Pedagogy

Beginning of Pedagogy?

During an ancient period in Greece, the role of the teacher was first introduced, and teaching was considered an art form. Attending school and getting education was something that only the wealthiest could afford for their kids. The role of the teacher or an educator was considered the most important one in the learning process as they gave invaluable knowledge and wisdom to the children.

However, the educators weren’t the first pedagogues. The rich individuals of the area used slaves to take their children to school. They were considered as the experienced and wise who imparted knowledge to the children they were taking to school. This is how the word pedagogue was created. It is described as the ‘leader of children’. They guide the students academically as well as morally.

What Is Pedagogy?

Pedagogy is a method of teaching in which teachers teach, both in theory and in practice. Pedagogy is shaped by educator’s teaching beliefs and involves their understanding of culture and different learning styles. It is essential for students to have meaningful classroom relationships in order to build on prior learning.

Pedagogy refers to the way of teaching students, whether it is the theory or practice of educating. It is a relationship between the culture and techniques of learning. The main aim of pedagogy is to build on previous learning of the students and work on the development of skills and attitudes of the learners. Pedagogy enables the students to get a thorough understanding of the subject and helps them in applying those learning in their daily lives outside of the classroom.

What Is Pedagogy In Teaching?

Pedagogy in teaching can be referred to as an educator’s understanding of how the students learn. The teachers are focused on presenting the syllabus to the students in such a way that it is relevant to their needs. Pedagogy demands classroom interactions between the teacher and students which create a significant impact on the learner’s mind.

What Is Teacher Pedagogy?

Teacher pedagogy refers to the pedagogy that is centered towards the teacher, who gives the most meaningful course information. In this approach, the teacher has a large responsibility of giving correct information to the students in the right way, irrespective of their teaching styles. The teacher can give a clear understanding of how the students are doing concerning their learning and also be an effective model for the target language.

What is The Pedagogy Approach?

There are five fundamental pedagogical approaches;

1. Constructivist
2. Collaborative
3. Integrative
4. Reflective
5. Inquiry Based Learning

1. Constructivist

According to constructivists, there is no single valid methodology in science but rather a diversity of useful methods (Schofield, 2016)

Because of that we have a plethora of methodologies for constructing scientific knowledge and still there are debates related to distinct approaches.

In this approach students are involved into the process of learning. The educator encourage students to express their knowledge and gives feedback to them as opposed to passive lecturing approaches. For example, lecturing hundreds of students about art history in a lecture hall. There several activities and assessment methods to carry out such an approach;

Activities

1. Experimentation: Students individually conduct experiments, and share the results in class.
2. Research Projects: Each students decide a project relevant to class materials, then present their findings in class.
3. Field Trips: This allows students to experience the concepts and ideas in the actual world. The field trips would often be followed by class discussions.
4. Films: Visual stimuli is used to increase cognitive level of students.
5. Class discussions: Discussion of students between each other and the educator is one of the distinctive feature of constructivist approach.
6. Campus wiki: It provides a repository for students related to class content. It is like a tool box that involves FAQs, key points, teaching materials

Assessment

1. Oral Discussions: The educator fosters the students to discuss a topic during class time.
2. KWL(H) Chart: The concept is built on the following arguments;
   1. “What we know”,
   2. “What we want to know”,
   3. “What we have learned”,
   4. “How we know it”
      The teacher can use the technique during the course of study for a particular subject which helps him/her to reveal the knowledge progress of students.
3. Mind Mapping: The act of categorization of the main topic within keywords and concepts.
4. Hands-on Activities: They encourage the student to manipulate the environment or the learning tools. Teachers can use the checklist and observations to assess the student’s success with a particular material, for example.
5. Pre-testing: This allows the teacher to assess what knowledge the student brings to the new topic, which will be useful in the direction of the study of the course.

Specific Approach: Constructionism

The constructionist approach inherits the aspect of knowledge reconstruction rather than knowledge transmission. Papert declares that learning through experimentation is more effective than passively receiving the information (Papert, 1986). Constructivist theory encourages students to reveal “a meaningful product” by constructing the experience by themselves using technological tools. Because the world, technology and science is progressing continuously, and we need to tailor our approaches regarding evolvements. For example, trigonometric functions at high school degrees can be used to create algorithmic art compositions.

