CHAPTER 7: SIGNIFICANCE OF DEVELOPMENTAL AND SOCIO-CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF

LEARNING IN SELECTING STRATEGIES AND METHODOLOGIST

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (ILO)

Determine the significance of developmental and social-cultural dimensions of learning and selecting strategies
and methodologies.

LEARNING POINT: EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIO-CULTURAL AND OTHER

CONTEXTUAL THEORIES

a. Learners can think more effectively when they acquired the basic cognitive tools of various activities and academic
disciplines. The implication of this perspective lies in the importance of developing first among learners, the basic
thinking tools that will enable them to solve problems or answer questions that they will eventually meet. in science or
mathematics, children are basically thought the meaning of key concepts basic symbols, and principles that will help
children interpret organize and successfully deal with the social and physical world.

b. Children learn and remember more when they talk about their experiences. children almost always talk about their
experiences as soon as they begin to speak. The significant adults should join in the process. Talking about their
experiences helps children interpret their experiences in culturally approved and appropriate ways.

c. Children should have opportunities to engage in activities that closely resemble those that they will later encounter in
the adult world. these activities are called authentic activities and teachers are encouraged to make use of authentic
activities and instructional materials. since authentic activities resemble real-world tasks and problems students are able to
derive meaning from this because they can make connections between what they learn in school and what they experience
outside the school. some authentic activities may be writing an editorial designing an electric circuit planning a family
budget developing an Internet page and the like.

d. Children often acquire better strategies when they collaborate or work with adults on complex tasks. working with
adults will enable them to learn developmentally advanced strategies.
e. Challenging tasks especially when sufficiently scaffolded tend to hasten cognitive development. This means that the
teacher should provide as much support and aid. opportunities that children can perform successfully should be made
available to them.

f. Technology-based software and application can effectively scaffold many challenging tasks, and occasionally offer
good alternatives to real-world activities and problems. If real-life experiences and problems could not be made possible
and available, technology can be a good substitution for these. there are computerized instructional materials and
applications which can approximate real experiences and problems.

g. Children's abilities should be assessed under a variety of work conditions. Assessments gives the teachers a good
understanding of the developmental levels of the children and know under what conditions they are most likely to
accomplish or not to accomplish tasks. by knowing these appropriate interventions to address gaps in students’ abilities
can be properly done.

h. Group learning activities can help children internalize formative strategies. group learning activities like group study
sessions, class discussion debates about controversial issues, and collaborative problem-solving help the learners develop
and acquire more sophisticated strategies than what they would have learned in early interaction.

PEER INTERACTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES.

There is now a growing recognition of the value of having students work together for them to construct their own
meaning about the subject matter. in so doing they can explore explain discuss and debate certain topics either in small or
big groups. when students work together in essence they are engaged in distributed cognition. it means that learning is
spread across many minds, from which the learners can draw multiple ideas. clear interactive strategies enable the hello
notes for students to do the following and therefore benefit from this in many ways.

a. they can clarify and organize their ideas and justify their ideas.
b. they tend to elaborate on what they learned.
c. They can expose the others’ views, widening their knowledge and perspective.
d. They may discover flaws or inconsistencies in their thinking and do self-correction.
e. They can gain more complex and sophisticated thinking and reasoning skills.
f. they can also practice their argumentation skills-skills which experts used to advance knowledge.
g. day can acquire a more sophisticated view of nature or knowledge and learning.

Important features of fear interactive strategies lie on developing oral skills convergent and divergent thinking
skills organizational skills and argumentation skills.

1. Class Discussion
Class discussion could be used in a variety of courses and disciplines. The members usually engage in a
discussion where sometimes there may not really be a correct answer as in interpreting classic work in literature. More
importantly, the students may take interest in or make sense of what they are reading. Following are guidelines to promote
effective discussions.

a. Last discussion she'd focus on the tactics that climbed themselves to multiple perspective, explanations, or approaches
b. Make sure the students have prior knowledge about the topic for discussion.
c. see to it that the classroom has an atmosphere conducive to often debate and constructive evaluation of ideas.
d. Class discussion should be structured in some way.
e. the end of the discussion, some closure should be provided.

2. Reciprocal Teaching
This involves the teacher and students taking turns to lead the discussion and asking questions. for the first
minute, the teacher leads the discussion and asks questions in the process. after some time, the teacher turns over her role
to a student who will then take over to lead the discussion and ask questions that the teacher has modeled. Eventually, the
students are on their own, able to derive meanings out of a discussion.

3. Cooperative Learning
Students work together in small groups to achieve a common goal. However, cooperative learning is not just
about grouping. For cooperative learning to be successful, sentence structure listening place such that cooperation is not
just helpful, but is necessary for academic success. following are the pictures of cooperative learning. (Ormrod, 2015 and
Woolfolk, 2003).

a. Students work in small teacher-assigned groups.

b. groups have one or more common goals forward which to achieve.
c. students have clear guidance on how to behave.
 Listening to others politely and attentively
 making sure everyone has equal chance to participate, eventually everyone understands the material.
 asking clear and precise questions which one doesn't understand.
 giving encouragement to others and offering assistance when needed.
 addressing differences of opinion, amicably, and constructively.
d. group members must depend on one another for their success.
e. a structure is provided to encourage productive learning behaviors. No
f. the teacher serves primarily as a resource person and monitor.
g. students are accountable for their achievement.
h. students are rewarded for group success.
4. Peer Tutoring
In this strategy, students who have mastered the topic and know it by heart teach those who haven’t. Under this
structure, students with achievement difficulties can ask questions more easily and get immediate feedback, not readily
available in a regular classroom.
Following are the guidelines to teachers for peer-teaching to be effective.
a. Teachers should make sure that tutors have mastered the material being taught and use sound instructional techniques.
b. structured interaction can improve the effectiveness of peer teaching.
c. teachers can use peer tutoring for kids with special needs.
d. tutoring does not have to be limited to same age peers.

5. Communities of Learning
For fear interactive methods, a sense of community is needed. this means teacher and students have shared goals,
respect and support of one’s effort, and that each one makes an important contribution to classroom learning ( Hom &
Battistich, 1995, in Ormod, 2015). Transforming the classroom into a community of learners is a way to create a sense of
community. Teachers and students collaborate to build a body of knowledge about the topic and help one another to learn
more about it.
Following are the characteristics of a classroom that is a community of learners.
a. all students are active participants in classroom activities.
b. the primary goal is to acquire a body of knowledge on a specific topic.
c. students draw from many resources- books, Internet, film too learn more about the topic.
d. discussion and collaboration among students occur regularly.
e. variations in students’ interests and rates of learning or respected
f. everyone is a potential resource for others.
g. teacher provides some guidance and directions for classroom activities; students may also contribute.
h. Mechanisms for sharing what was learned are in place.
i. constructive questioning and critiquing are commonplace.
j. the process of learning is emphasized, sometimes more than the product.