UNIT 2: INTRODUCTION TO PEDAGOGY
Key unit competence: Apply pedagogical concepts and principles in simulated classroom situations.
1. Choose the words which can have a close relationship with education. pedagogy, teaching methods, mechanics, dentist, instruction, cooperative learning, hair style, learner centered approach
2. Use internet and search the meaning of pedagogy and the meaning of the words you have chosen in previous question1.
3. Compare and contrast the meaning of pedagogy with the meanings of the words you have chosen.
a. Didactics
According to N. SILLAMY, didactics comes from the Greek word “didactikos” which means “to teach”, which is similar to “to instruct”.
According to Jean-François HALTE (1992), didactics is defined as “a reflection on the content to be taught”. It is also a reorganisation of knowledge for its transmission.
b. Didactic
Triangle According to HOUSSAYE (1996), the pedagogical situation can be defined as “a triangle composed of three elements such as knowledge, teacher and learners. Instruction takes place when there is an interaction between 3 elements: teacher, students, and content/knowledge. A model that explains these relationships is called the didactic triangle.
Teacher: WHO is delivering instruction/facilitating the learning
Student: WHO is receiving instruction/learning and ultimately should show evidence of learning Content: WHAT is being taught (subject matter/curriculum) Relationships between Teacher-Student-Content:
• Teacher-Student (training process): How does the teacher connect with students? What type of atmosphere does the teacher create? What approaches does the teacher use to engage students in the learning-process (pedagogy)? How does the teacher check for understanding (assessment)?
• Teacher-Content (teaching process): How well prepared is the teacher? What content-related resources are available and used (syllabus, articles, textbook, etc)? How clearly does the teacher explain key content (instruction)?
• Student-Content (learning process): What background knowledge do students have? How are students interacting with the content? What tools are they given to read or learn from? How are students asked to show mastery and apply the content?
Pedagogical processes
The didactic triangle explained above generates three pedagogical processes: Process “to Train”
The process “to train” privileges the relation teacher - learners. This axis concerns the didactic contract, meaning that the relation that determines implicitly what every partner has the responsibility to manage and of which he will be responsible in front of the others.
It is a reciprocal waiting system that describes the teacher and learner’s expected behaviours about knowledge acquisition” (DE CORTE, 1996, pp.18-19).
The contract is not negotiated between two equal partners; it remains fundamentally dissymmetric. The educator occupies here an irreplaceable place, since he anticipates the right side of other.
Thus among the two partners, the teacher is the sole to have a legal obligation towards the learner, but, he is also one who, implicitly or not, determines what will be the learner’s responsibilities. The class pedagogical environment (programs, methods, strategies, manual, learning activities, etc.) is determined by the teacher to maximise the learners/students learning process. But the learner does not participate in the decision.
The process “to teach “is founded on the privileged relation between the teacher and the knowledge. Generally, when the interaction knowledge - teacher is privileged, the teaching is teacher centered and the pedagogical model used is of the lecture type whereby the teacher must transmit the content.
• Process “to Learn”
The process “to learn” is founded on the privileged relation between the learner and the knowledge. In this process, the teacher waits for learners to access the knowledge directly without his forced mediation.
They can access knowledge which is immediately accessible to them without the teacher. The teacher is not absent as such but he plays another role, that of preparer, accompanist of the learning situation.
In this process, the teacher’s role is to be a guide, a facilitator of learning. He/ she uses discovery pedagogy that helps learners to discover and construct their own knowledge.
The three processes explained above are complementary as stipulated by HOUSSAYE et al. (2000. P.21) in the following words:
• If you teach, also think of “training” (be interested in learners and their life, ask them questions) and learning (give to learners some tasks, work for presentation).
• If you train, do something a little in “teaching” (even if you put aside knowledge, it is not indifferent that you continue to be perceived as a person who is supposed to know, a holder of a superior knowledge, capable of demonstrating it if needed) and in “learning” (it is necessary to bring learners to have knowledge through experimentation while feeling it).
• If students are learning, think of “teaching” (do not believe systematically in his documents, any learner comes to ask you explanation or additional information) and thinks of “training” (it is the moment of group dynamics and paying particular attention to the dependent learners and to those with difficulties).
The relationships between the three elements of the pedagogic triangles are governed by the didactic contract. A didactic contract, in the teaching learning context, refers to a relation that determines what each of the actors of the pedagogic relation-the teacher and student- has the responsibility to manage, and for which one will be responsible before the others.
c. Concept of didactic transposition
According to CHEVALLARD (1985), didactic transposition is the process by which scientific content becomes school content. It refers to the change from the exact knowledge as produced by researchers to a didactic version of this knowledge (VALLET (1991).
Basing on who is implicated in the didactic transposition and the moment it is made, there are two stages of didactic transposition:
– External didactic transposition: transforms the knowledge of subject specialists (academics, researchers, authors, innovators and other didacticians) into the knowledge to be taught. It leads to the definition of each subject contained in the curriculum. They define the programs and analyse the strategies to be used in the didactic situation. They choose content that should be taught. It is external because it is outside the classroom context.
– Internal didactic transposition: transforms this knowledge to be taught into content that has to be effectively taught. This transposition is carried out by every teacher in his or her classes to adapt the content to the learners taking into account their needs, interests, motivation and various constraints such as (time, examination, school regulation, etc.). It is during this stage that the teacher intervenes more.
Think about the teacher you have most appreciated in your S3 class. Think about teaching and learning activities you were engaged in. Why do you think s/he was your best teacher?
