PEDAGOGY-TEACHER EDUCATION

Honey and Mumford Learning styles were developed by Peter Honey and Alan Mumford, based upon the work of Kolb, and they identified four distinct learning styles or preferences:  Activist ,  Theorist ;  Pragmatist  and  Reflector . These are the learning approaches that individuals naturally prefer and they recommend that in order to maximise one's own personal learning each learner ought to: understand their learning style seek out opportunities to learn using that style To understand your particular learning style Honey and Mumford have developed a Learning Style Questionnaire [see further reading] and with this information you will be in a far better position to do three really useful things [quoting P. Honey]: "Become smarter at getting a better fit between learning opportunities and the way you learn best. This makes your learning easier, more effective and more enjoyable. It saves you tackling your learning on a hit-and-miss basis. Equippe...

Who is Ken Robinson? Sir Ken Robinson (born 1950) is a British author, speaker and adviser on educational reform.  In 1999, he led an advisory committee in an inquiry into the importance of creativity in the educational system and economy (colloquially known as the  Robinson report ).  What does he say about education? Robinson has also written extensively on the need to radically reform the national approach to education, championing an environment that cultivates creativity and divergent thinking rather than academic knowledge and exam success. He argues that we are currently educating our pupils out of creativity by training them to conform to a rigid system.  He proposes that all subjects should be viewed as equally important and educational approaches should not be so bound up in testing, allowing instead for a more personalised and organic experience for pupils.   How have his ideas influenced pedagogy? Robins...

Who was John Dewey? John Dewey (1859-1952) was a US philosopher and psychologist whose ideas had a huge influence on education.  Dewey was a leading name in the world of functional psychology and a key figure in the development of progressive education. What did he have to say about education? Dewey felt education should provide students with opportunities to interact with and experience the world around them.  He emphasised the importance of social and interactive processes, seeing the school environment itself as a social institution and a place where social reform can happen.  As such, he proposed, students need to be trained to realise their full potential and afforded an educational experience that will help them to develop the skills required to be an active member of society.  Dewey also focused on the necessity of balanced collaboration between teachers and students. He believed that teachers need to guide and facilitate stud...

What is Solo taxonomy? Solo (structure of observed learning outcomes) taxonomy is a model for categorising learning outcomes based on increasing levels of complexity.  It identifies five levels of learning, which increase in skill at each stage. More on this:   What is Bloom's taxonomy? Pedagogy Focus:   Teaching styles Opinion:  How to develop habits of creative thinking Students begin at the pre-structural level, where understanding is simple or non-existent, and move to a point called the “extended abstract”, where learning is creative and conceptualised. Where did it come from? First proposed by educational psychologists John Biggs and Kevin Collis in 1982, the model evolved from the principles of  Bloom’s taxonomy .  Solo builds on the idea of pupils demonstrating skills that increase in terms of complexity as they move up the taxonomy by placing greater emphasis on the learning outcomes and processes invo...

What is flipped learning? Flipped learning (sometimes referred to as flipped classrooms) is a pedagogical approach that inverts the traditional method of the teacher leading learning, instead of handing responsibility over to the student.  This is a learner-centered approach that involves students being active in, and accountable for, their development. In the flipped-learning scenario, pupils are given materials and tasks prior to a lesson and instructed to work through these independently. The technique proposes completing what is generally considered more traditional classwork at home and extended homework tasks in school.  Where did it come from? Although practices involving peer instruction and students assuming the role of the teacher have been around for some time, the term “flipped learning” came into use around 2012 with the work of two science teachers, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams.  Both were interested in the bes...

What is the growth mindset? A growth mindset is a theory centered around the belief that intelligence and learning can be developed and improved. If someone has a growth mindset, they have a positive attitude towards learning and their ability to progress and achieve.  Pupils who possess a growth mindset are said to rise to challenges and learn from the mistakes they make, rather than feeling distressed and defeated if they are unable to do or understand something. Where did it come from? Around 30 years ago, psychologist Carol Dweck studied student attitudes towards failure and found that those who were more resilient and not so disheartened by setbacks behaved in a way that led to greater success.  Based on developments in neuroscience at the time, Dweck proposed that learning capabilities could be improved if pupils engaged in the right behaviors for stimulating the brain and building new connections.  Dweck coined the terms “growth mi...

What are the different teaching styles? Your teaching style is as individual as your own accent: it is a culmination of your background, context, and personal preference. However, when teaching styles are discussed, you can broadly break them down into a few different approaches. A teacher may use any combination of these different methods, and may change their approach depending on context, teaching phase, and content that they are delivering. Popular teaching styles: Phonics The Montessori method Socratic questioning Retrieval practice Project-based learning Teach Like A Champion The Mantle of the Expert Dialogic teaching Teacher-centered style and child-centered style Very broadly speaking, your teaching style could be split into two different approaches. However, some people may identify themselves as being somewhere in the middle of these two approaches. The teacher-centered style puts the teacher as the expert in the classroom, and the students as...

4.1.4.1 Identifying challenging professional goals This lesson discusses the importance of having robust professional development goals and shares tips for achieving those goals. In addition, reasons for pursuing the goals mentioned below are discussed. Professional Development Have you ever heard your principal or supervisor utter the words 'professional development,' and all of a sudden your eyes glazed over? Were you thinking, 'What can someone possibly do to entertain me for half a day (or maybe a whole day or two or three) that will actually help me to grow as a teacher?' Have you really sat down and given any real thought to what it is you hope to accomplish and develop as a professional? If you answered 'yes' to the first two questions, this lesson is probably for you. In this lesson, we will define some long-term goals for professional development and discuss ways of working to attain those goals. Professional Development Defined Before we...

Chapter 1: History and Philosophy of Special Education in the United Arab Emirates • Overview of History of Special Education in the UAE • Philosophy, Vision and Mission for Special Education in the UAE • Goals for Ministry of Education, Special Education Department. Overview of History of Special Education in the United Arab Emirates  Since 1979, the provision of special education programs and services in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has evolved and expanded to recognize a wider variety of categories of special education, which is also available to students in higher grades, and to promote inclusive education, or equal access to educational opportunities. For example, the proposed categories of special education described in these guidelines, no longer only apply to individuals with a disability, which is a term used to describe a the mental, physical, sensory, cognitive or behavioral condition which impairs one or more daily activities, and adversely affects educational...