INTRODUCTION TO DIDACTIC PEDAGOGICS

F. van der Stoep Dean, Faculty of Education University of Pretoria

W. J. Louw Professor, Faculty of Education University of Pretoria

Translated by George D. Yonge (2005)

Inleiding tot die didaktiese pedagogiek. Third Printing. Pretoria: Academica, 1979

FOREWORD

The tempo with which contemporary science accumulates knowledge is overwhelming in many respects. Consequently, it is understandable that one of the most important problems that one faces is that virtually all sciences are difficult to survey. By studying a science, and on first acquaintance, the literature is inclined too quickly to present sophisticated and penetrating research that results in the basic insights failing to appear. The most important disadvantage of this is that the subsequent interpretation of scientific findings largely is impossible and this has the consequence of superficially forming students. Pedagogics, and especially didactic pedagogics, is no exception to the rule. As an area of science, in various respects, it has an abstract-theoretical facet that is a very good orienting study necessary to be able to know the practice of teaching as it really is. However, the insights into and research on teaching theory are spread over a great number of publications that make it difficult to acquire a real synoptic grasp of the matter on first encounter. In teacher preparation this is a particularly important consideration because the findings of pretty much all of the other pedagogical disciplines, in one or another way, must be brought to bear on a theory of teaching before it can be fruitfully particularized and implemented, e.g., in subject didactics. As such, didactics forms an unavoidable channel on the way to acquiring mastery of and mobility in the practical teaching situation. What is offered here is an attempt to present the mos t important (i.e., the most basic) aspects of didactic pedagogics as synoptically and simply as possible in order to satisfy this need. The scope of this manuscript can be attributed largely to the explicatory and orienting treatment of these aspects in such a way that the text itself can guide students and teachers to study these aspects on their own without too much difficulty. Also, regarding teacher training, the ordering of the contents is an attempt to make a capita selecta possible in accordance with the various structures of training that everywhere have their own identity at universities and colleges. It deserves emphasis that this is only an introduction. In the strong sense of introduction, this means that this work is intended as a first textbook for promoting an exploration and first acquaintance with didactic pedagogics. On this basis there is no claim of completeness and also no claim of particular depth in explanation and interpretation. The line of the elucidation simply begins with the reality of educating in order to indicate how, where and with respect to what teaching appears in a general human respect and in what way it again can be realized, as such, in school practice. The relevant and prevailing views of the various aspects of teaching are organized and elucidated around this matter. A penetrating study of any of the themes can be undertaken on the basis of the bibliography included. The authors in this way gladly show gratitude to the large number of scholars listed whose knowledge represents a richly variegated field of knowledge. At the same time, we sincerely thank and appreciate colleagues at all universities and colleges with whom from time to time we carried on penetrating conversations about various aspects of didactic pedagogics. A special word of thanks to our associates in the Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, where fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration and candor are the

order of the day. Thanks also to our family members wh o were content during the long periods of preoccupation. We offer special thanks to Academica for the publication and its nurturance. We trust that with this a contribution is made to th e stabilization especially of teacher preparation in our country and to putting it on the level that it belongs. September 1975 THE SECOND PRINTING The fact that a second printing of this work has already become necessary after a relatively short time certainly testifies to the fact that it is a useful guide for teacher preparation. However, at the same time this is a tempting opportunity to revise, rewrite, supplement, etc. After thorough consideration it was decided not to do this especially in the light of fact that the text is not yet obsolete. Also one must take into account that this is an introductory textbook that must address basic details rather than sophisticated research. The authors also considered adding a chapter of questions and problems about evaluation. In preparing it the field appeared to be so extensive that the particulars could not be meaningfully summarized in one chapter. For this reason it was decided to leave such a chapter out of the second printing. The theme deserves a publication in itself, which is now being worked on. The authors gladly show gratitude to all colleagues for suggestions, etc. about the manuscript. Unhappily, the cost factor prevents our following up on many useful proposals. July 1977 THE AUTHORS The Authors

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CONTENTS
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION Chapter 2: DIDACTIC PEDAGOGICS 1. The interdependence of educating and teaching 2. Educating through teaching 3. What is didactics? 3.1 The grounding (accounting) of a didactic theory 3.2 What is teaching? 4. Didactics and the theory of forming (German: Bildungslehre) 4.1 Formal forming 4.1.1 The theory of functional forming 4.1.2 The theory of methodical forming 4.2 Material forming 5. Categorical forming 6. The balance or equilibrium between form and contents: The lesson structure 7. Didactics, subject didactics and orthodidactics Chapter 3: DIDACTIC THEORY 1. Introduction 2. Pedagogic categories and their significance for didactic theory 3. D idactic categories 3.1 Unlocking (presenting) reality 3.2 Learning 3.3 Forming 3.4 Orienting 3.5 Accompanying (guiding) 3.6 Objectifying or distancing 3.7 Imperativity (demanding) 3.8 Anticipating 3.9 Formalizing 3.10 Socializing 3.11 Delimiting (demarcating) 3.12 Reducing 3.14 Achieving 3.15 Progressing 4. Didactic criteria 4.1 Perspective 4.2 Constituting 4.3 Relationality 4.4 Self-discovery 4.5 Emancipation 4.6 Expectation 4.7 Rationality 4.8 Security 4.9 Transcending 5. Didactic principles 5.1 General principles 5.1.1 Sympathy 5.1.2 Clarity 5.1.3 Tempo

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5.1.4 Dynamism 5.1.5 Balance 5.2 Particular principles 5.2.1 Stating and formulating the problem 5.2.2 Planning 5.2.3 Illustrating 5.2.4 Systematizing and ordering 5.2.5 Surveyability 5.2.6 Scientific character 5.2.7 Control 6. The meaning of the teaching contents 7. Factors that primarily influence the didactic forms 7.1 Language 7.2 Skills 7.3 Social discipline 7.4 Expression 7.5 Intentionality Chapter 4: FORMS OF TEACHING 1. Introduction 2. Didactic forms and forms of living 2.1 Play 2.2 Conversation 2.3 Example (exemplar) 2.4 Assignment (giving instructions) 3. The relationship between didactic ground-forms and teaching methods 3.1 Narrating 3.2 Questioning and answering 3.3 The textbook 3.4 Free activity 3.5 Demonstrating 3.6 Experimenting 3.7 Drill work (practice, exercise) 4. Principles o f ordering (organizing, arranging) learning contents 4.1 Chronological ordering 4.2 Symbiotic ordering 4.3 Linear ordering 4.4 Divergent ordering 4.5 Spiral ordering 5. Methodological principles 5.1.The inductive principle 5.2 The deductive principle Chapter 5: THE LEARNING CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Learning contents in didactic perspective 2.1 The situation of being a child 2.2 The didactic-pedagogic task 2.3 Learning contents and the teacher 2.4 The authority of the learning contents 2.5 The learning contents and the pupil 3. The elemental and the fundamental 3.1 The elemental (German: das Elementare)

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3.2 The fundamental (German: das Fundamentale) 4. The construction of learning subjects Chapter 6: DIDACTIC PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING 1. Introduction 2. Intentionality in the course of learning 3. Giving meaning as a precondition for and as a result of learning 4. Learning as a way of being in the original experience of educating (teaching) 4.1 Observing (perceiving) 4.2 Playing 4.3 Talking 4.4 Imitating 4.5 Fantasizing 4.6 Working 4.7 Repeating 5. The parents spontaneous teaching activities based on the childs s pontaneous learning activities 5.1 The child playsthe adult shows him how to play 5.2 The child observesthe adult points out 5.3 The child imitatesthe adult demonstrates 5.4 The child talksthe adult prompts 5.5 The child fantasizesthe adult narrates 5.6 The child worksthe adult gives assignments (instructions) 5.7 The child repeats and so does the adult 6. The categories of the learning activity 6.1 Perceiving 6.1.1 Pre-objective perceiving 6.1.2 Peerfunctory perceiving 6.1.3 Objective perceiving 6.2 Experiencing 6.3 Objectifying 6.4 Constituting 6.4.1 Communicating with reality 6.4.2 Synthesizing 6.4.3 Revising/changing 6.4.4 Lifestyling 6.4.5 Emancipating 6.5 Criticising 7. A summary of pedagogic-psychological descriptions of categories o f learning that directly concern didactic practice 7.1 Memorizing and reflecting 7.2 Fixating 7.3 Analyzing and synthesizing 7.4 Integrating 7.5 Restructuring 7.6 Reducing 7.7 Concentrating 7.8 Actualizing 7.9 Reproducing 7.10 Transferring 7.11 Anticipating

Chapter 7: THE LESSON STRUCTURE 1. Introduction 2. The concept lesson structure 3. The primary facts that the original experience of educating provides to the lesson structure 3.1 The teaching aim 3.2 The relationship between teaching aim and learning contents 3.3 Reducing the contents 4. Stating the problem 5. Ordering 6. Lesson form 7. The inductive and deductive approach 8. Principles for arranging or ordering contents 9. Teaching methods 10. Types of lessons 11. Lesson contents 12. Didactic modalities 13. Teaching aids Chapter 8: LESSON PREPARATION 1. Introduction 2. Aspects that must be taken into account in preparing a lesson 2.1 Pedagogic-didactic categories and criteria 2.2 The child 2.3 The nature of the subject matter 2.4 Methods of unlocking (teaching) 3. The aspects of a lesson structure 3.1 Teaching aim 3.2 The pedagogic-didactic imperative 3.3 Actualizing foreknowledge 3.4 Didactic principles and the phases of a lesson 3.5 The learning activity 3.6 Teaching and learning aids 3.7 Controlling (verifying, monitoring) 4. The lesson scheme 5. Scheme for a lesson write-up (Lesson plan) 5.1 Localizing information 5.1.1 Grade level 5.1.2 Subject 5.1.3 Time 5.2 Grouping 5.3 The teaching aim 5.3.1 The lesson aim 5.3.2 The learning aim 5.3.3 Stating the problem 5.3.3.1 Formulating the problem 5.3.3.2 Solving the problem 5.4 The lesson structure 5.4.1 Form of the lesson 5.4.1.1 Choice of the ground-form(s) 5.4.1.2 Choice of methodological principle(s) 5.4.1.3 Choice of principles for ordering (arranging) the learning material 5.4.1.4 Choice of methods of presentation (unlocking)

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5.4.2 The course )phases) of a lesson and the didactic modalities 5.4.2.1 Actualizing foreknowledge 5.4.2.2 Stating the problem 5.4.2.3 Exposing (unlocking) the lesson contents 5.4.2.4 Actualizing (controlling) the new content 5.4.2.5 Functionalizing 5.4.2.6 Testing (evaluating) 6. Summary: scheme for writing up a lesson (plan) APPENDIX: Some examples of lesson write-ups Chapter 9: THE PEDAGOGICAL (EDUCATIVE) MEANING OF THE SCHOOL 1. Introduction 2. The concept school 3. The structure of the school 4. The fundamental relationship between the adult and the child in the pedagogic-didactic situation and its nature 5. The interpretation of the norms in school and the relationship of the norms to the community 5.1 The social order 5.2 The prevailing spirit of the time 5.3 The youths situatedness 6. The meaning of the school for the childs experience o f normative reality 6.1 The school anticipates the childs future 6.2 The school is an intermediate world for the child 6.3 School activities always are [should be] purposeful and never haphazard 6.4 The school must complete the initial educating in the home 7. The encounter between adult and child in school 8. The schools task in a childs constitution of a personal life world Chapter 10: SYSTEMS OF TEACHING 1. Introduction 2. Some systems of teaching 2.1 Programmed teaching 2.1.1 Introduction 2.1.2 Linear and branching programs 2.1.2.1 Linear programming 2.1.2.2 Branching programming 2.1.3 The teaching machine and the programmed text 2.1.4 The language laboratory 2.1.5 The evaluation of programmed teaching 2.2 Computer-assisted teaching (instruction) 2.3 Team teaching 2.4 Project teaching 2.5 Conversation teaching 2.5.1 The learning conversation 2.5.2 The class conversation Chapter 11: THE CURRICULIUM 1. Introduction 2. General pedagogical considerations for designing and developing a curriculum 3. The pedagogic-didactic perspective on curriculum design

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4. Criteria for curriculum design 4.1 Categorical illumination 4.2 Themes of communication 4.3 The teachers command of the learning contents 4.4 The teachers command of the didactic 4.5 Positive tendency 4.6 Relevance 4.7 General readiness of the child 4.8 Language readiness of the child 4.9 Harmony of the terrains of reality 4.10 Pedagogic-didactic accountability 4.11 Balance and representative nature of the total possessed knowledge 4.12 General and specialized possibilities (subject contents) 4.13 Disciplinary coherence 4.14 Realization of quality and identit y by the learner 4.15 Identity and the ideal culture of the community 4.16 Aim structure in harmony with a philosophy of life and view of being human 4.17 Authority of the teachers teachin g 4.18 Formative possibility 4.19 Bringing about the elemental 4.20 General and specialized (societal) possibilities 4.21 Effort Chapter 12: EXEMPLARY TEACHING 1. Introduction 2. Origin of the exemplary approach 3. Exemplary learning 4. The exemplary: a conceptual interpretation and summary 4.1 Exemplum and exemplar 4.2 Exempel 4.3 The paradigm 4.4 The type or typical case 4.5 The pure case 4.6 The classic case 4.7 Pattern and sample 4.8 Model 4.9 Example 5. Considerations for an exemplary approach 5.1 The exemplary as form 5.2 The exemplary and the content 6. Practical considerations for an exemplary approach 7. Exemplary phaseology 8. Claims of exemplary teaching 9. Problems of an exemplary approach Chapter 13: DIDACTICS AND ORTHODIDACTICS 1. Introduction 2. Unbalanced interpretation of the orthodidactic 3. The possibility of an autonomous orthodidactics 4. The relationship between didactic and orthodidactic theory and practice 5. Teaching and learning problems 5.1 Endogenous factors 5.1.1 Problems in becoming

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5.1.2 Affectivity (emotionality) 5.1.3 Motivational disturbances 5.1.4 Talent and temperament 5.1.5 Organic defects 5.2 Exogenous factors 5.2.1 Asking too much 5.2.2 Overindulging and neglecting 5.2.3 Identification 5.2.4 Skepticism 5.2.5 The school 5.3 Forms in which learning problems appear 5.3.1 Refusal to learn 5.3.2 Stagnating in the learning event 5.3.3 A deceleration of the learning event 5.3.4 Selective stagnation in the learning event 5.3.5 Conflicts in becoming and learning 5.3.6 Disintegration of the activities in the learning event Chapter 14: EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT: EXAMINATIONS AND TESTS 1. Why do we evaluate in education? 2. What aims are valid for education? 2,1 Certification of pupils achievements 2.1.1 Grouping pupils 2.1.2 The organization of specific learning programs 2.1.3 To determine aptitude 2.1.4 Changing schools 2.1.5 Research 2.2 Evaluating the effect of teaching 2.3 Encouragement 2.4 Programmed and computeer-assisted teaching 3. The teacher as evaluator 4. Norm directed evaluation 4,1 Age norms 4.2 Class or grade norms 4.3 Percentile norms 5. Criterion directed evaluation 6. Examinations and tests 6.1 Informal testing techniques 6.2 Class tests and examinations 6.3 Kinds of aims 6.3.1 Cognitive aims 6.3.2 Affective aims 6.3.3 Psychomotor aims 7. Steps in constructing a test 8. Kinds (types) of tests 8.1 The essay test 8.2 Objective tests 8.2.1 True-false tests 8.2.2 Completion tests 8.2.3 Pairing 8.2.4 Multiple choice questions 8.2.5 The fill-in test or examination

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

The first task of writing any scientific account is to make sure that the theory expressed is justifiable. To justify the accountability of a scientific theory is complicated in many respects. Without going too deeply into this matter in this introduction to didactic pedagogics, it is noted that the concept account means that the author of such a theory is able to explain the origin, nature and ultimately also the methods of verifying his scientific findings. To illuminate this more closely: The scientific results that the scientist has arrived at must include everything that can be said about the terrain of that science. In didactic pedagogics this involves the question of teaching within an educative (pedagogic) situation. This means that everything one can note about teaching, as such, must be represented in aspects of the didactic or teaching theory. Although teaching is a very practical matter, i.e., an activity continually carried out by parents and teachers, all aspects (thus also and especially its practice) remain a theoretical matter until the moment the educator (parent or teacher) starts to act (teach). This theory or pronouncement about the act of teaching must be accountable. This means it must be true in the sense that it includes a genuine, accurate description of a particular aspect of reality with which one is involved in direct and indirect ways. The aspect of reality referred to here is teaching. The theory of teaching considered in the rest of this book, therefore, in all respects must correspond to this reality as it is. It is understandable that teaching is a factual matter and that the scientist must strictly limit himself to these facts. Any scientist continually is tempted to describe reality as he thinks it is. Hence, the didactician also is tempted to describe teaching as he thinks it is. His personal views of teaching, however, do not necessarily mean that he sees teaching as it actually is. Therefore, it is understandable that if a theorist about teaching abandons this reality, as such, in order to write down his own views, judgments or opinions as scientific, his theoretical results are not necessarily accountable, valid or true.

Therefore, an important criterion for a theory of teaching is that in all respects it must agree with the essence of reality as it is found in the everyday course of a persons involvement with it. Hence, a theory must be a description, explanation and exposition of how teaching appears in the everyday life of people, of its nature, t he terrain that it occupies, its limits, what associated scientific disciplines (other subject sciences) must be taken note of in studying this piece of reality (teaching), how knowledge about it can be cast in formal findings, etc. Only when a scientist attends to these and many additional matters scientifically and gives an account of his basis for arriving at particular results can he claim validity for his theory. Then any other scientist or student also has the right to question or doubt the account the author has given and convince himself of the validity of the theoretical results before him at this particular time in terms of his own knowledge and what is available in the literature. The criteria regarding truth, validity and accountability also hold in studying this book. Whatever is stated here about teaching must be able to stand the test of reality itself. If this is not the case, this implies that what is offered here about teaching in the form of descriptions and explications is not valid or accountable wholly or partly. Thus, this forces the scientist to be involved with essences or essential matters. It is unthinkable that a person can offer a valid description of a matter such as teaching if he is involved with what is not essential to it. One also can say that a theory of teaching must make pronouncements about the structure of teaching itself. In this context, structure means those original, primary or basic facts by which a matter shows itself as it is. If such a description or theory is complex and difficult to understand, this is because that reality (in this case, teaching, itself) in many respects is complex and difficult to understand. The scientist never tries to obscure or hide what it is about which he speaks. The opposite is true: the scientist makes an honest attempt to illuminate, explain and clarify the reality he is involved with so that it can be understood by others. In the human sciences this is much more difficult than in the natural or applied sciences. The matters studied by the natural and

applied sciences usually are directly and concretely available. In general, nature is directly observable and immediately present for investigation. By controlled empirical research valid pronouncements can be made and tested or verified by the phenomena of nature itself. If the natural scientist has instruments available by which he can more closely investigate natural phenomena of whatever nature, experiments can be conducted and their results can be logically and systematically written up and he can arrive at scientifically valid findings. By following the same research methods, his results can easily be verified by other scientists. However, in the human sciences the matter is very different. Here the scientist often is involved with invisible, non-concrete and indirectly available aspects of the reality that is the area of his investigation. For these reasons, it is understandable that here the scientist, in the first place, is not able to arrive at valid scientific results by means of experiments or instruments. As far as educating and teaching are concerned, they are events that one can observe happening. But they are not things or objects such as a flower or a light bulb. Their essence or nature largely is concealed because they are human activities that, for example, cannot be duplicated in a test-tube. Also, these activities are not always uniform or simple. Their origin and nature cannot be determined by concrete measuring instruments. And yet teaching is present in reality as experiencing, lived experiencing, exerting, aiming, etc. Teaching is there as a knowable, experiencable and lived experiencable aspect of reality, but it is not there in the same sense that a tree or the construction of a ship is. Hence, the task of the human sciences is to make visible and knowable or to allow these often non-concrete, invisible and concealed matters to appear by describing and explicating what and how these activities really are within the horizon of human existence. In light of the nature of the descriptions that follow in the other chapters, it is meaningful to go still further into this topic and explain it more fully. Teaching is a human action. This type of human activity is real: people are continually involving each other in teaching. We observe

this event but cannot always account for what we actually see. To understand the problem better, we can compare it to human thinking. A person thinks but we cannot directly perceive how he thinks. All that really is available for observation is the results of his thinking. These results appear, e.g., in terms of what he remembers and in light of what he wants to achieve or understand. We can perceive that someone is thinking; thinking is a real activity. In the same way as with teaching and thinking, a person continually involves himself in certain aspects of reality. He continually builds up relationships with reality on the basis of the ways he involves himself in general human activities in the world. Here the scientist must observe teaching in terms of his own experiences and decide what the nature of this activity really is and then systematically plan his investigation of its nature and essence and write up his results. The aim of a theory of teaching, therefore, is to offer a description and explanation of a particular activity by which a person continually enters into a relationship with the reality surrounding him. The point of departure for doing this is very simple. It involves the fact that a person is (exists) in the world. He lives in the world as a person. This implies that he is in a definite relationship with everything that surrounds him and by which his activities are motivated and directed. Because this statement (a person exists in the world) is the basic or primary point of departure for any theory about human beings, it warr ants closer examination. To say that a person is in the world implies that we are aware of the humanness (humanity) of persons and especially that we, as persons, only are aware of everything that surrounds us from a human point of view. A human being cannot exceed the boundaries of his humanness; i.e., he cannot live other than as a human. All of his experiencing is human experiencing and his knowledge of things only represents human knowledge. A person is conscious of reality (the world) to the extent that a human being can be conscious of it. Our humanity, therefore, really is a barrier that no person can exceed during his lifetime. Consequently, it is meaningless, for example, to try to understand the humanity of persons in terms of

the animal-ness of animals. No scientist can learn something essential about human existence, as such, by e.g., studying animals. This implies still more. A person appears in the world as a participating and acting being. He continually is involved with the things that surround him. This reality with which he is continually involved is diversely rich and often very complex. Thus, the nature of his involvement with it is equally complex and varied. A human being does not live in simplicity but in multiplicity. In other words, a persons involvement with reality has a multi-form character; it varies not only in accordance with the individual persons own nature (personality and interests) but also in accordance with his situatedness and the demands it makes on him, and to which he must act and respond. The statement that a person is being-in-the-world is the primary scientific pronouncement about all human activity. Formally, this is known as the first ontological category. This statement (category) is the primary means of thinking in terms of which a human beings involvement with reality can be investigated and described. The importance of this matter for establishing a didactic theory will become clear in the following chapters. From this first, basic pronouncement, a second matter arises that is of paramount importance for a theory of teaching, namely, the question about the nature of the relationship that necessarily exists between person and world. This question is of particular importance for a theory of teaching because, in its essence, teaching continually aims at changing this person-world relationship, e.g., on the basis of the fact that, in teaching, knowledge about reality is communicated. In order to build up a relationship between person and reality, a teacher must have fundamental insight into this matter. A careful consideration of this relationship really indicates only two possible approaches for investigating it. One possibility is to proceed from the standpoint that there is a clear, objective and noticeable distance between person and world. This is the view that person and world have completely separate identities and that each can be studied and explained in isolation from the other. By

implication, this means that person and world essentially have nothing to do with each other, and that scientific findings about persons can totally ignore the fact that they are in the world and still give valid scientific explanations. The same standpoint can be held regarding the matter world. Even at this early stage it is clear that this view is directly in conflict with the first ontological category (i.e., being-in-the-world) because neither person nor world can be thought of as being separate. Surely, a person cannot exist or be thought to exist outside of the world. For this reason, the second possibility is valid, namely, that person and world essentially assume and imply each other. Person and world represent an inseparable and necessary unity of a fundamental nature. The core question of this whole matter revolves around the assumed relationship between person and world. The relationship that is assumed here becomes clear when one understands that world implies the totality of reality with which a person becomes involved as long as he lives. The relationship between person and world always has to do with the meaning of a persons existence, i.e., the meaning of his involvement with reality by which he lives. For this reason, a person cannot be divorced from or thought of as separated from his world; also the world cannot be thought of as separated from a person. By the nature of this matte r, a simple and everyday experiential fact that everyone can confirm is that a person necessarily is involved with things of the world and that these things really cannot appear outside of his involvement in or his consciousness of them (in the form of contents). Person and world are essentially dependent on each other. They form a unity like two sides of a coin. It has been indicated that world is a comprehensive, all-inclusive concept. In fact, the world, as such, is interminable. No person can grasp or command everything with which they can become involved. A persons everyday involvement in the world indicates that every person, strictly speaking, lives in his own world, i.e., among the things he knows and is familiar with. Outside of this field of involvement of known and familiar matters, of things he has experienced and with which he feels comfortable and safe, he and

the rest of the world are relatively foreign to each other. For many persons the world ends at the boundaries of their town or city in the sense that beyond them the world doesnt exist because they are completely unaware of it. At the same time, one also must realize that familiarity with the world differs from person to person. For this reason, world cannot be a constant factor in any description because the horizon of familiarity and mobility in reality (the world) varies from person to person. This holds true as far as the scope of a persons involvement with reality is concerned but not for the nature of this involvement. All persons are only involved in reality as persons. They play, mourn, work, bring up children, etc. These ways of being involved are valid for everyone. Each person ultimately creates or constitutes his own world in light of the fact that the things surrounding him are known and meaningful to him. In this way, every human being possesses his own world of known and meaningful things and this world is delimited by a horizon that demarcates the unknown. As a person broadens his horizons by learning or experiencing, the world in which he lives expands. Also the horizon of our world is not a constant factor and is continually being enlarged by our greater knowledge through study, wider experiences, accepting greater responsibility, etc. Consequently, for each person, world really is an extremely personal matter: it is a horizon of known, familiar and meaningful things (contents) in terms of which he lives as he does. His lifestyle is closely related to his world. Therefore, it is quite correct to speak of a persons own life world as the horizon of the things he knows, understands and is familiar with. From experience we also know that this life world is not merely present to each person from birth. Indeed, each child is born into the world but he has the task of eventually constituting a life world for himself by giving value and meaning to particular things. Formally stated: each individual person creates or constitutes his life world on the basis of the meanings with which he is accosted and the sense he gives to them. The concept world must not be interpreted simply as a place or space. World means a known reality. Apart from being a place or space, world is a matter of contents, meanings, preferences,

awarenesses, experiences and choices, etc. Thus, it is clear that it is not a matter of objects or concrete things. Its scope includes everything a person is aware ofhis own interiority as well as surrounding external things. In this light, it is understandable that a person, in the midst of all that surrounds him, has a perspective on the world or reality. He views or sees it in a particular perspective that is of decisive importance for the meanings that he attributes to the world. Coupled with the fact that each person constitutes his own life world, the implication also is that each person holds a particular life- and world-view as this is shown in his likes and dislikes, among other ways. This life- and world-view (philosophy of life) also is closely related to his awareness of a reality over and above himself as a person, i.e., a reality that transcends him. This phenomenon is common to all cultures and is not easily explained scientifically. It is closely related to the nature and ways he gives meaning to his own existence and his own destiny. Each candid scientist who studies the human being and his activities knows that a philosophy of life provides the ultimate content and indicates the meaning of human existence, in general. As Afrikaners, we fearlessly hold a definite philosophy of life, namely, a Christian National, or, more specifically, a Calvinist one. As a philosophy of life, it incorporates the views of our existence as a true belief in the Trinity God who has created everything and reigns over it. Thus, the content of this philosophy of life is not only a sure knowledge of His manifestations but also the firm belief that our being in the world is under His rule and guidance as the highest authority. It is important to remember that the pronouncements of a life- and world-view have unconditional validity and its authority is absolute. As content, it is particularly Christian, Scripture bound and, therefore, paired with our deepest convictions about the manifestations of God in the Scripture and in nature. All forms of our general human existence in the course of our daily life are filled and colored by these contents. The important fact is that our entire being-in-the-world must be interpreted in its light.

