UNIT: 3 (A) APPROACHES, METHODS, TECHNIQUES AND MODELS OF

TEACHING

TEACHING OF GENERALISATIONS

BY EXPOSITION:

Mathematics instruction, like other forms of educational teaching, has undergone

significant changes in the early part of the 21st century. These changes have affected
education levels from preschool to college and subjects as far ranging as art and physics.
Though there has been a shift away from traditional education methods such as
exposition to more student-led approaches such as constructivist learning, there is still an
important place for the expository form of teaching in math education.
Exposition comes from the Latin word, “expositorius”, which means to explain. Just as
the word suggests, this method involves telling or lecturing about math concepts. This
traditional teaching methodology has been used for hundreds of years, but as long ago as
the late 19th century, American philosopher John Dewey started questioning the success
of lecture-style teaching and learning. In its place, he suggested a more pragmatic,
hands-on learning approach. More than 100 years later, a paradigm shift has taken place
in education, with many educators advocating the hands-on learning approach.

● In an expository classroom, students take notes and gauge success by tests and other
measurements.

Using an expository teaching method, a teacher uses his knowledge to explain or tell
about the subject, concept or generalization being learned. The teacher lectures, and the
students listen and take notes as needed. A good expository teacher will have a firm grasp
of the subject and an organized approach to revealing it in a logical sequence for the
students. While this method might encourage a static classroom environment, it doesn't
have to be that way. A good teacher will encourage questioning and stimulate discussion.

● Many educational philosophers believe students learn metaphorically, which means they
learn a new concept by understanding how it relates to something they already know.
Proponents of expository methodology believe that learning is based on connecting new
information with already learned concepts. Therefore, the teacher organizes and presents
information in a sequence that begins with a foundation students already have.

For example, students who are comfortable with addition can move on to understanding
multiplication as repeated addition. Only after they understand it as repeated addition do
they come to know what multiplication is. Similarly, an instructor must tie addition to
counting before attempting to teach young children how to add two numbers. Because
educators must connect new knowledge to old, an expository teacher needs to organize
information tightly so as not to confuse students with extraneous information and must
sequence carefully so that each new step builds upon the one presented before. Most
 importantly, leave time for questions. Students need time to resolve things they are
confused about and teachers need this feedback to know whether students grasped the
lesson before any measures of evaluation take place. Expository-based educators believe
that students learn best by having information presented to them rather than trying to
discover it for themselves.

Pros and Cons

● Expository teaching is a time-efficient way to communicate knowledge. Because
discovery takes time, presenting the information is a more efficient approach, and
therefore, a teacher has more time to communicate more information to students. Because
the teacher is the class expert in the subject, knowledge will be transmitted correctly. A
teacher can listen to students during questions and discussion and adjust, reiterate or
move forward as needed.

On the other hand, there are some drawbacks to this approach. A poor or lazy teacher
may let class become a one-sided communication. Many people have been in the
unfortunate position of listening to a speaker drone on with little care or interest in
student or audience feedback. Though this is not a good expository teaching method, it
can happen. Because students are being told the lesson rather than participating in a
hands-on way, learning may be more superficial, with students holding on to knowledge
only long enough to perform successfully on any measures of evaluation.

BY GUIDED DISCOVERY

Hiero II requested that Archimedes find a method for determining whether a crown was pure
gold or alloyed with silver. When he stepped into a bath he realized that a given weight of gold
would displace less water than an equal weight of silver (which is less dense than gold); at this
point he shouted, “EUREKA” (I have found it!). Discovery learning is based on this “Aha!”
experience.

Discovery Learning is an inquiry-based learning method. “You can't teach people everything
they need to know. The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to
know when they need to know it.” - Seymour Papert

Discovery learning takes place most notably in problem solving situations where the learner
draws on his own experience and prior knowledge to discover the truths that are to be learned. It
is a personal, internal, constructivist learning environment.

Discovery learning can occur whenever the student is not provided with an exact answer but
rather the materials in order to find the answer themselves.

Discovery learning takes place in problem solving situations where the learner draws on his own
experience and prior knowledge and is a method of instruction through which students interact
with their environment by exploring and manipulating objects, wrestling with questions and
controversies, or performing experiments.
While instruction moves from theory to practice, from the general to the specific, guided
discovery starts with the specific and moves to the general. It is an inductive process – it leads
the learner towards insights and generalisations, rather than providing them on a plate. Because
this process is much less certain and predictable, guided discovery rarely has specific learning
objectives – every learner will take out of the process something unique and personal. What they
take out will depend not only on the insights they gain from the particular learning experience,
but also to a great deal on their prior knowledge and previous life experiences.

