Lesson 9: DRAMATIZED EXPERIENCE

Dramatic- is something that is stirring, affecting, or moving.

Dramatic entrance- is something that catches and holds attention, and has emotional impacts.

Dramatized Experiences can be range from:

a. Formal Plays

• Depict life, character, culture, or a combination of the three. They offer excellent opportunities to portray vividly important ideas about life.

b. Pageants

• Are usually community dramas that are based on local history. An example is a historical pageant that traces the growth of a school.

c. Pantomime

• Is an art of conveying a story through bodily movements. The effects of pantomime to the audience depend on the movements of the actors.

d. Tableau

•  A picture-like scene composed of people against a background.

e. Role-playing

• An unrehearsed, unprepared, and spontaneous dramatization of a situation where assigned participants are absorbed by their own roles.

f. Puppets

•  An inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a Puppeteer. Puppets can present ideas with extreme simplicity.

Types of Puppets

1. Shadow puppet- flat, black, silhouette made from lightweight cardboard shown behind a screen.

2. Rod puppets- flat, cut figures tacked to a stick with one or more movable parts, and are operated below the stage through wires and rods.

3. Glove-and-finger puppets- make use of gloves which small costumed figures are attached.

4. Marionettes- flexible, jointed puppets operated by strings or wires attached to a cross bar and maneuvered from directly above the stage.

Lesson 8: CONTRIVED EXPERIENCE

• Contrived experiences are the edited copies of reality and are used as substitutes for real things when it is not practical or possible to bring or do the real thing in the classroom.
• They are designed to stimulate real life situations.

EXAMPLES:

1. Model

• A reproduction of a real thing in a small scale, or a large scale or exact size- but made of synthetic materials.
• It is a substitute for a real thing which may or may not operational –Brown, et. al, 1969

2. Mock up

• An arrangement of a real device or associated devices, displayed in such way that representation of reality is created
• A special model where the parts of a model are singled out, heightened and magnified in order to focus on that part or process under study.

3. Specimen

• Any individual or item considered typically of a group, class, or whole.

4. Object

• May also include artifacts displayed in a museum or objective displayed in exhibits or preserved insect specimens in science.

5. Simulation

• A representation of a manageable real event in which the learner is an active participant engage in learning a behavior or in applying previously acquired skills or knowledge  -Orlich et. al, 1994

6. Games

Games are used in any of these purposes:

• To practice and/or to refine knowledge/skills already acquired
• To identify gaps and weaknesses in knowledge or skills
• To serve as a summation or review
• To develop new relationships among concepts and principles
• Why do we make use of contrived experiences?
• Overcome limitations of space and time
• To edit reality for us to be able to focus on parts or process of a system that we intend to study.
• To overcome difficulties of size
• To understand the inaccessible
• Help the learners understand abstraction

Ten general purposes of simulations and games

• to develop changes in attitudes
• to change specific behaviors
• to prepare participants for assuming new roles in the future
• to help individuals understand their current roles
• to increase the students’ ability to apply principles
• to reduce complex problems or situations to manageable elements
• to illustrate roles that may affect one’s life but that one may never assume
• to motivate learners
• to develop analytical processes
• to sensitize individuals to another person’s life role

Lesson 7: DIRECT-PURPOSEFUL EXPERIENCE

• Direct-purposeful experiences are our concrete and first hand experiences that make up the foundation of our learning.
• These are the rich experiences that our senses bring from which we construct the ideas, the concepts, the generalizations that give meaning and order to our lives (Dale, 1969).
• They are the sensory experiences.

Examples of Direct Purposeful Activities:

• Preparing meals or snacks.

• Making a piece of furniture

• Performing a laboratory experiment

• Delivering a speech

• Taking a trip

Why are these direct experiences described to be purposeful?

• They are experiences that are internalized in the sense that experiences involve the asking of questions that have significance in the life of the person undergoing the direct experiences.
• These experiences are undergone in relation to a purpose, i.e. learning
• It is done in relation to a certain learning objective.

What does Direct Purposeful Experience imply to the Teaching-Learning Process?

• Let us give our students opportunities to learn by doing. Let us immerse our students in the world of experience.
• Let us make use of real things as instructional materials for as long as we can.
• Let us help our students develop the five senses to the full heighten their sensitivity to the world.
• Let us guide our students so that they can draw meaning from the first hand experiences and elevate their level of thinking.

