Child Development and Pedagogy PYQs

Bureau of Psychology situated is situated at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. 

It was established:

• by the U.P. Government  in 1947.
• on the recommendations of the Acharya Narendra Deo Committee.
• with an motive to provide educational guidance to school-going children.

Hence, it coul be concluded that Bureau of Psychology situated is situated at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Kohler’s Insightful Theory of Learning: It says that the solution to a problem arrives ‘all of a sudden’ flash of insight when a person is struggling. For this, Kohler demonstrated the following experiment:

• He kept chimpanzees in a closed room where food was kept out of their reach, and items like boxes, stick was there.
• The chimpanzee would roam inside the room to reach the food.
• They would ‘suddenly’ stand on a box and use the stick to bring food close to them.
• It should be noted that it was not the result of trial and error instead, the chimpanzee suddenly came up with the idea to use boxes and stick.

Hence, we conclude that the relation which Skinner has with rats and Thorndike has with cats, the same relation Kohler has with ​chimpanzees.

‘Plateaus’ are often seen in the pattern of development, indicating periods of no apparent improvement. Learning plateau is arrested growth in learning as it is a long flat and horizontal stretch in the learning curve which:

• represents a stationary stage, where apparently no progress in learning is recorded.
• represents a period in the learning process where no improvement occurs even with any number of practices.

Stages of Learning 

• Stage 1: In this stage, the learner slowly increasing speed to understanding the concept in learning. This is the beginning stage of learning, in which learner is motivated to gain new information.
• Stage 2: In this stage, the learner steeps accelerating in learning the concepts. After some time the learner gains a total understanding of the concept and reaches the boom stage of learning.
• Stage 3: In this stage the learning plateau occurs, after gaining the mastery on the concept, the learner feels bore and want to learn new thing. So the teacher should always introduce the same concept with the innovative methods, this will overcome the boredom.

Ways of Eliminating Learning Plateau

• Provide proper rest
• Use appropriate audio-visual aids
• Adopt efficient methods of teaching
• Provide incentives to arouse interest

Hence, it could be concluded that learning plateau is arrested growth in learning.

B.F. Skinner is considered as the most influential psychologist advocating the role of operant conditioning in learning. He developed an experimental chamber (called Skinner Box) to study the learning process in rats. The book "The Behaviour of Organisms" was launched by BF Skinner in 1938 in which he explained that behaviour changes lifetime. Also, he wrote about the basic unit of behaviour i.e. operant which is explained below.

Operant Conditioning: Modification of Behaviour through Reinforcement

• If a child completes the homework she is praised (rewarded) by the parents and the child learns to perform the task.
• If the child breaks a plate, he/she is scolded (punished) and she will learn not to repeat the behaviour. This is called Operant Conditioning or instrumental conditioning.
• In other words, we learn to perform behaviours that produce positive outcomes and avoid behaviours that yield negative outcomes.

Hence, we conclude that the writer of the book "The Behaviour of Organisms" is ​Skinner.

Albert Bandura proposed 'Social Learning Theory' which states the fact that learning takes place by observing behaviours and imitating what others do. His theory was based on observation of other’s behaviour to situations and then using them as a guide by the learner.

• His theory also explains that human behaviour is an interaction that is continuous and reciprocal with the influences through cognitive, behavioural, and environmental sources.
• Bandura emphasized that Observation and Modeling of other human behaviour, emotions, and attitudes helps a lot in learning. There are many ‘models’ one can observe. For example, behaving in a good manner before students.

The following are the Modeling Processes:

• Attention: When a child urges to learn something, he pays attention to the model to observe or to imitate.
• Retention: It is the process of recalling the learned activity for later use.
• Reproduction: As the name suggests, reproduction is the process of reproducing the action that is learned.
• Motivation: If the action succeeds, the child is motivated to do the action again.

Hence, we conclude that by presenting the right behaviour is the most important for the training of right behaviour in students.

Concept of 'Goal gradient' Hypothesis in problem solving was prposed by the behaviorist Clark Hull in 1932. It is a measure of advancement towards the accomplishment of a goal.

'Goal gradient' Hypothesis states that:

• the tendency to approach a goal increases with proximity to the goal.
• perception of progress intrinsically motivated individuals to reach the ultimate target.
• steeper goal gradient has been generated by an increased drive (e.g., hunger) to attain the reward.
• Eg: Rats in a straight alley ran progressively faster as they proceeded from the starting box to the food.

Hence, it could be concluded that 'Goal gradient' concept in problem solving was prposed by Clark Hull.

NOTE:

The idea of Microteaching originated for the first time at Stanford University in the USA, when an Experimental Project on the identification of teaching skills was in progress under the guidance and supervision of the faculty members (Bush, Allen, McDonald Acheson and many others).