Even if the terminology can vary from one author to another, most people use the following seven principles:
i) Motivation
Etymologically, the word “motivation” comes from the Latin word motivus which means “motive”, “which makes something move”. It is a “set of internal drives which lead someone to action”(GAGNE, 1969). It is “a set of desires which will push a person to achieve a task or to satisfy a need” (BERGERON, 1979).
Classically, according to MUCHIELLI (1998), motivation can mean any emotional tension: feeling, desire, aspiration, tendency, need etc. which is likely to start and support an action. Motivation instigates, activates, directs and channels the behaviour towards certain goals.
A goal is “motivating” when it is the source of dynamism in the person who perceives or conceives it. His/her dynamism is mobilised and their behaviour is organised.
“Any need tends to provoke the reactions which are likely to satisfy it; it is the need which mobilizes individuals, animals, people as a drive of their activities” This natural functioning of the human being, who produces behaviours when he/she feels an internal imbalance state, constitutes a precious support to the teacher, who is constantly exposed to the problem of motivating the students.
Motivated learners develop behaviour which pleases the teacher:
– Learners are interested in what has been taught
– They are constantly attentive
– They put more personnel efforts
– They do not get tired and they never get discouraged
– They are interested their progress and achievements
– They learn more quickly than other learners and understand better.
On the other hand, a learner who is negatively motivated will always seek - and find excuses to avoid or neglect his/her studies, with the same courage and the same zeal as the motivated student, but in the opposite way.
ii) Activity Activity
means that a person learns better if he/she is completely involved in an action. In active methods, the teacher creates a learning environment where the learners take part and communicate among themselves in the groups. The teacher avoids speeches. In active methods, the learners learn how to live together, how to behave, they take part and work together to achieve a common goal; the know-how is also acquired in active methods.
The purpose of active methods is to give to the learner more autonomy, more initiative, more personal motivation and to develop his/her creativity & innovation.
iii) Concretisation
Effective teaching always starts with something tangible, existing, concrete, that is, the teaching focuses on a real context. Reality gives meaning to the context and allows the learner to understand any context, referring it to a well-known and familiar context.
iv)Progression
This is a process of developing or moving gradually towards a more advanced state. Teaching and learning must be progressive. This is about psychological progression which takes into account child psychology, his/her level of mental development, his/her problems and psychological difficulties. It is therefore advisable to take into account psychological progression, not to follow mechanically the programmes established by adults (curriculum developed in centres). It is advisable to check if the content of the programme is adapted to the level of the learners. Teaching must take place gradually; the teacher must be ready to make revisions, readjustments, summaries, and repetitions.
iv)Progression
This is a process of developing or moving gradually towards a more advanced state. Teaching and learning must be progressive. This is about psychological progression which takes into account child psychology, his/her level of mental development, his/her problems and psychological difficulties. It is therefore advisable to take into account psychological progression, not to follow mechanically the programmes established by adults (curriculum developed in centres). It is advisable to check if the content of the programme is adapted to the level of the learners. Teaching must take place gradually; the teacher must be ready to make revisions, readjustments, summaries, and repetitions.
v) Individualisation
Individualization refers to an instructional approach that allows the learner to learn on his/her own, at his/her pace and possibly using diversified ways. The teacher breakdowns the content into small, simple and understandable contents, to facilitate learner’s learning.
vi) Cooperation
This is a principle of teaching which uses the teamwork; all the learners work together and take part in the implementation of classroom objectives. Cooperation is based on the following elements:
– Interdependence
– Sense of responsibility and loyalty to the group
– Cooperation skills
– Evaluation of the group work.
In a context of cooperation, a group is involved in carrying out a given task. The involvement of the group is vital, because all the members must learn, and they must teach each other. The group is organised in a way that everybody participates, collective success prevails over personal success.
vii) Transfer
Generally, in the psychology of learning, we talk about transfer when preliminary learning has an impact on the acquisition of new behaviour. According to LEGENDRE (1993, p. 1370), the transfer refers to the implementation of classroom “acquisitions” in a new situation to solve a problem. It is an “influence”, an “impact” on the subsequent learning.
General teaching methodology General teaching methodology focuses on teaching in a general way. It includes what happens on everyday-bases inside classrooms, where questions related to the encounter of teachers, learners and the subjects are interconnected, and also to problems related to political and social relations where school is an intertwined part.
General teaching methodology:
– Deals with the general principles and standards to guide the teaching-learning process toward educational goals.
– Studies the elements common to education in any situation
– Provides descriptive models, explanations and interpretations applicable to general education, to any subject and in any stage or educational environment
– Analyse the main trends in education
– Applies to any individual no matter the area or subject.
Specific methodology
Specific methodology refers to particular instructional approaches appropriate for each subject as all subjects may not be taught in the same way. Science cannot be taught in the same way as Geography. As far as the subjects’ nature differs from one another, they require specific teaching methods. Specific Subject Didactics/methodology refers to the “how” of teaching a specific subject.
A didactic situation
A didactic situation always includes a person who knows (usually a teacher) and a person who needs to know (usually a learner), that interact with one another to impart and acquire more knowledge and skills.
Components of a didactic situation
The teacher and the learner in the didactic situation
– The teacher unlocks reality and learning is spontaneous
– Learners emancipate, free themselves from control
– They orientate themselves to new learning environments
– The teacher guides learners into certain directions
– Learners make sound judgements, based on experiences
– Learners have opportunities to demonstrate their skills
– Learners learn to socialise and exchange ideas
1. Identity didactic principles recently applied by one of your tutors during any lesson. Explain.
2. Choose one principle and apply it through role play.