CHAPTER - III

THEORETICAL OVERVIEW

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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• 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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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,

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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• 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

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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)

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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

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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

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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

157

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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