Lesson 6: USING AND EVALUATING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

• One of the instructional materials used to attain instructional objectives is field trip.
• For an effective use of instructional materials such as field trip, there are guidelines that ought to be observed, first of all, in their selection and second, in their use.

Selections of Materials

• Does the material give a true picture of the ideas they present? To avoid misconceptions, it is always good to ask when the material was produced.
• Does the material contribute meaningful content to the topic under study? Does the material help you achieve the instructional objective?
• Is the material aligned to the curriculum standards and competencies?
• Is the material culture – and grades – sensitive?
• Does the material have culture bias?
• Is the material appropriate for the age, Intelligence, and experience of the learner?
• Is the physical condition of the material satisfactory? An example, is a photograph properly mounted?
• Is there a teacher’s guide to provide a briefing for effective use? The chance that the instructional material will be use to the maximum and to the optimum is increased  with a teacher’s guide
• Can the material in question help to make a student better thinkers and develop their critical faculties? With exposure to the mass media, it is highly important that we maintain and and strengthen our rational powers.
• Does the use of material make learners collaborate with one another?
• Does the material promote self – study?
• Is the material worth the time, expense and effort involved? A field trip, for instance, requires much time, effort and money. It is more effective than any other  less  expensive and less demanding instructional material that can take its place? Or is there a better substitute?

The Proper Use of Materials

• To ensure effective use of instructional material, Hayden Smith and Thomas Nigel, (1972) book authors on Instructional Media, advise us to abide by the acronym PPPF.

Prepare Yourself

• You know your lesson objective and what you expect from the class after the session and why you have selected such particular r instructional materials. You have a plan on how you will proceed, what question to ask, how  you will evaluate learning and how you will tie loose ends before the bell rings.

Prepare Your Students

• Set reasonably high class expectations and learning goals. It is sound practice to give them guide questions for them to be able to answer during the discussion. Motivate them and keep them interested and engaged.

Prepare the Materials

• Under  the best possible conditions.  Many teachers are guilty of the R.O.G syndrome. This is means “running out if gas” which usually refers from poor planning. (Smith, 1972) using media and materials, especially if they are mechanical in nature, often requires rehearsal and a carefully planned performance. Wise are you if  you try the materials ahead of your class use to avoid a fiasco.

Follow - up

• Remember that you use instructional materials to achieve an objective, not to kill time nor to give yourself a break, neither to merely entertain the class. You use the instructional for the attainment of a lesson objective. Your use the instructional material is not the end in itself. It is a means to an end, the attainment of a learning objective. So, there is need to follow up to find out if objective was attained to use.

Robert Gagne's Nine (9) Instructional Material in the Subject Facilitating Learning

  1. Gain attention

   2. Inform learner of objectives

   3. Stimulate recall of prior learning

   4. Present stimulus material

   5. Provide learner guidance

   6. Elicit performance

   7. Provide feedback

   8. Assess performance and

   9. Enhance retention transfer

"There is no such thing as best instructional material"

"Any instructional material can be the best provided it helps the teacher accomplish his/her intended learning."

"No instructional material, no matter how superior, can take the place of an effective teacher.

Instructional materials may be perceived to the labor saving device for the teachers. On the contrary, the teacher even works harder when she makes good use of instructional material."

“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.”

Lesson 5: THE CONE OF EXPERIENCE

• The Cone is a visual model, a pictorial device that presents bands of experience arranged according to degree of abstraction and not degree of difficulty. The farther you go from the bottom of the cone, the more abstraction the experience becomes.

1. Direct Purposeful Movement

• First-hand experience which serves as a foundation of our learning. We build up our reservoir of meaningful information and ideas through seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling.

2. Contrived Experiences

• In here, we make use of a representative models or mock ups of reality for practical reasons.

3. Dramatized Experience

• By dramatization, we can participate in a reconstructed experience, even though the original event is far removed from us i time.

4. Demonstrations

• It is visualized explanation of an important fact, idea or process by the use of photographs, drawing, films, display or guided motion.
  

5. Study Trips

• These are the excursions, educational trips, and visit conducted to observe an event that is unavailable within the classroom

6. Exhibits

• These are displays to be seen by specters. They may consist of working models arranged meaningfully or photographs with models, charts and posters. Sometimes exhibits are "for your eyes only".

7. Television and Motion Pictures

• Television and motion pictures can reconstruct the reality of the past so effectively that we are made to feel we are there.

8. Still Pictures, Recordings, Radio

• These are the visual and auditory devices which may be used by an individual or a group.
  

