Teaching method

A teaching method comprises the principles and methods used for instruction. Commonly used teaching methods may include class participation, demonstration, recitation, memorization, or combinations of these. The choice of an appropriate teaching method depends largely on the information or skill that is being taught, and it may also be influenced by the aptitude and enthusiasm of the students.

Methods of instruction

Explaining

Explaining, or lecturing, is the process of teaching by giving spoken explanations of the subject that is to be learned. Lecturing is often accompanied by visual aids to help students visualize an object or problem.

Demonstrating

Main article: Demonstration (teaching)

Demonstrating is the process of teaching through examples or experiments. For example, a science teacher may teach an idea by performing an experiment for students. A demonstration may be used to prove a fact through a combination of visual evidence and associated reasoning.

Demonstrations are similar to written storytelling and examples in that they allow students to personally relate to the presented information. Memorization of a list of facts is a detached and impersonal experience, whereas the same information, conveyed through demonstration, becomes personally relatable. Demonstrations help to raise student interest and reinforce memory retention because they provide connections between facts and real-world applications of those facts. Lectures, on the other hand, are often geared more towards factual presentation than connective learning.

Collaborating

Main article: Collaboration

Collaboration allows students to actively participate in the learning process by talking with each other and listening to other points of view. Collaboration establishes a personal connection between students and the topic of study and it helps students think in a less personally biased way. Group projects and discussions are examples of this teaching method. Teachers may employ collaboration to assess student's abilities to work as a team, leadership skills, or presentation abilities.

Collaborative discussions can take a variety of forms, such as fishbowl discussions. After some preparation and with clearly defined roles, a discussion may constitute most of a lesson, with the teacher only giving short feedback at the end or in the following lesson.

Learning by teaching

Main article: Learning by teaching

In this teaching method, students assume the role of teacher and teach their peers. Students who teach others as a group or as individuals must study and understand a topic well enough to teach it to their peers. By having students participate in the teaching process, they gain self-confidence and strengthen their speaking and communication skills.

Evolution of teaching methods

Ancient education

About 3000 BC, with the advent of writing, education became more conscious or self-reflecting, with specialized occupations requiring particular skills and knowledge on how to be a scribe, an astronomer, etc.

Philosophy in ancient Greece led to questions of educational method entering national discourse. In his Republic, Plato describes a system of instruction that he felt would lead to an ideal state. In his Dialogues, Plato describes the Socratic method.

It has been the intent of many educators since then, such as the Roman educator Quintilian, to find specific, interesting ways to encourage students to use their intelligence and to help them to learn.

Medieval education

Comenius, in Bohemia, wanted all children to learn. In his The World in Pictures, he gave the first illustrated textbook containing much that children would be familiar with in everyday life, and used it to teach the academic subjects they needed to know. Rabelais described how the student Gargantua learned about the world, and what is in it.

Much later, Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his Emile, presented methodology to teach children the elements of science and more. In it, he famously eschewed books, saying "the world is one's book".^{[citation needed]}

During Napoleonic warfare, the teaching methodology of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi of Switzerland enabled refugee children, of a class believed to be unteachable, to learn and love to learn. He describes this in his account of the educational experiment at Stanz. He felt the key to have children learn is for them to be loved, but his method has been thought "too unclear to be taught today".

19th century - compulsory education

Main article: Prussian education system

The Prussian education system was a system of mandatory education dating to the early 19th century. Parts of the Prussian education system have served as models for the education systems in a number of other countries, including Japan and the United States. The Prussian model required classroom management skills to be incorporated into the teaching process.

20th century

In the 20th century, the philosopher Eli Siegel posited that the purpose of education is to "like the world through knowing it." Teachers in New York found that student performance improved when this principle was employed in their teaching methods.^{[citation needed]}

Many current teaching philosophies are aimed at fulfilling the precepts of a curriculum based on Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE).^{[citation needed]}

According to Dr. Shaikh Imran, the teaching methodology in education is a new concept in the teaching learning process. New methods involved in the teaching learning process are television, radio, computer, etc.

Other educators believe that the use of technology, while facilitating learning to some degree, is not a substitute for educational method that brings out critical thinking and a desire to learn. Another modern teaching method is inquiry learning and the related inquiry-based science.

"The Interdisciplinary Effect of Hands On Science", a three-year study of Tennessee middle school students, indicated that students who had hands-on science training had higher standardized test scores in science, math and social studies.^{[citation needed]}

Diversity in Teaching in the Classroom

For effective teaching to take place, an appropriate teaching method must be employed. A teacher may develop lesson plans or use lesson plans that have been developed by other teachers. When deciding the teaching methods to use, a teacher considers the students' background knowledge, environment, and learning goals. Students have different ways of absorbing information and of demonstrating their knowledge. Teachers often use techniques which cater to multiple learning styles to help students retain information and strengthen understanding. A variety of strategies and methods are used to ensure that all students have equal opportunities to learn. A lesson plan may be carried out in several ways: Questioning, explaining, modeling, collaborating, and demonstrating.

A teaching method that includes questioning is similar to testing. A teacher may ask a series of questions to collect information of what students have learned and what needs to be taught. Testing is another application of questioning. A teacher tests the student on what was previously taught in order to determine whether a student has learned the material. Standardized testing is often used (e.g., Ohio Graduation Test (OGT), Proficiency Test, College entrance Tests (ACT and SAT).

Learning Styles and Creative Learning

Per the Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner, there are eight types of learning styles - Verbal, Logical, Spatial, Rhythmic, Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Natural. Teaching method should facilitate multiple of these modes of learning. Creative Learning, a methodology developed in India is based on these learning styles.

See also

• Educational psychology
• Educational philosophy
• Example Choice
• Lesson plan
• Teacher
• Learning by teaching (LdL)
• Case method
• Business game
• Experiential learning
• Learning

References

• Everett Dean Martin, The Meaning of a Liberal Education, Norton, 1926.
• Paul Monroe, A Text-Book in the History of Education, Macmillan, 1915.
• Gilbert Highet, The Art of Teaching, Knopf, 1950.
• The Aesthetic Realism Teaching Method.
• Palmer, Parker. Teaching Practice: Teaching Methods.
• National Board Certified Digital Edge Teachers. Teaching Methods: Demonstrations.
• Lieberman, Ann. Teacher Leadership. California: Jossey-Bass, 2004

External links

• TeachShare (also known as the Community Curriculum Project) shares teachers' trade secrets on how to best teach courses. It also describes various teaching techniques.
• Teachers' Toolbox is a website that explores various evidence based teaching theories through video clips and supporting documentation.
• Classroom observation is a collection of lesson observations on video useful for teacher training and professional development.
• English Teaching Methodology