Teaching aids also engage students’ other knees since there are no limits In what aids can be utilized when supplementing a lesson. Teaching aids have proved to be a formidable supplement for teachers when the reinforcement of a skill or concept Is necessary. Not only do they allow students more time to practice, but they also present the information in a way which offers students a different way to engage with the material. In this regard, therefore, the aforementioned aids are applied by teachers who want their lessons to be effective, motivating and attention-grabbing.
This scholarly piece of writing hence will strive to numerate and explain the merits of models, maps, global pictures and realize and specimen In the teaching process. To begin with, a model Is a representation of an idea, object, event, process or system. Models contribute significantly to the success of any lesson. They play a crucial role in the teaching process. One justification for their inclusion in the teaching process is that they contribute to an authentic education delivery system, where teaching reflects the true nature of the subjects taught as much as possible.
Benedict (1995) augments that Models provide an environment for interactive student engagement. It Is not a hidden fact that significant learning gains are achieved when students participate In Interactive engagement activities. Hence, it is imperative that the learning environment created around a model must provide an interactive engagement experience. Additionally, models in the teaching process are useful for helping students learn quantitative skills such as graphing, graphical analysis, and visualization; statistics; computational skills, mathematics to mention a few. Sing models, students are able to have hands on and positively participate In the learning process. Another very Important aspect of using models In the teaching process Is that they allow students or learners to perform sensitivity studies to assess how changes in key system variables alter the system’s dynamic behavior. Adenosine, J. A. (1998) adds that such sensitivity studies can help learners identify leverage points of a system to either help one affect a desire change with a minimum effort or to help estimate the risks or benefits associated with proposed or accidental changes In a system.
To further the discussion, In biology, models play a very significant role In the teaching process. Firstly, in a laboratory setting, the model organism’s immediate response to the change of environment enhances students’ learning and serves to hold their attention and interest. Bilker, J. A. (1995) explains that students not only understand what they see, but also believe it is real. The use of model organisms involves hands- on activities that provide a unique experience that could not be obtained with other teaching methods.
This no doubt goes without argument that models In teaching working with model organisms, students are able to explore scientific methods and incepts themselves and consequently come to understand about the investigative nature of the scientific enterprise, including how conclusions are drawn from data. Conclusively, model organisms are well-established experimental systems possessing certain properties, and are more amenable to classroom use. Models provide accurate and useful representations of knowledge that is needed when solving problems in some particular domain.
This simply Justifies the fact that a model makes the process of understanding a domain of knowledge easier because it is a visual expression of the topic. Adams and Fiddle (1970) have proved that the use of models during the learning and teaching processes advantages both the learners and the teachers. Models help the teachers in explaining complex concepts without much stress while at the same time enables the students to retain three quarters of the learnt material in class. This is seen through student participation and achievement in both written and oral tests and quizzes.
Use of maps in the teaching process has far reaching. Maps offer direct teacher pupil interaction that builds confidence in the teacher as well as heightening the teacher pupil rapport. Maps awaken the interest in pupils of learning subjects such as history and geography and make the lessons very enjoyable. Caution however should be that the teacher should not over use the map as it consumes quite a lot of time. Acceding to Robert (1985) a map helps make the lesson live as learners are given the pictorial description of concepts.
For instance to make the lesson more vivid while teaching missionary activities in central Africa, it will be more clearly explained with the use off map that shows the areas where the missionaries settled and established the mission stations in central Africa. Lawrence (1993) adds that the use of maps during the history lesson works wonders for a teacher of history like does the spices to a chef. In short, it can be deduced that map study is an integral component of history teaching as it makes clearer the lesson and helps captivate the interest of learners during the teaching process.
Additionally, Historical maps often hold information retained by no other written source, such as place-names, boundaries, and physical features that have been modified or erased by modern development. Historical maps capture the attitudes of those who made them and represent worldviews of their time. It is this characteristic that gives maps in subjects like Geography and History advantages over other teaching aids. Bloom (1971) clearly puts it that printed maps are used to portray the whole Earth’s surface or a part of it on a flat surface.
The term map in literally terms actually refers to the mathematical meaning of transferring information from one form into another. Maps can be presented as different projections which each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Maps by and large give learners adequate information needed as they show the true distance, direction, area, and shape of a given place. A 1: 50 000 scale map for instance is restricted to the total area that can be portrayed, but the scale is true between the distance on the map and the distance on the ground.
