Megha Bajaj
Critical thinking is an important life skill in the 21st century. The good thing about this vital life skill is that we can train our students to develop it. Here are some ways.
Category: Teaching Practice
Nurturing spaces for ‘wild’ ideas
Deborah Dutta
Human beings falsely and foolishly believe that the Earth belongs to them. And that is why when we teach about the environment, it is mostly from the human perspective. This kind of pedagogy leads to a very limited understanding of nature. It is time that we allowed nature as a co-teacher into our classrooms and looked at the environment from a fresh perspective.
Combating the curse of knowledge
Roopa Vinayak Ram
Teaching is more than just imparting knowledge to students; it also involves the ability to transmit that knowledge to them in a way that they can understand and progress further.
Emphasis on PCK in teacher preparation
Chandrika Muralidhar
This article looks at how teacher education programmes can prepare teachers of science especially to be aware of and have knowledge about students’ concepts and strategies. Another aspect that could contribute to the science teachers’ content knowledge would be the use of examples, good explanations, metaphors, analogies, and representations. Teacher preparation would need to emphasize on providing support to create metaphors which are conceptually sound and to enable student teachers to apply concepts to new situations.
Integrating content and language
Sanjhee Gianchandani
There are many different ways of learning a language today. A relatively new and less explored method is to learn a language via another subject, in other words integrating langue and subject learning. How does this approach work? And how is it different from using a new language as a medium of instruction? Find out here.
Science and its PCK
Chandrika Muralidhar
Scientific concepts, especially in high school, can be abstract and difficult to understand. At times like these, based on her deep understanding of her subject and students, a teacher has to device effective and flexible strategies to teach.
A paradigm shift in teaching pedagogy: the need of the hour
Rajesh Bhatia
Despite all the research, studies and experiences, even today a child’s success is measured in terms of his/her academic success. But there is more to life than academics and whether or not a child will succeed in life will depend on how well we are preparing him/her to face life. Here are a few things that schools can do to change the way they teach.
Pedagogical Content Knowledge – An attempt to outline it
Chandrika Muralidhar
Is mere content knowledge enough for a teacher to be effective in the classroom? Or should he/she be also well-versed in the processes and methods of teaching? In a three-part series, Teacher Plus will help readers to understand that the ideal knowledge base for an effective teacher should be curriculum knowledge, knowledge of educational contexts and knowledge of the purposes of education.
Neither winning nor losing the debate
Nupur Rastogi
At one time, debating among school students was a practice that encouraged healthy competition. But in recent times, with the world experiencing a plethora of conflicts, there is an urgent need to help students focus on the process of debating which is to understand the conflict and better ways to deal with it. The article presents an alternative of ‘Structured Academic Controversy’ that encourages participants to look beyond rigid beliefs and positions.
Celebration without waste
Sandhya Singh
No celebration or ritual is complete without flowers. But what about the floral waste that is generated afterwards? Floral waste is part of the larger problem of waste management and therefore doesn’t get much attention per se. But this teacher and her students decided to find ways of putting floral waste to better use.