Lesson 12 – The power of film, video and TV in the classroom

“ Next to the home and school, I believe television to have a more profound influence on the human race than any other medium of communication.” – Edgar Dale

 The film, video and TV are powerful instructional tools. When they re used appropriately and moderately, they can make the teaching-learning process more concrete, lively, colorful and interactive. It contributes to a more lasting learning because of its visual, audio and motion effects. These effects make learning fun. However, misuse and abuse of their use in the classroom and even at home has far reaching damaging effects in the development of children’s imaginative and thinking powers and sensitivity to human life. The most significantly cited weakness of the tv is the effect of tv violence on peoples’ aggressive behavior.

With the coming of the VCR, viewing need or not to be passive anymore. We can have interactive viewing with VCR.

The film, the video and the TV are indeed very powerful. Dale ( 1969 ) says, they can:

Ø    Transmit a wide range of audio – visual materials, including still pictures, film, objects, specimens and drama.

Ø    Bring model of excellence to the viewer

Ø    Bring the world of reality to the home and to the classroom through a “live” broadcast or as mediated through film or videotape.

Ø    Make us see and hear for ourselves world events as they happen.

Ø    Be the most believable news source

Ø    Make some programs understandable and appealing to a wide variety of age educational levels.

Ø    Become a great equalizer of educational opportunity because programs can be presented over national and regional networks.

Ø    Provide us with sounds and sights not easily available even to the viewer of a real event through long shots, close ups, zoom shots, magnification and split screen made possible by the TV camera.

Ø    Can give opportunity to teachers to view themselves while they teach for purposes of self – improvement.

Ø    Can be both instructive and enjoyable.

While the film, video and tv can do so much, they have their own limitations too :

Ø    Television and films are one – way communication device consequently, they encourage passivity.

Ø    The small screen size puts television at a disadvantage when compared with the possible size of projected motion pictures.

Ø    Excessive tv viewing works against the development of the child’s ability to visualize and to be creative and imaginative, skills that are needed in problem solving.

Ø    There is much violence in tv. This is the irrefutable conclusion, “viewing violence increases violence”.

Basic Procedures in the use of TV as a Supplementary Enrichment.

* For enrichment of the lesson with the use of TV, we have to do the following:

Ø    Prepare the classroom

o       Darken the room but not completely so the students can take down notes.

o       The students should not be seated too near nor too far from the TV.

* Pre-viewing Activities

o       Set goals and expectations.

o       Link the TV lesson with the past lesson and/or with your students’ experiences for integration and relevance.

o       Set the rules while viewing.

o       Put the film in context.

o       Point the key points they need to focus on.

* Viewing

Ø    Don’t interrupt viewing by inserting cautions and announcements you forgot to give during the pre-viewing stage. It disrupts and dampens interest.

Ø    Just make sure sights and sounds are clear.

* Post-viewing

Ø    To make them feel at ease begin by asking the following questions:

1.     What do you like best in the film?

2.     What part of the film makes you wonder? Doubt?

3.     Does the film remind you of something or someone?

4.     What questions are you asking about the film?                      

* Go to the questions you raised at the pre-viewing stage.

* Tackle questions raised by students at the initial stage of the post-viewing discussion.

* Ask what the students learned.. Find how they can apply what they learned.

* Summarize what has learned.

Lesson 11- Making the most of Community Resources and field trips

“Field Trips offer an excellent bridge between the work of the school and the work of the world outside.”

Field Trips are expensive. They require much time for preparation and planning. However, considering the intensity and the extent of concrete experiences that come through field trips, we are encouraged to use them Only, if there is no other less expensive but equally effective instructional tool. Preparation and planning for the field trip includes discussions and decisions on what to do before the field trip, during the field trip and after the field trip.

Community resources like historical and scenic spots, museums, zoos, botanical gardens, places, of exhibits can be destinations for field trips. Other community resources can be people themselves such as parents, senior citizens and other members of the community.

•  Planning a field trip includes these steps:

1.      Preliminary planning by the teacher

2.      Pre-planning with others going on the trip

3.      taking the field trip itself

4.      Post-field trip follow up activities

* Pre-planning with others joining the trip

-          Other people accompanying the group need to be oriented on the objectives, route, behavior standards required of everyone so they can help enforce these standards.