According to Allen, Microteaching is a laboratory situation training procedure aimed at simplifying the complexities of the regular teaching-learning process. The learner is engaged in a scaled-down and focused situation, scaled-down in terms class size and lesson length, and focused on certain teaching tasks such as practice and mastering of specific skills such as lecturing, questioning, probing, leading a discussion, managing classroom, etc.

Bush (1968) described micro teaching as a teacher education device of imparting training to the inexperienced or experienced teachers for learning the art of teaching by practising specific teaching skills reducing the complexities of class teaching in terms of the size of the class, time and content.

The micro-teaching cycle includes Planning, Teaching, Feedback, Re-Planning, Re-Teaching,  Re-Feedback. In this:

• The teacher reviews a recording of a teaching session, to get constructive feedback.
• The teacher observes the real classroom teaching program and notes the feedbacks.
• It is a short duration program which basically aims to bring the student to the topic.
• It is a scaled-down process in terms of class size, length of the lesson, teaching duration and teaching complexity and at the same time receiving effective feedback.
• In this technique, the student-teacher is required to teach a small group of students for up to 15-20 minutes, focusing on a particular aspect of teaching. E.g. Skill of set induction, Skill of Questioning, Skill of Blackboard Writing, etc.
• It directs what has worked and what improvements can be made to their teaching technique.

Hence, we conclude that David Hume is not related to micro-teaching.

Teaching takes place at three levels progressively- memory level of teaching, understanding level of teaching, and reflective level of teaching. Teachers must keep in mind the developmental stage of the learners so that desired educational objectives can be achieved.

Key Points

Three Levels of Teaching includes:

1. Memory Level: ​It involves memorizing factual information and it is the least thoughtful method since it encourages rote memorization. It is mostly employed by the teachers at the primary classes to teach basic skills such as rules of grammar, arithmetic, spelling, etc.
2. Understanding Level: ​This level focuses on comprehension and understanding of the meaning of the topic being studied. It involves breaking down complex topics into a logical sequence of steps.
3. Reflective Level: It implies the highest level of thoughtfulness on the part of the learners. It involves the method of the scientific method of understanding a problem. It makes use of the ‘problem-solving approach’ to find a solution to a difficult problem. This level of teaching is usually employed at the college/university level.

Hence, it could be concluded that ‘distance’ is not the level of teaching-learning.

Promoting a Democratic Environment in school: The school should emphasize the need to establish a democratic school environment. It states that the children should have the opportunity to express their views and they should be given due weight. Teachers have to contribute to a democratic atmosphere and to welcome pupil participation in classroom processes. The following are a few strategies to make a class democratic:

• Project Method: It was jointly contributed by John Dewey and W.H. Kilpatrick. It is a method which promotes voluntary participation of students by working in a group, personal experiences of students as the basis of knowledge, application of practical knowledge to complete a specific project, the transmission of practical knowledge to the students for quality experiences, active learning by association and mutual co-operation of a group of peers.
• Brainstorming Method: Proposed by Alex Osborn, it is named so since it refers to the idea that problems are to be attacked by storms of ideas. It is a creative technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific task by gathering a list of ideas before starting the task.

Every participant puts forward any idea which comes to his/her mind.

No member of the group is allowed to discuss the merits or demerits, practicability or impracticability of a particular idea put forward by another member.

• Heuristic Method: Discovered by H. E. Armstrong, this method of teaching involves placing students as far as possible in the altitude of the discoverer. This method can also be named as the 'discovery method'. It involves finding out instead of being merely told about things.

Hence, we conclude that Lecture is not a democratic strategy in classroom teaching.

Inclusive education: It refers to an education system that accommodates all children regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other conditions.

Inclusive Education:

• acknowledges that all children can learn (does not merely focus on students with special needs).
• acknowledges and respects differences in children: age, gender, ethnicity, language, disability, HIV and TB status etc.
• enables education structures, systems, and methodologies to meet the needs of all children.
• is part of a wider strategy to promote an inclusive society.
• is a dynamic process that is constantly evolving.
• seeks to maximize the potential of all students.
• is a continuous process, not an achieved state or product.
• is the shift in service from the care of disabled children to their education and personal development.

Hence, we conclude that inclusive education does not merely enhance learning only for students with special needs.

Flanders Interaction Analysis Category System (FIACS) technique was developed by Dr Ned A. Flander. It is an observation technique which records classroom interaction in ten categories. This system measures only the verbal behaviour of teachers. This tool-related children's attitudes to patterns of teacher influence. It is primarily concerned with analyzing the influence patterns of the teacher, and distinguishes those acts of the teacher which increase pupils' freedom of action from those acts that decrease it. In the Flanders ten category system all the events that occur in the classroom are classified into three major sections:

• Teacher-talk: It includes-
• Indirect Influence: Accepting Feelings, Praising/Encouraging, Accepting Ideas and Asking Question
• Direct Influence: Lecturing, Giving Directions, Criticizing/Justifying Authority
• Student-talk: It includes-
• Responding Teacher
• Initiating Talk
• Silence or confusion: It is used to handle anything else that is not a teacher or student talk.