9.Visual Symbols

• These are no longer realistic reproduction of physical things for  these are highly abstract representations.

10. Verbal Symbols

• They are not like an objects or ideas for which they stand. They usually do not contain visual clues their meaning.

Three - Tiered Model of Learning

• Harvard psychologist, Jerome S. Bruner, presents a three- tiered model of learning where he points out that every  are of knowledge can be presented and learned in three distinct steps. 

It is highly recommended that a learner proceeds from the ENACTIVE to the ICONIC and only after to the SYMBOLIC.

Three pitfalls that we should avoid with regard to the use of the Cone of Experience: 

• Using one medium in isolation
• Moving to the abstract without an adequate foundation of concrete experience
• Getting stuck in the concrete without moving to the abstract hampering the development of our students' higher thinking skills.

Lesson 4: SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO TEACHING

Systematic Approach to Teaching

• It is a network elements or parts different from each other but each one is special in the sense that each performs a unique function for the life and effectiveness of the instructional system.
• The systems approach views the entire educational program as a system of closely interrelated parts. It is an orchestrated learning pattern with all parts harmoniously integrated into the whole: the school, the teacher, the students, the objectives, the media, the materials, and assessment tools and procedures. Such an approach integrates the older, more familiar methods and tools of instruction with the new ones such as the computer.

Purpose of a System Instructional Design

• To ensure orderly relationships and interaction of human, technical and environmental resources to fulfill the goals which have been established for instruction.
• The focus systematic instructional planning is the student.
• It tells about the systematic approach to teaching in which the focus in the teaching is the students.

Systematized Instruction

1. Define Objectives- instruction begins with the definition of instructional objectives that consider the students' needs, interests and readiness.

2. Choose appropriate methods- on the basis of these objectives the teacher selects the appropriate teaching methods to be used.

3. Choose appropriate experiences- based on the teaching method selected, the appropriate learning experiences, an appropriate material, equipment and facilities will also be selected.

4. Select materials, equipment and facilities- the use of learning materials, equipment, and facilities necessitates assigning the personnel to assist the teacher.

5. Assign personnel roles- defining the role of any personnel involved in the preparation, setting and returning of this learning resources would also help in the learning process.

6. Implement the instruction- with the instructional objectives in mind, the teacher implements planned instructions with the use of the selective teaching method, learning activities, and learning materials with the help of other personnel whose role has been defined by the teacher.

7. Evaluate outcomes- after instructions, teacher evaluates the outcome of instruction. From the evaluation results, teacher comes to know if the instructional objective was attained.

8. Refine the process- if the instructional objective was attained, teacher proceeds to the next lesson going through the same cycle once more. 

Examples of Learning Activities:

• Reading
• Writing
• Interviewing
• Reporting or doing presentation
• Discussing
• Thinking
• Reflecting
• Dramatizing
• Visualizing
• Creating judging
• Evaluating

Lesson 3: ROLES OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN LEARNING

Technology can play a traditional role, i.e., as delivery vehicles for instructional lessons or in a constructivist way as partners in the learning process.

• From the traditional Point Of View, technology serves as source and presenter of knowledge. (David H. Jonassen 1999)
• Technology like computer is seen as a productivity tool.
• With the eruption of the INTERNET in the mid 90s.
• From the constructivist Point of View, educational technology serves as a learning tool that learners learn with.

From constructivist perspective, the following are roles of technology in learning: (Jonassen, et al 1999)

Technology as tools to support knowledge construction:

• For representing learners’ ideas, understanding and beliefs for organized, multimedia knowledge bases by learners. 
• For producing organized, multimedia knowledge bases by learners

 Technology as information vehicles for exploring knowledge to support learning-by-constructing:

• For accessing needed information
• For comparing perspectives, beliefs and world view

 Technology as context to support learning-by-doing:

• For representing and stimulating meaningful real- world problems, situations and context
• For representing beliefs, perspectives, arguments, and stories of others.
• For defining a safe, controllable problem space for student thinking.

Technology as a social medium to support learning by conversing:

• For collaborating with others. 
• For discussing, arguing, and building consensus among members of a community 
• For supporting discourse among knowledge building communities. 

 Technology as intellectual partner (Jonassen 1996) to support learning by reflecting: 

• For helping learners to articulate and represent what they know. 
• For reflecting on what they have learned and how they came to know it. 
• For supporting learners internal negotiations and meaning making. 
• For constructing personal representations of meaning 
• For supporting mindful thinking.