Guided discovery can take many forms – experiments in a laboratory, simulations, scenarios,
case studies or team-building activities. In each of these cases, the learner is presented, alone or
in a group, with a task to accomplish. Having undertaken that task, the learner is then encouraged
to reflect on the experience – what went well, what less well? How could the successes be
repeated and the failures avoided? The conclusions can be taken forward to further exercises and
then hopefully applied to real-world tasks.

Less confident, dependent learners should be comfortable with guided discovery, as long as the
process is carefully structured and facilitated, and does not leave them floundering. What is more
important is that the learner should have enough knowledge and experience of the subject matter
or the situations underlying the learning activity that they can make a reasonable attempt at
completing the task – you can’t build on prior knowledge if you don’t have any.

Guided discovery requires careful design and facilitation:

● The tasks that learners are set must be carefully designed to draw out key issues that are
meaningful to the learner’s job.
● The tasks should be challenging but must not seem unachievable.
● The learner must be able to relate to the issues raised by the task.
● The learner should not feel they are being manipulated into taking a position that they do not
really believe in.
● Ideally the learner should be able to experiment with different approaches without fear of
criticism.

The facilitator should resist the temptation to give advice unless their expertise is called upon by
the learner.

Guided discovery works best when the topic is less black and white, when successful
performance depends on making judgements in a wide variety of situations. When poorly
designed and facilitated, discovery learning will seem pointless, perhaps even manipulative; well
managed and the result could be much deeper learning. As Carl Rogers once warned us,
“Nothing that can be taught is worth learning.”

Guided discovery is a very student centered teaching method which avoids the use of long
explanations by the teacher. Learners take a more active role in their own progress and work at
their own speed. Basically, learners have to take responsibility for their own learning. Guided
discovery encourages peer teaching and sharing ideas. Because the teacher doesn’t lead the class,
he/she is free to walk around (through monitoring) and get a good overall picture of how the
class is doing.
“Guided Discovery, is characterized by convergent thinking. The instructor devises a series of
statements or questions that guide the learner, step by logical step, making a series of discoveries
that leads to a single predetermined goal. In other words the instructor initiates a stimulus and the
learner reacts by engaging in active inquiry thereby discovering the appropriate response.
Mosston (1972) specifies ten cognitive operations that might take place as the learner engages in
active inquiry: recognizing data, analysing, synthesizing, comparing and contrasting, drawing
conclusions, hypothesizing, memorizing, inquiring, inventing, and discovering. By actively
doing and as a consequence discovering facts or concepts, the learner will understand and
therefore remember the subject matter. Mosston (1972) cautions that "discovery learning cannot
take place if the answers are given." He also points out certain drawbacks of this teaching
method: it precisely controls and manipulates learning behaviour and could therefore be abused,
and is designed for individual rather than group use.

According to Spencer (1999), key features of guided discovery learning are:

● A context and frame for student learning through the provision of learning outcomes
● Learners have responsibility for exploration of content necessary for understanding through
self-directed learning
● Study guides are used to facilitate and guide self-directed learning
● Understanding is reinforced through application in problem oriented, task based, and work
related experiences

STEPS:

Present a problem, question, or situation that is interesting and exciting

Ask students to define/explain the terms in the question

Help the students in framing the specific question. (what is asked and what is to be find)

Guide the students towards variety of sources, to provide/collect necessary data.

Support them in development of no. of solutions from which choices can be made

Provide opportunity for feedback &revision

PROS:

● Actively engages students in the learning process

● Motivates students to participate
● Encourages autonomy and independence
● Promotes the development of creativity and problem-solving skills
● Provides an individualized learning experience.
● The notion that students take ownership of their learning increases motivation
● Retention and understanding also are known to increase when this learning style is used
in the math classroom.
● Guided Discovery has a deep impact on children’s learning.
● Children get interested in classroom materials and learn how to use them creatively in
their academic work.
● They have opportunities to stretch their thinking and work independently.
● Children are at the center of the process.
● Every aspect of Guided Discovery encourages children to offer ideas, act on them, and
share the results of their work with others, which stimulates everyone’s thinking about
future uses of the material.

