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01
General Methods of Teaching (6400) B.Ed (4-Years)
Autumn, 2018
Q. 1A teacher’s personality traits are important to create and maintain a classroom/learning
environment. Why? (20)
A teacher leader has a passion for both teaching students and mentoring or assisting fellow teachers.
Peer teachers have the greatest influence on other teachers in impacting school-wide change and
driving improvements in the classrooms. The teacher leadership structure may be formalized, or
teachers might informally evolve into a supportive role. This role includes providing individual or group
assistance in a number of areas, such as curriculum, instruction, classroom management, professional
development, mentoring, data coaching, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Assume you are a teacher who transferred from Autocratic High School to Empowerment High School.
You meet several veteran teachers that welcome you to the school and offer assistance. At Autocratic
High School, there was a formal structure where one teacher with administrative certification was
appointed as a Curriculum Supervisor. She worked with the administration and provided professional
development workshops for teachers. You discover that Empowerment High School does not have this
supportive position. Instead, it has several teacher leaders who share their expertise and talents in an
informal structure.
Principal Strong introduces the teachers and praises their collective leadership and assistive roles,
which result in increased student achievement. Mr. Cash is successful in acquiring grant funding,
training on technology instruction resources, and analyzing student performance data. Mrs. Wise work
with teachers on curriculum, instructional strategies, and assessment techniques. One teacher tells
you, 'Mr. Steady really helped me improve my classroom management skills last year.' You notice that
these teachers also facilitate professional development sessions. You are impressed by how involved
the teachers are outside of their own classrooms. During the school year, you notice that teacher
leaders have certain quality characteristics.
Educating children who have been identified as gifted takes a special talent! In this lesson, you will
learn about the characteristics of successful gifted education teachers.
Every school and district handles gifted education a little differently, but most educators agree that
teaching students who are advanced learners, or learn more quickly, at a higher level, or in a more
abstract and creative way than their peers, can be as challenging as it is exciting.
Students who are gifted, or especially talented and quick thinking in one or more areas, require a
teacher who knows how to meet them where they are and recognize their particular strengths and
capacities.
Mrs. Anderson is such a teacher. She astutely identifies the gifted students among her third graders,
and she knows that their path through school is not always a simple one. Over the years, Mrs.
Anderson has developed characteristics that she finds especially helpful in working with gifted
students.
Flexibility
First and foremost, Mrs. Anderson believes in the importance of flexibility, or a willingness to think
and work in new and different ways, when working with gifted children. For example, when Mrs.
Anderson has a student who has already conceptually mastered all of the requirements of her third
grade math curriculum, she is not rigid about requiring that student to do more of the work he already
finds easy. Instead, she allows this child to work on higher-level math or even spend math periods
designing his own independent projects and inquiries.
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Similarly, Mrs. Anderson knows that her gifted readers and writers might not be able to adhere to rigid
time requirements, since they are reading more complicated texts than other students and are writing
more complex and nuanced work. She is flexible with their deadlines and assignments, recognizing
that they will challenge themselves more appropriately if she gives them a little more space.
Insight
Mrs. Anderson also knows that it is important to have insight when working with gifted children. In this
case, insight refers to deep knowledge or understanding of someone. Each gifted child is different, so
Mrs. Anderson makes sure to take the time to get to know gifted students as whole people. She
considers their particular strengths and learning styles, and she makes note of aspects of school or life
that might be especially challenging.
Mrs. Anderson believes that insight is important for all teachers to have with any students, but with
gifted children she has seen too many teachers consider them as independent and not in need of a
thoughtful teacher. Because of this, she is especially careful to get to know her gifted students and
meet them where they are.
Q.2 Define effective teaching. Discuss the factors contributing towards effective teaching.
(20)
We’ll explore the characteristics and strategies of effective teaching. We'll also look at some methods
used by teachers, such as case studies and role playing, that are used to encourage student learning.
Definition
If you were to look back on some of your favorite teachers in school, who would they be? Do they have
anything in common? Many of us liked the teachers who cared about our success and made class fun
and interesting. We favored those who broke down concepts so we could understand them, while
motivating us to think for ourselves. We appreciated genuine teachers who listened when we had
something to say and were willing to admit if they were ever wrong. We found that because of the way
these teachers were and the way that they taught, we learned more from their classes than from many
others. We got to experience what effective teaching looks like.