Maps display information in a meaningful way and additionally they are useful stores of data in the form of selected information about the map area. Maps show boundaries of areas and land uses that cannot be detected from merely surveying the landscape, and most having maps of the same area over periods of time is that maps that are out-dated, is that these maps can actually be useful in determining and storing information about hangers in land use and conation of properties. There is no doubt that images can be of great importance and relevance to teaching, particularly for lower level students.
In a reading session, for example, where texts can sometimes be complicated and uninspiring to students, pictures are one of very few aids that teachers can use to grab their students’ attention as well as to motivate them before starting the actual reading proving the adage that a picture speaks a thousand words. According to Sharon (1989), global pictures in the teaching process help stimulate student interest at learning and consequently help them be able to member learnt concepts and complex data.
Using global pictures, therefore, provides learners with visual stimulation and the opportunity to access the content from a different vantage point. This gives each learner the opportunity to interact with the content in a way which allows them to comprehend more easily. An exciting reading lesson requires more than Just asking the students to read the article in the course book by themselves, letting them do the vocabulary matching exercise, and then answering comprehension questions.
Activating the students’ schemata or prior knowledge is extremely important. A good pre-reading activity sets the purposes of the reading, gives the students a good reason to read, motivates the students, and builds their background knowledge. The importance of pictures in teaching process cannot be overemphasized. Slummier and Goodwin (1971) augment that our brains are essentially twofold made up of the left hemisphere, which is often described as analytical and verbal, and the right hemisphere, the left’s more creative and visual counterpart.
This means that individual learners absorb information differently depending on how they respond to certain types of stimuli. A textbook or article might serve well in introducing a topic to the learner, but a pertinent image to go along with it can reinforce that learner’s recollection and comprehension of the material. To sum up, global pictures have proven that they are incredible resource of materials. Not only can they be free resources, but they can be taken from virtually anywhere.
However, teachers should take into account how to select their pictures. In a reading class where some texts may be of little interest to the students, pictures can inspire the students and give them a clear purpose of their reading. In addition, pictures can also be used to improve other skills. Depending on the goals of the lesson, a teacher can manipulate the use of pictures in many different ways. For these reasons, pictures do play a vital role in teaching and should never be forgotten.
In education, realize are objects from real life used in classroom instruction by teachers to improve students’ understanding of other cultures and real life situations. A teacher of a foreign language often employs realize to strengthen students’ associations between words for everyday objects and the objects homeless. Gage and Berliner (1992) add that realize are used to connect learners with the key focal point of a lesson by allowing tactile and multidimensional connection between learned material and the object of the lesson.
They are best utilized for simple objects lending themselves to classroom settings and ease of control with minimum risk of accident throughout the student object interaction. By adding the virtual realize option, whereby three-dimensional models can be displayed through projection or on computer screens, allowing the learner to see detail otherwise difficult to acquire and to manipulate the object within the medium on which it is displayed.
The option of zooming and looking within objects makes virtual realize an important learning tool in technical environments where it may be difficult or impractical to examine an object in as much detail manually, such as the workings of living organs or machinery containing hazardous parts, such as combustion engines. Realize and specimens provide students or learners with hands on experience there by giving them adequate power and knowledge to be able to call learnt material with much ease. When it comes to using realize in the classroom the sky the limit!
The best part is that learners or students will acquire knowledge, have fun at the same time, the teacher will also enjoy his or her classes all the more. For instance, when teach fruits and vegetables in English, the teacher uses flashcards and illustrations. But if a basket full of fruits was to be brought to class and not only have students name them, but also take part in a surprise indoor picnic no doubt the students will be both surprised and thrilled, and even though hey may not be in the mood for a fruit salad, one thing is certain: this is one lesson they’ll never forget.
The use of realize in the classroom is therefore all about using real life objects that students can touch, feel, and even smell so as to add life to boring class sessions. In conclusion, it must be remembered that Students can become bored sitting in a classroom for hours. Teaching aids can provide a welcome break for students who have been sitting for a while and listening to an instructor lecture in front of the room. Teachers can use various teaching aids besides sketchbooks to recapture students’ interest and demonstrate how things work.
A teacher must further remember that his/her aim in class is to get students energies, motivated and engaged by using a variety of teaching aids. Therefore, the teaching aids discussed above will cut that boredom in the classroom and bring back life to class especially with the use of the hands-on learning methods. Models, maps, global pictures and realize and specimens are clearly an instructional medium that are compelling and generate a much greater amount of interest and enjoyment than the more traditional text books and blackboards.