CONS:

● May be overwhelming for learners who need more structure

● May allow for possible misunderstanding
● May prevent teachers from gauging whether students are having problems.
● The procedure is student-centered, which means the teacher has the difficult task of
keeping a low profile in the classroom.
● When teaching in this style, one must build on the knowledge that the student already has
and help direct the student to the desired outcome through improvisations on the lesson
plan.
● The teacher should anticipate the possible responses and errors that might arise,& ‘go
with the pupils,’ steering the lesson to achieve its objectives
● The teacher must creatively and imaginatively improvise in the face of unexpected
events: late students, alienated students, failed experiments, awkward questions, strange
answers, and different levels of understanding within one group.

HEURISTIC METHOD

The term ‘Heuristic’ is derived from a Greek word, which means ‘I find’. It was originated by Prof.
Armstrong. Here the learner is put in the place of a discoverer. The method involves finding out
by the student, instead of merely telling of everything by the teacher. It aims at removing the
shortcomings attributed to lecture method. Contrary to lecture method,it demands complete
self-activity or self-education on the part of the learner. It is a method by which pupils learn to
reason for themselves.

This method makes the student self -reliant and independent. It imparts a sound training in the
education of self. The teacher’s job is not to solve problems for the pupil, but to enable the pupil
to solve problems for himself/herself. Knowledge is not the primary consideration here, but
self-confidence, originality, independence of judgement and thinking power are to be developed
in the individual to make him/her an ever successful student .When this method is applied in its
extreme form, the teacher stands aside as an onlooker and the learner selects his own path and
proceeds according to his own insights. The teacher should not impose or thrust his reasoning,
argument and product of thinking on the learner.

Practically, it is impossible to adopt the extreme form of this method-the form where the
teacher is simply a passive observer and the learner has to learn on his own. The child is after all
a child, he is ignorant, and most of the things are new to him. He needs guidance, and in certain
cases he may need the teacher’s help at every step. He needs time to and help to develop
proper acquaintance with the new knowledge. Some hints or instructions have to be given when
 he does not show continuous and steady progress. He should overcome his difficulties by his
own efforts as far as possible, but the teacher’s help has not to be denied or withheld when he
needs it badly. Teaching has to become a process of the maximum possible participation of the
child.

PROCEDURE

Ex.1: Take the problem of the discovery of the properties of a parallelogram. Give students many
parallelograms already drawn on sheets of paper and ask them to find out the qualities of the
different elements of a parallelogram. Naturally the students will start judging and measuring
the elements of different parallelograms, their findings about the equality of its opposite sides
and the equality of the opposite angles, sum of its adjacent angles, will perfectly agree. Thus
their respective observations will enable them to generalise about some of the properties of a
parallelogram. They can further be encouraged to draw the diagonals and find out after actual
measurements that these bisect each other in every parallelogram and are not equal.

Ex. 2: Take the problem of the area of the four walls of their classroom. The teacher should
remember that he has to deduce the process from the learners. By carefully framed and graded
questions he has to lead the students to discovery-e.g. How is the area of all the four walls
found? (First shall be found the area of each separate wall, excluding the area of windows,
ventilators or doors in it; and then the sum of their areas will be easy to calculate.) What is the
form of each wall? (It is rectangular.)
[By beginning from one wall.] How to find the area of this wall? (By multiplying its length and
height.) Its length=25ft. and height=12ft. therefore its area =25x12 square ft. or 300sq.ft.

Similarly questions regarding each separate wall have to be asked. By appropriate questions the
students would be made to observe that the opposite walls have the same areas, and so double
of the area of one gives the area of two opposite walls. By a few more similar problems the
learners would be made to realise there can also be a formula which will be applicable to the
area of four walls of any room. Questioning has to replace telling in the classroom.

MERITS OF THE HEURISTIC METHOD

1. The student becomes an active participant in the learning process.

2. The student thinks for himself and does not merely listen for information.
3. Home study and memorisation work become light.
4. The teacher remains in constant touch with his students.
5. It creates in the students a spirit of inquiry.
6. The student becomes self-reliant.