* Taking the field Trip

Ø    Distribute route map of places to be observed

Ø    Upon arriving at the destination, teacher should check the group and introduce the guide.

Ø    Special effort should be made to ensure that:

o       The trip keeps to the time schedule

o       The students have the opportunity to obtain answers to questions

o       The group participates courteously in the entire trip

o       The guide sticks closely to the list of questions.

* Educational Benefits derived from a field trip

            -  Field trips can be fun and educational when they are well executed. They offer us a number of educational benefits:

1.      The acquisition of lasting concepts and change in attitudes are rooted on concrete and rich experiences which are fundamental to learning that lasts.

2.      Field trips bring us to the world beyond the classroom. The real world connection is more work but the benefits of broadening teaching beyond textbooks far outweigh the little bit of time it takes from a teacher’s schedule.

3.      Field trips have wide range of application. It is not meant only for children. It is for adults also.

a.      It can bring about a lot of realizations which may lead to changes in attitudes and insights. The field trip “ can nurture curiosity; build a zest for new experience and a sense of wonder.” ( dale, 1969).

  

• Disadvantages of  Field Trips:

            - These educational benefits can compensate for drawbacks of field trips, some of which are:

1.      It is costly

2.      It involves logistics

3.      It is extravagant with time

4.      It contains an element of uncertainty

        

Lesson 10 – Demonstration in Teaching

“Good demonstration is good communication.”

                  

Demonstration “is a public showing and emphasizing of the salient merits, utility, efficiency, etc of an article or product.” In teaching it is showing how a thing is done and emphasizing of the salient merits, utility and efficiency of a concept, a method or a process or an attitude.

A good demonstration is an audio-visual presentation. It is not enough that the teacher talks. To be effective, his/her demonstration must be accompanied by some visuals.

To plan and prepare adequately for a demonstration, we first determine the goals, the materials we need, our steps and rehearse.

What guiding principles must we observe in using demonstration as a teaching-learning experience? Edgar dale ( 1969 ) gives at least three:

1.      Establish rapport. Greet your audience. Make them feel at ease by your warmth and sincerity. Stimulate their interest by making your demonstration and yourself interesting. Sustain their attention.

2.      Avoid the COIK fallacy ( Clear Only If Known ) It is the assumption that what is clear to the expert demonstrator is also clearly known to the person for whom the message is intended.

3.      Watch the Key points. Dale ( 1996 ) says,” they are the ones at which an error is likely to be made, the places at which many people stumble  and where the knacks and tricks of the trade are especially important.”

In the actual conduct of the demonstration itself we see to it that we:

1.      Get and sustain the interest of our audience

2.      Keep our demonstration simple

3.      Do not hurry nor drag out the demonstration

4.      Check for understanding in the process of demonstration 

5.      conclude with a summary

6.      Hand out written materials at the end of the demonstration.

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Lesson 9 – Teaching with dramatized Experiences

“All dramatization is essentially a process of communication, in which both participant and spectators are engaged. A creative interaction takes place, a sharing of ideas."

      

·        Some forms of dramatic experiences are play, pageant, pantomime, tableau, puppets and role-playing. The last four are the most commonly used in the classroom due to their simplicity and practicality.

Role-playing is highly effective for lessons in the affective domain. If we want results, we cannot afford to ignore the guiding principles given by experts on the use of puppets and role-playing.

Play – Depict life, character or culture or a combination of all three.

Pageants – Are usually community dramas that are based on local history, presented by local actors.

Pantomime – Is the “art of conveying a story through bodily movements only”

Tableau – ( a French word which mean picture ) is a picture-like scene composed of people against a background.

Puppets – Unlike the regular stage play, can present ideas with extreme simplicity – without elaborate scenery or costume – yet effectively.

Types of puppet

Ø    Shadow Puppet – flat black silhouette made from light-weight cardboard and shown behind a screen.

Ø    Rod puppets – Flat cut out figures tacked to a stick, with one or more movable parts and operated from below the stage level by wire rods or slender sticks.

Ø    Hand puppets – The puppet’s head is operated by the forefinger of the puppeteer, the little finger and thumb being used to animate the puppet hands.

