information can help educators devise effective teaching approaches (Lutz & Huitt, 2003). Central to information processing is cognition, which can be defined as the mental process or action of knowledge acquisition and enhancement of understanding through sensory, experiential and though processes. For learning to be sustained, progressive and permanent, a learner should be able to acquire new knowledge and retain previous information learnt. To this end, memory plays a pertinent role in the learning process. According to the stage theory of memory remembering learn information occurs in three stages, which include the encoding stage, the storage stage and the retrieval stage. In addition, information to be processed during the learning process can be held in the sensory memory (SM), the short-term or working memory (STM), and the long-term memory (LTM) (Cengage Learning, 2014). These theories can help the tutor leverage on previously learnt information that is held in memory to build on the new concepts in physics being taught. Indeed, since the students have interacted with and continue to interact with their environment on a daily basis, they may have observed and learnt some natural phenomena that can form the basis of the physics lesson in the case under consideration. Since there was evident lack of student motivation, the tutor should employ various motivational approaches in order to sustain the interest of his students and encourage their participation in the learning process. According to Rehman and Haider (2013), motivation is the force or desire that energizes behaviour and directs it towards achieving a specific goal. In the learning situation, motivation invigorates the learner to engage in various academic tasks actively and do everything possible to achieve his or her academic goals. Motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic depending on whether the influence is internal or external to the individual respectively. In this case, students need both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to learn effectively while in and out of class. Specifically, the tutor has a dual task of encouraging intrinsic motivation among his students so that they can pursue continuous academic improvement without supervision or coercion and extrinsically motivation his students by offering rewards for good performers (Rehman & Haider, 2013). Recommendations For a more effective physics classroom, the tutor should employ multiple teaching approaches that focus on engaging students since physics is a practical discipline. The chosen approaches should be informed by the cognitive developmental stage of the students, which is formal operations stage of cognitive development. Teaching techniques that utilize reasoning such as experimenting would be appropriate for the physics lesson in the case. In addition, he should employ teaching aids that appeal to the different types of intelligences of his students. Further, the teacher should identify the entry level of hi students by interrogating their knowledge and experiences, which can then be used to introduce the physics concepts to be taught. This would help build up the knowledge held in the long-term memory of the students and consolidate it through association. Lastly, to ensure that the students’ interest is sustained in the lesson and thereafter, the tutor should employ various techniques of motivation such as praise, offering students the chance to elaborate concepts to their peers and giving them opportunities to enjoy success by testing them on materials that he is sure they have learnt effectively. Conclusion The case presented a learning situation in a physics class, where young adults were the learners. Although the learners were well situated in a formal learning environment, there was doubt whether learning had actually occurred considering that, the lesson did not incorporate whether new skills and knowledge had been acquired by the students. Indeed, the tutor may have missed various opportunities of ensuring that learning of the physics concepts being taught was effective. Specifically, although the tutor employed a visual aid, he did not engage other intelligences possessed by his students neither did he leverage cooperative learning by engaging the students in group discussion and peer learning in a social setting. As such, it was recommended, that the teacher presents his lesson in an interesting manner which engaged students rather than using teacher-centered approaches while utilizing the students’ previous experiences to introduce and explain the physics concepts and motivating his students along side. References Armstrong, T. (2009). Multiple intelligences in the classroom.Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. Cengage Learning. (2014). Information processing theory.Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Chisholm, J. (1998). Developing multiple intelligence in the classroom. Halifax, NS, Canada: Saint Mary’s University. Jarvis, P. (2012). Learning from everyday life. Surrey, UK: University of Surrey. Lutz, S. &Huitt, W. (2003). Information processing and memory: Theory and applications. Education Psychology Interactive, Valdosta State University. Oduro, G. & MacBeath, J. (2016). Who are the learners? Retrieved March 9, 2017 from https://www.coursera.org/learn/teaching-learning/lecture/173FI/lecture-1-1-who-are-the-learners Olson, K. &Dweek, C. (2008). A blueprint for social cognitive development. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(3), 193–202. Rehman, A. & Haider, K. (2013). The impact of motivation on learning of secondary school students in Karachi: An analytical study. Educational Research International, 2(2), 139–147. Read More