Hence, we conclude that the Guardian talk is not related to Flander's interaction analysis system.

In speech, the smallest unit of meaning is 'morpheme' as it is the smallest unit of meaning that can't be broken up. Eg- 'un' in the word unable.

Morpheme is a meaningful linguistic unit of a word which:

• can't be divided into smaller meaningful parts.
• repeatedly convey lexical/grammatical meaning.
• assign a particular grammatical property to a word.

Hence, it could be concluded that in speech, the smallest unit of meaning is 'morpheme'.

NOTE:

Along with John Dewey, the promoter of the Philosophy of Pragmatism, **Simpson also supported the of learning by doing which has the following

key points:

**

Key Points

• It emphasizes that reality must be experienced and students must interact with their environment in order to adapt and learn.
• It promotes self-learning and self-assessment and gives real experience of solving real-life problems.
• It is a way of combining thinking and reasoning with the practical act of manipulating objects for solving a problem.
• Learning by doing ensures the development of self-learning skills, emotional growth, physical coordination, and cognition as they gain knowledge by engaging with the contents and objects and gains real experience in real-life situations.

Hence, we conclude that Simpson said: "We learn by doing".

There are three different levels of teaching and teaching takes place at three levels progressively- memory level of teaching, understanding level of teaching, and reflective level of teaching. They must keep in mind the developmental stage of the learners so that desired educational objectives can be achieved.

1. Memory level of teaching (MLT): Least thoughtful teaching

• It is the initial stage of teaching.
• It involves the habit of rote memorization. In such type of act, memory plays a key role.
• The teacher presents factual information before the learner. The learner tries to memorize these facts with the least involvement of his/her thinking and reasoning power. It represents the involvement of the least thoughtful behaviour.
• The evaluation includes oral, written, and essay-type examinations.

1. Understanding level of teaching (ULT): thoughtful teaching

• Understanding something is to perceive the meaning, grasp the idea, and comprehend the meaning.
• It focuses on the mastery of the subject.
• The teaching at the understanding level is of a higher quality than the one at the memory level.
• At this level of teaching, the teacher explains the student about the relationship between principles and facts and teaches them how these principles can be applied.
• The learner and the teacher are actively involved in this level of teaching.
• The evaluation includes both essay and objective type questions.

1. Reflective level of teaching (ULT): Most thoughtful level

• It is a problem-centric approach to teaching.
• Teaching at the reflective level represents the highest level of the teaching activities that can be carried out in the most thoughtful modes of operation providing the desirable quality of teaching situation and experience to the learner for utilizing and enhancing their cognitive abilities to the maximum.
• At this level, the student is made to face a real problematic situation. The student by understanding the situation and using his critical abilities succeeds in solving the problem.
• At this level, the emphasis is laid on identifying the problem, defining it, and finding a solution to it. The student’s original thinking and creative-abilities develop at this level.
• The aim is to develop the reflective power of learners so that they can solve problems of their lives by reasoning, logic, and imagination and lead successful and happy lives.

Hence, Descriptive level is not the level of teaching.

Teaching can be performed with such skill and grace so that both teachers, as well as learners, experience the whole process aesthetically. It involves various facets of it. Philip Jackson divided teaching operations into three phases and they are Pre-active, Interactive, and post-active phases.

• Pre-active stage: This stage involves the following activities:
• Ascertaining entry competence
• Stating learning outcomes
• Analyzing content and subordinate concepts
• Identifying types of learning
• Interactive stage: This stage involves the following activities like deciding methods/approaches of stimulus presentation, deciding on expected learners’ responses, Giving feedback. Major Operations in the interactive stage are:
• Perception: As soon as the teacher enters the class, he tries to percept class atmosphere, and then according to it, he adjusts his abilities for teaching. Students too, try to percept the ability of the teacher.
• Diagnosis: It involves activities like asking questions to know how much a student knows. The teacher tries to figure out students' abilities.
• Reaction: In this, the teacher observes students' reaction to how they are answering, what they are answering. By this, students learn how to react and respond to stimuli. It helps in making verbal and non-verbal interaction.
• Evaluative stage: This stage involves determining the tools to check for the achievement of the intended learning outcomes.

Hence, we conclude that the main operation in the interactive stage of teaching is ​all the above-mentioned points.