Effective teaching is the designed goal of every teacher. In effective teaching, the teacher uses
certain approaches and tools to help the student learn and flourish. Those of us who were fortunate
enough to have personal experience with effective teachers can learn from them if we are to go on as
teachers ourselves. In this lesson, you'll find several strategies and methods that your favorite
teachers probably used to make your class time memorable.
Strategies
Effective teaching begins, most importantly, with a knowledge of your students. Where are they
academically at this point? What is appropriate material for their grade level? Are there any students
with ADHD in the class who need unique assistance? Have any gone through a recent trauma or
tragedy? By knowing where they're coming from, you can know better how to guide and assist them
from there.
Students learn best when the teacher explains the material well. It's important to have a good grasp
yourself on the subject, to teach patiently, to watch for confused looks or questions from students, and
to go step by step on the harder material.
One purpose of teaching is to build up the students' abilities to remember the material learned and
figure things out for themselves. Effective teaching, then, includes giving students the chance to work
independently in a way that builds up their own critical thinking, as well as their confidence in the
material. When going over homework assignments, make sure students know they have to work
independently rather than getting help from parents or peers.
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Get Students Interested and Engaged with the Material
The best teaching makes students curious and motivated to learn more. Are there interesting stories or
examples you can provide? Is there a guest speaker you can invite? It's important for teachers to be
creative and apply the material to the students' lives, as well as give them opportunities to do various
projects that will get students interacting with the lessons.
Understanding the principles and theories of educational psychology is essential for teachers but simply
understanding is not enough. Future teachers must embrace sound educational principles and seek
opportunities for growth throughout their careers. This lesson will focus on the qualities of an effective
teacher, including pedagogical content knowledge awareness, reflective teaching and action research.
Meet Andi. Andi is starting her first day as a third grade teacher. Andi thinks she is ready. She made
all As in her classes, received excellent letters of recommendations from faculty and passed all of her
certification exams with high marks.
Oh, here come Andi's students. Let's follow Andi through her first year as a teacher.
Effective teaching does not occur naturally. Effective teaching is not achieved through simply knowing
educational principles and theories. Effective teaching is not like a one-size-fits-all t-shirt. In order for
effective teaching to occur, teachers must:
Let's check in on Andi; it's her third week. It looks like Andi is having a rough morning! Maybe some
veteran teachers can help her out on her path to becoming an effective teacher.
In order to be effective, a teacher must be a subject matter expert. Being a subject matter expert is
more than just having a general knowledge of facts and concepts. Being a subject matter expert
includes:
Knowledge about organizing ideas, connections among ideas, ways of thinking and arguing and
patterns of change within a discipline
Beliefs about discipline
The ability to carry ideas from one discipline to another
An effective teacher must also know pedagogical content knowledge. This is knowledge about
effective methods of teaching a specific content area. Effective teachers have a large number of
strategies for teaching. They are also aware of common errors students tend to make and can
anticipate when difficult situations may arise out of student frustration or lack of understanding.
An effective teacher must engage in critical thinking, which is the process of evaluating the accuracy
and worth of research and information. An effective teacher will engage in critical thinking to not only
analyze what he or she reads as best teaching practices but also use critical thinking to analyze what
the students' reasoning and thought processes might be. This may help to catch misconceptions and
minimize classroom frustration levels.
Curriculum planning and development is a challenging but important process. If teachers use standards
to write annual, unit, and lesson plans, they will ensure that their students are exposed to all
necessary material in a given school year.
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Curriculum Design and Teaching
Mr. Eliano is a fourth grade teacher who works at a public school in Illinois. He has been teaching for a
few years, and he loves his job. He has great relationships with students and families, and his
classroom management is wonderful. But, Mr. Eliano gets confused when it comes to curriculum. Sure,
he can construct lessons on a day-to-day basis, but he struggles with the big picture. Mr. Eliano sits
down with colleagues and supervisors to ask what curriculum design really is. Let's follow his journey
as he seeks out the answer to this important pedagogical question.
What is a character?
How do authors describe their characters?
What clues can we use to figure out a character's personality
Q. 3What strategies a teacher can use in the classroom to motivate students? (20)
Intrinsic and extrinsic are the two types of motivation. Learn more about intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation from definitions and examples, then test your knowledge with a quiz.