A child is born into the complex relationships of a meaningful being-in-the-world as totally ignorant and immobile regarding our multi-dimensional existencebut in the world. The fact that he is there presents an educative task to his parents, i.e., the task to support and guide him to become a proper adult. How this matter is related to a theory of teaching is explained later. It is remarkable that the general statements about valid theoretical pronouncements, and the few related facets or deliberations discussed, now have acquired a particular complexion. Before a closer description of the matter teaching can be broached and explained further, this orienting introduction still needs to further clarify a few other things to put into perspective what is to follow. The findings provided above about the relationship between person and world within the frame of reference of a philosophy of life certainly imply that any science dealing with human beings (in this case pedagogics) must give a necessary and clear indication of a view of being human or a (philosophical) anthropology. Outside of the question of the essence of being human the matter of the person-world relationship cannot be dealt with easily because the meaning of human existence immediately would fall through. Outside of the pronouncements of a philosophy of life it is not possible to keep in focus a human being as a structure-in-function as well as an acting person. Consequently, the connection between a view of being human (a philosophical anthropology) and a philosophy of life is that they provide an answer to the question of the meaning of human existence in general and in particular, respectively. As far as educating is concerned, this is an extremely important matter. An activity such as educating is meaningless if an educator does not purposefully try to help create in the child a specific human image as he becomes adult. Thus, (philosophical) anthropology is of fundamental importance when educating and teaching are described. The fundamental significance of a human image that is striven for is that the concept human being or person does not have a static, sterile meaning. On the other hand, a person is in the world but, on the other hand, he becomes

different, and also he ought to become different. This statement is a greater task for the child than anyone. Another aspect that essentially affects the person-world relationship is that everyone lives within the limits and under the authority of particular norms. These norms or standards serve the purpose of providing definite indications or guidelines about what is and is not proper. The questions of how a human being is (exists) and how he ought to be are questions that cannot be separated from each other any more than the concepts person and world can be. A person appears in his life world in accordance with the totality of his activities. These activities are subject to the authority of particular norms such as religious, judicial, economic, social and political considerations, to mention a few. Consequently, the is and the ought are undeniably related and form a unity without which the image of a person does not appear. The implication of the fact that a person is in the world really is obvious. To be a person in the world is a matter of elevating and ascending. The child has the task of becoming different in a variety of respects on the basis of an increasing involvement and participation in the activities of life and world (life world). To try to separate person and person image would have the same scientific effect as trying to separate person and world from each other. It is true, however, that there are a wide variety of human images available, for instance, the Christian, naturalistic and humanistic, to mention only three. How these appear and what their influence is on describing the person-world relationship are not directly relevant here. What is of great importance is the fact that a human image must always be present in any explanation that considers a person in the world. Therefore, it is understandable that in founding, describing and explaining a theory of teaching this matter continually will crop up directly and indirectly and will exercise an extensive influence on the theoretical formulations and relevant particulars connected with a philosophy of life. Another matter that was mentioned only in passing must now be carefully considered. Previously there was reference to the personworld relationship as a matter of meanings. Indeed, the question of a person-world relationship simply does not emerge outside of

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meanings. If one looks at this more closely, the above statement really implies that world, along with place or space and objects, also is a matter of contents. In the daily course of a persons life, the spatial aspect and things or objects that appear understandably cannot be ignored. This spatial facet of his existence and the objects with which he is continually involved, however, are not the only, and often not the most important things with which he is involved. Therefore, world, above all, implies for a person contents in terms of which he arrives at his own ordering of everything that surrounds him in accordance with the meanings he attributes to them. Constituting a personal life world assumes that it really is a response to the question of the sense and meaning of reality as contents. Perhaps one can better understand this by proceeding from the fact that the world (its spaces and objects) speaks to human beings. Other persons, distances, surfaces, perspectives and things (objects) direct an appeal to a person. This means that each of these makes certain demands of a person in that he is forced to give particular meanings to them (to reality). If one now considers that each of these aspects that appears in a persons life world really are present in reality, this means that the way they come to light in his own life world shows a definite and necessary correspondence with the meaning he attributes to them within the framework of his own existence. Understandably, this is extremely subjective: persons, matters and objects really appear to us in the way we see them. Consequently, the meanings that we attribute to them are closely interwoven with the way they are placed in our landscape or placed there by us. For this reason we see all of these things as a whole, i.e., as a coherence of meaningful and, therefore, as important things that appear in the life world. The view that the person has of reality, in the totality of its coherencies, is called his landscape. Landscape, therefore, is the cohering particulars of a persons life world. A persons landscape really is his particularized life world. If one takes all of the above into account, it also is understandable that the contents of the life world do not have the same meaning (sense) for all persons. The coherencies of reality do not appear the same to everyone. Also reality does not have the same impact on all people and its meaning is not interpreted by all in the same way. A churchyard does not make the same impression on or have the same

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meaning for everyone. The meaning given to it is highly personal. Hence, in terms of these meanings, world changes into a life world and into a landscape, as indicated above. The importance of this is that everything that appears on a persons life horizon really becomes a matter of contents, i.e., meanings, sense and coherencies. This is of fundamental importance when the person-world relationship arises within the framework of teaching. It is obvious that all teaching occurs in terms of contents. These contents appear in reality as meanings and by teaching they must be placed in a definite frame of reference based on the philosophy of life of those involved in teaching. Thus, it is such an important task of the one who teaches to determine what reality is present to offer in the teaching situation. For this reason teaching is of decisive importance for the person-world relationship and for designing or constituting an individual life world. From the above, two important matters come to the fore that really are the keystones of every didactic theory. The first is that a person is in the world in particular ways, i.e., in terms of clearly knowable forms of living. This is the basis for what in didactic theory is described and explained as the form of teaching. To further explain this here will take up too much space. The essence of this is that a human being exists in the world and becomes involved in reality in terms of certain ways or forms of living. The second important matter is that reality eventually appears to persons as particular contents, i.e., as meanings, sense and coherencies. In a theory of teaching this aspect continually arises as a matter of teaching content or learning material. Just as person and world are an indivisible unity, the matter of form and content have a necessary relationship that underlies a theory of teaching. Teaching always aims for an equilibrium and harmony of these two matters in the life of the one dependent on the teaching. Within an educative context this involves educative aims that must be achieved by teaching. It is against this background that the problems of a didactic theory must be weighed and investigated. The important thing is that this does not represent a detached or separate aspect of a persons involvement with reality but actually is part of a whole that previously was described briefly as a person

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being-in-the-world. By this, the explanation must be accountable, i.e., it must disclose what actually is. The aim of this introductory, orienting chapter is to present a framework within which the reader can understand the descriptions, explanations and reasoning in the following chapters. In the literature mentioned in the bibliography there is indubitable evidence of various approaches to didactic theory; in fact, there are many different didactic theories. The fact about which we must be certain is this: there may be a multitude of approaches, scientific findings or theoretical opinions about teaching written down, but there is only one teaching. No matter how much a scientist might try, he cannot describe or explain what doesnt exist. Thus, different teachings do not exist in reality. Teaching is a single, unique activity that appears in the totality of human experience. During all times and in all places teaching appears the same for all people, but it also can be actualized in terms of different contents (for example: life- and world-views). When we speak of teaching, as such, we are dealing with something that is universally valid. As soon as contents arise, we are in the realm of the specific and what is particular, especially as far as the contents appear in the life- and world-view of a particular society, group or nation. All findings about teaching, as such, therefore, must be universally valid. As to what must be taught (content), understandably, there are a great many opinions. This is why every country or region compiles its own curricula to insure that those contents (aspects of reality, norms, values, etc.) deemed to be important are taught systematically.

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CHAPTER 2 DIDACTIC PEDAGOGICS

1. THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF EDUCATING AND TEACHING Educating is an everyday human experience common to all people. It is an aspect of reality as are all phenomena, be they natural or essentially human like making laws and living according to them, conducting business, waging war or engaging in agriculture. In light of the introductory observations of the previous chapter educating is an aspect of the way human beings become involved with reality. Educating is a clearly recognizable aspect of reality in its totality (life world of human beings) and to deny its existence would be to do violence to reality itself. But educating is not a thing, i.e., it is not a substance. It is an event, an experience, and an encounter and it testifies to a relationship between generations where the older generation is involved with the younger one in terms of life contents that the older generation considers valuable, valid and formative. This statement especially holds true for parents. They are continually involved with their children to try to insure that they eventually become independent and responsible adults. But what holds for parents also is valid for teachers. As in the case of educating, in general, it also is a recognized fact that wherever schools exist, teachers are involved in sharing (with parents) the task of forming tomorrows generation. For this reason it is of particular significance that a teacher have a thorough knowledge of and a keen insight into educating. This is the primary reason why educating and the relationship between educating and teaching are dealt with before giving further attention to a theory of teaching, as such. In the previous chapter it was stated that the relationship between person and reality, the constituting of ones own life world and a persons mobility in the larger reality involve mastering contents. This is of particular importance for educating. Life contents include those aspects of life in terms of which adults live as adults: their religious views and allegiances; their moral, social, economic and political opinions; their language and culture; their lifestyle; their economic activities, etc. all are life contents that greatly determine

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the nature of their involvement in reality. As far as these life contents are involved in educating, it is the adults conviction that the child must master them. The upcoming generation must learn to know these contents, value and accept them, and the expectation is that they will implement them in everyday life situations if they ultimately will be adults themselves. Therefore, in this sense, educating is not merely adults intervening in the lives of their children but it is a conscious intervention with the aim that their children will make these contents their own possession. This has brought us to a basic, primary and fundamental insight into the relationship between educating and teaching. The most important fact illuminated so far is that educating cannot occur without contents. All adults who educate children are involved in presenting contents to them. These contents include a great variety of things such as norms, values and skills aimed at helping the child create a healthy person-world relationship. But when a person presents contents this clearly implies that teaching immediately appears. When a person exposes, broaches or presents contents by discussing or demonstrating them, he actually is involved in teaching. The essence of this really is very straightforward. Educating always is actualized by teaching while the meaning of teaching is in educating. It is not possible to educate without teaching. Similarly, it is meaningless to teach children if their eventual adulthood is not advanced by it. That adults educate children by teaching them is one of the most original, elementary and important facts of human existence. Educating is a particular form by which a persons life manifests itself and that is fulfilled to the extent that the child is presented with particular contents regarding the fact that he is a human being. Thus, educating is a life practice and this practice realizes itself wherever there are people. In this sense, it is a fundamental fact of human existence. In this light educating is dealt with here. The question is what really is educating? When insights of this nature are made available by means of the written word, the question about what educating really is already implies a certain theory. The description of the activity that we experience as educating already is theoretically colored

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because it exceeds the practice itself in the sense that it is that activity or practice that is described; in other words, the theory of what educating is, is already anticipated in these descriptions. The question of what educating is, therefore, is answered by a specific scientific description that generally is known as a theory of educating or pedagogics. Thus, the task of pedagogics, as a science, is to systematically and accountably investigate, analyze and describe the educative event in order to try to provide greater insight into its structure for those (teachers) who formally and purposefully intervene in educative ways with children. Consequently, pedagogics is a radical consideration and systematic description of educating as a practice that occurs among people. It seeks answers to such questions as how something like educating is possible; why an activity such as educating is meaningful; what aspects of the activity that we know as educating are essential to its appearance, etc. This knowledge about educating is necessary because its formal practice (teaching in schools) cannot do without it. The practice of educating is not limited to the relationship or involvement of parents with their own children but generally is the concern of adults with children who are in the same situations. In addition to the parents, teachers are primarily involved in educating because on one or another occasion and in various ways, in their educative practice, they purposefully intervene in the life of a child with the direct aim of influencing the childs involvement with reality so his relationship with it will change. When a teacher intervenes in the life of a child educatively, he must be able to give an account of the nature, scope and meaning of his actions. He also has the responsibility of judging his own actions whether he has intervened correctly or fruitfully; if there is a correspondence between the practice that he now carries out as an adult and the theory or insights at his disposal about educating. Thus, for example, the entire practice of teaching is attuned to the children learning. Hence, it is logical that a teacher not only must have a thorough knowledge of what learning really is but he also must be able to plan a situation in which learning, as a childs way of existing, can be effectively actualized. The adult must be able to

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theoretically account for or justify his practical activities in order to avert faulty reasoning, prevent faulty educating, and especially enter the school situation in such a way that every aspect of his actions, as far as possible, will contribute to educating the pupils. In a study of a theory of teaching, pedagogics has a particular place and it serves the teaching aims in more than one respect. These theoretical insights compel the adult to thoroughly reflect on the aim, the means and the persons involved in the event of educating. The adult is supposed to know where he wants to lead the child. If he purports to help the child become more adult (as, indeed, is the case), he also must know what adulthood is. If, for example, the educator primarily views adulthood in terms of vocational independence, then this becomes his most important educative aim and he will have to emphasize his educating such that his intervention with the child will result in him eventually being able to practice his vocation independently. On closer view, this aim appears to be narrow because vocational independence is only one aspect of adulthood, in a broader sense. All educative aims are summarized under one final aim, namely the eventual adulthood of the child. This implies the selfdetermination, responsibility and the moral independence of the child. It is obvious that this general or eventual aim (adulthood) has various aspects. For example, one can talk of preliminary aims such as the cleanliness of the child; of incidental aims such as good and regular eating habits; of intermediate aims that really are aimed at something else such as learning as a prerequisite to accepting the articles of faith of a church. On the other hand, one could also hold the view that educating can be divided directly into facets such as the intellectual, cultural, moral, esthetic, social, etc. each of which has its own partial aims that collectively express the concept education. The fact of the matter is that the adult does not account for his educative aims casually but that he carefully considers what he has in mind for the childs eventual adulthood. Without teaching these aims cannot be realized. Therefore, teaching aims are always educative aims and the practice of educating also always is the practice of teaching. 2. EDUCATING THROUGH TEACHING

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The essential matter that has emerged from the previous paragraphs is that educating and teaching show an indivisible unity in their origin as well as their course. This means that teaching first appears (in human existence) in the educative situation and nobody really can understand teaching if he doesnt also have a fundamental knowledge of educating. It also was indicated that the ultimate aim of teaching and educating children is their adulthood. The idea of adulthood indicates that, as possibility/potentiality, a child is directed to his future. Although the future is ope n for him, it is not an obvious matter. Consequently, in his intervening with a child the adult directs an appeal to him to explore and master this future, and he makes certain demands or imperatives of him to which he must give particular and meaningful responses. With these responses the child gives evidence that the adults intervention with him has not been in vain. The fundamental aim of this form of activity is directed to allowing the child to change because he can change. The support provided by the adult in this respect i s educative and it is observable in an educative situation. This support assumes that the adult accepts the child, that he cherishes and protects him and that he creates security for him in the home. The mastery of reality that the child must show, however, also must coincide with the idea of propriety held by the adult. Therefore, the chi ld may not act improperly, in an unseemly way or objectionably because this would be contrary to the idea of adulthood held by the ad ult. The view that the child is potentiality, however, assumes that he possesses certain powers or gifts that he can use to acquire his own position in the world. To be able to succeed at this he must learn to know the reality surrounding him. This knowledge not only includes the religious and moral values that continually come up in the home but also the systems of his culture. As a consequence of the cultural systems, the world or reality is what and how it is. By mastering these cultural systems (language, economic and literary activities, political practice, etc.) the child learns to live like an adult. If these systems are not fully and adequately mastered by the child, it means life outside of the home remains closed and foreign, even dangerous, to him and he will not really be able to maintain

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himself adequately in the adult world. In such a case, the danger is that he never really will become an adult. Both the idea and the mandate to learn are inherently unique to educating. However, it is important to note that the systems of a culture are built up by persons over thousands of years and tha t the childs own way (form) of living is radically influenced by them. A large part of these systems is or were initially aimed at mastering nature. In this way, through the ages, humans have created a life world that in practically every respect implies transcending the boundaries of nature. The life world about which the adult directs the child in educating him really is a life world that humans have brought about over centuries. These intricate structures are not known or knowable to a child at birth and, therefore, he cannot yet understand and use them. Hence, one of the most important tasks for educators is to make available and known to the child this world that has been ordered, systematized and built up by persons, and to teach him about it. If the adult can meet this demand it also should be possible that the childs potentialities are actualized so he is able to master these life contents of the adult. By learning to know these systems or contents, the possibility is created that the child can learn to control them, i.e., after a number of years he can act as an adult, in general, with respect to a given reality. This teaching, instructing or introducing of cultural systems, or life contents, has its beginning in the home. In addition to the values and related norms, in the family a child also learns to know various other aspects of the contents necessary for adult life. The parent can present this knowledge to the child systematically or incidentally. Thus, the child masters the language and his parents lead him with increasing intensity from his own baby talk to a general standard of language. Also, from his initial insights he learns to discriminate quantitatively and to form concepts by which he masters reality. He listens to the radio and encounters music; he handles various tools and artifacts and observes his parents reading books, magazines and newspapers, etc. By about the childs sixth year, he shows a particular attunement to exploring, mastering and making the world outside of his home his own. The structures of these contents that he increasingly explores

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are very complex and he cannot gain an adequate grasp of them by himself. Also his parents do not necessarily have a systematic and formal knowledge of them. His parents may not be able to clarify and explain things like natural phenomena, political events and the increase in the cost of living. These contents are also wide in scope and complex and the parent is aware that his childs grasp and understanding of them depends on systematic and sustained teaching. In order to correctly and systematically present and make these contents available, in accordance with the childs unique nature, the adults create institutions in life where he can undertake this task in formal and organized ways. Going to school is an important part of educating a child because it gives him the opportunity to formally and systematically learn to know the reality that he does not yet know and to create a future for himself. The most important aspect of this form of intervention with the child by the adult certainly is the didactic or teaching activity that already had its origin in the adults actions in the home and now is carried on in the school in formal and systematic ways. Thus, the adult creates a school-didactic situation within which an adult (teacher) and child (pupil) come together to converse about particular life contents (learning material) with the aim that the child will learn to know them. His mastery of the contents must lead him to acquiring a greater mastery of the world outside of the school. Therefore, the adult calls these contents learning material or learning contents. As does the parent, the adult who teaches provides assistance to the child who needs this assistance such that the idea of educating also will be realized in the teaching. The aid and support the teacher gives the child in this series of situations is not casual or incidental. What the teacher puts at the disposal of the child in the form of learning contents, learning and teaching aids, guiding the learning activity, controlling and evaluating his work, etc. essentially is premeditated, systematic, planned and differentiated. The adult who wants to involve himself in teaching must realize that in every respect the school is an extension of the activities initiated in the home. However, these activities must be brought to full fruition in a series of situations during which the child has the

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opportunity to acquire more knowledge and experience so that he can eventually become an adult himself. For these reasons the educative and teaching situations cannot be divorced from each other; one is the obverse of the other. Without teaching, educating cannot occur. Without taking the educative ideal (aim) into consideration, teaching children is relatively meaningless and even unthinkable. The place and meaning of schooling in this wider context is dealt with fully in a later chapter. 3. WHAT IS DIDACTICS? With reference to what was noted previously, at this stage, one can indicate that teaching is an activity present in a persons life world that is worthy of close analysis and examination in itself. After all, teaching, like educating, belongs to the most fundamental of human experiences. A theory of teaching or a reflection on the activity of teaching is called didactics. Therefore, didactics is the scientific study of the activity of teaching, i.e., a theory of it. In the broadest sense, didactics, as a science, is a theory about what teaching implies: it examines the conditions basic to effective teaching; the general principles that must be taken into account; the possible forms it can take; the relationships between teaching and learning; the meaning of learning contents; the ways these contents can be organized; what the concept school actually comprises and how it is viewed in general educational terms; and, if the teaching activity fails, what factors the teacher should take into account in order to be able to work in an orthodidactic (corrective) way in his classroom. The greatest danger in interpreting the concept didactic certainly is that in the literature it continually is confused with the concept method. This confusion is the result of the common practice of equating a theory of teaching with a theory of teaching methods. Even everyday experience shows very clearly that the entire matter of teaching includes much more than teaching methods; hence, this view leads to serious mistakes in and errors of judgment. The word didactic is derived from the Greek word didaskein that means to teach, to offer or convey contents or something for