DRAWBACKS

1. It demands extraordinary labour and special preparation from the teacher, who is already over-
burdened.
2. Every teacher may not be able to use it successfully. The teacher must be gifted with the
heuristic spirit.
3. It is a slow method. Too much time is taken up by investigation.
 4. There is very little certainty that, the child left to himself will make steady and sufficient
progress.
5. Every child cannot be expected to be a gifted discoverer. The immature child has his limitations
and difficulties.
6. Specially, in the early stages, the child needs guidance and hints. If the teacher does not give him
proper guidance, he may get discouraged and disgusted.
7. The method presumes small classes, because it demands individual attention on the part of the
teacher.

CONCLUSION

At school, use of the extreme form of this method is out of question. The teacher’s presence in
the classroom should mean something. He is not to behave as an indifferent onlooker, but his
presence is to inspire and stimulate the learners. In practice, the success of this method depends
largely on good questioning. It is the spirit behind this method, which matters most. Nothing has
to be told, so long as the child is progressing by himself. His limitations and difficulties, of course,
cannot be allowed to baffle him. The teacher no longer teaches; he guides. The learner no longer
listens; he finds. It is, in reality, a scientific and psychological method of learning. The teacher
should frame the hints and instructions very carefully to avoid over-feeding and under-feeding.
He should let the child be his own teacher, and also see that his difficulties are removed in time.
Whatever be his method of teaching, the guiding principle should be the adoption of the
heuristic approach.

INDUCTIVE-DEDUCTIVE METHOD

INDUCTIVE METHOD

This method is based on induction. It leads from concrete to abstract, particular to general and from examples to
general rule. It is the method of constructing a formula with the help of sufficient number of examples. As it is
based on induction, which means proving a universal truth by showing that it is true for a particular case and is
further true for a reasonably adequate number of cases; it is true for all cases.

Examples:

1. Expansion of (a+b)2
Take concrete examples like numbers (2+3)2 or (4+6)2.
Then generalize (x+y)2=(x+y)(x+y)=x.x+x.y+y.x+y.y=x2+2xy+y2

Merits of inductive method:

1. Better understanding, it explains the why and how of a student.

2. As mathematical principle is established through a number of examples, therefore this method leaves no
doubt in the mind of students.
3. It is based on actual observation, thinking and experimentation.
4. Gives an opportunity for active participation of students to construct a formula.
5. It discourages memorization. Curbs the tendency of students to learn by rote.
 6. It provides the opportunity for active participation to the students.
Demerits of inductive method:
1. It is laborious and time consuming.
2. Inductive reasoning is not absolutely conclusive.
3. Discovery of a formula does not cover the study of a topic.
4. It is not always possible to generalize on the basis of a few examples.
5. The ability and capacity of problem solving cannot be developed by the use of this method.
DEDUCTIVE METHOD

It is just the opposite of inductive method. In this method the learner has to proceed from general to particular,
abstract to concrete, and formula to examples. In this method the students are told some generalized principles,
laws, formulae and then they are asked to apply this formula in the solution of some particular and related
problems in mathematics.

Example:

1. The students are told that the sum of all the three angles of a triangle is 180. The result is to be applied to
solve problems by taking different examples of triangles.
Merits of deductive method:

1. It is time saving as solution of problems with the help of given formula takes not much time.
2. At the practice and revision stage this method is adequate and advantageous.
3. It helps in increasing the speed and efficiency in solving the numerical problems.
4. It glorifies the memory of the students, as they have to memories a considerable number of formulae.
5. This method should be used when there is shortage of time.
6. At higher classes this method is very useful.
Demerits of deductive method:
1. In this method more emphasis is given on cramming than understanding.
2. The students cannot become active learners they remain passive throughout the period.
3. It is illogical and mechanical method and does not help in the development of independent thinking of
the students.
4. Knowledge gained by this method is unclear and unstable, because it is not gained by their own efforts.
5. By using this method the teaching learning process becomes uninteresting and dull.
6. It is very difficult for a beginner to understand an abstract piece of mathematical work, if not preceded
by a number of steps.

Conclusion:
A teacher must use the combination of both the methods as they remove the incompleteness and inadequacy of
each other. In mathematics teaching, there are two clear –cut major parts of the process of learning of a topic, viz;
establishment of formula and application of that formula. The former is the work of induction and the latter is the
work of deduction. A teacher should apply inductive method at the time of establishing a formula and must apply
deductive method at the time of application of the formula. Thus, the teaching should begin with induction and end
with deduction.