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Types of Motivation
Sammy and Dani are running buddies. Sammy loves to run and will often go running just to clear his
head or blow off steam. Dani, meanwhile, hates to run, but she does it because her doctor told her
that she needs to lose weight or she might end up with diabetes.
Sammy is intrinsically motivated to run. Intrinsic motivation is when you do something because you
enjoy it or find it interesting. Compare that to Dani, whose reason for running involves extrinsic
motivation, or doing something for external rewards or to avoid negative consequences.
Now, you may think that intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation, and you'd be right up
to a point. Studies have shown that people are more likely to stick to a task, invest more time in a
task, and be more successful at it if they are intrinsically motivated.
Intrinsic and extrinsic are the two types of motivation. Learn more about intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation from definitions and examples, then test your knowledge with a quiz.
Types of Motivation
Sammy and Dani are running buddies. Sammy loves to run and will often go running just to clear his
head or blow off steam. Dani, meanwhile, hates to run, but she does it because her doctor told her
that she needs to lose weight or she might end up with diabetes.
Sammy is intrinsically motivated to run. Intrinsic motivation is when you do something because you
enjoy it or find it interesting. Compare that to Dani, whose reason for running involves extrinsic
motivation, or doing something for external rewards or to avoid negative consequences.
Now, you may think that intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation, and you'd be right up
to a point. Studies have shown that people are more likely to stick to a task, invest more time in a
task, and be more successful at it if they are intrinsically motivated.
Three friends hit the gym after work. Macho Mindy, Fit Fred and Tentative Tom. Macho Mindy heads
directly to the 75-pound weights and begins curling as fast as she can. Soon, she has drawn a crowd
and this seems to encourage her to do more reps. Fit Fred heads to the treadmill. He enjoys running
and often talks about the health benefits and increased energy he feels after each run. Tentative Tom
just stands in the middle of the gym. He's not sure why he's even there. He wants to feel more
energetic but he also wants to gain more muscle to impress his friends. Mindy and Fred are motivated
to work out, but their motivation is derived from different sources. Poor Tom isn't sure what motivates
him yet.
Definitions
Not all motivation has the same effect on human learning and behaviors. In this lesson we are going to
talk about the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation to engage in an activity for its own sake. People who are
intrinsically motivated perform tasks and engage in behaviors because they find them enjoyable.
Simply participating in the activity is reward enough. Fit Fred falls into this category. Fred enjoys
running and is happy about how he feels afterwards. He needs no other motivator to continue running.
On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is motivation promoted by factors external to the individual.
Individuals who are extrinsically motivated work on tasks because they believe that participation will
result in desirable outcomes such as a reward or praise. Macho Mindy is motivated by external rewards
such as praise and a muscular appearance.
It is easy to assume that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation fall along a continuum with intrinsic
motivation on one end and extrinsic on the other. However, there is no automatic relationship between
the two. For any activity, an individual may have both high extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, low or in
between, on any given day.
Let's go back to the gym. Tentative Tom is intrinsically motivated by the health benefits of working
out, but he is also motivated extrinsically by building muscle to impress his friends. In the classroom, a
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student might study hard for a math test because he or she wants to have the highest grade in the
class but also because he or she really enjoys the subject.
Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are time and context dependent. Things that people find
interesting one day can slowly become mundane the next; doing something because one wants to can
easily become doing it because one has to. For example, if Fred was hired to teach people how to run,
his intrinsic motivation for running might decrease because now he has to run for a purpose as
opposed to simply running for enjoyment. Has this ever happened to you?
So which type of motivation is best for learning? Do students learn better when they enjoy the content
or can they learn just as well if their goal is to please the teacher or have the highest grade in the
class? Motivational researchers have studied these questions and concluded that working on a task for
intrinsic reasons in not only more enjoyable, but also relates positively to learning, achievement and
perceptions of competence.
In the educational environment, many students have low intrinsic motivation - especially in subjects
that they don't feel are relevant to their future. Did you remember thinking, 'Why do I have to learn
algebra, I'm never going to use this stuff!' Teachers are faced with a challenge of identifying sources to
enhance intrinsic motivation among learners.