Ø    Glove-and-finger puppets – make use of old gloves to which small costumed figure are attached.

Ø    Marionettes – Flexible, jointed puppets operated by strings or wires attached to a cross bar and maneuvered from directly above the stage.

Role-Playing – Is an unrehearsed, unprepared and spontaneous dramatization of a “let’s pretend” situation where assigned participants are absorbed by their own roles in the situation described by the teachers.

Lesson 8- Teaching with contrived experiences

"We teach through a re-arrangement of the raw reality; a specimen, a manageable sample of a whole...when the direct experience cannot be used properly in its natural setting."


              

    

Contrived experiences are substitutes of real things when it is not feasible to bring the real thing to the class. These include models, mock ups, specimens, objects, simulations and games.

 1. Models - Is a "reproduction of areal thing in a small scale, or large scale or exact size - but made of synthetic materials. It is a substitute for real thing which may or may not be operational." ( brown, et al, 1969 )

2. Mock up - Is " an arrangement of a real device or associated devices, displayed in such a way that representation of reality is created. The mock up may be simplified in order to emphasize certain features." ( brown, 1969 )

3. Specimens - Is any individual or item considered typical of a group, class or whole.

4. Simulation - Is a " representation of a manageable real event in which the learner is an active participant engaged in learning a behavior or in applying previously acquired skills or knowledge" 
 ( Orlich, et al, 1994 )

We use simulations and games o make our classes interactive and to develop the decision making skills and knowledge construction skills of our students,Orlich, et al (1994) enumerates 10 general purposes of simulations and games in education;

1. To develop changes in attitude
2. To change specific behaviors
3. To prepare participants for assuming new roles in the future,
4. To help individuals to understand their current roles
5. To increase the students ability to apply principles
6. To reduce complex problems or situations to manageable elements
7. To illustrate roles that may affect one's life but that one my never assume
8. To motivate learners
9. To develop analytical processes
10. To sensitize individuals to another person's life role

The most important thing to remember when we make use of models and mockups are to make them close as we could to the real things they represent. If for one reason or another they could not replicate the real things in size and color and we should at least cautious the user or the reader by giving the scale.  

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Lesson 7- Direct, Purposeful Experiences and Beyond

" From the rich experiences that our sense bring. we construct the ideas, concepts, generalizations that give meaning and order to our lives."      

What are referred to as direct, purposeful experiences?

        - These are our concrete and firsthand experiences that make up the foundation of our learning. These are the rich experience that our sense bring from which we construct the ideas, the concepts, the generalizations that give meaning and order to or lives. (Dale, 1969) The are sensory experiences.

          In contrast, indirect experiences are experiences of other… people that we observe, read or hear about. They are not our own self-experiences but still experiences in the sense that we see, hear and read about them. They are not firsthand but rather vicarious experiences.

            Climbing a mountain is firsthand, direct experience. Seeing it done in films or reading about it is vicarious, substitute experience. It is clear, therefore, that we can approach the world of reality directly through the sense and indirectly with reduced sensory experience. 

                                                                                                                                      

  * Direct Experiences are firsthand experiences that serve as the foundation of learning. The opposite of direct experiences are indirect or vicarious experiences. 

 Direct Experiences lead us to the concept formation and abstraction. We should not end our lessons knowing only the concrete. We go beyond the concrete by reaching the level of abstract concepts.

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Lesson 6- Using and Evaluating Instructional Materials.


"You should have a good idea of your destination, both in the over-all purposes of education and in the everyday work of your teaching. If you do not know where  you are going, you cannot properly choose a way to get there."


To ensure that the instructional materials serve their purpose in instruction, we need to observe some guidelines in their selection and use. The materials that we select must:


 * give a true picture of the ideas that they present
 * contribute to the attainment of the learning objective.
 * be appropriate to the age, intelligence and experience of the learners.
 * be in good and satisfactory condition
 * provide for a teacher's guide.
 * help develop in the critical and creative thinking powers of students.
 * be worth the time, expense and effort involved.

  For optimum use of the instructional material, it is necessary that the teacher prepares:
 * herself
 * her students
 * the instructional material and does follow up.

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