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someone to learn. Various inferences are drawn from this root word in order to describe and explain a human beings involvement in teaching. Words such as didasklos (teacher), didaskalia (the teaching profession), didache (the contents that must be taught) and didastikos (a person who is involved in teaching in one way or another) all are concepts derived from the root word meaning to shed light on the activity generally known as teaching. Therefore, it is important to realize that currently the usage of didactic is as a comprehensive word that includes all of the concepts mentioned as well as many others. Briefly, in its original meaning, didactics had to do with describing the activity of teaching and of being taught. Consequently, it is worth noting that the science generally known today as didactics arose from the study of the theoretical and practical aspects of teaching. In other words, a person is continually placed in and deals with situations in which teaching is necessary. Thus, in this respect, didactics also means the science and the practice of teaching. Viewed historically, didactic was used in the Middle Ages to describe a particular intention or aim of a written piece. In particular, the word was used to describe the influence of the contents of such writings on forming (changing) the persons who studied them. Post-Middle Ages literature is full of didactics, i.e., written pieces by which there is an attempt to bring particular facts and opinions to the attention of the reader. In the early Netherlands literature Jacob Catz is a good example of a writer who devoted himself to contents for teaching. Also, in the Afrikaans literature, Totius is well known for the didactic flavor of his works. As a poet, he is intent on convincing the reader that certain views and concepts are valuable; his poems are basically didactic because they are aimed at teaching the reader. It is important to indicate that the activity from which didactics developed is not foreign to life or merely abstract. The central concern of didactic pedagogics, i.e., teaching children and everything associated with it, in all respects is an integral part of the human life world. To be human means to experience teaching at one time or another and to be taught in a variety of forms. Earlier this matter was dealt with briefly. Therefore, the phenomenon generally known as teaching is given with being human and does

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not arise merely because one establishes a school in which this teaching occurs in systematic ways. For this reason, the danger of the tendency to equate didactics with method was briefly warned against. Didactics covers a much broader area than is the case with methods. Didactics deals with teaching in its entirety, i.e., in its broadest sense and in all of its facets. Methods or methodology are concerned only with particular methods to be able to realize general or particular teaching aims. Methods are not concerned with the validity of teaching aims because this is a question of a general didactic nature. Didactic aims must be clearly considered and formulated before a particular or general method is chosen to realize them. If the concept didactics is limited to method this means that, indeed, valid statements might be made about the course of teaching but not necessarily about the nature and sense of teaching, especially pedagogically. Didactics includes methods, as such, because it also describes and explains teaching methods as well as everything related to them. The didactician who wants to investigate and understand what really is the nature and essence of teaching must realize that the origin of his thinking, research, descriptions and explanations is the original didactic situation in the reality of educating, itself. This matter deserves further attention. From birth a child is continually drawn into particular teaching situations by his parents. These situations in the home vary greatly regarding their aims, eventual results, etc. The important consequence of this for didactics is that a child is not drawn into a teaching situation for the first time when he enters school. Also, the appeal to learn is not foreign to him. In fact, the learning activities the child has carried out since birth really make formal teaching possible because he possesses a wide variety of knowledge, insights and skills when he enters school for the first time. The learning situations the child has experienced from birth are part of a parents involvement with him from the beginning. This involvement is primarily a pedagogic (educative) matter. Analogous to the didactic situation generally found in the home, the adults then formally and systematically design comparable circumstances within which the

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child now not only learns to master elementary insights, skills and techniques but within which he also learns cultural systems (life contents) of his life world. Schools were introduced to help the child reach this level of competence. When there is now radical and systematic scientific thinking about didactic problems, one cannot but begin with this original didactic (teaching) pedagogic (educative) situation. The primary source of knowledge at the immediate disposal of didactic pedagogics is the reality of educating as this is given in the human life world. If we also keep in mind that the primary source of knowledge regarding contents is the adults life- and world-view, then it is clear that the form and contents of teaching in the original educative reality appear as a harmonious unity. If one examines this point more closely it is evident that the forms of human existence (ways of relating to the world) are determined by his potentialities and abilities, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, by the nature of the reality with which he creates a relationship. A person looks at, touches, smells and tastes a concrete object; he listens to sounds and he thinks about relationships between various processes and things. The forms of his activities (looking, touching, smelling, tasting, listening, thinking, etc.) are in accordance with and reflect the nature of particular aspects of reality (concrete object, sound, relationship). It is in this sense that there is an original harmony between form and content. When a parent, therefore, explains a concrete object, he lets the child look at it, touch it, smell it, and, if it is not dangerous, even taste it. The parent would never tell a child to listen to an object, or to smell a sound! Therefore, it is in this sense that the form and content of teaching in the original educative reality (home) appear as a harmonious unity. It is against this background that a didactic theory examines the problems mentioned in the following section. Because these peoblems really constitute the warp and woof of the following chapters, they are only indicated synoptically here as preparation for the particular explanations that follow. 3.1 The grounding (accounting) of a didactic theory

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The important matter that arises in this first aspect of didactic theory is a didacticians search for the fundamental ground or origin of the human activity he wants to describe. This fundamental ground or origin of the didactic activity is of extraordinary importance for establishing a theory of teaching because the theory must clearly indicate where the activity of teaching appeared for the first time in the life world of human beings. If one wants to assess this matter in terms of the brief explanations in Chapter 1 and in the previous paragraphs of this chapter, this implies that the didactician investigates reality as it is in order to acquire an answer to this first question. It was stated that reality, specifically the educative reality, is the only acceptable point of departure for writing a theory of teaching. It is not the aim of this book to deal in particular with the greater intricacies of the ontological, epistemological, anthropological and general pedagogical problems that this point of departure raises. The most important aspects of these cases were mentioned in the previous section. However, the reader must note that this is a matter of fundamental significance for establishing a didactic theory. It radically influences the nature and validity of such a theory. If a didactician, e.g., takes the school situation as his point of departure, this means that he basically reduces teaching to what occurs in the school without attempting to take the totality of human experience into consideration to determine whether the activity to teach takes place before it appears in the school. The argument against the school as a point of departure for a theory of teaching is that it is not and does not represent the origin of teaching. Teaching in the school only is possible and meaningful because teaching is primarily a matter of educating. Apart from this, the school is a secondary (i.e., derived) practice that is not at all necessary in the life world of human beings. The school, as we know it, can be removed or thought away from the life world without fundamentally altering it [it is not essential to that life world]. Also, today there are societies in developing areas where there are no schools at all and where, in spite of this, people still become adults. In addition, they acquire a certain command and

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appreciation of reality merely on the basis of the teaching that appears in educative situations and without experiencing formal teaching in the modern sense of the word. If a didactic theory searches for it origin in the school situation, this simply means that if one removes the school from societywhich is quite possible teaching (as a form of being human) also is removed. The validity of such a theory of teaching obviously is very questionable. The objections to a theory of teaching that takes the school as its point of departure are equally valid for other poss ible points of departure that appear extensively in the didactic literature. For example, one thinks of approaches and explanations based on specific theories of learning such as Behaviorism [as well as, e.g., Constructivism and Cognitive Science] that have had many adherents, especially in the American literature. A learning theory (psychology of learning) cannot disclose the real essences of teaching because learning and teaching are not identical activities; they are complementary. Apart from this, it is an open question whether a psychology of learning can make valid pronouncements about the relationship between person and world. On the other hand, German didacticians generally are inclined to take teaching contents as their point of departure for writing a theory of teaching. It is immediately apparent that a theory of this kind cannot claim scientific validity either; pronouncements about contents in no way can describe the activity of teaching. If a didactician is certain about what he is going to teach, in no sense does this imply that he knows what teaching is or how it should be done. Fundamental insights into and skills regarding the activity of teaching enable the teacher to teach any contents in terms of such insights. The question of grounding or accounting for a didactic theory is mentioned only to illustrate its importance and to orient the reader so that he can fundamentally assess the various didactic findings and pronouncements he will encounter in studying the didactic literature and even evaluate all didactic descriptions in terms of his own experience of teaching. 3.2 What is teaching?

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This second question that didactic theory must answer is a search for the fundamental nature or essences of the activity of teaching. This search for essences is of fundamental significance to the didactician. The findings he arrives at in this respect enable him to account for what teaching really is. A didactic theory that does not clearly and frankly express itself about the essences of teaching fails to explain the relationship between teaching and educating with the result that the descriptions and pronouncements (especially as far as the practice of teaching is concerned) remain vague. Conversely, a lack of insight into the activity of teaching makes it impossible to design a valid school practice because the teacher then is not able to account for the facets he has to make provision for in his preparation. For this reason, an examination of what teaching really implies is of vital importance when all facets involved in the practice of teaching are studied. Basically this has to do with the didactician avoiding at all costs taking a distorted, incorrect or perplexed image of teaching as a basis for the decisions he makes regarding all of the other facets connected with his practice. Another matter directly related to the question of the essences of teaching is the problem of criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of the teaching practice. These yardsticks or didactic criteria allow the teacher to evaluate whether the practice he has designed has been effective or not. It is generally known that there is an indissoluble relationship between teaching and learning activities. The nature and quality of the learning activity largely depends on the nature and quality of the teaching. In order to determine the effectiveness of his teaching, the teacher must have valid didactic criteria to provide a sound and healthy basis for self-criticism and selfassessment. Without healthy and valid self-criticism and selfassessment there can be no real qualitative development (improvement) in a teachers teaching practice. Since these matters are dealt with extensively in later chapters, for now we leave this entire matter with these few orienting and explanatory remarks.

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4. DIDACTICS AND THE THEORY OF FORMING (BILDUNGSLEHRE) In light of the relationship between educating and teaching indicated above, at this stage notice is taken of the didactic significance of the theory of forming (Bildungslehre), especially as this has been explicated for many years in the German literature. The problem here is that the two concepts teaching and forming (Unterricht and Bildung), in the history of didactic thought, largely have been viewed as identical. The word Bildung unquestionably refers both to an event and a condition. In this connection, if Bildung is translated as forming the entire matter of forming refers to an event that continually is actualized in a persons life but, at the same time, it also is a matter of an attained condition or degree of formedness that is observed in persons. The connection between this and teaching theory is that teaching is an attempt to bring about a change in a persons life while the condition of being formed or formedness refers to the result or outcome of teaching. In this sense, the most important aim of teaching is forming the learning person while its most important result is his formedness. The activity of teaching (Bildung) and its result (Bildung) are summarized in one word generally known as Bildungslehre. For this reason important German didacticians do not hesitate to equate didactics with the theory of the formative task and formative content (Klafki). Therefore, it is important, within the context of didactic pedagogics and didactic theory, to take note of the findings of the theory of forming in so far a s it represents a theory of teaching. Speaking generally, one can understand that the aspects that continually arise in a theory of teaching are equally prominent in a theory of forming, namely, teaching, learning and learning contents. To the extent that a greater emphasis is placed on the significance of the learner, on the one hand, or the content, on the other hand, for the eventual condition of formedness, different variations of the theory of forming come to light. These variations are not of so much importance. The importance of a superficial knowledge of them is evident when later there is an explication of categorical forming. Generally, these variations of the theory of forming are

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divided into two main divisions, namely, formal forming and material forming. These two views are directly opposed to each other in the sense that the first (formal forming) emphasizes human spiritual powers or so-called abilities while the second (material forming) proceeds from the point of view that the contents, in themselves, have formative value and can effectively hone and change the human spirit. 4.1 Formal forming

The central theme of formal forming is that the child, as learning person, is at the center of the formative event. This formative event essentially is directly reducible to the matter of teaching and all aspects or facets related to it. The entire matter is child-directed and all reflections about teaching consider the childs involvement with reality. From this various child- or pedo-centric teaching practices have arisen that are continued in the present. This so-called child-directed forming (formal forming) has as a central aim the schooling of the childs spirit and his free development in accordance with his own potentialities. In light of this view, it is obvious that the entire matter of teaching, i.e., all of its theoretical and practical facets, is subordinated to insights regarding the child. Child-anthropological and psychological findings in this aspect of the theory of forming are the ultimate criteria regarding pronouncements about teaching. The contents considered here are especially attuned to calling forth the spiritual powers that are unique to the child. It also is understandable that the opinion generally held in formal forming that anyone who is expert in his subject area and who also has made a thorough study of the child as a person is in a position to teach. Teacher training and study, i.e., a study of the essentials of teaching itself and in what ways it can be brought about are not discussed here. The theory of formal forming has differentiated itself into two views that must be considered. 4.1.1 The theory of functional forming

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The central idea in the theory of functional forming is that there is correspondence with particular content (learning material) building up particular powers in the learning person that sharpen him as a person, i.e., fundamentally influence his becoming adult in the sense that it exclusively determines the relationship between him and reality. This condition of formedness (spiritual schooling) will determine his pattern of life for the future and will be transferable and useful in all life situations in which he is placed. The view of functional forming assumes that a person is a unity of powers (thinking, willing, fantasizing, experiencing, remembering, etc.) by which he builds up contact with the world. These matters exist as latent or slumbering potentialities in the life of each child and can be formed in terms of carefully selected contents (e.g., classical languages and mathematics) that then provide the direction in which human existence is developed. The formative value of the contents is that they provide the child with the opportunity to exercise these slumbering powers and bring them to a solid, functional form. This exercise promotes a person on his way to spiritual schooling and maturation that eventually allows him to show a particular formedness. In this sense, the contents have functional value and this view is summarized as functional forming. Didactically the task is to select the appropriate contents in terms of which this functional spiritual schooling can occur. In this way didactic theory is reduced to a theory about formati ve contents, whatever that might mean. 4.1.2 The theory of methodical forming

The theory of methodical forming essentially is only an extension of the views of functional forming in that the formative value is not merely in the contents but also in the methods of the various subjects selected as formative contents or learning materials. Proponents of this approach to the theory of forming do not select different contents than supporters of functional forming. The teaching emphasis, however, is distributed between the contents and the methods that are considered to be an inherent part of that subject. Mathematics, for example, is taught according to strict

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logical deductive methods. Classical languages are taught by a series of mechanical drills or exercises of various grammatical rules. The aim in emphasizing the methods is that their exercise enables a child to understand and use them so thoroughly and effectively that their contents eventually become a part of him. In this way the contents become a dominant factor in the childs lifestyle. The didactic task, in this respect, is to establish the relationship between the contents and the methods in teaching in order to attain this formative aim. It is important to indicate that the method mentioned here is not a teaching method but a matter of subject contents. This means that the unique nature of the subject is the sole guiding principle for a method of teaching, e.g., mathematics or Latin, and on this basis the teaching must be made effective. 4.2 Material forming It is not surprise that opposition grew against these narrow and onesided views of teaching as they arose in formal forming. Especially, it was Herbart and his followers who opposed this over-emphasis on the formative value and method formative value of certain school subjects. In the theory of material forming there is a search for a spiritually enriching formative practice in terms of clearly planned learning situations. The aim is to expose the child to a wide variety of factual knowledge to give him the opportunity to develop his own point of view concerning the various aspects of reality; this aim especially stresses the childs moral judgment. The didactic tasks of this view are two-fold: firstly, content must be selected that will enable the child to establish an objective view of reality as a whole. This objective view of reality only is possible if a large quantity of content is made available by which the child can orient himself to everything that surrounds him. Secondly, learning situations must be designed that will be capable of achieving this aim. In light of what was said above about teaching and a theory of teaching it is obvious that the theories of forming mentioned clearly are not didactically valid. Even contemporary theorists, who accept

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the point of view that teaching primarily is concerned with forming (Bildung), are clear that the dualism of formal and material forming are not capable of explaining teaching in its connection to the relationship of human beings to the world. Therefore, a third theory of forming was developed that is of such importance for a didactic theory that it warrants close examination. 5. CATEGORICAL FORMING The most important criticism of the theories of formal and material forming is that they excessively stress the intellectual aspect of persons. One can summarize this criticism as follows: the human being is not only intellectually involved with reality; he is involved in it as a total being. Consequently, every aspect of a human beings existence is involved in the formative event. The idea of forming cannot be fully understood unless the concept of totality is taken as a point of departure. The theory of categorical forming dissociates itself from the onesided views briefly dealt with above in order to postulate a totality perspective as a new synthesis of the formative event. The theory of categorical forming is founded in three important matters: 5.1 The contents involved in forming are in direct relationship to the reality that surrounds human beings. This reality has a clear and noticeable order, system or essential aspects by which it is knowable. This implies that reality is made up of particular essences or categories that, in their coherence, constitute the totality of reality. Thus, e.g., there is a historical, religious, social, geographic, mathematical, physical, chemical and a linguistic aspect or category of reality, each of which, in its own way, provides access to the greater whole that was described earlier as the human life world. Therefore, reality has a categorical structure and forming can occur only if the whole (the coherence of the different categories) is the formative content in teaching. However, access to these categories is not a self-evident matter because the scope of these contents is so great that a straightforward or all-encompassing mastery of them is not possible. Consequently, the pupil can gain access to the different categories

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of reality in the teaching situation only if the teacher concentrates on sifting through them in order to determine the elementals! of such an aspect or category. Elementals are those basic, primary insights of a particular aspect of reality that give the pupil access to it and that enable him to understand related aspects of reality. An example of such an elemental insight is the concept of quantity. If a child attains a thorough insight into the concept of quantity in the primary school, it will enable him, as his schooling progresses, to understand the four basic arithmetical and mathematical operations. In the same way, gravity in physics is an elemental insight that enables the child to understand Newtons laws and everything related to them and to apply them in mastering the physical category of reality. If a child manages to understand and command these elements and weave them into his own lifestyle, they then become fundamentals+ for him. Thus, fundamental means the child has made the elementals an authentic part of his own existence and that his involvement with reality generally is directed by these insights into the formative content. The relationship between the elemental and the fundamental is illustrated by the example that the childs insight into the Fall of Man, redemption by Christ and sanctification are elementals (essences) of his religious forming. When these three aspects of Christian belief become interwoven in the lifestyle of the child, and thereby become reality for him, then we say that the elemental has become a fundamental and in this way the desired formative effect, at the categorical level, has been realized. This first aspect of the theory of categorical forming only has to do with the contents involved in the formative event. 5.2 The second cornerstone on which the theory of categorical forming rests is t eaching. The accepted view is that the reality the child must learn, in its categorical structure, is extremely involved and complex. Therefore, the child needs someone to unlock or unfold this complex reality for him. The theory of categorical Elemental: German (Elementar) didactic terminology to indicate the essences or categories of the contents of a specific subject. + Fundamental: German (Fundamental) didactic terminology meaning that the child, by means of insight into elementals, has given his own meaning to the reality represented by the content. 33
!

forming maintains that teaching is a pre-planned and systematic attempt to unlock reality, in its categories, for a child. One must realize that this is of fundamental importance for a theory of teaching and will be dealt with in a separate chapter. All attempts, designs, and systems that arise in teaching fall within this aspect of categorical forming as an attempt to meaningfully unlock reality for a child in the context of his situation. This is a pre-condition for the child to identify himself with the content and to make it his own. Herein lies the assurance that the child can convert the elementals into fundamentals for himself. 5.3 The third aspect, logically related to the above, is that the child also must o pen himself to reality and, in accordance with his intention, learn to be ready to enter the reality that is unlocked by the teaching. This entry into reality means that, on the basis of the appeal that the teaching and the contents direct to him, he is ready to learn to know, master and use the various categories of reality independently and under the guidance of the teacher (educator). These last two aspects, namely unlocking reality and entering this reality, are known in the theory of categorical forming as a double unlocking: reality is unlocked (in the teaching situation) and the child opens or unlocks himself to the teaching and the related content of reality (by learning it). In this interpretation the theory of categorical forming is an attempt to achieve a new synthesis of the divergent and ineffectual views of formal and material forming. It cannot be denied that this is a matter of great importance for establishing a didactic theory. Consequently, the theory of categorical forming is mentioned and referred to continually throughout the descriptions that follow. What has been stated so far is only a brief summary and an introduction. If one studies this preliminary description in terms of the question: What is teaching? It is obvious that the theory of categorical forming will be heavily drawn upon when deciding what a theory of didactics should consider in its explanations and descriptions.

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6. THE BALANCE OR EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN FORM AND CONTENT: THE LESSON STRUCTURE In light of the relationship between educating and teaching, and especially since educating is actualized by teaching and that the sense and meaning of teaching are found in educating, it is an educative task to ensure that teaching occurs in a planned, systematic and accountable way. For didactic theory, this implies that its research must be attuned to two facets, namely, to bringing together the form and content of teaching in a balanced unity to be able to establish a meaningful practice for systematic teaching. Although this is not the sole aim of didactic theory, still it is a very important and even central one if the contemporary life world and the central position of the school in it is to be evaluated. As already indicated, as far as form is concerned, didactic theory has to examine what forms of living there are within the horizons of human experiences and lifestyles that have didactic importance and meaning for teaching. Once again, it is stressed that teaching is an essential and original aspect of a human beings involvement with reality. This also means that the form of teaching cannot surpass or ignore human experience. The forms that teaching takes must be found within the limits of human existence and be described and interpreted for application in systematic teaching. If this is not done, this simply means that teaching will be foreign to the human life world; however, this would be a contradiction in itself. For this reason, the didactician returns to the reality of educating (life reality) in order to carefully examine the forms in which educating appears in the life world. Then he must describe these forms by which forms of teaching are described that can be implemented in school practice. These basic forms of living used in teaching are refined and combined to establish a meaningful teaching practice in the school. They are known as didactic ground-forms. In summary, didactic ground-forms are those forms of living that are applicable to and usable in teaching and that are refined and combined so that, on the basis of their forms, the school system can function.

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What is valid for form is equally applicable for contents. In this connection the life world (reality) is the primary source of knowledge as it appears in educative reality. In relation to the life world, a life- and world-view function as a second source of knowledge from which the educator selects contents that, in his judgment, give proper meaning to his educative ideals, especially in light of his philosophy or view of life. As with form, didactic theory must examine contents to determine the elementals capable of providing the child with fundamental insights that enable him to grasp reality firmly. The final result of this examination, quite simply, is a curriculum theory that makes the school curriculum possible. This examination of the harmonious relationship between form and content, as far as formal teaching is concerned, has its ultimate and final consequence in the lesson structure. The lesson structure represents the conclusion about how the teacher must integrate form and content in his teaching. In this sense, the lesson structure is the necessary result of didactic research because the didactician eventually must be able to account for how his theoretical insights can be functionalized in a practical teaching situation. These matters are so important for a theory of teaching that separate chapters are devoted to each of them. 7. DIDACTICS, SUBJECT DIDACTICS AND ORTHODIDACTICS The lesson structure and everything related to it is the final aspect with which a formal didactic description is involved. Essentially, it is a compiled and constructed description and explanation of teaching as it ought to be re-established in school practice. It also is important to note that didactic theoretical descriptions, explanations and findings that culminate in a lesson structure are general and universal. Therefore, didactic theory does not address the way the lesson structure should be designed or interpreted in teaching a specific subject such as language, mathematics or geography. Such specific research falls in the area of subject didactics.

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Just as didactic theory attempts to arrive at generally valid pronouncements and findings about teaching, subject didactics attempts to interpret and implement the general findings of didactic theory in the context of teaching specific school subjects. Thus, subject didactics really is a particularization of these general pronouncements for teaching a specific school subject such as biology. Didactic theory is the background and context of subject didactics in the sense that it provides the general structures by which teaching occurs. Subject didactics particularizes these general structures and, in this sense, its findings and pronouncements are primarily a matter of designing a particular teaching situation with the aim of reaching a particular teaching aim. This particularization of general didactic findings also explains the relationship between didactics and subject didactics. In general, this particularization especially is concerned with the following three aspects of teaching. 7.1 When didactics addresses the problem of c ontents, the nature of its findings is general and universal. In this sense, contents are dealt with generally. General didactic theory is not concerned with specific subjects. In contrast, the school curriculum is composed of a large number of school subjects, each having its own nature. Mathematics, as a scientific area of study and as a school subject, differs from history. Each uses different methods and it is obvious that mathematical contents place different demands on the teaching situation, the teacher and the pupils than do historical contents. Particularization, in accordance with the nature of the school subject, with the aim of realizing teaching, falls within the terrain of subject didactics. Therefore, subject didactics must indicate how this matter must be realized in school teaching. 7.2 A theory of teaching discusses the l earning child in the same general terms as it discusses contents. However, in the school, teaching and learning activities always are concerned with a particular child from a particular background and who is in a particular class. It is a particular child who eventually must master the school subjects effectively. The ways all of these particulars are

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made functional in the school situation are described and explained by subject didactics. 7.3 Each lesson in the school is presented under particular circumstances and under the guidance of a particular teacher. The lesson situation in the school, therefore, also is a particular teaching situation that must be planned and realized in terms of the special conditions that prevail for that particular period in the school timetable. This aspect also is a particularization of general didactic findings by subject didactics in accordance with the specific nature of the school subject and the particular child for whom the lesson is designed. The relationship between didactics and subject didactics is the same as that between didactics and orthodidactics. Orthodidactics is that aspect of general didactic theory concerned with researching and designing an accountable practice for the benefit of a child who cannot cope with the usual demands of a subject or subjects in the school. The aim is to provide special teaching for a particular child so he can learn adequately. This aspect of didactics generally is referred to as remedial teaching, but this term is not acceptable because the findings of remedial teaching are much too limited. The special relationship of orthodidactics to general and subject didactics is that it uses the findings of both. In order to design an orthodidac tic program, the findings of both general and subject didactics are examined and interpreted for the specific program and are used to evaluate the effects of the program. Hence, orthodidactics is concerned with the child where ordinary teaching has failed as a result of a variety of reasons. Its primary aim is to design a program to tr y to correct these derailments. For this reason, it is understandable that orthodidactics is rooted in didactics in order to try to establish and realize particular teaching based on the generally valid findings established by general didactics. In the same way, it is attuned to using the findings of subject didactics to present such important learning contents as language and mathematics with the aim of responsibly bringing the child who has lost his way in subject teaching back on the right path. In a separate chapter these relationship are more fully discussed.