Intrinsic Motivation
Imagine that you are conducting a research study on the motivation for high school students to
participate in sports. You interview students in grades 9-12 and ask them what their motivation is for
joining their school's sports team. Thirty percent of the students tell you that they joined to increase
their popularity status, gain muscle and increase their chances for getting a college scholarship. The
other 70% joined because they enjoy playing sports, they think sports are cool, or because they love
the challenge they get from participating in sports. The reasons that the seventy percent gave are
examples of intrinsic motivation.
Motivation Defined
You've most likely heard of motivation. Motivation is what drives you to take action. It's your
inspiration for doing something. Without motivation, you would accomplish very little. There are two
types of motivation.
If you participate in school sports to boost your popularity status, gain muscle and increase your
chances for getting a college scholarship as in the example above, you are extrinsically motivated to do
so. Extrinsic motivation refers to performing an action or behavior in order to receive an external
reward or outcome. When you are extrinsically motivated to do something, you aren't concerned with
whether or not the action is enjoyable. You are most concerned with the outcomes associated with the
action.
For example, those of us who are not morning people would not choose to wake up early on weekdays,
but we know that if we do not wake up, then we will be late to work or school. Here we are
extrinsically motivated to wake up early in order to receive the outcome of being on time.
You will learn to define inductive reasoning. Following the lesson, you will have the opportunity to test
your knowledge with a short quiz.
Categories of Reasoning
The ability to think, develop ideas, and form mental concepts is a tremendously important part of the
human experience. What we do with those thoughts, ideas, and concepts is even more
important. Reasoning is the term that cognitive psychologists use to refer to the process of assigning
meaning to our thoughts. This has a tremendous impact on how we view various aspects of the world
around us and influences how we make decisions.
In the world of cognitive psychology, there are two main categories of reasoning: inductive
reasoning and deductive reasoning. Factors, such as how quickly a decision must be reached and the
type of information that is available, influence which type of reasoning we decide to use.
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Definition of Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning is the process of making generalized decisions after observing, or witnessing,
repeated specific instances of something. Conversely, deductive reasoning is the process of taking
the information gathered from general observations and making specific decisions based on that
information.
Both types of reasoning will allow you to form opinions and draw conclusions about environmental
occurrences, but they will oftentimes yield different results. For instance, with inductive reasoning, you
are essentially generalizing that all future instances of something will comply with the observations
that you have seen so far. Naturally, it is not possible to witness every instance of a particular
environmental occurrence, so there are undoubtedly going to be instances wherein your reasoning is
not accurate.
Again, a key driving force in determining whether inductive or deductive reasoning is employed is the
availability of information. Inductive reasoning, while not 100% accurate 100% of the time, is still a
relatively quick way to make decisions. Sometimes, saving time is as important as being accurate.
Let's take a look at a couple of examples to illustrate inductive reasoning in action.
We will explore the variety of ways inductive arguments determine what is most likely, and probable.
Inductive Generalizations
Let's talk about some of the patterns used when we are thinking inductively.
The first is an old friend: generalization. We are making a generalization when we observe a pattern
in some specific situations and then apply those observations to a much larger group or situation.
Example: Perhaps you believe that most people have some sort of dental hygiene routine, like
brushing their teeth every day (or at least most days). You probably think that this is true because of
the cases of people you know who brush their teeth regularly. Then you generalize to the larger
population, concluding that it's likely most people do this.
As human beings, we generalize a lot. It essentially gets us through the day. If we didn't generalize,
we'd have trouble talking with others, making decisions, or expressing our preferences.
Generalizations can get us into a lot of trouble too. Think about the prejudices people hold about your
particular age group, ethnic group, or gender, for instance. Not every generalization will be accurate
for a whole group, and so it's important to recognize that generalizations have their limitations.
Predictive Arguments
Example: ''Every time I stop flossing my teeth, I start to develop gingivitis. If I stop flossing again, I
will develop gingivitis again.''
This is an example of a predictive argument. This type of inductive reasoning uses past experience
to conclude that something that happened in the past will likely occur again, if the conditions are the
same. You might not get gingivitis after all, but your experience tells you that this will likely happen if
you drop flossing from your regular routine.
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Arguments from Authority
Example: ''Dentists agree that it's important to brush and floss daily. This will help to prevent dental
problems down the road.''
