B.Ed. Social Science: INNOVATIVE WORK FOR TEACHING SOCIAL SCIENCE

B.Ed. Social Science: INNOVATIVE WORK FOR TEACHING SOCIAL SCIENCE

  December 31, 2020    Beema Saif

---

 

AN INNOVATIVE LEARNING AID FOR TEACHING SOCIAL SCIENCE

INTRODUCTION

            Innovative works and Innovative lesson plans are two important works assigned to the student-teachers as part of their B.Ed. Course. This work aims at equipping future teachers to transact the learning materials and experiences innovatively and creatively to ensure the active participation of learners in the learning process by arousing interest in them. Innovation can be broadly thought of as new ideas, new ways of looking at things, new methods or products that have value. Innovation contains the idea of output, of actually producing or doing something differently, making something happen, or implementing something new. Innovation almost always involves hard work; persistence and perseverance are necessary as many good ideas never get followed through and developed.

            Innovation and creativity are fundamental to all academic disciplines and educational activities, not just the arts. The creative process is a critical component of making sense of learning experiences. Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others (Robert E. Franken). To be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things, you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. “Creativity is the capability or act of conceiving something original or unusual,” while “Innovation is the implementation of something new" (Paul Sloane).

            As part of my Innovative work assignments, I have created a Self Learning Material for the students. A Self Learning Material (SLM) is developed with the approach of self-explanatory, self-contained, self-directed, self-motivating, and self-evaluating. Proper planning has been done before the development of the learning material.

INNOVATIVE SELF LEARNING MATERIAL

            The present material is a Self-help Learning material to teach the topic "Social Problems and Solutions from the Unit "Towards A Bright Future" in the standard IX textbook. This Innovative work is a short book that contains activities with space allocated to students to practice their work. Answers are given hidden using cards and papers to avoid students get answers before they try to find out their own.            

            During the development of SLM, backgrounds of learners and learning needs, learning experiences, support, and preparation in adapting to flexible learning were considered. The major ingredients considered while developing the learning material by authors are learning objectives, assessment of prior knowledge, learning activities, feedback of learning activities, examples and illustrations, self-assessment tests, summaries, and key points. The learning material is developed with the constructivist approach and emphasized real-world tasks, learner’s choice of tasks or situations, case studies, collaborative learning tasks, opportunities for observing others, self-evaluation.

PROCESS

            The material can be placed on a flat surface such as a table. The student should open the book and read the instructions before starting to do the activities on the book. The student is asked to read the task which may be a question related to the topic. Then he should try to write down the points he knows related to the topic. After that, he can check the answers given in the book. Then the student can read the brief note on the concept on which the activity was given. There is a total of five such activities are included in the book. The student understands the topic well once he finishes doing the tasks and reading the brief notes.

CONCLUSION

            This work is helpful for the students to understand the topic, 'Social Problems and Solutions'. As social issues are something that exists in their surroundings, they might have familiar with some of them. So, it is easier for them to use a self-instructional module to grasp the concepts. With the help of this innovative work the learners learn in their own time and at their own pace with little or no supervision, self-learning materials are designed to facilitate the learning process. Self-directed learning can be challenging, even for the brightest and most motivated students.