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In the following chapters each of the aspects that have been mentioned only synoptically, and even incidentally, are dealt with in greater detail. The aim is to systematically guide the reader through all of the particular aspects of didactic theory in order eventually to pull together the relationships among the various aspects of teaching by making some pronouncements about the lesson structure. More specifically, the ultimate aim is to give an account of what teaching essentially is and of what basic particulars must be implemented in the classroom each day. It is repeatedly stated that although there are many systems and views of teaching, there is only one teaching. Before any pronouncements can be made about a teaching system or principle one must determine what teaching essentially is.

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CHAPTER 3 DIDACTIC THEORY

1. INTRODUCTION In the previous chapter an explanation was given of the relationship between educating and teaching, and the reciprocal meaning as well as the structural relationship between the two was indicated. A brief description also was given of the phenomenon of educating as it appears in the human life world. It also was stressed that educating is given with being human and, to the extent that a person is involved in reality, educating is an everyday phenomenon. In describing the relationship between teaching (didactics) and educating (pedagogics) it was noted that educating is actualized only by teaching. Further, it was indicated that the meaning of teaching is found in educating. An additional deduction made from this relationship is that the contents presented in teaching must serve educative aims. That is any contents that are unlocked in a didactic situation primarily are the norms and values descriptive of adulthood and must be presented in a systematic and orderly way. This chapter deals with didactic theory, i.e., the phenomenon of teaching as it appears in the human life world, and this means there must be a penetration to the real essences of teaching and that the descriptions of it must result in findings that are universally valid (true for all persons and all times). It is only possible to meet the scientific demands of universality if a common (joint) and accountable point of departure can be found for analyzing and describing teaching. This common point of departure is the original experience of educating. In this phenomenon (first givens) the inseparable unity of educating and teaching is shown. The task of the didactician is to look for this original experience so that eventually he can postulate its fundamental essences or categories. That is, he must first delimit and then describe the particular phenomenon but in such a way that his description can pass the test of validity. The scientific grounding and categorical description of the phenomenon teaching are a relatively new problem in didactics because in the

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past didacticians used other sciences, e.g., psychology and biology, as the explanatory grounds for the didactic act. Apart from the fact that these sciences do have important insights to offer, it is not possible to explain the phenomenon of teaching by means of these or other sciences. To avoid this scientific dilemma of traditional didactic theorizing, the didactician must go back to the phenomenon itself. Therefore, he must look for the phenomenon of teaching in the human life world and arrive at its essentials (categories) that disclose what is didactic regarding its origin, nature and functionality. He must do this in order to extract from human experience the structure of what is known as didactics and scientifically formulate it in words. It is important to emphasize again that where adults and children are involved with each other in a particular situation, whether this is in school or at home, the pedagogical categories hold unconditionally. In other words, when an adult and child are involved with each other there is both educating and teaching. The aim of this involvement primarily is recognizable on two levels: on the one, there is emotional forming in terms of particular values and norms that emphasize the religious and moral life of the child, and, on the other, there is a teaching-directed intervention that is focused more on the conscious life of the child and by which there is involvement with contents of the human life world so that the child can establish his own life world in terms of them. The manifestation of the forming of a childs emotional and conscious life possibly is the reason for the traditional separation between teaching and educating. The danger is that pedagogic categories (that are viewed more closely later in this chapter) and didactic categories are placed along side each other and that both are valid because they are a description of reality and in this respect they do not exceed this reality. The phenomenon of learning bridges their separation. Learning is dealt with more broadly in Chapter 6. What is of relevance here is that in each didactic situation there is at least one person involved in the situation by learning. In the previous chapter, where the relationship between educating and teaching is

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described, the phenomenon of learning was indicated. It was noted that educating shows that a child must unconditionally bow to the authority of the particular norms he has learned. This means that the norms really can be appropriated and lived (this also holds for codes of behavior, attitudes, attunements, etc.) only if a child has learned. In this respect, learning is a condition for educating. This implies that the scientific analysis and description of the original didactic event also must include the learning phenomenon. This description eventually results in establishing the categories (essences) of the phenomenon of learning (this does not merely have to do with learning results). In their mutual influence and meaning, the categories of learning and of didactics must lead to the unveiling of particular didactic criteria or yardsticks by which the image of didactics becomes clearer. A summary of the above argument only can serve to improve the readers insight into what follows: Didactic categories are directed to bringing about the phenomenon of teaching as knowable and scientifically describable. The function of didactic criteria is to provide particular yardsticks by which a situation described as a didactic one can be recognized and, if necessary, repeated. In other words, didactic categories are directed to disclosing the essences of the didactic, while didactic criteria are attuned to evaluating the course of the didactic activity. That is, didactic criteria are used to evaluate the quality of learning in terms of its effect. In light of the didactic categories and criteria, the teacher now can answer for and evaluate his practice. He can use the categories to recognize the origin of his teaching practice and to understand its fundamental nature. By using didactic criteria, he can assess the quality of the effect of learning of the children in his class and, in turn, this provides him with important insights for his future planning. However, categories and criteria do not provide him with an explanation of the way he must teach in the lesson situation in order to do so effectively. Therefore, it is the task of the didactician to search for particular ground-forms in the original experience of educating that are spontaneous and fundamental ways by which a person, and in particular a child, enters into reality. The lesson situation in the school then can be designed in terms of these forms

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so that the school, as a formalized life world of the child, and teaching, as formalized educating, reflect the spontaneous prescientific life world as nearly as possible. Fundamental didactic ground-forms are dealt with fully in a later chapter. However, here it is important to indicate that in investigating the didactic ground-forms the didactician should carefully attend to the possibilities that methodology offers him. This can help to put the didactic ground-forms in clearer focus. The ground-forms offer particular indications of the various methods that can be used in countless ways by a teacher in the classroom. In this way, it is possible to identify and meaningfully systematize and order general didactic, subject didactic and methodological factors that can help the teacher to better understand the nature of his daily teaching practice. The primary problem that must be investigated in this chapter is a careful analysis of the phenomenon didactic as it shows itself in educating. The aim is to disclose didactic categories and criteria. To the extent that insight into the didactic is considered in this chapter, it is important to investigate the meaning of pedagogic categories in the context of didactic theory. In addition, the systematizing and ordering that are relevant to describing didactic categories and criteria can reveal didactic principles. Within this framework, an aspect that must be focused on is the significance of the teaching contents because they primarily influence the didactic form and therefore have particular relevance for theoretical didactic statements. 2. PEDAGOGIC CATEGORIES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE FOR DIDACTIC THEORY In the previous chapter it was repeatedly indicated that a child is committed to an adult for support and help on his way to adulthood. This help- and support-giving intervention and involvement of child and adult is called educating. It also was indicated that this relationship between child and adult is a primordial one and, therefore, is not reducible to one or another explanatory basis. It is given with being human. It also is

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emphasized that educating is actualized in terms of contents; these contents serve the aim of gradually, and to the degree that a child is ready, realizing a particular life view image of proper adulthood. These contents are brought about by teaching and serve as the boundary and point of orientation within which an adult directs a childs movement to adulthood. As boundary and point of orientation these contents serve both adult and child on the latters path to adulthood. These contents that primarily are typified as norms and values especially are directed to forming a child emotionally. A child must create his own life world in terms of them. However, this does not mean that the phenomenon of educating is to be described in terms of the structure of the contents, as such. To describe the phenomenon of educating in a scientifically accountable way, the investigator must make the categories of the phenomenon knowable. The categories, as essences, used to investigate the phenomenon and that lead to valid descriptions, provide the beacons or focal points in terms of which educating ought to be reflected on if one does not want to abandon the field of pedagogics and its findings. Also, the categories and structure of reflecting on the phenomenon are seen as a specific-pedagogic matter that clarifies the possibility of a phenomenon such as educating. In this chapter there is not so much a detailed explanation of the pedagogic categories, as such; they are only drawn into the discussion to answer the question of whether pedagogic categories, from the nature of the matter, also have validity in the didactic situation and, if so, what is the nature of such validity. Some of the pedagogic categories that are relevant here are futurity, normativity, freedom, responsibility, expectation, security, adulthood and authority. The question that must be answered is whether the phenomenon of educating can appear in its essentials if these categories are not disclosed. A thorough description of all of these categories is not a realistic aim here and, therefore, futurity is briefly handled as an example for reflecting on the others.

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The child is not yet where he must and can be. This means that he cannot yet live his own adultness but this is where the path he is on is going. Therefore, adult life is in his future. Now it is true that a child is someone who-wants-to-become-someone and for this reason he wants one day to be a grownup. In this sense he is future directed and he also is futurity; the educating by an adult must provide help so that one day he will reach his adulthood. If the adults intervention with a child does not show that he continually orients him so he can realize himself in the future, then there is no educating. This means that an adults intervention in such a case does not help a child give meaning to particular values and norms and that these values and norms have no meaning for his future adulthood. In this way, the phenomenon of educating is knowable and describable in terms of the category of futurity. Now the question is: Is this category necessarily valid in a formally established didactic situation such as is found in a school? For the sake of clarity, it is justified to use the pedagogic category of futurity also as an example for testing and evaluating the course of the didactic event. This category implies that a child is dynamically on the path to adulthood. That is, he is involved in exploring and trying to acquire a future and also the world of the adult. This activity implies learning in the sense of learning to know and learning to command. Learning to know and to command are peculiar to a childs activity in school. Thus, it is clear that school is a place where the future is established. This means the school contents place the future within a childs reach. The contents that are relevant here, in addition to their usefulness, also have value- and norm-meaning that extends wider than what is immediately discernible. This is the basis for the school always holding a particular ideal out as a prospect that ordinarily is known as a teaching aim. In this way, the contents in school represent the entirety of a childs future adulthood. From the na ture of the matter, these contents include a religious-moral orientation, social forms and work-directed activities. Today this matter is especially important in view of the complexity of the reality within which a child one day must stand as an adult.

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In the family the parents guide their child on his way to adulthood and this guiding speaks of security. In the same way, in the school, a teacher offers a child secure guidance toward his future. The conclusion is that one cannot reflect otherwise on the school and didactic activities if the category of futurity does not appear in the situation. In this respect, the school is an extension of the intervention of parents with their child in the family where there is vigorous teaching intervention in order to guide their child on his path to adulthood. In school this guiding is carried on systematically and fulfilled to a certain degree. The reader continually must keep in mind that here the concern is with the didactic-pedagogic, i.e., situations in which an adult and a child, in spontaneously or formally established situations, establish particular relationships or enter with each other into the surrounding reality. Since this situation is a didactic-pedagogic one, it is difficult and scientifically impossible to implement categories other than the ones mentioned when reflecting on and describing the situation. Also, in light of the indissoluble unity of educating and teaching, it is justifiable to accept that the pedagogic categories have relevance in establishing pedagogic-didactic situations such as in a school. Because this is a purely didactic-pedagogic situation, findings about the validity of the pedagogic categories are justified only for this situation. This means that a didactic situation in which only adults are present cannot be described by these pedagogic categories. In other words, pedagogic-didactic categories are not necessarily relevant to a purely adult [andragogic] didactic situation. A summary of the above possibly can bring the matter of didactic categories in didactic theory building more clearly to light: a) The didactic assumes that reality, irrespective of its nature, must be thrown open (unlocked) or presented by an adult. b) This presenting or unlocking of reality for a child can occur only on the basis of the fact that a child, because he is a child, is attuned to learning. This means that each child shows an intention directed to learning. Therefore, all

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teaching is directed to helping a child with the aim that he can reach his destination (adulthood) as a person. c) The indissoluble unity between educating and teaching means that it only is possible to show a distinction between them. Considering that educating emphasizes more the emotional forming of a child and teaching stresses more consciousness forming, there also is mention of forming as such. Therefore, educating, teaching and forming are a unity and always have a coordinated relationship to each other. d) The educating in the educative intervention with a child eventually falls aside when a child can properly command reality himself as an adult. This means that the formative teaching of an adult has its own autonomous identity that, although it cannot be radically different from childhood teaching, still is different because the moral moment is not unconditionally involved there. e) The essential relationship between teaching and forming also must show an essential relationship between the categories of forming and teaching. This implies that the didactic categories necessarily must have validity in the formative situation in the same way that the pedagogic categories have validity in the pedagogic-didactic situation. This means that the didactic categories obviously or necessarily also must be categories of the forming of adults. The implication of this is that there are pure didactic categories that have validity outside of the educative categories simply because teaching and forming still occur long after educating has become superfluous. 3. DIDACTIC CATEGORIES Before systematically explaining and clarifying didactic categories, it is necessary to make a few introductory observations. During the past two decades the search for didactic categories has resulted in the systematization of concepts. The search for didactic categories in didactic pedagogics is not odd or new, but their formulation indeed is new. It is remarkable that the didactic literature contains many examples of didacticians who take the didactic situation as their point departure in searching for their categories. Such a point

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of departure is understandable as is taking the school as a point of departure because the didactic so obviously appears there. In addition, the choice of the school as a point of departure for didactic theory also is understandable because didactic pedagogics is a discipline of pedagogics that must, among other things, make pronouncements about the school. In this way and from this point of departure, a number of characteristics of the didactic school situation are described. The fundamental idea of this work is that the didactician investigates and inquires about the practice of school teaching in order to improve it. It also is conspicuous that this search for didactic characteristics does not stem from a rigorous scientifically accountable point of departure but really is based on the researchers intuition. Consequently, the meanings of the characteristics described are formal. When the formalized didactic situation (school) is taken as the point of departure for didactic theory, the spontaneous and nave human life world, and especially that of a child, is lost sight of. Today didacticians view and think about the didactic situation against a pedagogic background. Thus, didactics is didactic pedagogics. It also involves much more than principles and methods of teaching. Didactic categories are much more than didactic characteristics. Didactic categories must describe the totality of facts such that the activity (situation) emanating from them can be understood and expressed in words. This means that didactic categories are more fundamental than didactic characteristics. In thinking through the didactic-pedagogic situation, however, it is conspicuous that many of the so-called didactic characteristics also really do refer back to the original pedagogic-didactic situation as we find it in the home. They refer back in the sense that they do not only have a connection with the secondary, formal didactic situation (school) but they also qualify as didactic categories. The fact is that didactic activities do not occur or appear for the first time in the school. In the original situation of educating, it is obvious that a child learns spontaneously, i.e., he spontaneously involves himself with or turns himself to the reality surrounding him. This spontaneous involvement with reality appeals to the

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parent to equally spontaneously (i.e., not formally) create for the child situations within which he can learn. The correlated spontaneous activity of the parent also can be characterized as naivet. The parents spontaneous creation of a learning situation is nave in the sense that the parent does not necessarily have formal training in didactics. Therefore, didactic categories must be relevant to this spontaneous, nave and original situation. They must be essences of the human life world. This implies that didactic categories must describe the essences of the profession that we know as didactics. In addition, this implies that they also must describe the didactic school situation in its essences. The reason for this simply is that essentially the formal school situation is a reconstitution of events that began long before schools were thought of. The characteristics of the school situation mentioned earlier, even though they do not describe the totality of the didactic situation, still are particularly relevant for didactic theory. Because the didactician also must describe and be able to guarantee the reconstitution of the learning activity in the school, the description of the schools characteristics is used to help formulate didactic criteria. This is discussed more fully later. From what has been said, the reader will recognize the prominence of unlocking reality, learning and forming as necessary for the didactic activity. Because they are so prominent they are dealt with first. However, it is important to note that one didactic category is not more important than another. All didactic categories are equally valid and important because they describe the totality of what is called teaching. The explanation that follows is merely systematization. Also it is not the only systematization possible because didactic categories can be arranged according to certain criteria or particular ways of grouping. It also is important to note that the names of the didactic categories can differ. If a particular didactician prefers to use other terminology in that he gives a particular category a different name, this does not mean he has created a different category or has supplanted one category with another comparable one.

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3.1 Unlocking (presenting) reality The explanation of categorical forming given in the previous chapter stresses the importance of unlocking (presenting) reality that is fundamental to teaching. Unlocking reality implies that a person who knows and commands certain aspects of the life world unlocks the contents for the benefit of one who does not yet know and cannot command the contents. This activity underlies the teaching intervention of an adult with a child. The aim is to aid the child to achieve a firmer grasp of reality so that he feels secure in exploring reality on his own. Unlocking reality is an essential characteristic of the original relationship between adults and childreneven a cursory examination of any classroom confirms this. The fact that an adult unlocks reality for a child cannot be explained on other grounds or referred to other reasons than an adults educative intervention with a child. This activity of unlocking is given with being human and, therefore, is fundamental to describing the didactic event. It also is noted that unlocking reality refers primarily to the role of the teacher or adult in the teaching situation. The theory of categorical forming also states that the person who must be formed must open himself to reality. This implies that in unlocking reality, the didactician throws open and unlocks a particular aspect of reality so the child who does not know that reality can investigate and master it. The task of the teacher is that he must be able to account for the contents, the form of unlocking and his aim in unlocking particular contents. In addition, he must be accountable regarding the way he invites a child to unlock himself for reality, for the nature and quality of a childs opening himself to reality and ultimately for his interpretation of the contents (elementals) so that the child can experience them as meaningful and in doing so to transform them so they become an authentic part of himself (fundamentals). 3.2 Learning The didacticians primary role in the lesson situation is in his unlocking reality. However, if a child does not learn, then the

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teachers unlocking of reality is meaningless. When the original didactic situation is examined, it is conspicuous that a parent only unlocks contents for his child that he can understand and for which he is ready. This category is not concerned with the ways a child learns (this is explained broadly in another chapter) but with the fact that a child learns. A childs learning activity in the lesson situation is of primary importance in the course of the situation and, as such, it is a category of the structure of teaching. A child learns because he is a human being and because for him the learning activity is a spontaneous mode of existence. This is why it is meaningful for an adult to direct a childs spontaneous learning toward his eventual adulthoodhis eventual destination. The fact is that a child also learns outside of the didactic situation and, therefore, teaching is not a condition for him to learn. The learning intention is given as an original aspect of human existence. An adult uses a childs learning as an opportunity for the child to achieve greater independence and adulthood. In order to realize this category, a teacher must present reality in such a way that it will stimulate a childs spontaneous learning intention. Then his spontaneous learning can be directed by the teachers unlocking contents. 3.3 Forming Unlocking reality is the help an adult offers a child with the aim that the child will reach adulthood. In this respect, the childs relationship to reality is formed. This implies that the teaching offered a child primarily must be formative. In its essence and effect, teaching is formative in nature for the following reasons: the help that an adult provides a child in the didactic situation eliminates the childs irresoluteness and reservations about a given aspect of reality. The effect of forming, namely, being formed, means that a child emancipates himself with respect to reality and that he can establish his own position in it. Furthermore, there is mention of the creation of a new, comprehensive interiority (inner life) that results in a broader and

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deeper experiencing. This amounts to the didactic situation providing a child with the opportunity to acquire broader experiences and in this way to expand them. These two aspects of the category of forming increase and progressively realize a childs potentiality to become acquainted with a larger and broader reality. To the degree that a child is formed in the didactic situation, his relationship to reality changes. This change is evident in a broader (more encompassing) and deeper relationship to reality. In this respect, there is a more adequate relationship to reality. 3.4 Orienting It is not possible that reality can be unlocked for a child without him simultaneously becoming oriented to it. It is obvious that an adult cannot unlock the broad and encompassing reality if the child does not have fixed points in terms of which he can determine his position in the new reality unlocked. Therefore, the didactic meaning of orienting is that a child must determine his own position with respect to known fixed points. These fixed points normally are the contents in the didactic situation. The didactician presents aspects of reality in his unlocking of it that the child can understand on the basis of his readiness. A child uses the unlocked reality to orient himself in it. This orienting provides him with the opportunity to enhance and enlarge his mobility and familiarity with reality. Without this orienting, reality remains chaotic and undifferentiated for him. Without orientation, it is not possible for the didactician to guarantee a childs passage to adulthood. If orienting is not in the situation it cannot be typified as didactic and it is not a situation within which a childs path reaches to adulthood. 3.5 Accompanying (guiding) During the unlocking of reality and the related giving direction to a childs learning, the didactician does not leave the child to his own devices. The didactician is continually involved with the child; he indicates direction, checks mistakes, tests insights, repeats aspects of his unlocking, allows the child to rehearse certain activities, etc. He does all of this to insure that he is steadily improving. This

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accompanying is central to the course of the didactic activity because it emphasizes that the didactician is continually trying to meet the child in the situation. Didactic activity cannot exist without this category. A teacher in the classroom also is continually observing the child to insure that he is progressing properly according to expectations. Irrespective of the accompanying providing the child with stability and security that are indispensable for the didactic and learning acts, at the same time it serves to indicate direction for the child and to affirm to him that he is on the right course. 3.6 Objectifying or distancing Unlocking reality, learning, forming, orienting and accompanying imply that in the course of didactic activities a certain distancing or objectifying arises between person and reality. Without this distancing or objectifying one cannot acquire a proper perspective on reality. Since parents and teachers are adults, they already have established a particular standpoint or perspective on reality. This means that one has distanced oneself from reality to the extent that one can now view it objectively. The fact that a person can talk about a reality means that he is not stuck affectively in it. This objectifying or distancing is necessary before a teacher can properly teach a child about reality. The aim is that the child must attain the same objectivity about it. Objectifying reality by the child is of cardinal importance to the teacher because it is a precondition for an impartial judgment of it. This does not have to do with objectivi smafter all, objectivism can never be a pedagogically accountable didactic aim. Objectifying essentially means that a child can distance himself from the immediate contents in such a way that he is capable of identifying their essences (elementals) and their relationships with each other. The aim is to enable the child to make sound judgments in terms of which he can evaluate the particular contents and accept or even discard them. Objectifying in this sense is not only confined to educating but it also gives quality to a persons lifestyle. If objectifying does not appear in the didactic situation, a child loses himself in reality to the extent that he is not able to plan reality in a

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surveyable order and, therefore, he will be incapable of making decisions about the contents. 3.7 Imperativity (demanding) The didactic always is concerned with progress. In the didactic situation certain demands are made of a child that he cannot ignore. This does not mean that these demands always are met. The fact that demands are made in the didactic situation cannot be ignored. When the expected level is not reached the adult repeats the situation until he is satisfied that the child has properly met the demands. The unlocking by a teacher is never diffuse or uncertain; it is specific and direct. In this respect, specific demands are made of the child and the adult expects him to improve in certain ways in order to respond to the imperative (unavoidable demands). All of the previous categories are meaningless if the imperative nature of the situation is not recognized. Even when a child is learning on his own (e.g., when doing homework or working independently with a program), imperativity retains its authority as a didactic category. This is because auto-didactic situations cannot be authentically realized if a child does not answer the demands that are placed on him. 3.8 Anticipating It was clearly stated previously that the future is continually realized in the teaching situation. In this context it is clear that the didactic activity always is directed to realizing the future; it is a human involvement directed to the future. If the future must be realized in the present there necessarily is anticipation. In this sense the relationship between the categories of anticipation and imperativity is clear. The demands made of a child in the didactic situation have a strong bearing on the structures of his future activities with respect to reality. If a teacher anticipates a childs future in the classroom, this implies that he has a concept of this future that he (the teacher) considers to be important. If there is no anticipation, this means that a teacher presents or unlocks contents that do not necessarily have a direct consequence

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for a childs future. The basic meaning of the curriculum is that it clearly spells out what a child must do now to enable him eventually have a particular quality of mastery of reality. Anticipating does not mean that a teacher must be a futurologist. It means that he must anticipate a childs course of life in order to prepare him for the realities of life that he will encounter one day. The didactic event cannot be thought of without the category of anticipation. 3.9 Formalizing

The didactic activity is aimed at realizing certain skills and a childs mobility regarding specific aspects of reality. Skills and mobility culminate in better insight, greater efficiency and more independence. However, because these qualities of a childs learning are not necessarily achieved with the first unlocking, the teacher must repeat the didactic situation in order to present the essences of the learning contents again. This means that he restructures a certain didactic situation so a child can demonstrate his insights and skills with respect to a particular reality, exercise them or even have a new opportunity to acquire the contents. Therefore, a teacher must formalize the situation in order to be able to repeat it in its essentials. In this context it is important to differentiate between formalizing and formalism. In this context, formalism implies that a teacher casts his lessons in only one form (and no other)this leads to a rigid use of recipes. Experience shows, however, that formalism in a didactic situation is not possible; a child simply does not learn according to recipes and each didactic situation essentially is unique. Formalizing, as a didactic category, pushes to the foreground the matter of the immediate and mediate character of the didactic in the sense that a teacher must be aware that a situation must be constructed that can function in two ways: firstly, to offer an opportunity for a better and more purposeful orienta tion to reality and, secondly, to offer an opportunity for a better appropriation of reality. Formalizing enables a teacher to once again present a child with contents previously exposed. Formalizing and accompanying, as didactic categories, are closely related: formalizing provides the didactic structure within which accompanying can be realized.