This argument isn't about my personal experience or about the experiences of people I know. This
conclusion is reached as a result of an argument from authority. In other words, I'm deferring to the
opinion of the experts who likely know about this topic.
Not a bad approach, right? Of course, like any inductive argument, there is a chance with arguments
from authority that the experts won't know all of the answers, or that the answer could change over
time as more is known in their field.
Causal Arguments
Example: ''When children eat a lot of sugar, they get more cavities. Therefore, sugar causes cavities.''
Here, we have a causal argument that labels sugar as the culprit in the formation of cavities. Notice
that in this argument there is a cause-and-effect relationship between two things: sugar and cavities.
When we say something causes another, it is because we believe that the two events often occur
together so frequently that the best explanation is that they are directly linked to one another.
In research, the word ''cause'' is not used as frequently as the word ''correlated''. Why is that? When
we look deeper into a topic (such as what causes cavities), we can find other factors that also
contribute. So while this is a common pattern of inductive reasoning, it's also one that needs its fair
share of caution.
Inductive validity means that when one reasons inductively, such reasoning will contain three
elements: 1) a premise (the first guiding point), 2) supporting evidence (what makes you believe the
premise is true), and 3) a conclusion that is true and viable (valid) AS FAR AS YOU KNOW. The validity
of the reasoning is based upon the strength of your supporting evidence, which makes your premise
more likely to be true, and hence, your conclusion to be more than likely true.
Inductive reasoning is often used in science and philosophy, since it provides evidence for a belief,
even though that belief may someday be found to be false (just ask any scientist!). In other words,
inductive reasoning is a 'best guess' that is based on the best available evidence. A basic example
might look like this:
All printed books have a binding. I believe this because every book I have read has had a binding.
Therefore, any new book that is made will probably have a binding.
This is inductively valid because its premise, that printed books all have bindings, is true and viable, as
far as the thinker knows based upon her prior experience with books (the supporting evidence). The
conclusion, that new printed books will likely have bindings, is also very likely true and viable, but this
is not guaranteed. In order to truly grasp this, we must note the difference between inductive and
deductive reasoning.
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You might surmise that, since literature rarely has caused such negative actions (premise 1), it is
useful for teaching and informing (premise 2) and is valuable as entertainment (premise 3), that it
should not be destroyed (conclusion). The supporting evidence in this case might be examples of how
books are valuable for teaching, informing, and entertaining, in addition to the lack of examples of
them having caused trouble!
A question remains, though: is that conclusion a certainty? Can you be absolutely certain that
literature will not cause people to revolt or become otherwise troublesome? The answer is no. This is
inductive reasoning because you have considered specific information and come to a general
conclusion, even though the conclusion may one day prove to be wrong. The validity of the reasoning
is in the fact that you have indeed used reasonable premises and consideration to come to the
conclusion, regardless of whether it is correct.
Example in Writing
Suppose you are considering writing a short story based on the aforementioned book, Fahrenheit
451. You have decided that you wish to write the story from the point of view of a book. You describe
the reasons why you feel you and all of your friends, millions of other books, should not be burned, but
you should be allowed to exist and even be read.
In considering what to use as support for your argument against destruction, you might choose to offer
examples of how books have been used for good (premise), such as informing (support 1), teaching
(support 2), guiding (support 3), and simply entertaining humans (support 4). Then, based on these
values, you would assert that you and all other books are mostly good, and, therefore, you should be
preserved (conclusion). This, again, is inductive reasoning because you have begun with specific
information, the valuable aspects of books, and drawn a general conclusion, that books should not be
burned. The validity is in the fact that your positive points showing the worth of books, of which you
have many examples, are true and viable, as far as you know. Your evidence should, therefore,
support the idea that books should be saved, even if some of them may one day prove to be harmful
to society!
Q. 5 a)What is an activity? Discuss the importance of activity method. (10+10)
Activity cost pools are used in activity-based costing systems to allocate manufacturing overhead to
specific products. Learn what activity cost pools are and how to use them in this lesson.
