Towards purposeful teaching

TODAY, EVERYONE is talking of qualitative improvement. Keeping in mind the quantity of knowledge to be imparted, the teacher just forges ahead at an alarming pace to complete the syllabus. She does not pause to think whether in the `run' to complete the portion the students have assimilated the knowledge, in the right manner, in a useful way and whether at a later date they would be able to use it profitably to understand themselves and their environment and be useful citizens, with well-balanced personalities.

Knowledge is often imparted in schools in the following way. The teacher gives the students some information, the students write it down, memorise it and then attempt to recall it verbatim during a test. This knowledge is forgotten soon afterwards. This happens because knowledge is not imparted to them in a meaningful way, in other words, no processing of information is done. The teaching of knowledge per sedoes not mean that information processing is taking place.

An information processing approach to teaching stresses purposeful teaching instead of just giving information. Therefore, it can be defined as the acquiring of knowledge through the transformation of data into a more useful form.

To illustrate this point here are a few situations taken from a history teaching session.

There are two teachers - Teacher `A' and Teacher `B'. Both are teaching two different sections of Std. VIII. The topic is the `Chinese Civilization', specifically `The Great Wall of China'. Teacher `A' tells the class that the Great Wall of China is very long, its length is ... the breadth is ... the height is ... and goes on to the next teaching point.

Teacher `B' from mentioning the length, breadth and height of the Great Wall - says - ``Children, we have learnt that the Chinese Civilisation dates back to 3000 B.C. Today, we have reached 2000 A.D. so 3000+2000 is how many years? The children answer, ``5000''. She continues. ``So even after 5000 years, you can still see the Great Wall of China. It speaks of the engineering skills and the superior quality of materials used to build the wall. This is unlike the buildings of today which after a few years develop cracks. The knowledge of science and technology that the Chinese had was so advanced 5000 years ago, that even today, it is the only monument in the world that can be viewed from space. You can, therefore imagine how long it is.''

Teacher `A' has given some information but teacher `B' has processed the information by using the strategy of `correlation' and making the information more meaningful.

Situation No. 2: Again there are two teachers `C' and `D' teaching, two different sections of Class IX. The topic at hand is `Babar'. Teacher `C' says Babar was invited to come to India by Daulat Khan Lodi as he wanted to eliminate Ibrahim Khan Lodi and become the King of Delhi.

Teacher `D' in the next section, is teaching same lesson. After giving some preliminary information about Babar, she narrates the story of the two cats fighting over butter and the monkey intervening and taking it away. Then she asks,``Who is the monkey in the lesson?'' The children answer, ``Babar.''She asks, ``Who are the cats in the lesson?'' The children answer, ``Ibrahim Lodi and Daulat Khan Lodi.''

Again teacher `C' has just given information while teacher `D' has used the strategy - `story telling' to make the information more meaningful.

Situation No. 3: - Two teachers `E' and `F' are teaching two different sections of Std X. The topic - ``The causes of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.''

Teacher `E' says the causes of the mutiny were political, economic, social, military and goes on to explain them.

Teacher `F' while explaining each cause, stresses on the injustice meted out to the Indians by the British and appeals to the emotions of the students.

Who, in this case is the better teacher? Teacher `E' or `F'? the answer is, of course, Teacher `F'.

Perhaps, the most important characteristic of this kind of teaching is the emphasis placed on the learner's involvement in the learning process. Students, when involved in the learning process are not passive recipients of knowledge.An information processing perspective emphasises that learning is rarely incidental, rather it is being guided to a goal. In addition, learning is seldom passive, the learner is involved in an active attempt to make his environment more comprehensible.Strategies that can be used for information processing by a teacher

In the classroom a teacher can process information with the help of these strategies, they include:

1. Correlation.

2. Similarities or differences or both can be used simultaneously.

3. Examples.

4. Stories.

5. Analogies.

6. Anecdotes.

7. Audio-Visual aids.

8. Appealing to the emotionality of the student.

If a teacher consciously makes an effort to guide the student/trainee to go about his/her teaching in the above manner , we will be able to produce type `B', `D', `F' teachers who will go a long way in improving the quality of teaching and making knowledge more meaningful, purposeful and useful.

I am reminded here of two sayings: ``Let our teaching be full of ideas - hereto, it has been stuffed only with facts'', - Anatole France and ``If education were identical with information, the libraries would be the greatest sages in the world and the encyclopaedias, the rishis''. - Swami Vivekananda.

VEERA M. BHARDA

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