2. Collaborative

Here, students form a group of learners, who learn together, and work together to solve the problem, develop strategies, develop ideas, or create products. It’s an intellectual effort of the students, among themselves, or with teachers’ help.

3. Integrative

For the integrative approach, the students are given a learning environment that helps them in connecting with their learning across the syllabus. The four objectives of integration include-

1. Understanding the process of learning
2. Differentiating issues by relevance
3. Making use of the lessons in practical scenarios
4. Associating the concepts in regular lives

4. Reflective

As per the reflective approach, the students are expected to evaluate themselves. It means observing the activities of the teachers and other students in the classroom and analyzing why they do it and how it works.

5. Inquiry-Based Learning

In the inquiry-based learning method, the educators are expected to not just answer the queries of the students, but also build a culture where their ideas are explored, challenged, improved, and refined. It aims to take the students from the position of wondering about a question to understanding the answer and then questioning it further.

Importance Of Pedagogy In Teaching

- Improves Quality Of Teaching

If a well-thought pedagogy is implemented in the classrooms, the quality of education can show a drastic improvement. This will benefit the students by helping them thoroughly understand the education material, thereby improving the learning outcomes.

- Encourage Cooperative Learning Environment

The implementation of pedagogy in education encourages the students to work together towards completing a task and learn together. This increases their perceptions by understanding and taking views from the other students, thereby adapting the cooperative learning environments making them better leaders in the future.

- Eliminates Monotonous Learning

Pedagogy and child development work hand in hand. It helps the student to think in different ways and move beyond the traditional methods of memorization and comprehension for learning. It invokes complex processes of learning among the students such as analyzing, creative thinking, and evaluation. Further, it makes students more receptive to what the teacher is teaching.

- Student Can Follow Their Ways Of Learning

A well thought pedagogy can help the students to grasp education in various ways. It caters to the learning abilities of different students. Students can follow their preferred ways of learning and stick to them. In this way, the students develop a better understanding of the subject, which eventually improves their skills and learning outcomes.

- Convenient Learning Approach For All

Students with special needs require different ways of learning and teaching in the institutes. Implementation of a suitable pedagogical approach will help them learn better and encourage them to be a part of the mainstream learning community.

- Improves Teacher-Student Communication

The teacher understands the student in a better way which helps them to focus on the student’s weaknesses and guide them.

Difference Between A Pedagogical Approach And Pedagogical Techniques

📌 Pedagogical Approach

A pedagogical approach is a completely unified method of looking at teaching. It takes several elements from all the approaches of pedagogy which include Constructivism, Behaviourism, or Liberationism. It further applies that approach in all aspects of teaching.

📌 Pedagogical Technique

A pedagogical technique defines a set of actions performed by the teacher in the classroom for teaching. It includes flipped learning, computational thinking, and deep learning. It is more granular than the entire pedagogical approach. In that sense we prefer to call the possible outcome of our research as specifically “pedagogical techniques” (Tugan_2022 ver. 5)

Types Of Pedagogy

Types of pedagogy are:

1. Social Pedagogy:

It is aimed towards the social development, awareness, and well-being of the students. The teaching must consist of values and moral education.

2. Critical Pedagogy:

It aims towards comprehending and deconstructing several daily life problems and issues. It encourages the student to dig deeper into things and try to understand their thoughts and beliefs on a certain topic.

3. Culturally Responsive Pedagogy:

It aims to address the cultural diversity among students. It helps to comprehend cultural differences among the students and increases awareness about cultural differences in school.

4. Socratic Pedagogy:

It aims to encourage the students to gain more knowledge from other sources along with what is provided to them. This helps the students to find alternative solutions to the problems.

References

1.  (Schofield, n.d.) Critical Theory and Constructivism Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine.
2. Papert, S. (1986) The Media Laboratory The Epistemology and Learning Group. ELEMENTARY SCIENCE EDUCATION.
3. Constructionism
4. Pedagogy - Wikipedia
5. [What is Pedagogy? Importance of pedagogy in teaching and learning process (iitms.co.in)](https://www.iitms.co.in/blog/importance-of-pedagogy-in-teaching-and-learning-process.html