Manufacturing companies use product costing techniques to determine how much it costs to
manufacture each product it produces. One such technique is activity-based costing. Activity-based
costing systems allocate manufacturing overhead by assigning indirect costs to activity cost pools,
then dividing each cost pool by a cost driver to obtain the rates used for allocation. Manufacturing
overhead costs are the expenses incurred in the manufacture of a product that cannot be directly
allocated to that product. These costs are also known as indirect costs. Activity cost pools are
groups of individual costs influenced by the same cost drivers , which are activities that control the
amount of costs incurred.
Activity-based costing allows for more accurate product costing than other types of costing method
because it requires the calculation of multiple rates to allocate manufacturing overhead to products.
Activity cost pools are an important part of activity-based costing as they enable companies to group
similar overhead costs together and divide by a common cost driver. This enables the companies to
have multiple criteria for allocating overhead instead of just one like in traditional costing systems. For
example, instead of allocating overhead based on machine hours alone, the use of activity cost pools
would allow a company to allocate overhead based on machine hours, direct labor hours, number of
inspections, and other criteria as their specific processes required.
Example 1
OJW Company manufactures two types of widgets: Widget A and Widget B. The company has asked
you to evaluate its process expenses to determine its activity cost pools. You have been given the
following information:
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Expenses:
Payroll taxes
Fringe benefits
Electricity
Factory rent
Equipment maintenance
Factory maintenance
The first step to creating activity cost pools is to determine what drives each individual cost; that is,
what factor influences how much is spent in that expense category. For example, the amount spent on
electricity depends on how many hours a machine is running. Therefore, the cost driver for electricity
would be machine hours. Here are the drivers for each of the expenses:
Once the cost drivers are determined, the expenses influenced by the same cost drivers are grouped
into activity cost pools.
Payroll taxes
Fringe benefits
Machine Hours:
Electricity
Equipment maintenance
Factory rent
Factory maintenance
Upon completion of your project, you'll be able to tell OJW Company that they will need three activity
cost pools for the following cost drivers: direct labor hours, machine hours, and number of square feet.
Learning through real-world experiences with others allows students to grow and understand things
more easily. In this lesson, we'll examine constructivism in depth, including social learning, the zone of
proximal development, and project-based learning.
Constructivism
Susan doesn't understand physics. It just seems so difficult to her, with all the variables and
calculations. The more her teacher goes on and on about how to calculate this or figure out that, the
less Susan understands, and the more frustrated she gets.
Constructivism is a philosophy of education that says that people construct knowledge through their
experiences and interactions with the world. Essentially, it says that people learn through experience,
not through hearing someone give a lecture. For example, Susan doesn't really understand physics
when her teacher tries to explain it. But if she was faced with a physics problem in her everyday life
(say, trying to figure out how hard to push on the gas pedal to get her car to accelerate up a steep
hill), she might understand it better.
Because constructivism points out that experiential learning is more powerful than lectures and
worksheets, a related view is that by directing their own learning process, students will understand
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concepts better than if they were just handed the right way to do things. In other words, her teacher
can give Susan formulas all she wants; Susan will never understand them as completely as she would
if she were given the problem and had to come up with the formula herself.
Let's look at how constructivism relates to social learning and how it can be used in the classroom
through project-based learning.
Social Learning
Remember that constructivism says that people learn through their experiences and interactions with
the world around them. And the world around us is filled with other people, so you probably won't be
very surprised to find out that constructivism is closely linked to learning through interactions with
other people, or social learning.
Take Susan, for example. She can read a textbook on her own, but it doesn't really sink in. But when
she's with others, she can ask questions, brainstorm ideas, and flesh out her thoughts until she really
understands something.
Psychologist Lev Vygotsky pointed out that the most effective form of social learning doesn't come
from teacher interactions with students, but from students' interactions with other students.
Vygotsky's zone of proximal development says that people learn best from other people who are
just a little ahead of them.
Anyone who's ever seen two kids together understands the zone of proximal development. Kids learn
from each other all the time: One sibling comes home having learned about how seeds grow and
shows that to his younger brother. The younger brother, meanwhile, might have learned how to turn a
cartwheel and demonstrates this for his older brother.
What does this mean for Susan and physics? Even though her teacher knows the answer to a complex
physics problem, instead of giving Susan and her classmates the solution, the teacher can give them
the physics problem and have them work together to figure it out. The teacher is there to support the
students, but instead of giving answers, the teacher might ask questions of the students and
encourage them to use each other to try to solve the problem.