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3.10 Socializing The didactic situation is essentially a social situation in both the spontaneous, nave family situation and in the more formal school situation because in each there is involvement with reality in which an adult and a child are present. The quality of their joint presence in reality speaks of a particular interpersonal involvement that specifically is social in nature. Thus, there always is a specific social relationship between them in a didactic situation. The learning activity of a child in the course of his learning involvement in reality is a matter of social intercourse, of norms (codes) and of activities (behaviors) that insure the positive direction of his learning. The didactic category of socializing influences not only the course and direction of teaching. It is an essential part of it because it cannot exist as an activity without social relationships and because its outcome or effect cannot be visualized without the category of socializing. It is simply the case that a child cannot plan his own way through reality and the world and through life without the help and support of an adult and still emerge at the other end without being harmed. In addition, for a child reality is only meaningful to the extent that it is a human reality. A child experiences reality as meaningful to the extent that he identifies himself with the person of the adult and that he is able to form a positive relationship with him. This course of involvement with reality has a clearly socializing tendency. Where socializing, as such, is not realized in the didactic situation, it cannot be described as a didactic one. 3.11 Delimiting (demarcating) Demarcating and reducing, the following category, are closely intertwined but they are distinguished because delimiting primarily involves time and form. In the family situation where educating is originally experienced, a parent sets particular limits regarding the time to be used for the teaching activity and also to the form in which the situation is cast.

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Concerning time, an adult chooses when he will present certain contents to a child. He does this in accordance with his evaluation of the childs ability to understand it and what he thinks a child should know at this stage. The course of the didactic situation also is demarcated by timethe parent is not continuously involved in teaching his child. In the more formal didactic situation of the school the question of time is so important that extensive research has been done about dividing time in relation to the subject structures of the school. The same applies regarding formthe parent chooses particular forms for his unlocking or exposition that takes into account his childs readiness as well as the quality of the contents that he unlocks for him. If time and form are not demarcated, the didactic situation is diffuse and even chaotic which obviously is not the case in reality. The practice of teaching is orderly and defined, an important consideration in its reconstitution in the classroom. 3.12 Reducing Where demarcating primarily involves time and form, reducing is concerned with the contents involved in the didactic situation. This involves reducing the contents to what is important and absolutely essential. In a child-parent relationship in the spontaneous life world it is obvious that the adult strips certain contents of everything that is secondary or incidental. The essences that remain are the point of departure for constructing an initial framework within which a child can move with reasonable security. By reducing the contents, a parent recognizes his childs tendency to become lost in details. This has the danger that the child will not be able to arrive at the essences if he is left on his own. Reducing contents to essences offers a child the opportunity to simplify complex structures. This enables him to explore reality with the necessary security. Reducing to essences implies that an adult must be able to account for the ways in which he systematizes (the essences of) the contents and for what he views as essences. 3.13 Achieving

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In discussing the category of imperativity it was noted that the didactic situation essentially has a demanding and progressive character. Achieving is also mentioned because an adult expects a certain level of attainment from a child regarding the reality unlocked. Thus, it is obvious that an adult will control and evaluate a childs achievements in the didactic situation. If the adult does not do this then this means that he ignores the demands placed on him by the category of accompanying. Controlling and evaluating are essential aspects of the forming that he has aimed for and to which he directs himself in his didactic intervention. At the same time, this puts a child in a position to judge and criticize his own participation. This underlies the possibility that the child can taste the fruits of success or experience the disappointment of inadequate participation. Both of these aspects can be positively employed to motivate a child in later learning activities. Controlling and evaluating are used for the greater and more responsible participation of a child in the didactic situation. It is obvious that controlling and evaluating qualify as such only if they are paired with sympathy and are orienting in nature. They only have meaning if they support the child with security on his way through reality. 3.14 Progressing There is an ascending and continuous line that indicates didactic progress. The simplicity of a childs world relationship must make room for the complex world relationship of an adult. Thus, the exposition of the contents must be progressive with respect to an increasing complexity and scope of learning material. The previous categories each have a progressive character regarding the quality and nature of a childs progress and advancement in the didactic situation. The progressive character of the didactic is closely related to the increasing differentiation of the aims that an adult has in view in creating a particular didactic practice. A childs role in the didactic situations must be progressive otherwise eventual adulthood cannot be attained.

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At this stage it must be clear that these categories (separately and together) retain their validity in every situation that can be described as didactic; they also apply to situations where only adults are involved in didactic activities, i.e., where educating, as such, in no way is implied. In describing each of the didactic categories it was mentioned that the didactic situation must periodically be repeated if a child does not reach the desired level of mastery after his initial involvement with the contents. In this context it is meaningful and important to be able to recognize the structures. However, to be able to repeat this situation the didactician will have to make use of certain criteria to enable him consciously and accurately to repeat the situation. When repeating the previous situation, the form, the contents and the duration of the new situation must correspond as far as possible to the earlier one. The aim is to realize the essences of the previous situation as closely as possible. Repeating the structure of the situation is not possible without applying particular didactic criteria. 4. DIDACTIC CRITERIA Didactic categories must provide an answer to the question: What is or what constitutes the didactic situation? Therefore, didactic categories provide the beacons or points of departure for thinking about the didactic phenomenon as well as the beacons in terms of which a didactician can describe the didactic. However, when designing didactic criteria the aim is different in that they have to do with determining the requirements for constituting a situation as a didactic one; the didactician knows that, as a type of situation, it must be realized through repeating it. This also involves determining how such a situation can be assessed and evaluated. Evaluating the didactic situation implies that the contribution of the didactician in the situation must be clearly identified in terms of criteria. In addition, didactic criteria must determine how a desired didactic situation can be effectively repeated. It is clear that there is a close relationship among didactic categories, didactic criteria and didactic principles. It is obvious that most didactic categories directly give rise to particular didactic

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criteria and in this respect it is difficult to think about didactic criteria without didactic categories. However it must be borne in mind that didactic criteria are not primarily used to evaluate the people involved in the situation; they must serve to recognize, evaluate and, when necessary, repeat the activities in the didactic situation. It is possible to deduce didactic criteria directly from didactic categories by asking, for example, whether unlocking reality is truly present in a specific situation. This question and answer can serve as a didactic criterion. However, the aim of didactic criteria is not to evaluate the validity of the didactic categories but to evaluate the quality of the teaching activity. Where didactic categories emerge from the origins of the phenomenon, they are the result of a logical analysis of the didactic situation as such. Didactic criteria are concerned with the quality of the teaching activity and not with the fact of the activity. 4.1 Perspective

Perspective involves placing particular matters in their prominence within the landscape of insights. Experience and scientific examination of the didactic situation show that no one can determine the priorities of reality for another personeach person must decide this for himself. This means that each person in accordance with his insights, conceptions, value-judgments and intuitive feelings furnish his own experiential and knowing horizon and views certain things as more important and more prominent than others regarding specific content. The educator can, however, aid and support a child in this deciding by placing his own insights, conceptions, etc. at the childs disposal with the aim of aiding him to orient himself. Any new knowledge that a person encounters will change his perspective on it in one way or another. Qualities and values that are contained in the contents such as truth, beauty and utility will change the emphasis and prominence of these contents in a childs horizon of knowledge. Because a child is still becoming adult, this ordering of contents and the resulting change regarding his possessed knowledge is more important and radical than it is for an adult. Thus, it is clear that

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the structures of knowledge a child masters will influence his perspective on reality. If the category of forming is not realized in the didactic situation it can be asked whether or not a childs perspective on life reality has flourished because forming assumes change in the sense of an improving, broadening and deepening. Improving, broadening and deepening assume a perspective on reality and without perspective the category of forming will necessarily fail. Thus, this criterion serves as a gauge for determining if a childs perspective on reality has progressively acquired form. 4.2 Constituting

If a didactic activity has progressed formatively, a child necessarily has constituted or created a new reality for himself. No person is born with a full mastery of reality. The meaning of the didactic activity, indeed, is that a learning person will establish or create a unique reality for himself. If it is determined that the learning person in a didactic situation has benefited from the activity, constituting obviously is of importance here. A teacher who uses constituting as a didactic criterion in the first place searches for the fact of the constituting and not necessarily its scope. 4.3 Relationality

In a childs relationship to reality, also in a social relationship, this deals with an introduction to reality. This introduction is observable in a changed relationship to reality. A persons life progresses in a solidary way (i.e., a person establishes a particular relationship with the reality outside of himself) and a solitary way (a person establishes a relationship with himself) and, therefore, the task of the individual establishing a relationship to reality is an important didactic criterion. Thus, the didactic act is focused on helping a child establish a relationship with the reality outside of himself and with himself. These relationships that he establishes result in his being in a changed relationship to reality and to himself. In this sense, relationality is present and is closely related to the category of orienting that refers to a person in the teaching situation arriving at a particular and also valid determination of his own standpoint in life. Relationality as a didactic criterion focuses a

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teachers attention on the need to evaluate continuously a childs growing and changing relationship to reality. 4.4 Self-discovery

The fact that the didactic activity realizes itself in the solitariness of a child implies that he discovers himself in the situation. A child must exceed his limits, break down resistances, solve problems and attain certain levels of achievement. To be able to do this he needs the help of adults. If there is no evidence of self-discovery this means that categories such as anticipating and futurity are not adequately realized in the didactic situation. The didactic situation also is aimed at the child eventually discovering a unique disposition and position in reality and the life world. Thus, a teachers task is to help him to discover his dispositions because he must help him to become what he can and ought to be. 4.5 Emancipation

If there is evidence of the child constituting a personal world, changing his relationship to reality and self-discovery there also is evidence that the adult increasingly is made superfluous because the child is increasingly capable of making his own decisions and willing to accept full responsibility for his decisions. A child explores reality from a position of security in the educative situation to the extent that he is emancipated from the adult in that the adults aid and support become unnecessary. A child who learns effectively also emancipates himself from the learning contents. There are qualitative changes apparent in the way a child is involved in reality (the learning contents). Essentially, this qualitative change includes a greater self-reliance and willingness to approach a problem himself. The basic attitude that makes emancipation possible is a childs ability and willingness to venture into and be exposed to situations, even new ones, in order adequately to meet the demands of such situations himself. One notices this at an early age when a child insists on dressing himself and later on tying his own shoes. During

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puberty and adolescence the willingness to accept responsibility is sufficient proof that a child is prepared to act in accordance with his conscience. Therefore, emancipation is always concerned with discovering and accepting values, norms and judgments in terms of which one lives as he ought to because he chooses to unconditionally subjugate himself to the authority of norms and values. 4.6 Expectation In the discussion of futurity, as a pedagogical category, and anticipating reality, in a didactic connection, it was indicated that the future must be met. Because a child is someone who wants to become someone himself, the criterion of expectation can be raised. In teaching the unknown, the evocative, the adventurous, the beautiful, rights and similar perspectives continually are presented. The appeal that goes out to a child from these contents is primarily directed to his spontaneous and natural eagerness to learn. A teaching situation shows itself particularly in that a teacher continually awakens expectations in a child regarding contents that are still beyond his reach. In this way a teacher uses the contents to appeal to a child to participate in the teaching situation. A child is continually and cumulatively enlarging his experience because an adult continually confronts him with important and meaningful aspects of reality. Within this frame of reference, confronting a child with learning content fulfills his expectations. In this regard, the adult is involved in helping a child make a future and this future that they create together evokes a particular expectation in the child with regard to it. 4.7 Rationality (rational command of reality)

It is only reasonable to expect that an adults systematic reduction of content in the teaching situation should elicit a childs rationality as his contribution. Therefore, rationality involves a childs more objective (clearer) insight into his own situation in his involvement with the world and the things within it. This means that a childs intellectual insight enables him to view reality with greater clarity. This does not mean that the intellectual ability of the child is the

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most important or only aspect to be considered in teaching; the teaching aim is to create a harmony between a childs emotional and intellectual command of reality. A childs rational control of reality greatly elevates his hyper-naivet and spontaneity in this regard and strengthens his grasp of reality. 4.8 Security

A child must be encountered in an atmosphere of stability, security, safety and acceptance in a didactic situation before he can really venture in the situation. Here security especially means bringing the child to rest and stabilizing his affective disposition. Thus, from time to time a learning child must be brought to rest and given the opportunity to reflect on what is being taught. This is not a choice but an imperative. Security in the teaching situation is a fundamental pre-condition for a child to realize the teaching aims by mastering. Without stability and an atmosphere of safety, the child becomes uncertain and doubtful; his desire to venture into the unknown is diminished to the extent that the quality of his involvement with the learning contents is seriously impaired. 4.9 Transcending

When a human being involves himself in reality, in one way or another he transcends that reality. Transcending literally means overcoming the physical and visual and entering the realm of the metaphysical and abstract. In this sense, metaphysical means the realm of what is more than the physical. In the teaching situation, transcending means that the life- and world-view of the educator provide a bridge for a child spanning his own life world and the world above and beyond being human. A child must transcend the physical world in order to recognize the hand of the Creator in the life world [of the believer]. This is surely the final meaning of the reality a child is confronted with in his education. A childs deepest convictions, his most fundamental experience of meaning and his greatest appreciation of reality are formed in transcending that reality. Where transcending does not occur, experience can easily lead to skepticism and even nihilism. Neither is a positive educational influence or aim.

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Teaching that does not help a child transcend reality is not really educative in its effect. As mentioned previously, a teacher must be able to repeat the teaching situation. A child is not always intensively involved in the teaching situation; he does not necessarily reach the desired level of competence after his first exposure to new learning contents. Didactic criteria must enable the teacher to evaluate the quality of the teaching situation he has designed as well as the quality of the childs involvement. His aim is to improve his teaching. 5. DIDACTIC PRINCIPLES 5.1 5.1.1 General principles Sympathy

The word sympathy literally means to feel together. In everyday usage, sympathy means to share someones feelings. It has a wider meaning in the didactic situation. Here it means that the parent or teacher will have the insight to look for the child where he is and not where one thinks he ought to be. An adult does this because the aim of the didactic situation is to help the child. Sympathy here involves a particular attitude, a way of approaching and entering the situation. He places himself at the disposal of the child. At the same time, sympathy requires a particular stake or attitude of the child. The difference, however, is that an adult is accountable and remains responsible for initiating or establishing the didactic situation. The fact that in the didactic situation a teacher takes the initiative, but from time to time expects the child to take the initiative, confirms and describes the real nature of initiative as a didactic principle. That is, the adult has the primary responsibility for initiating or establishing a climate or atmosphere in the teaching situation in which mutual trust and acceptance are evident. The teachers design of a didactic situation means that he places certain contents at the disposal of a child in such a way that it reflects his sympathetic initiative. A childs welfare is a teachers primary concern, whether a child understands and appreciates the teachers educative aims or not. Where there is no sympathetic initiative the

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teaching practice is without exception rigid and formalistic. By its nature, such a teaching-style will inhibit the smooth development of the situation and, at the same time, the child will experience insecurity. In its turn, the quality of the demands made of the child and the quality of the support given by the teacher are determined by sympathy. Where sympathy is absent, the teaching practice can hardly form a child adequately. It must be stressed that sympathy does not mean an undisciplined, loose association between adult and child. Where the teaching situation is undisciplined, in that the adult has no authority, educating and its aims cannot be achieved and the situation degenerates into an arbitrary and chaotic one. 5.1.2 Clarity

The didactic situation always is directed at aims. Irrespective of the immediacy of the contents, adult and child in the situation are jointly involved in creating a future. If the situation must be repeated to acquire a firmer and better grasp of reality, the principle of clarity cannot be omitted. A teacher must be able to state clearly where he will go, precisely what he aims for, how he is going to attain particular aims, what he expects of a child in a particular situation, how he is going to evaluate the results of the didactic situation, etc. Therefore, this deals not so much with a clear presentation because a clear presentation is a result of clear aims, clearly ordering the contents, well thought out application of specific methods and controls, etc. This does not deal merely with a half formulated lesson presentation. The didactic principle of clarity is a question of didactic insight rather than of a good narration, a particular demonstration or an interesting experiment. It is possible that the narration, demonstration and experiment are fluent, interesting and clearly executed but have nothing to do with the ultimate aim. Clarity means insight into the didactic situation. 5.1.3 Tempo

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The principle of clarity implies clarity of purpose: the teacher knows what he wants a child to achieve. Wherever movement (from a position of childhood to a position of adulthood) i s of the essence, there is always tempo. Tempo is of particular importance in the didactic situation because a child can so easily fall behind. Each human being has his own tempo, for example in eating, reading and walkingand also in learning. It is also generally accepted that each person has his own life tempo. It is therefore only logical that a child will reflect his life tempo in his learning activities. As in everyday life, the tempo of teaching will also partly determine the speed and rhythm of the progress of teaching. Tempo is one of the most important and difficult probl ems facing a teacher: he must try to maintain a balanced tempo in order to ensure that the quicker children are not bored and, at the same time, that the slower children are not left behind. A number of aspects are important in this context: firstly, we know that a child must reach a certain level of achievement within a certain period. This is clearly illustrated by the finality of examinations at the end of the academic year. The tempo or pace a teacher sets has a general as well as a specific aspect. On the one hand, it has a bearing on his teaching as a whole; on the other, it has a direct bearing on the particular lesson. The tempo a teacher maintains has an important influence on the life tempo of the child as well as on his eventual lifestyle as an adult. In this sense, tempo is closely related to the attitude toward life, especially where a child is expected to learn to live in accordance with the demands the adult world will one day make on him. This is something very few teachers think of and which is generally underestimated when planning and assessing teaching tempo. If tempo is not realized harmoniously in the teaching situation, the children become bewildered, dismayed, discouraged or bored; one can even expect frustration and aggression as a reaction. 5.1.4 Dynamism

The didactic situation is preeminently one of movement. Dynamism, in didactic terms, is more concerned with the quality of the attitude, the enthusiasm and the zeal of the participants. It

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gives the movement in the situation the character one expects of effective and enriching teaching, a character of dynamism. A teachers enthusiasm and attitude directly influence the quality of a childs enthusiasm and attitude. A teacher expects a child to take part in the teaching situation according to his ability with enthusiasm and dedication; these attitudes and qualities of participation are of decisive importance. For this reason the dynamism of the teacher qualifies as a principle of teaching to achieve good results. If the teacher is not dynamic the class soon becomes listless and bored and the effect of teaching is not what it should be. 5.1.5 Balance

Because formal teaching must follow a precise timetable, a teacher is often tempted to over-emphasize a certain didactic or pedagogic aspect to the detriment of other equally important aspects. This kind of teaching is unbalanced and inharmonious. A teacher who subjects everything in his teaching to discipline or to freedom creates an unbalanced or inharmonious situation. Furthermore, it is important for a teacher to ensure balance as far as time is concerned (its effective use), as far as form is concerned (its variation) and as far as contents are concerned (their choice). Balance ensures the harmony without which an accountable and meaningful dialogue between teacher and child (each according to his rightful participation) cannot take place. Without balance, neither a teacher nor a child can contribute meaningfully to the teaching situation. The meaning of the general principles is found in planning the course of activities in the didactic situation as a whole, i.e., over a long period of time, in order to draw guidelines for an accountable practice. They especially serve an important aim in constituting a desired practice. 5.2 5.2.1 Particular principles Stating and formulating the problem

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The general experience of teaching indicates that learning is activated and directed by a meaningful problem. Psychopedagogic research supports this everyday experience. As far as a child is concerned, this statement is particularly true. Because a teacher plans a specific learning activity in the teaching situation, he tries to formulate the problem in such a way that the child cant help being absorbed by it. This does not mean that a teacher merely announces the problem. Announcing a problem does not mean that a child will experience it as a problem or that he considers the problem as his to solve. The problem should evolve out of the actualization of a childs prior knowledge (fore-knowledge) concerning the subject. A teacher must, therefore, question a childs relevant prior knowledge in such a way that the child starts asking questions to try to rectify his inadequate knowledge by solving the problem. In this way a climate is created conducive to accepting and solving problems. It is clear that this aspect of teaching requires special skill: the implication is that a teacher must effectively involve a child with the contents, but in such a way that the child experiences the contents as a worthwhile challenge. Stating the problem, therefore, serves as a functional introduction to the teaching activity as well as an examination of the circumstances in which to effectively launch the lesson. 5.2.2 Planning

The formal teaching activity is seldom, if ever, the result of intuitive or spontaneous activities by a teacher. A teacher must plan every lesson because the activities in the school are formalized to the extent that careful planning is a precondition for success. It is clear that stating the problem and planning are closely related. Planning includes such aspects as selecting learning contents, introducing teaching and learning aids, choosing and using certain teaching methods, to mention only a few. Planning also includes the total of a teachers preparation because in his planning he intends to identify a structure in terms of which he can anticipate teaching

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situations. This is of central importance: the design a teacher makes in his planning is literally a preview of what is to happen in a particular lesson. A teacher certainly does not allow the situation to develop incidentally. Consequently, he does not plan only the form of the lesson but also its development and the course it must take as well as the way in which the pupils must master the contents. His planning also includes provision for possible learning difficulties and problems. The detail implied by the criterion of planning is dealt with more fully when the structure of teaching is described in a later chapter. 5.2.3 Illustrating

All teachers know from experience that illustrating contents (reality) in the didactic situation is of exceptional importance to ensure its effective progress. Illustrating does not mean only the introduction of visual materials in the didactic situation. In fact, illustrating is the medium for realizing a childs perceptual ability, as a form of learning. This means that the contents must be made accessible to a childs perception, especially because of the very important role that perceiving plays in learning. Because the presentation of contents to ensure effective perceiving is of decisive importance, it is clear that inefficiency in this regard hampers the progress of the lesson to the extent that any success or learning effect is quite incidental. 5.2.4 Systematizing and ordering

In the first place, systematizing and ordering refer to a teacher and the quality of his activity in the class; in this respect systematizing refers to a teachers attitude and ordering to his skillfulness. A teachers attitude and skills are related factors that largely determine the fluency of the didactic situation. This holds true for the form (method) as well as the contents (learning contents). At the same time, this also is a matter of delimiting the situation in so far as using the time available to the teacher and the role of the pupil is concerned, which influence the rhythm of the lessons progress. Systematizing and ordering are guarantees against aimless teaching, careless designs, inaccurate evaluation and listless participation by the children. Systematizing and ordering are

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conspicuously related to the didactic principles of planning and illustrating. 5.2.5 Surveyability

If a teacher does not have a surveyable [comprehensive] and objective view of the didactic situation the possibility of repeating the situation in its essences is not realizable. Surveyability concerning the structure of teaching is a precondition for effective preparation and meaningful reflection. A teacher must be able to give a surveyable [comprehensive] account of the teaching situation he has prepared and put into motion. A child must also achieve a surveyable command of the contents otherwise he remains immersed in detail and finds it very difficult to synthesize the various aspects of the contents. This influences the quality of his objective judgment; only if a child has a surveyable view of the contents is there mention of successful learning. 5.2.6 The scientific character