Classical Conditioning: This is the simplest form of conditioning, described Pavlov, a Russian Psychologist. Conditioning is a term used to describe the process by which neutral stimulus gains the power to elicit a specific conditioned response. This is explained through the experiments done by Pavlov. He associated the presentation of food to the dog with another stimulus as the sound of the bell. After giving some trials in which bell preceded the presentation of food, the dog started salivating at the sound of the bell. There are some aspects of classical conditioning which require consideration:

• Acquisition: For acquisition, each paired presentation of the conditioned stimulus (Sound of bell) and the unconditioned stimulus (Food) should be presented a number of times and the interval between the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus should be short.
• Stimulus Substitution: With conditioning a link a bond is formed between the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus and as a result of this conditioned stimulus (bell) becomes equivalent to the unconditioned stimulus (food) in eliciting a response. We mean thereby that an association between the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus enables one to substitute conditioned stimulus for unconditioned stimulus in evoking a response.
• Stimulus Generalization and Discrimination
• Stimulus Generalization: When conditioning has occurred or when the conditioned response to a stimulus has been acquired, then other similar stimuli can also elicit the same response. This is known as stimulus generalization. In Pavlov’s experiment, the dog gave CR (salivation) to a slightly different bell also. Another example is: A child starts fearing after seeing a black cow, black dog and black objects.
• Stimulus Discrimination: Stimulus Discrimination is to make one response to one stimulus and different response or no response to another. In experiments it is demonstrated by using two different tones (SCI) (bell). On one trial CS (1) is paired with US (food) and on the other trial CS (2) given without US (food). The s learns to respond only to CS (I).
• Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery: Repetition of the conditioned stimulus (bell) without unconditioned stimulus repeatedly gradually diminishes the response. This is called Extinction. A response that has been extinguished, does come-up later on its own, this is called spontaneous recovery. At this stage, if reinforcement (US) is not presented with CS, the response extinguishes permanently.

Hence, we conclude that the above type of conditioning includes stimulus generalization.

Teaching method: Different teaching methods are used by teachers as per the requirements of students. For choosing the one, the teacher may classify students based on their abilities (ability grouping) or he can choose it based on the compatibility of the topic.

• Efficient teaching methods are the essential tools that can help teachers to make the students achieve success in the classroom.
• Each student has a different personality and their learning ability also differs.
• There are several factors that a teacher must consider when choosing a teaching method for the students.
• Some determining factors for selecting a teaching method include the students’ interest and background knowledge, as well as their environment and learning abilities, mental level of students, nature of the subject, and individual difference.

Hence, we conclude that parental background should not be kept in mind while selecting a teaching method.

Development can be defined as the change of shape, size, health or change in psychology.

The development of human beings is divided into different stages: Infancy, Early childhood, Late Childhood, Adolescence and Adulthood.

Early Childhood (3-5 yrs): This is also called the toy age as kids are more engaged with toys rather than playing with other people.

• He learns various actions by imitating others.
• He asks questions whenever he gets to know about a new object. Hence, they are curious.
• When it comes to intellectual development he can recognize colour, shape, size of objects. Also his imagination develops, he wants to know about things around him and thus he questions about it.
• He can walk, uses the toilet (growth), interacts with his family members (gregarious).

 

 

Hence, we can conclude from the above description that Lack of curiosity is not a characteristic of childhood.

Creativity is the phenomenon whereby imaginative and original ideas are turned into reality. It is a cognitive ability to produce something original by offering a fresh perspective. It is goal-directed thinking which is unusual, novel, and useful.

Key Points

Graham Wallas (1926) outlined the creative thinking process into four stages:

1. Preparation: It involves collecting information regarding a problem in order to solve it through trial and error, recalling personal experiences and investigating in all possible directions.
2. Incubation: In this stage, the solution exists but there is a lack of clarity. It is a slow process in which the individual sinks into the unconscious and reflects on the problem.
3. Illumination: It is the stage the individual is most active and conscious. It is in this stage that an insight to the problem is experienced suddenly and a new idea or solution emerges.
4. Verification: This stage might involve modifications to the solution reached in the previous stage by adding or subtracting, or making new connections. The final solution achieved is tested in reality. If the solution does not apply to the problem then the whole process is repeated.

Hence, it could be concluded that motivation is not related to creative process.

Development, which is continuous change, is a phenomenon which is observed both in terms of quality and quantity. In quantity, we measure terms like height, weight.

• Measuring quantitively is called growth. i.e. growth in terms of structural and physiological changes, which is a subset of development.
• Growth is a ceaseless change measurable in terms of weight, height, and size. When measured qualitatively as well that is, in terms of skills, it becomes development.

Key Points

Physical & Motor Development:

It refers to the growth of body parts both internally and externally. It is the first step of growth and development.

• While motor development is the ability to move body parts and is of two types: Gross Motor Skills and Fine Motor Skills
• Gross Motor Skill is the ability to use large body parts like kicking a football with legs.
• On the other hand, fin motor skill refers to use small body parts like writing with a pen using fingers.

Additional Information

The following are types of development:

 

Hence, we conclude that  Physical development is the first step of growth and development.