Project-Based Learning
Having students work in groups to figure out a problem is the basis of project-based learning,
or PBL, which focuses on giving an open-ended question and complex problem to a group of students
and having them figure out the best solution to the problem. PBL is a constructivist process, so the
problems are real-world problems, and students are encouraged to figure out a solution based on their
own understanding of the world and the topic.
The roles and responsibilities required to manage a project can be diverse and specialized to the
project. In this lesson, we look at some of the most common project management roles that ensure an
effective project.
Project Manager
A project manager is the leader of a business project. This person is responsible for ensuring all
aspects of a project are on track, including deadlines, budgets, and human resources. A project
manager must be able to multi-task and handle many details at the same time. When managing a
project, many problems will arise and last-minute challenges. An effective project manager must
handle unexpected issues, delays, and obstacles. Having experience and training in project
management is vital for success in this role.
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A project manager must also be able to communicate and inspire their team. They must be able to
delegate tasks to employees and successfully manage the tasks to reach project completion. They
must be able to think under pressure and come up with quick and effective solutions.
Customer Community
The Customer Community is made up of two primary groups, customer representatives and customer
decision-makers.
Customer Representative - This role is responsible for managing the interaction with the customer.
This person must be able to communicate clearly and answer questions the client has regarding the
project. If the client is upset or has a problem, this person is the advocate within the company to
support the client's needs. As an experienced customer service professional, the customer
representative keeps the customer informed of the status of the project, changes or challenges that
have been encountered, and any other relevant information that affects the project.
Customer Decision-Makers - The user group falls under the direction of the customer community.
This role handles a variety of issues that will have an impact on the customer. They may test the
product to ensure it meets expectations, respond to client questions, and ensure the project continues
to meet the needs of the customer. This group is the liaison between what the customer wants and
what is possible from the providing company.
When given a research assignment, you often must first create a main question that will be the central
focus of your project. This video lesson will help you create that main question.
Analyze Prompt
The first thing you must do is to analyze the prompt. Usually, the prompt your teacher will give you
will be very broad. Your job is to narrow that general prompt into a manageable topic that can be
answered throughout the research project. For example, in English class you might get a prompt that
states, 'Examine the role of an author's personal life in his works.' This is a very broad prompt. It can
relate to any author and any written work.
The first thing you need to do is to look carefully at the prompt to determine exactly what it is asking
you to do. For this example, you should see that you are required to find similarities in the events of
the author's life and the events that occur in his written works. This might seem like a massive
undertaking, but the information you find in your research will help to ease the task.
An example that might occur in history class could be: 'Analyze the events that led up to World War I.'
When you look closely at this prompt, you should see that it is asking you to identify and explain which
events helped the war to take place. Whatever your prompt, analyze it to identify exactly what it is
asking you to do.
Research
Once you have analyzed your prompt and you understand exactly what it is asking, you need to
research the topic. To research means to find reliable sources, which give you information on your
topic. In the case of the first example above, you will have to research an author, since finding out
information about the author will help you to relate his life to his written work. Furthermore, this
prompt even allows you to choose any author. For this, be sure to choose an author you are already
familiar with or one that interests you.
Once you decide the specific topics on which you need information, then begin your research using
credible sources. Encyclopedias, textbooks and scholarly journals are all credible sources. Feel free to
use online sources, but be sure to check the publishing information to be certain the source is reliable.
A personal webpage from a person who is a big fan of Harry Potter is not as credible as J.K. Rowling's
official website.
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Evaluate Your Information
As you research, you should be evaluating the information. Not all information will be relevant for your
project. You need to find information that connects to your prompt. For the prompt on an author's
personal life, you should be scanning biographies of an author for information that might show up in
his novels.
For example, if you researched the author Jack London, you would find that he spent time in his early
20s in Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. You will also find that one of his most popular novels, The
Call of the Wild, follows the story of Buck, the dog who travels up to Alaska to become a sled dog
during the gold rush.
Do you see how London's real life experience in the Klondike Gold Rush influenced this novel?
Furthermore, London wrote several other novels with a similar theme, so you can find a lot of
information to apply to this prompt. For your research, be sure to find reliable information that relates
to the topic you determined after analyzing the prompt.
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