A teachers responsibility in establishing a didactic situation is mainly two-fold: on the one hand he must be able to be accountable for his didactic design, i.e., for matters such as methodological principles, the particular methods and ground-forms that he is going to select in order to establish a particular situation and secondly he must be able to be accountable for the contents that he has in view for this situation. The scientific quality of his didactic design is visible in the way he reduces contents to their essences (elementals) and the way he assesses and helps a child reach the same level of command of the contents. The reduction of contents to their essences is discussed fully in a later chapter. At this stage a few introductory remarks are important. The contents have their own nature because they must reflect the nature of the subject from which they are taken. This nature refers to a scientific structure, e.g., physics, history, linguistics, geography, mathematics, etc. that as sciences contain their own methods in terms of which they can be unlocked. A teacher must account for this scientific nature of the different school subjects and he must be able to harmonize them with his teaching methods. An

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understanding of the harmony between the nature of the subject and the method of teaching determines the harmony between contents and form in the lesson design. If there is no harmony between form and contents the learning effect is endangered. The teaching of chemistry is a good example of a teachers options in this respect. He can either treat the various topics theoretically by using textbooks or he can vitalize his teaching by providing the pupils with the opportunity to carry out experiments which will inevitably lead the child to a clearer understanding of the nature and scientific methods of chemistry. 5.2.7 Controlling (monitoring)

The meaning and importance of guiding and controlling in the didactic situation have been touched on generally in the description of didactic categories. Without guiding and controlling there is no accounting or responsibility for teaching activities; also there is no evaluating or basis for identifying a childs problems in the learning situation. In addition, without control a teacher cannot critically assess his teaching and therefore he will not be in a position to improve it. Often a teacher will proceed with his teaching activities for quite a long time without actually controlling or assessing the quality of the pupils participation and achievement. Also he quite often carries on his teaching activities without taking stock of himself or the way his teaching is developing. It is for these reasons that the didactic categories emphasize the importance of control. No teacher should ignore or minimize the importance of control. If it is lacking teaching is carried on without criticism and, therefore, without accountability; this kind of teaching is unacceptable under all circumstances. In terms of the above description of the didactic principles, it is important to note that their function is to focus mainly on two aspects of teaching. Firstly, the totality of the course of the didactic activity is brought into view with the aim of designing consecutive teaching situations. Secondly, these situations must be assessed in order to determine their effectiveness so that, if necessary, they can be repeated as specific types of situations. The means and aids a

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teacher introduces in these situations must be evaluated in terms of their own criteria, for example, by means of the language the teacher uses, his attitude in front of the class, his attitude toward individual pupils and the class as a group, etc. So far this chapter has dealt with the theoretical description of didactic categories and criteria. Furthermore, the didactic principles have been explained and the point has been stressed that their realization in the teaching situation ensures that a child experiences the didactic situation as meaningful. However, in a theoretical treatment of teaching it is necessary at this stage to examine certain factors that primarily influence the form of teaching. 6. FACTORS THAT PRIMARILY INFLUENCE THE DIDACTIC FORM In the theoretical discussion of the didactic offered in this chapter it is repeatedly said that the didactic situation primarily is involved with the help that an adult offers a child to find his way to adulthood. It also was repeatedly stressed that this help or teaching offered by the adult must take a particular form other wise the teaching is left to haphazard success that is unacceptable and unsatisfactory. Because teaching is a purposeful intervention, the didactic situation cannot be realized haphazardly. At least a teacher must be able to account for his management of the course of the situation. Because it is his task to account for his practice, he must plan the didactic situation accountably. To be able do this he continually concentrates on various factors that provide possibilities and means to organize and consciously channel the help he offers a child, to enlarge and simplify his teaching, to increase or decrease his teaching tempo, to assess and evaluate, etc., all in terms of a childs actions in the situation. It is obvious that a wide variety of factors are involved in these considerations. The aim is not to deal with each one fully at this stage. Only certain aspects are discussed in order to place the problem of didactic form (which is fundamental to the design a

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teacher is to make) in perspective. The other aspects will be dealt with in the chapter on the structure of teaching. 6.1 Language Insofar as language is an intrinsic aspect of the form of teaching, it is seen primarily as a determining factor of perceiving, experiencing and objectifying to which a child is attuned in the life world. In the original experience of educating parents concentrate on language and use language as a factor regarding the form of educating. One notices this in a wide variety of teaching situations common to all educating. Examples are naming objects; questions adults answer and ask of children; characteristics of objects, matters and persons the adult systematizes; materials that an adult places at the disposal of the children and arranges by means of language; stories that are repeatedly read or told to a child; events from various aspects of the life world that a parent dramatizes for his child; the clarification of phenomena, especially in nature; instructions given and explained in language; concepts, names, characteristics, etc. that an adult continually repeats for a childs benefit. These important activities cannot occur without language. An adult also expects a child to follow him in each one of these specific structures; for example, a child must repeat the words after the adult, must be able to act after the adult, must be a ble to follow the adults actions in playing, etc. All of this is done with the intention that the child will eventually master these facts of the life world independently. Each one of these activities reveals or discloses the reality surrounding a child and ensures his active involvement in life. They also enable him to take note of each of these aspects of reality and to provide evidence that he is capable of mastering reality in these terms. 6.2 Skills

In the didactic situation, a teacher continually concentrates on the skills a child must master to become independent in the life world. In this concentration on skills an adult seeks to create a harmony between a childs spontaneous, activity-directed life attunement and the demands that the surrounding world place on him in this

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regard. For this reason an adult encourages a small child to carry out certain activities, knowing well that these activities are important for the acquisition of later skills such as reading and writing. It is also for this reason that parents encourage and stimulate the skills their child should master in the course of their educative involvement. They also try to integrate these skills in, for example, a childs perceiving and attending. A teacher continues these activities of the parents in the school in a highly systematized manner. Skills are considered to be very important in the school and they are one of the most important aspects of a teachers involvement with a child until the day he leaves school. These skills are refined and differentiated in a wide variety of learning situations provided for in science laboratories, art classes, manual work centers, domestic science centers, etc. It is important for a teacher that a child possesses certain skills because they are the basis for him to eventually arrive at self-realization. Where skills are ignored in the teaching situation, the learning event is distorted. In this context, one must realize that a teacher is particularly interested in the quality and level of a childs skills when assessing and evaluating his progress. Although skills are not necessarily the primary focus in the didactic situation, a childs insight into and thinking about the contents is largely carried or mobilized by the skills related to specific school subjects. It is also true that the majority of pupi ls in the secondary school will eventually find employment in the technological culture outside of the school where specialized skills are of decisive importance. This means that the school must literally undertake pre-vocational training in order to equip this child adequately for the vocational world. For this reason the focus of vocationally directed schooling is on the harmony between knowledge and skills that are directed to a childs eventual independence. Generally speaking, didactic form cannot be considered in isolation from the conscious and direct planning for improving skills in the didactic situation. 6.3 Social discipline

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A child exists and lives as a person and a human being among other people. In this sense he finds himself in a social situation from the day of his birth. As he becomes older and larger his social world expands and in addition to family members other persons also are in his experiential world. The social or societal factors which in time become more prominent in his life world are subject to a certain hierarchy or order. It is expected of the members of a certain society to obey its norms and values to preserve the order of the community. The implication of the above for a child is that he is a human being who lives with other people who have the same rights and for this reason his actions may not harm other members of the group, including in the family or classroom. This means that a child, on his way to adulthood, is continually confronted with the norms of the community that he eventually will obey unconditionally. During the course of a childs education the adult continually confronts him with religious-moral, social-cultural, and judicial-economic norms. However, because he moves outside of these norms during his childhood (he has not yet attained adulthood), it is the task of a teacher, and adults generally, to orient him in terms of the demands of these norms. Because the school really represents the life world outside of the home, the demands of the norms are especially valid in the school. The form of teaching cannot be considered without taking into account the social discipline to which a child is subjected. In the final analysis, this is very closely related to the totality of the aims of educating. The implication is that the didactic form used by a teacher is not meaningful outside of the question of social discipline. This holds in helping a child to unconditionally obey authorityalso the authority of the learning material because ultimately this content is reality. A teachers possibilities of choice of form are somewhat limited by this when he makes didactic designs, but on the other hand, this also prevents arbitrary mutual relations among the pupils and among the group of pup ils and the teacher himself that might arise. Therefore, it is not possible for a teacher to act in the didactic situation without social discipline. Thus a teacher is obligated to present in responsible ways particular contents to a child.

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6.4

Expression

It is essential that in the didactic situation a child is given the opportunity for self-realization. This means that he must have the opportunity for self-expression. In terms of what was said above about social discipline, a child must be able to express his knowledge, experiences, perceptions and objective point of view without overstepping the boundaries (demands) of social discipline. In this way he broadens and deepens his relationship to reality and both qualities become evident in his expression. Where a teacher creates opportunities for expression, he in fact closely relates his teaching to a childs lifestyle as well as to his spontaneous tendencies to act. Because a teacher chooses specific forms of teaching to give a child the opportunity to express himself, the circumstances are created for variations in teaching for vitalizing the situation and especially for providing a child with the opportunity for direct experience. Teaching activities in the school are aimed at the eventual self-realization of the child; it is obvious that this is important. To offer a child the opportunity to express himself in a didactic form means to close the distance between him and the teacher that all too often exists in the classroom. One must understand that the form in which expression is realized does not only manifest itself in forms of activity: language is always the most important form of expression. However, one must guard against using language as the only form of expression (for example the narrative method). Over-use leads to a soul-destroying practice that offers a child only a limited opportunity to express himself. The very real danger is that a teacher can give too much prominence to the forms of expression in the adult world. The usual result is that a teachers presentation becomes rigid and that his presentation, furthermore, is beyond the childrens understanding. The implication is that a teacher must identify forms intrinsic to a childs life world that are capable of conveying the childs expression. 6.5 Intentionality

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A childs directedness to learning that is awakened and directed by the parents in the home is purposefully striven for and refined in the school. As far as this is concerned, forms of teaching must be designed for the didactic situation that will help a child realize his eagerness to learn as well as give direction to his learning intention (directedness to learn). For this reason, a teacher chooses certain forms of teaching that will strongly appeal to a childs eagerness to learn. When a teacher uses didactic criteria at the end of the lesson or at the end of a series of lessons to evaluate a childs achievements, the quality of his teaching also is evaluated by the didactic criteria. However, when it happens that a teacher does not evaluate his didactic forms in terms of didactic criteria and where self-criticism in this regard is absent, he repeats a particular form of teaching throughout his entire career. Such a teacher at his retirement has had only one year of teaching experience [repeated numerous times]. This means that a teacher continually evaluates and chooses particular contents to present to a child in such a way that his intentionality to achieve can thereby be stimulated and directed. A childs learning intentionality should be the basis for a teachers lesson design because (taking the nature of the learning subjects into account) it is the most important single factor that will help determine his progress in the teaching situation. The five factors mentioned above are not the only ones that influence the form of teaching. Because the other factors have been extensively described in the didactic literature, these five have been chosen as examples of what a teacher considers when choosing specific forms of teaching. 7. SUMMARY This chapter provides an overview of the primary aspects of didactic theory. It was indicated that the point of departure for such a theory is of decisive significance since the pronouncements made from such a theory must satisfy the demand of universality. This point of departure is the original experience of educating. A view of the essences of this original experience discloses categories that describe didactic practice in its essences. The didactic categories bring to light the essences of the didactic situation. Because the point of departure is the original experience of educating, the

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relationships of the pedagogic categories with the didactic ones are indicated. However, if the didactic situation must be repeated, a necessity, especially of the formal didactic situation, is that it must be evaluated so that it can be. From the didactic categories certain yardsticks are derived that can be used to evaluate the situation. In this way, didactic criteria are brought to the fore. The didactic categories express what is constitutive of (essential to) the didactic situation while didactic criteria evaluate its course and effect. Irrespective of the didactic categories and criteria, a penetration of the original experience of educating shows that with respect to activities, as such, there are particular principles that can somewhat guarantee their quality. The principles that are disclosed in this way are offered as examples and are called didactic principles. In later chapters the general and specific didactic principles (as discussed in this chapter) are considered again. In the lesson structure the didactic principles give a flavor to putting the didactic course into motion. Ordering and classifying the didactic principles discussed here can be done in terms of the broader concepts of activity, individualizing, socializing and tempo-differentiation. In this respect, the accent of the didactic principles is on establishing a harmony between the child and reality in terms of a particular course of teaching. Because contents are continually mentioned theoretically, the question of learning material is merely mentioned in this chapter. During this discussion there was continual reference to the relationship and harmony between form and contents and there also was reference to the immediate function of the contents in the teaching situation whose ultimate meaning is in the pedagogical. Because the form is an aspect of the harmony mentioned, the factors that primarily influence the didactic form also were briefly broached in this theoretical discussion. Though not the only ones, the five factors essentially influencing didactic form were considered to orient the reader about considerations in choosing a

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particular form that then must fulfill a specific function in the didactic situation. With this, the point is reached where somewhat formal pronouncements must be made regarding the structure of the possible didactic ground-forms. This is the theme of the following chapter.

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CHAPTER 4 FORMS OF TEACHING

1. INTRODUCTION In the various chapters of this work it has been repeatedly mentioned that the point of departure for an accountable didactic pedagogics is the original experience of educating. The idea is that an explication of the didactic ground-forms requires the investigator to take his point of departure in the original experience of educating. In other words, to be able to recognize and describe the didactic ground-forms, it is necessary to take the original experience of educating as ones point of departure. The original experience [of being-in-the-world], as such, i.e., as a factor in the life world, is not exclusively related to educating. It is much more varied. There is no predominant tendency or manifestation in the original relationship of a person to reality; there are different ways in which he, as participant, becomes involved with reality. Each of these ways is differentiated and recognizable in terms of a unique order and relationship. Variants of the original experience are thus forms of the ways a persons involvement with reality occurs. All of these variants have contents in common (that are essentially particular) as well as the form in which these contents are cast. These forms are actual because they are the modes by which the experiencing takes its course. The forms of each variant or tendency of the original experiencing are unique. They expose the universally human and become visible in a persons lifestyle. They include activities such as praying, waging war, conducting trade, leisure activities, etc. In this same sense, educating also involves form. It is important to note that the forms of the original experience of educating do not differ essentially in various historical epochs or in different cultures. Wherever there are people, they educate their children and the form of this original experience is more or less universal. In the original experience of educating the didactic form gives a functional structure to particular aims (that always are particular) so that the effect of the contents can be realized.

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From the above it is clear that the contents of the original experience are actualized through their forms. Thus the forms of the experience are just as original as the experience itself. This also means that the original experience of educating has the same character as any other primary involvement of persons with reality. Thus, to conduct trade is not more primary or original than educating the young. However, because the school is a derived or second-order structure in a persons life world, here the didacticians task is to re-establish the original experience of educating in a formal structure. Teaching in the school must at least aim at those objectives made possible by the contents chosen for that purpose that will eventually realize a desired life- and world-view. The didactician cannot account for the form in which the contents are going to be presented if he cannot also account for the forms in the original experience of educating. He must ferret out and describe these forms where educating takes place in the life world. Thus, his accounting for these original forms of educating is the basis of his accountability of the ground-forms of his teaching practice, i.e., of didactic ground-forms. Naming these didactic ground-forms is the result of a theory about the practice occurring in the original experience of educating insofar as educating is realized in teaching. At the same time it is an evaluation of the possibilities of implementing these ground-forms in the second-order, derived, school situation. The training of artisans is another kind of situation. Even though it is not a pedagogic situation, it is a didactic one and, therefore, the didactic ground-forms are equally valid there. Once again, it must be emphasized that a theoretical view of didactic form takes the original experience of educating as its point of departure. The point of departure is not one or another perspective on the original experience of educating such as the learning activity even though it is true that the forms of teaching are strongly directed to the forms of learning. That is, the forms of teaching are strongly directed to the ways the learning activity manifests itself in the educative event. But learning refers to the aim of educative teaching and not to its

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origin. The original experience unquestionably shows that letting a child learn is the way an adult, in educating, proceeds to realize particular aims. It this respect, it is justifiable to say that the didactic ground-forms are the forms of actualizing letting a child learn. In conjunction with the categorical structure of the didactic, the didactic categories have certain consequences for any consideration of didactic form. Didactic categories have individual and collective validity in describing didactic ground-forms. Didactic categories must arise from the experience itself and not merely to clarify their meaning but also to describe their original manifestation in the practical educative situation. However, it must be born in mind that categories, as such, do not establish a practice; in fact, they make the description of the form of the practice possible. A final consequence is that the categorical structure of didactics serves to establish a criterial basis for evaluating the form in accordance with its appearance in the original experience of educating. This brief explication must be read in connection with Chapters 2 and 3 to understand the scientific approach that was followed here in describing the didactic ground-forms. 2. DIDACTIC FORMS AND FORMS OF LIVING In the discussion of contents as learning contents it was indicated that they must meet the criteria of being true to life and to education. The necessary consequence of these criteria is that learning contents must be contents of living (life contents). To anticipate the matter of didactic ground-forms, it is said that just as learning contents are life contents, didactic forms are forms of living. However, these didactic forms are not just any forms of living but rather those specific forms that refer to the didactic activity. In other words, they are human forms of living capable of supporting the learning activities of a child in the teaching situation. A brief discussion of how these didactic ground-forms are identified will help the reader to understand them more clearly. The reader is also reminded that the meaning of the teachers didactic design lies

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in his unlocking reality for a child. Reality includes everything with which a person can become involved. The variations of the appearance of its many aspects are extremely wide. Some of these aspects are directly available for observation, immediate experience and objective control, like certain natural phenomena so that the child can participate directly and immediately in them. On the other hand, they can be remote in nature, i.e., not directly available to observe, experience or objectify. If a teacher is to expose or unlock these latter kinds of contents for a child, it literally means that he must re-present them (make them available) in such a way that he can learn them. Apart from the nature of reality or contents, a second aspect is of equal importance. A teacher must make the contents available to a child by means of certain forms so that he can effectively unlock them. Naturally, in the school situation this reality is the learning contents or learning material. In Chapter 5 they are characterized as the knowledge of cultural and natural phenomena possessed by persons. There is no guarantee that a child will be able to master this knowledge by himself. Hence, it is the task of an adult (teacher) to present these contents to him before there can be teaching in any way. This presentation of contents in the school demands of both the teacher and the child that specific tasks are carried out in the didactic situation. On the other hand, the teacher and child are involved with each other with the learning contents serving as, e.g., conversational contents for them. On the other hand, the aim of this activity becomes apparent, namely, that the child must learn. In this instance, it is clear that there is a harmony between the contents unlocked and the forms (e.g., discussion) that make it possible for the child to learn. This harmony results in a child acquiring a firmer grasp of reality. It also is clear that a childs involvement in reality can be typified with the concept learning that in the original life world is actualized as perceiving, experiencing and objectifying. Perceiving, experiencing and objectifying. as categories of learning, are unified by language and thinking. A valid question is if there are particular ground-forms a teacher can use in the school situation that will directly appeal to these

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spontaneous learning categories of perceiving, experiencing and objectifying. Of course, a childs learning activities are not bound to the formal school situation and he learns whether he goes to school or not. The same can be said of the teaching or help that a child receives by an adult spontaneously intervening with him in the life world; that is, a child also is taught outside of the formal school situation. This means that for an adult to teach is just as primary or primordial a form of living as learning is for a child. However, it is clear to the parents that, in the spontaneous teaching situations in the family, they cannot properly orient their child to the differentiated and complex reality within which he must eventually live as an adult. For this reason they establish schools. The schools continue the educative work and teaching interventions that the child has already experienced at home. The primary aim of formal teaching in the school is to usher the child into this complex life world by presenting specific contents in particular lessons to him. These contents are presented in terms of particular forms that a teacher gives to his presentation that will allow a child to become most effectively involved with them. To succeed at this a teacher must take at least two aspects thoroughly into account in his planning. Because the teaching forms must reflect a childs spontaneous expressions of learning, he must be thoroughly acquainted with the childs ways of learning. In addition, he must reflect on how he, in terms of his own talents, must establish the learning situation within which a child can realize in these same spontaneous ways his learning intention and learning directedness in a school situation. The teaching situation in the school primarily involves inviting children to increasingly and creatively take part in the event in the classroom by implementing particular forms of presentation. In other words, a childs spontaneous learning intention (so obvious in the spontaneous life world) is positively realized in formal teaching situations. It is also clear that a childs spontaneous learning puts a demand on a teachers skill to create a learning situation as close as possible to the original experience of educating. It is for this reason that the form in which the presentation is cast is a determining factor in establishing a harmony between the spontaneous learning intention of a child and cultural learning contents. Within this

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context, the spontaneous learning intention (as a form of expression of the consciousness of achievement) is directed by cultural contents (i.e., learning contents, learning material). The question now is whether the harmony between form and content of the didactic presentation or design does not constitute a ground-form of the didactic activity. If indeed there are didactic ground-forms, they must make provision for realizing the spontaneous fundamental categories of learning. In terms of the above, the following question requires an answer: which of the general forms of living (forms of existence) have value for a teachers presentation in that they are directly related to the life world of a child as well as to his learning activities? To answer this question the forms of appearance of spontaneous learning or the forms in which an adult spontaneously offers guidance and help with a childs learning must be penetrated. The results of this penetration that are given in Chapter 6 will not now be unnecessarily anticipated, although there must be reference to the following: one cannot consider spontaneous help and relate it directly to the life world of a child (as well as the way a childs learning is expressed) if one does not closely examine the categories of the spontaneous and original learning activity of a child. Extending this original educative situation to the formal school situation is impossible without insight into and understanding of the categories of spontaneous learning. In this regard, a teacher can do well to emulate the parents spontaneous linking up with their childs forms of living (existing) and lifestyle when he directs his learning activities by particular forms of teaching. A teacher must also account for the possibility that the forms parents use in their teaching are naturally connected to the spontaneous life world of a childespecially where a certain aspect of reality is directly (concretely) available to a childs perceiving or direct experiencing. However, often a teachers task is to represent contents that are not or cannot be made directly available by means of teaching forms. The question that arises from this difficulty is whether the spontaneous activity between parent and child can be formalized.

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This question indicates that there are two types of ground-forms that an adult can use in his teaching. The first are ground-forms that harmonize with the spontaneous learning and teaching found in everyday life, i.e., in informal educative situations between parents and children. The second are teaching forms or groundforms that are consciously created with the aim of directing a childs learning intentionality in formal teaching situations. This means that a teacher can implement ground-forms to direct a childs spontaneous learning and the spontaneous teaching that one finds in the life world. On the other hand, this also means that a teacher can create or build up teaching forms out of the spontaneous help the parent gives their child in ordinary educative situations. These forms can be used effectively in formal teaching situations. Consequently, designing a didactic event can take the spontaneous learning activity of a child or the spontaneous support of the adult as its point of departure. These points of departure offer important insights into the concept ground-form. If one broadly describes the major spontaneous learning activities of a child as observing, playing, speaking, imitating, fantasizing, working, and repeating then the spontaneous adult support coinciding with these activities can broadly be described as pointing out, showing the child how to play and playing with him, prompting, demonstrating, narrating, giving assignments, and repeating. [See Chapter 6 in this regard]. If one classifies these seven forms of giving support in the spontaneous teaching situation, they can actually be divided into four major categories. Because repeating is present in each one of these forms, we can ignore it as a distinct form for the time being. In this way we arrive at four didactic ground-forms: play, conversation, example, and assignment. It is clear from the above that the didactic ground-forms are not merely variations of teaching methods. They are forms of living (existing) that reveal themselves in learning- and teaching-activities and, as such, ought to be known by anyone who wants to be involved in educating and especially in formal teaching. Because teaching method is of considerable importance in a teaching situation, it is important to identify and describe teaching methods in their own right by taking the didactic ground-forms as the point of departure.

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For this reason, it is very important to examine the four groundforms carefully so that their meaning as forms of living can be understood in order to be able to describe the practice of teaching as accurately as possible. Accurate description fosters a better understanding of the practice of teaching that, in turn, makes the meaningful organization of everyday teaching possible. The four didactic ground-forms are dealt with separately before their relationship to and significance for teaching methods are explained. Irrespective of a general orienting description of the four groundforms that follow, there is a discussion of the four ground-forms in light of the question of whether they really are forms of living, i.e., ground-forms of Dasein and if they are really didactically meaningful. The first question, i.e., if the four ground-forms are forms of Dasien implies an ontological, anthropological, psychopedagogical, and even psychological analysis that will not be presented in an introduction of this nature. This question has been thoroughly investigated and corroborative results are in the subject literature. The interested student can consult the publications in the list of references. Concerning the second question, it is dealt with in the discussion of the didactic significance of play, conversation, example, and assignment as forms of living (groundforms of Dasein) by which teaching can be realized. 2.1 Play When an adult plays its nature usually is the opposite of his serious activities. In this respect a childs play differs radically from the adults because for him play itself is a serious matter. For a child, there is nothing more serious than his playing. In this light, a childs playing activities cannot be understood in terms of labor or work. In his playing he is continually imitating or simulating the adult world. A child plays at waging war, conducting trade, building artifacts, playing mother and father, etc. His aim is not actually to wage war or to conduct trade. One must be careful to describe a childs playing only as the basis from which adult work evolves. In essence, one must be careful not to try to understand a childs playing in terms of the adult life world. As far as a child is

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concerned, his play is life fulfilling in itself. In this context this means that a child views labor, insofar as it appears in his world, as play. Where an adult always sees a specific aim in his playing, for a child his playing itself is the aim. In this sense, one can say that a child exists as a totality in his playing activities. The intensity of a persons involvement in reality is clearly seen in the nature of a childs playing activities. They are always related to some aspect of reality. As a matter of fact, play is one of the forms of a childs existence as being-in-the-world. Just as a person exists, as such, in terms of his work, so a child exists in the world in terms of his playing activities. By playing, a child creates a real world for himself. If one examines these activities in their original appearance, then they are the realization of his existence in reality. By playing, a child becomes involved in reality and, therefore, he learns to know those aspects that appear in his playing. For the child, play is a safe activity. Therefore, he can venture into aspects of reality an adult considers extremely serious like waging war. Didactically speaking, a childs playing means he is given the opportunity to focus on certain aspect of reality, to consider those aspects to be important, to learn to master them, and to orient himself in space, to experience reality, etc. In this respect, play is a particular ground-form of a persons relationship to reality. It is a ground-form that exists among other forms of human activity; it has its own identity and cannot be derived from or reduced to any other ground-form. As a form of existence, play is especially important to a didactician because it offers the possibility of designing a didactic situation in which the learning activity can be realized and the spontaneous learning of a child can be effectively directed. In this regard, the relationship between playing and learning is of special significance to the didactician. Various didacticians have indicated that playing is not simply a playful (frivolous) form of learning but that it really precedes the learning activity because a child also plays to learn or learns by playing. Although the playing activities of a child are seldom explicitly directed at gaining knowledge and skills, they offer many opportunities for effective learning and for the mastery of knowledge. One observes that a child imitates situations in his play

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and exercises certain activities in order to polish particular skills that later will have significance for his lifestyle. In this sense, learning by playing is seen as exercising opportunities that create a fertile basis for intellectual and other activities a child will later be called on to perform. Experience shows that there is hardly any area of knowledge that cannot be learned by playing. Many play situations in a childs life world essentially are potential learning situations. Thus, learning by playing is not necessarily learning without awareness. Often play situations show that a playing person knows what it is that he is involved with. In this light, a distinction now is made regarding a childs play. Play for the sake of the play, as such, implies or indicates nothing else. This is described as intransitive play. On the other hand, there also is transitive play where a child feels that his playing transcends the immediate reality. Intransitive play can also be coupled with the concept of learning without awareness. With transitive play, contents are consciously provided. The learning activities in this situation are primarily concerned with recapitulation because the application of insight, practicing skills, practicing to understanding, etc. characterize the situation, irrespective of how haphazard the situation may become. The activities in the play situation radiate out from a point. In this way a child is offered the opportunity to deepen his learning because his playing involves him in reality with increasing intensity. Although not consciously striven for, there is ample evidence of greater levels of achievement in the play situation. If a child is directly aimed at achieving in his play (playing marbles) the clear description of the rules to ensure fair play is of utmost importance. It is important for a teacher that a child plays in this manner because, as a consequence, he gives direction and meaning to a childs play. If the playing is organized by rules, the presence of a teacher who will know what is to happen, who can give form to the playing concerning specific knowledge, skills, attitudes, etc. and in terms of which a child can be formed is quite acceptable. As we know, a child can play this role (of teacher) in the spontaneous play

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situation of children. In this sense, forming, as a didactic category, can be effectively realized in the play situation. If forming is involved in playing, it makes certain demands regarding the rules and the way the game (play) progresses. This fact is especially apparent when boys play marbles. If an improved achievement (skill) is sought, the game (play) makes a direct appeal to a childs attitude in the play situation, and in this sense the situation is an ideal basis for learning. In addition, when a teacher organizes the playing, the need for a child to venture into the situation is intensified. Thus, the situation demands unconditional obedience to the rules (norms) of the game. The teaching possibilities in this respect are self-evident. The play situation predisposes discovery to a marked degree. This quality is most important when play activities are organized for didactic purposes because discovery is obviously an important didactic aim. Organized play makes exceptional demands on a childs willingness to venture into reality by venturing into the play situation. This willingness to venture is influenced by the quality of a childs experiences and by his feeling of security in the situation. These are all factors of paramount importance in educating him and they contribute to his eventual independence. From an analysis of play, as a didactic form, various didacticians have indicated that learning in a play situation is aimed at the following: physical skills, intellectual skills (applying knowledge), whole areas of knowledge, dispositions and attitudes. The links between playing and learning that can be inferred from this are mainly the following: optic-acoustic oriented learning (i.e., visualsensory and hearing-sensory learning), method-directed learning (i.e., tactile-sensory and manual dexterity) and creative learning. It is clear that a childs learning intention is realized in a play situation; therefore, it is considered to be a way that teaching occurs or is a didactic way of doing. It also has a demanding character. It is understandable that the way a teacher leads a childs learning in organized play situations will depend on the aims he hopes to achieve by this form of teaching. As a didactic ground-form, it must always contribute to the aims of a teacher as well as to evaluating

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the effects of teaching and learning. Whenever a teacher uses play, there always is an obligation; the child must play. That is, play becomes an imperative in the didactic situation. The participants do not play for the sake of play; they play in order to learn. For a child here playing is work. In this way teaching makes an important contribution to changing a childs normal, spontaneous learning activities. A teacher must also realize that play can lose its meaning as a ground-form if the didactic situation becomes too mechanical. The danger of mechanizing play is imminent unless one remembers that playing is to take place within a specific space, with previously selected pupils in a specific group relationship, and in terms of specific contents or material. The character of achievement, so important in the didactic situation, becomes a part of the didactic situation of play. A childs playing is going to be evaluated by the teacher. If the level of achievement does not meet his demands the situation must be repeated to enable the children to reach the desired level. Where play is introduced into a didactic situation, certain demands must be met before it can qualify as a didactic ground-form. Firstly, didactic play can never have an intransitive (spontaneous) character because it is always coupled with a definite aim. In a didactic play situation material is always introduced between player and contents. In this respect it is even possible that the playing can show a secondary character in the sense that the free and spontaneous movement, as ways of existing, are not allowed. The following are always present when play is realized in a didactic situation: achieving, constituting, creating, differentiating, organizing, demarcating, controlling, actively developing the event, people and things relating, orienting, taking standpoints, deciding, etc. In fact, these are the factors that often bring play into motion. These didactic factors are essentially norms. The norms associated with play in a didactic situation refer to the didactic criteria mentioned in Chapter 3. From the above, the didactic value of play is briefly summarized as follows:

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Play creates a bridge between the life worlds of the child and the adult because of the role- and rule-games in which the child participates; it also creates a bridge to the adults attitude toward work because the child continually ventures into functional and constructive games; play also creates a bridge to creative activities and achievements that are evident in all free and bounded forms of play.

In a play situation a child discovers ways of exploring reality. This also offers opportunities for expressing physical and intellectual achievements in situations that are positive and formative. These situations also offer opportunities in which cultural techniques (e.g., reading, writing and arithmetic) are placed within his grasp. A child who is involved in play situations is involved in selfactivities and in this sense he is involved in realizing the idea of independence. Because a childs activities in a play situation are such a fundamental part of his existence the situation is true to life for him in that it does not constitute a foreign element. For this reason a play situation is an authentic human situation for him. A childs spontaneous activities, and later even deliberate activities, make the introduction of contents chosen from his surroundings not only possible but also natural. A play situation is not the only one in which a child is actively involved or in which he learns. Thus, it is important for a didactician to determine the boundaries of play. As far as a didactician is concerned, play, as a didactic ground-form, is important because it offers a child the opportunity to change his relationship to reality. In this sense a play situation transcends the play activity itself; it makes more activities possible or it makes a variety of activities possible. Play is a natural point of departure to realize other forms of beingin-the-world (forms of existence) like language, fantasy, repetition, etc. It is also clear that various aspects of a childs conscious life are brought into movement and given direction in a play situation and that because of these conscious activities, play, as such, is

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continually transcended. It is important to note that such aims as observing, thinking and imitating are as important regarding a childs play activities as they are regarding the quality of his achievements. As far as a teacher is concerned, using play as a ground-form means creating a situation that has its origin in a form of living (existence) that transcends the play situation by putting a broad range of aims within a childs reach. In this way the differentiated reality can be put within a childs reach and in this way his relationship to reality is formed. 2.2 Conversation

Conversation is primarily and fundamentally peculiar to a human beings lifestyle in that it is a way in which he establishes a relationship with reality. This form of living has its origin in the fact that a human being is the only being who possesses language. By means of language it is possible for a person to talk about reality and, in this sense, the didactic category of objectivity in the learning and teaching situation is of vital importance. A person casts his observations, experiences and feelings (including criticisms and judgments) in language. By means of language, as a disclosing medium and even as a signifying function, a person can give meaning to his existence. In this context, the spoken word is a bridge between inner experiences of reality and the external, explainable phenomena in the surrounding world. Language enables him to transpose surrounding reality in such a way that it becomes a spiritual possession. Human intentionality is clearly evidenced in language. In this sense, language is the form in which ones conscious striving to achieve (achieving consciousness), i.e., ones learning, manifests itself. Language makes it possible to know, understand and order a situation before one acts or attempts to answer the appeal coming from the situation. This explains why a childs mastery of language enables him to view the surrounding reality from a distance or objectively. Mastering language enables him to address reality communicatively and, as

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such, the appeal of language is the basis of his thinking, i.e., of his conceptual world. This mastery increases his knowledge in the sense that he can give order to things, repeat activities, recognize and use objects and activities, plan an activity for the future, organize various aspects into a whole, etc. By means of language, a child can create reality for himself, even if it is an abstract reality. Mastering language provides a basis for him to become independently involved in reality. At this stage it is clear that language is of paramount importance during the course of learning. In this respect, the most important aspects of language are: language is essentially informative; it always discloses something of the contents and their importance in the life world. For this reason, language also is orienting; it indicates both direction and fixed points in reality. Language bridges distances in the life world and also makes knowledge possible by means of experiencing and observing; absent reality is made present because a person can discuss it. Reality can be put in perspective by language so that it can be interpreted within established experiences, observations, knowledge, etc. In this sense, language can free one from the bonds and boundaries of the immediate and present reality or enable one to objectify it. Language gives order to objects, happenings, expectations, anticipations, characteristics, etc. Order enables one to command reality. It is directed at coordinating aspects of reality that are the same and differentiating between aspects that differ from each other. Thus, the ordering quality of language becomes clear. By means of language, judgments are made, evaluations are done, motives are explained, etc. It is important for a didactician to understand that conversation is the form in which language, as the vehicle of ones conscious striving for achievement, is cast. Because it is of utmost importance to realize the forms (forms of living) in which achieving consciousness can be realized in the lesson situation, it is justifiable to examine conversation as a form of living and, therefore, a teaching form.

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When an adult implements conversation to unlock an aspect of reality, the realization of a fruitful moment is of considerable importance. A fruitful moment occurs when an adult manages to create a conversation of such quality that a child is eager to become involved in the reality under discussion. This entails effort in the sense that a child is enjoined to make an effort because the adult makes an effort. Discussion, as a form of teaching, is a problematic matter for an adult because it is not easy to use and it requires welldeveloped skill in its use in creating a spontaneous learning situation. The conclusion arrived at in discussions (conversations) between adults and between adults and children is that there is a resonance between the participants in the discussion. As soon as one partners attitudes, preconceptions, opinions, etc. are not tolerated, the discussion ceases to exist. Discussion essentially is a matter of differences of opinion. This statement applies equally to teaching situations. The opinions and attitudes a child constructs for himself about reality are matters of appropriating contents that, for him. are placed in his consciousness in one way or another. In a conversation when an adult is consciously involved in explaining, giving an account, identifying, etc. it no longer is spontaneous. When an adult and a child become jointly involved in reality, there is always a problem, an interesting phenomenon, an important insight or task that introduces the conversation. If we recognize conversation as a form of living and if we acknowledge its possibilities as a ground-form, then we must also accept that our approach to describing this didactic ground-form must always be seen in a pedagogic light. Conversation, as a teaching form, has the following variations: in the first instance, there is the generally unbounded, open or free conversation that occurs spontaneously between parents and children. This kind of conversation does not have a definite aim but is carried on spontaneously during the parent and childrens association with each other. Contents are incidental because the conversation is about things that crop up incidentally and that do not necessarily fall within the scope of the adults educative aims.

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In contrast, a second form of conversation is highly structured, more bound, clearly directed and restricted. It is consciously planned and initiated by an adult. It is an integral part of an adults purposive intervention with a child. This kind of conversation is, therefore, preeminently an educative or a teaching conversation. In terms of the nature of conversation, there are not many essential differences between the two forms except that the teaching conversation is more restricted and bound to particular contents. It is understandable that the role of both child and teacher in a teaching conversation will show differences from an unbound conversation. In an unbound conversation, an adult or teacher has more of a guiding function while in the bound or teaching conversation he has more of a leading function in addition to his guiding. In usual practice it is evident that an unbound conversation can turn into a formal, more bound form in order to directly serve the aims of educating. To briefly summarize the above, conversation is always present when thoughts are shared between people. A conversation is quite different from chatting because it always has a serious undertone. It deals with a specific theme or case and it includes all questions concerning the topic as well as all explanations and clarifications. The idea of a conversation is that during its course solutions to problems are examined because it draws out the ideas of the participants in such a way that the specifics or details of the contents are systematically dealt with. Conversation also involves differences. A variety of opinions, experiences, etc. serve as motivation only if at least one of the participants does not consider his opinions to be absolutely valid. In this context the conversational participants are equal. Conversation implies that all participants must listen but that they also must be able to understand. The implication for teaching is that a teacher must be able to hold back and wait for an opportune (fruitful) moment to initiate the conversation. This not only demands skill but also sound judgment as well as the ability to formulate unambiguously and clearly.

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In addition to the fact that conversation is an ordinary human form of living it also is an art that can be mastered by practice and concentration. Because conversation, as a form of living, is continually involved in the practice of teaching, as a teaching form, it makes special demands of a teacher: it requires those skills necessary to use conversation effectivelythis is apart from his narrative ability or his ability to dramatize a situation. The ways in which conversation, as a didactic ground-form, are realized by means of specific methods in the classroom is explained later in this chapter. 2.3 Example (exemplar)

Didactic activity always is involved with unlocking reality for a child. However, reality is too extensive and its contents are too finely differentiated for him merely to acquire a proper grasp of it. In addition, the totality of the surrounding reality no longer is manageable for an adult simply because the scope of both the sciences and techniques developed are so vast that they require increasing specialization. What is true for an adult in this regard certainly is even more so for a child; the world and reality surrounding him cannot merely be presented to him. To overcome this problem, an adult selects parts or aspects of reality that, in his judgment, offer a valid and representative structure of the surrounding reality. In this way, the example is an indispensable aspect of a persons grasp of what surrounds him and that can happen to him. In this regard, the example has a specific aim: it serves as the beginning and first ground for a person to be in a position more closely to determine the essence of a particular matter. An example selected in terms of specific criteria must be a primary or first view of what belongs, in principle and in general, to the matter or theme. Irrespective of the fact that example is the beginning ground for presenting a theme or phenomenon, the principles of the particular matter also must appear clearly in the example. The original experience of educating shows that an example is used to give a course to an educative situation. In the spontaneous, original educative situation the use of an example makes a discussion possible about a particular matter because it makes a

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large number of facts available for analyses, analogies and syntheses. It is here, however, where an adult unlocks an example for a child in terms of demonstrations and illustrations. Irrespective of this and other possible methods, the principle of the example stands. In the formal didactic situation the example is valid to the extent that a very large portion of classroom teaching is done by means of it as a ground-form. If one eliminates the principle of the example from educating and especially from teaching, teaching, as such, collapses. In this respect, the example is one of the ways a human being understands and interprets the reality surrounding him and, therefore, also the way he makes reality available to someone who still has to discover it. In this respect, the example qualifies as a ground-form for didactic acts and a didactician has to master the essence and function of this ground-form. Further, it is necessary for a didactician to thoroughly know the example as a didactic groundform, otherwise the concept of exemplary teaching (see Chapter 12) will be wanting. The general aspects of a matter are disclosed in the example. For this reason, an example has an introductory function in the life world. Thus, the function of an example is to make understanding and insight regarding the general possible. Therefore, the first criterion for an example is that it be able to make a universal matter visible. The facts or concepts, in reality, can be directly read from the example itself. Hence, the example is the first image of a matter and this involves the relationship of the particular to the general by which particular concepts make insight into the structure represented by the example possible. It is for this reason that an adult selects a particular case, model case, etc. as the first image for a child because this first image has general validity with respect to the reality it represents. Although an example possibly can be a particular case, still it contains the concepts, insights, etc. that make insight into the structure of what it represents possible. Thus, to qualify as an example, as a particular case, it must be able to refer to what is generally valid. On the basis of various aspects of reality that examples represent, they can function in various respects in a didactic situation. Where

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a simple object is used as an example it can be an exemplar of a particular type. One comes upon this function of the example especially in biology when monocotyledons, self-pollination, crosspollination, etc. are unlocked for the children. The example also can demonstrate a particular rule. This is seen in, e.g., sentence analysis and mathematics. The theorem learned by a child in trigonometry is a particular case that demonstrates a rule. Any problem that arises later is a pure variation of the same rule that arises in different kinds of situations and structures and must be solved in terms of the example unlocked by a teacher for a child. The example also can represent a particular type, among a number of possibilities, such as one comes across, especially, in music and art teaching. In this respect, one of Beethovens symphonies is a type of the concept symphony because, although, it is not the only symphony, the structure of a symphony, as a type of mu sic, can be deduced from it. Often, the example also serves as a model for the objective laws of science. This kind of example especially is observable in physics and subjects such as architecture and music where a model serves to make a particular or abstract aspect of the subject visible and in this way understandable to a child. A globe (of the earth), models of atoms and even construction models are variations of this kind of example. Examples also can be implemented to serve as criteria (norms) in terms of which a child then can gauge his own achievement. Any standardized test used as a norm for a teacher, as well as an examinee, is an example of this kind. Finally, the example also can be implemented as exercises in order to practice skills, methods, etc. as one finds in vocationally directed teaching. An example of this kind is when a model office or a filing cabinet is used in business teaching. In Chapter 12, a full explication is given of various concepts that are closely related or analogous to the example: paradigm, exemplar, model, type, etc. For this reason these meanings of the example and the affinities they show with the nature of particular contents are not discussed here.

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Because the exemplar is implemented so harmoniously in the learning activities of a child, its use by a teacher cannot merely be spontaneous. For this reason, the use of an example or exemplar is a weighty matter. At this stage it is clear that the exemplar or example is closely connected with a childs perceiving in the act of learning. The example or exemplar lends itself excellently to demonstration because, usually, the function of a demonstration is directed to an example. The teacher places the exemplar between himself and a child to unlock a piece of reality and in this way the object or matter is visible to the child. The reason for this is that the example is not only concerned with an empirical reality but that, at least, it represents foreseeable reality. In this respect, using an example means that a teacher literally can place certain concepts or objects in a childs field of vision. A deduction at this stage is that the example and all of its variations is used in a teaching situation to illustrate and make available to a child a certain abstract, removed or concrete reality. In this context, the relationship between the example and experience, as a category of spontaneous learning, is noteworthy. The model, etc. offers a child the opportunity to undergo new experiences with the matter at hand. In this case, the example functions in such a way that it unites previous and new experiences and, thus, previous and new insights can be integrated. In this case, the example functions reflexively because new experiences refer back to previous ones. Apart from the example placing previous experiences in a certain relationship with new experiences, anticipation (anticipated thinking) also is called upon to interpret new experiences represented by the example. In addition to the reflexive and anticipative possibilities of the example, it possesses possibilities for application, opportunities for conveying insights, skills, methods of solving problems, etc. by which the scope of experience can be broadened. Basically, this means that a teacher concentrates the example within the experience of a child. However, when a child is led to give meaning to the example it serves as a concrete experience which enables him to transcend the particularity of the

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concrete example and to reach the level of generality (by language or other symbolic forms). The aim of an adult in implementing an example in a teaching situation is summarized as follows: in the first place, he wants to present abstract reality by means of an example so this reality can be made visible or perceivable to a child. This case involves concretizing abstract reality and, in this way, delimiting particular concepts so a child can acquire an intellectual grasp of them. In the second place, an adult uses examples to limit the scope of the matter and make small explications available to a child that then will have a generally valid meaning. In this way it is possible to bring abstract reality into a classroom situation that, in other ways, would not be possible and, in this way, to offer a child the opportunity for more experience. In addition to the above aims of using the example or exemplar in a teaching situation, there are other aspects of a teachers didactic work that can be effectively realized by the exemplary as a didactic ground-form. In unlocking a particular reality a teacher continually searches for ways by which insights into this reality can be conveyed to a child. The converted learning content that a teacher unlocks in the class as an example or exemplar in a general sense serves as the basis for establishing comparable themes for thinking (investigating, concept forming and practicing). By means of exemplary unlocking, the independent mastery of other aspects or areas related to the learning content is made possible. In this sense the last didactic aim is actualized in a general respect. The example or exemplar also must serve as a foundation or basis for establishing generally valid insights into a particular, but comprehensive structure because the meaning of the contents in the particular exemplar is not only valid for a particular case (example) but makes valid pronouncements about a greater or wider connection possible. In unlocking the example or exemplar, a teacher also is directed to providing a child with an example of the methods by which the ground structures of this particular content of the represented lifeor subject-area can be sought. On the basis of this knowledge of

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methods, it now becomes possible for a child to acquire insight into the ways of studying a particular aspect of reality and, in this way, to investigate and understand the totality of life reality. In this case, the unique nature of a particular subject area that is unlocked in school is going to have a say. Each subject area avails itself of its own methods. This means that a teacher implements a particular example in such a way that the methods of the subject that it represents also are taken up in it and become clearer to a child. Irrespective of this general possibility, unlocking the exemplar also serves a childs insight that an example can be fruitfully used in class and, in this sense, is meaningful for him. The usual course of classroom teaching shows a chronological accumulation of facts with the aim that, eventually, it collectively will expose a particular subject area as a totality. For children, this approach often is monotonous and without inspiration. In this connection, the example can establish steps or levels rather than a linear chronological exposition. By means of the exemplary, insights can be established for a child to study a larger reality himself because the insights mastered in the exemplar are generally valid in nature, while the methods used to separate out the essences of the exemplar can be transferred to other areas. Thus, the aspect of the content unlocked for a child via the example makes possible his independent access to the parts not unlocked for him. When a teacher uses an exemplar to solve a particular problem, he creates a situation. Outside of his situation a child cannot represent a real or actual reality. The same holds for establishing a problem and using an example to clarify it. In this respect, the example that is spontaneously used in everyday classroom practice also is situation-bound. Thus, the exemplar serves as a good way of realizing a fruitful moment, i.e., to didactically exploit the favorable moment and even attain the general educative aim in this way. The exemplary is the main focus of the unlocking in the class situation in the sense that it has to do rather with unlocking and bringing about essential knowledge regarding the matter than with the quantitative completeness of the matter. The relationship between the exemplar used in this way and the reduction of content to its essentials is clear.

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From these essences that are unlocked by the exemplary for a child there can be a move to a higher level of scope and complexity of the matter represented by the exemplar. In this sense, therefore, the exemplar serves to concentrate on the contents and to set aside what is incidental. The exemplar also has an important residual influence, i.e., it works or comes into function to the extent that a teacher can concentrate on or explain it with the aim of a childs imitation (post-disclosure) of the teachers own insights and mastery. A teacher uses the example to make even more clear and lucid what ought already to be clear and lucid in reality. Also, he uses the example to explicate what is clear in its cause and effect with the aim of better understanding general matters in terms of the particular phenomenon. By implementing the example, a teacher creates a situation that actualizes, in the purest way, imitation by a child in the learning act. Finally, a teacher implements a particular example in a teaching situation to limit himself in his presentation to a particular reality. The example must continually be tested against the reality that it represents. In this respect, it is important to indicate that the example protects a child from a teachers wandering thoughts simply because the example presents reality in a particular and perceivable way. There has been repeated reference to the significance of the exemplar or example for a teacher in his presentation of contents. The question now is: What is the significance of the example for a learning child? The example gives a learning person the possibility of acquiring a grasp of the concepts of a matter because concrete relationships are exposed and presented by the example. At first, the abstract is actualized in the concrete that only can really be presented by an example so that an inductive penetration of the structure of the concepts themselves is given. In this way, the concepts of the matter are placed within a learners reach and this puts him in a position to formulate general deductions. These general deductions, then, can be tested again by other examples. Lastly, it is indicated that there is exemplary teaching if a relationship of the general to the particular finds clear and valid expression in the relationship of the particular case to a particular law.

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2.4

Assignment (Giving instructions)

Just as was done with the previous didactic ground-forms, once again a didactican must turn to the spontaneous human life world to examine assignment as a didactic ground-form. From a penetration of the spontaneous life world it is seen that the relationship between person and reality is expressed in the activities that he carries out. A human being does not accept reality as it is; he is continually involved in changing it into a life world for himself. Changing the world into a world for himself is seen clearly in the fact that a person is involved in working with reality. When a person acts in reality he always is involved in reality; this also means he is occupied with educative- and teaching-interventions. This working involvement of a person with reality can only be understood properly if one examines the anthropological grounds of work or labor. Therefore, taking the primary form of l iving of labor as the point of departure, a didactician searches for a didactic ground-form that is applied daily in practice. However, assignments cannot be equated with the concept labor or work, and yet one cannot clearly understand the sense and meaning of assignments the adult gives in educating a child if one does not take the activities that culminate in labor into account. An adult primarily controls and commands in his activities of labor. Because the concept labor actually refers to a persons daily working activities, a large variety of human activities fall within it such as food processing, industrial production, and medical services. They are all aspects of the human beings daily working activities. When examining labor (working) as a form of living, it is important to note that a person is not only concerned about the results or fruits of his labor: a human being often labors because of the tasks associated with it. The essential difference between play and labor in constituting a unique life world is thai play is directed to a lighter facet of being human while labor essentially is a serious matter directed at a conscious mastery of reality. It is for this reason that labor makes possible a clear judgment of how a human being is involved in reality. In this regard, it also is important to note that labor

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essentially is a personal matter; work is always performed by a person irrespective of whether he does so in a group or individually. When a person is engaged in labor his involvement is anchored in the past but also finds its justification in the future. The future dimension of labor becomes clear if one understands that the appeal to work is an inevitable part of a persons involvement in reality. The aim of labor, the labor itself, and its results are intertwined and are experienced and considered by a person to be a whole. In this sense, labor has a beginning, a course of activities and an end; an individual experiences his laboring in these phases. A relationship of labor to reality is not one-sided in the sense that it merely evolves from reality to an aim of labor but it also is rooted in the human being as the center of a matter-of-fact reality itself. Consequently, he creates opportunities and situations, but also implements to enable him to labor effectively. Both the situation and implement are meaningless if a person is not involved in the situation as a worker. To labor means to command reality and to employ knowledge and insight resulting from work activities in order to further disclose reality and to establish himself in the world. This is of exceptional importance for teaching because labor has a formative value that a teacher cannot ignore in teaching. Even the most superficial penetration of a childs spontaneous involvement in the world indicates that he involves himself heart and soul in activities. The fact that a child experiences his parents labor allows him to understand labor as a positive power in the everyday course of daily life. He experiences that his parents labor makes new situations possible by constituting them. A child sees in his parents the value of labor, its creations and achievements and its realizing aims. In addition, he sees that diligent labor and its fruits give meaning to his existence. It is in this sense that a child sees labor as a basic aspect of adulthood. This is the reason a child identifies himself with the labor of adults and why he imitates labor in his play, why he repairs things in his life world himself, why he takes things apart and reassembles them, etc. When a child imitates the labor of adults in his play, he is involved in imitating the use of the implements the adult uses in his work or he actually uses them himself. In this way a child learns to know functional objects like a

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hammer, a saw, scissors, etc. In addition, he not only learns various forms of work but he learns to participate in work; he also must begin to work himself. In his life world, a child often confuses play and work. However, this does not mean he can ignore the injunction (mandate) to work. Work and its inherent appeal to duty as well as its formative value, have always interested educators. Pedagogues view work as one of the most fruitful ways of forming a childs emotional life and of leading him to accept responsibility. The particular value of work and assignments for a person is that they make a demand on his courage and perseverance to overcome obstacles. For this reason, it is understandable that what an educator says does not influence a child as much as what he does. As far as the pedagogical, and therefore also the didactical, is concerned, in the first instance it is not particular skills and mastery that matter but the appeal that observable reality directs to a person and to which he must respond in one way or another. The way in which the learning activity of a child is intertwined with work and the assignment (appeal to duty) arising from it are of great importance to a teacher. Even though learning and working are not identical didactic concepts, a child learns while working. To understand the difference between learning and working, consider that learning is not always work but it often is aimed at work. Learning, as such, deals with learning to know or be aware of something while working, as such, involves bringing something about, making something present, i.e., producing something. However, if a child learns when working, these differences are more closely intertwined. Both learning and working include effort, fatigue and achievement. Because of this intertwining, every work activity can also include a learning activity without the work effort necessarily being directed to or aimed at learning. As far as assignments are concerned, they assume that previously learned knowledge will be applied so the solutions to new problems can be found and new knowledge can be mastered. In this context, work and assignments are ways of placing a child in concrete situations for him to have the opportunity to learn about practical aspects of the life world; they are not necessarily aimed at his future

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vocation. As far as work or assignments are concerned, in this context they are a means to an end, namely to give a child the opportunity to learn practical aspects of the life world in concrete situations. They also provide him with the opportunity to construct a knowledge-structure out of the practical-concrete data that the life world offers a child daily. This knowledge-structure is essentially abstract and even theoretical but it contributes to elevating a childs insight into his own situations. Consequently, concrete and practical situations provide a child with greater mobility in life situations and that an adult can give a child certain assignments with the aim of realizing certain educative and teaching aims. Just as with the other ground-forms, the assignment involves a child as an individual person in the sense that it demands a certain achievement of him as a person. The assignment also has formative value in that it is always given in a serious situation and because there is a certain level of achievement to be reached within a certain time limit. It also is a means of building a childs character. When work and the resulting assignments appear in teaching, it is formative because a child is continually forced back to reality and in this relationship to reality, a certain level of achievement is expected of him. The particular benefit that work and assignment have in a teaching-educative situation is that they present concrete situations so that the demands made of a child are real and actual. Work and assignment involve the ground categories of perceiving, experiencing and objectifying and how they are actualized in the life world of a child in his involvement in the world of work of the adult. In this involvement he participates in this form of living and learns by doing so. In the previous paragraphs, four didactic ground-forms have been identified and briefly described. The forms of teaching of play, conversation, example and assignment, as forms of living, make possible a childs spontaneous involvement in reality, but this involvement is characterized in such a way that learning occurs. Thus, these four forms of living qualify as didactic ground-forms. The description of these four ground-forms is aimed at a clearer understanding of the ways a teacher can involve children in

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learning activities in a classroom. Because today we are so overwhelmed by educational technology and technical teaching methods, a description of the didactic ground-forms can help reduce teaching activities to their essences and origins so that they can be understood in terms of the spontaneous life world of a child. At this stage it should be clear that the life world of a child reveals his spontaneous involvement with reality and this implies an adults spontaneous support and aid to him in this respect. The description of the didactic forms is a theoretical analysis of the origin and essences of the form of didactic activity. Granted, the didactic ground-forms give a particular flavor to a lesson situation, it also is true that the methods used in a particular lesson also give a particular emphasis to this form. The didactic ground-forms and their methodological possibilities have a specific relationship that now must be investigated so that, at least, the guidelines derived from the theory can be interpreted for didactic practice. 3. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIDACTIC GROUND-FORMS AND TEACHING METHODS In discussing the didactic ground-forms it was repeatedly indicated that they are essentials of the human life world. The didactic ground-forms stem from a persons involvement in reality and are seen in the original experience of educating. They bypass particular school practices and views on methods. It is important to stress that the didactic ground-forms lead further back than a school situation, and also that school practice, as such, cannot make ground-forms available for teaching because the teaching situation in school is a second-order or derived structure. For this reason, there is a return to the life world to disclose the ground-forms in it so that the second-order school situation derived from it can be understood better. The task of describing the didactic ground-forms is not primarily to improve practice, as such, but to better understand the practice of teaching in the school. The didactic ground-forms in the original life world of persons are not necessarily a matter of unlocking or disclosing reality. One uses these forms to try to realize the aims that go with them. Even so, the didactic ground-forms are important to a didactician because

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they also provide the basis for understanding the ways that are or can be followed for teaching in school. It is for this reason that the ground-forms refer directly to the question of methods (ways) and in this way they build a bridge between the didactic categories and how teaching can make new aspects of life reality accessible to a child. In the original experience of educating, an adult uses particular forms of living (that later are described as didactic ground-forms) to bring a child to reality. A summary of the above introductory remarks about didac tic ground-forms and methodology indicates that the ground-forms have to do with the ways of actualizing teaching in order to attain the aims contained in them in a meaningful and true to life manner. Because this involves the realization of the didactic, the question of method or way is directly raised. The question is whether each one of the ground-forms individually gives rise to introducing and using certain teaching methods (i.e., whether a certain method is coupled to a particular ground-form) and whether the ground-forms, as a whole, ground or underlie methodology. In order to answer this question it is wise to examine the original facts. Then the methods and ground-forms are classified along side each other and, in light of a teachers knowledge of these two structures, he reaches a particular conclusion. Because the spontaneous activity of teaching derives its form from the four ground-forms of play, conversation, example and assignment, they provide a possible ground plan for a general methodology that can be used in school to attain didactic aims. In their origin, the didactic ground-forms are forms of living and thus offer a framework for the methods used in the classroom so that these methods will not be foreign to a childs experiences. The ground-forms, as they appear in a persons life world, are closely related to the ways he is involved in reality. This means that they also represent ways of being involved in reality that necessarily have pedagogical or even teaching significance. Play, conversation, example and assignment are, therefore, not necessarily or obviously concerned with teaching but they can become matters of teaching if

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an adult initiates an educative activity with the direct aim of unlocking reality for a child. This means that when ground-forms are actualized, contents are always involved. It is important to mention at this stage that in addition to the relationship between the ground-forms and teaching methodology, there are other factors that can influence the form of a lesson such as the way the learning contents are ordered (organized), the readiness of the child, his situation, etc. However, they cannot principally influence the relationship between the ground-forms and teaching methods and therefore, they are put aside for the moment. What is important is that the nature of the contents gives a certain preference to a specific ground-form and also can motivate using one or another method (or combination). If one attempts to organize didactic ground-forms with certain teaching methods (more fully discussed below), the following classification can provisionally clarify the relationship between ground-forms and methods: play: free-activity, drilling or practicing, experimenting, questioning and answering, demonstrating; conversation: questioning and answering, narrating, demonstrating, free-activity; example: experimenting, handbook (textbook), demonstrating, questioning and answering, drilling or practicing; assignment: handbook (textbook), drilling or practicing, experimenting, narrating, questioning and answering, demonstrating.

It is obvious that a certain method (such as narrating or freeactivity) does not refer only to a specific ground-form. In the practice of teaching it is obvious that any ground-form can be the basis of any teaching method or combination of methods in a specific situation where contents are exposed. Choosing a ground form and a certain teaching method largely depends on the nature of the contents, the readiness of a child, the learning aims that the teacher hopes to achieve in a specific lesson, the time available, etc. This relationship will become clearer if the most important and

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certainly the most conspicuous teaching methods are explained briefly. 3.1 Narrating The method of narrating is certainly the most common in all teaching; it is in general use from pre-primary teaching through the tertiary level. It is often described as a monologue to emphasize that a teacher initiates the activity and that a child is supposed to listen. The narrative method also is described as word painting, describing, explaining, verbally illustrating and detailing that, perhaps, better state the possibilities of this method. In practical teaching situations, the method of narrating easily moves to group activities. Group activities include dramatizing, fantasy playing, participating in competitive games, etc. and are used depending on the direction in which a teacher wants the situation to move or develop. Regarding the function of this method, it is clear that its origin is in the conversational groundform because language is so central to it. When a teacher uses this method, he speaks to children. In this sense, the so-called monologue can become a discussion. It is also true that narrating is not limited to conversation as a ground-form because giving assignments makes equal use of conversation. On the other hand, dramatization, as a method of teaching, is also not limited to this ground-form because it is easy for a teacher to change the groundform; for example, by changing dramatization from discussion to play. [Note that the boundaries between the ground-forms are fluidG.D.Y.]. This is often the case in teaching poetry, music and sports. It also is possible for narration to change to another form in the same lesson. When the theme of teaching, for example, is the narrative itself (as in a novel, a short story or a ballad), it is clear that the example, as a ground-form, will serve the teachers purpose effectively. 3.2 Questioning and answering In the early history of teaching, and certainly from the earliest of times, the method of questioning and answering has played an important role. The reason is that teachers have always been

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involved in helping children unravel and solve problems, in fostering clear and logical thinking and in guiding them to formulate their ideas accurately. Although the question and answer method is prevalent in all teaching, it is not always recognized that it makes particular demands of a teacher. However, it is one of the most common teaching methods because it is so central to a normal dialogue between people. In practice, this method is widely applied. Even in modern didactics one encounters the question and answer method in computerized teaching, in learning and class discussions, in controlled discussions, etc. all of which are variations of the ground-form of conversation. Because of its varied possibilities, this method also is suitable for use from the primary to the most advanced classes. Because of its suppleness and wide possibilities of application, this method is indispensable to teaching. However, questioning and answering is not only limited to conversation as a ground-form. In computer assisted teaching, this method can easily become a variation of assignment. Depending on the nature of the contents, an example can be effectively introduced by means of the method of questioning and answering. In the practice of pre-primary teaching, this method very often is implemented with the ground-form of play. 3.3 The textbook

The textbook, reference book or any other form of the written word, is continually introduced in a functional relationship as a method during the course of a teaching situation. Previously, it was thought that a textbook must be inserted between a teacher and a child as a teaching aid to realize particular teaching aims. Today, the functional meaning of this method is emphasized and is used to foster independent text study and analysis by a child. Therefore, the library, whatever its composition or scope, plays an important role in teaching when the textbook method is used. If one closely examines the practice of teaching and the way the textbook functions in it, it is clear that assignment, as a ground-

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form, is the basis for using this method. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that in exemplary teaching, especially in the natural sciences, the written text plays an important and meaningful role as a teaching method. Practice shows that the example, as a ground-form, and the assignment often flow into each other. It is especially in the second phase of the exemplary method (where pupil and teacher work through an example together) that the textbook fulfills a particularly important function. For example, when a teacher is involved in handling examples of the climate zones of the world in geography, it is clear that the textbook is indispensable. To read from a textbook to the class does not mean that the textbook is introduced and used as a teaching method. The textbook method is aimed at most effectively introducing the written word as a means of realizing authentic learning by a child. By way of summary, the textbook method functions particularly well with the ground-forms of assignment and example and that it really doesnt contribute to teaching cast in the ground-forms of play and conversation. 3.4 Free activity

The most conspicuous use of free activity as a method is in preprimary and junior-primary teaching. At this level, free activity flows so naturally out of spontaneous play, as a didactic groundform, that one can hardly overlook its importance. The aims generally striven for in free activity can vary from free, creative expression, physical, and especially motor forming to providing entertainment for the children. Because free activity has many creative possibilities, it is a very popular method for teaching subjects such as arts and crafts, modeling lessons, music, rhythmic movements, singing, etc. It is obvious that it offers both teacher and child the opportunity for spontaneous activity and free initiative. Free activity is often realized by discussion in more advanced classes. In this context one thinks of free discussion where the aim is to provide a child with the opportunity to use language freely;

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this is especially important in second-language teaching. Because free activity can easily disturb classroom order, it makes particular demands on a teachers initiative and skill. To effectively use free activity in a lesson, the teaching aims must always be clearly stated beforehand. In the higher classes where teaching is more formally structured and where teaching is based on assignment and example, free activity has a less important place. 3.5 Demonstrating

The basis of any demonstration is that it offers a learner the opportunity to observe how someone else has planned and completed a certain task or project. As a method, it is as old as being human and it is observable in the original experience of teaching. In modern times, especially on the basis of Pestalozzis theory of direct observation, demonstrating has gained an important place in the methods for teaching all school subjects. In addition, the development of natural sciences and related technologies that are reflected in the school curriculum have made this method indispensable in many teaching situations. Demonstrating, as a teaching method, has a uniquely important functional possibility for play, conversation, example and assignment. Consequently, it is not possible to determine which one of these ground-forms underlies it. In practice, it is clear that demonstrating can be recognized in each one of the ground-forms. In music teaching and sport training, demonstrating, imitating and repeating are generally common; in these cases, the ground-form is play. In other situations, a teacher literally shows a child a procedure and asks him to do the same thing in order to teach him certain skills by carrying out certain assignments. Demonstrating is also especially relevant where skills in any practical aspect of teaching is the aim, e.g., in teaching art, in using a microscope in a natural science class, in a geomorphology lesson in geography, etc. It is quite clear that using examples in these situations is equally important. As a method, it cannot be coupled with one particular ground-form; even its origin cannot be found in a particular ground-form. The fact is, the ground-forms jointly constitute the ways of actualizing this

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method in a didactic situation and thus each of the ground-forms possesses in itself the possibility of demonstrating. The crux of the matter is that in every case of demonstrating, a teacher must possess the necessary skills, continually assess its effectiveness and continually practice all of the skills associated with it. 3.6 Experimenting

Aristotle maintained that all scientific proof is provided only by means of the inductive method. His reasoning led to the establishment and prominence of the experiment as a method. Apart from this formidable support, the idea of exper imenting has gained even more support because of the conviction that it has exceptional validity if a child is given the opportunity to experience reality directly in a learning situation. If one includes the principle of discovery (heuristics), the interest in and application of experimenting as a method in modern didactics are quite understandable. As far as the origin of experimenting is concerned in relation to the didactic ground-forms, it is possible to relate it directly to the example. In fact, experimenting mainly involves the discovery of reality by means of a specific example in order eventually to arrive at a generally valid pronouncement concerning the phenomenon or object. For this reason, experimenting is especially prominent in such subjects as physics, biology and geography. Apart from the example as the basis for experimenting, it also can be identified in certain expressions of play and assignment. Good examples of this are in teaching art and music (play as ground-form) and agricultural education (assignment as ground-form). If technical apparatus is introduced from conversation as a ground-form in language teaching, it is quite possible to speak of the experimental method even in this kind of subject. One hesitates to indicate directly conversation as a ground-form because implementing a technical apparatus refers much more to the exemplary approach than to conversational teaching, as such. 3.7 Drill work (practice, exercise)

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The mere fact that a child understands certain contents is no guarantee that his insight will be lasting. For this reason, a teacher uses the drill or practice method in an attempt to guarantee that a childs grasp of facts and skills become a part of him, enabling him to apply insights and skills in the further course of the didactic situation as well as in other similar circumstances or problem situations. Ordinary classroom teaching shows that the drill method can be the outcome of all four didactic ground-forms. In the preprimary and junior-primary school drill or practice often takes the form of games (play). With older children the example and assignment are more prominent. Most contemporary mathematics and science syllabi make use of the example but sufficient drill work and exercises are provided for a specific theme to ensure the effective transfer of insights to related or succeeding themes. An experienced teacher knows that drill work and exercise very often manifest themselves in particular assignments that, in this respect, are a familiar aspect of a didactic situation. Here one can think of memorizing the times tables and practicing algorithms. The usefulness of drill work in the ground-forms of play, example, and especially assignment are even clear when the drill activities of an adult are viewed. It is important to note that the ground-forms, as such, are not determined by the possible forms of ordering learning contents but that the ground-forms do offer the way for possible variations in organizing contents. One thinks here of the chronological, symbiotic and progressive ordering of contents. The implication is that the ground-forms are not a curtailment of a teachers initiative. Each ground-form provides room for all of the forms of ordering learning contents, separately and also together. The forms of ordering contents are always a matter of didactic reasoning for the sake of reconstituting reality in formal situations. This means that ordering learning contents, as such, does not have a primary structure, but is meaningful in so far as it exposes contents in the second-order structure of the school. Thus, the principles of ordering learning material cannot have a primary influence on the theory of the ground-forms, while the ground-forms, as the basis of a general methodology, create room for particular forms of ordering.

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The way in which particular learning material is ordered for specific children in particular lesson situations, however, has an important influence in that the organization of the content can accelerate a childs grasp of it. In this respect, ordering the learning material deserves the readers interest. 4. PRINCIPLES OF ORDERING (ORGANIZING, ARRANGING) LEARNING CONTENTS Ordering contents is dealt with in Chapter 5 that deals with contents and in Chapter 7 that describes the lesson structure; therefore, here the aim is to briefly examine the principles in terms of which learning contents can be ordered and the effect that a particular ordering will have on a lesson, as such. The principles dealt with, therefore, must serve only as examples because the topic cannot be treated comprehensively at this stage. No contents can function meaningfully in planning the aim of a lesson if they are not ordered meaningfully. As far as a child is concerned, unknown contents are hazy and nebulous. A teacher must try to create order in his attempt to guarantee that a child will have a lasting grasp of the contents. It is obvious that the value of ordering the contents is closely associated with the value of the contents, as such. If the theme of a lesson has a direct bearing on the natural surroundings of a child, a teacher must take the childs knowledge of his surroundings as his point of departure. He does this in order to formulate a problem and to order the contents in terms of directly experienced reality. Where the contents are abstract or removed, a teacher will probably use different examples to identify as a problem, illustrate and clarify the matter he is involved with. This implies that a teacher must understand that the problem of ordering contents is already present during his own initial involvement with the learning contents. Therefore, he must consciously consider the most effective, meaningful and functional ways of ordering the contents in terms of the composition of the class he is to teach as well as the learning

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aim he intends the children to achieve during the course of a lesson. It is on this basis that his entire presentation is planned. When a teacher plans his lesson, the contents of the particular lesson are announced for him in the scheme of work (particular curriculum). As indicated elsewhere, the scheme of work is a reduction from the general curriculum that is compiled for a particular school or type of school. The theme that appears in the scheme of work is the particular learning contents for a particular subject for a particular grade level. In the scheme of work a complete series of themes is indicated with respect to a particular subject. Therefore, a teacher knows what the children already know about the contents and where the relevant lesson contents will be later introduced. A teachers first aim, therefore, is to integrate his own knowledge of the contents, his teaching skills, his experiences and his knowledge of the children before him in order to design the most effective ways that the particular contents can be meaningfully unlocked for each child. In penetrating the contents, a teacher searches for centers of gravity within the contents, key concepts and even points of view that clearly indicate where possible points of access to the contents are, as well as where particular bottlenecks can arise for a child. In this penetration of the contents a teacher is directed to allowing their essences to appear. Then, he can take up in a problem all of these specific essences in light a childs foreknowledge of them. In this way a teacher can ensure that a child receives the full benefit of his preparation and planning. These are the primary responsibilities concerning contents that a teacher must be able to account for. However, he must also take into consideration the children for whom the lesson is intended. His main aim is to clearly identify the most dependable and effective means of helping a child grasp the contents. Hence, he also orders the contents in such a way that a child can follow the line of thought that is carried through the design of the lesson. If the contents are not ordered in terms of a childs possibilities, he easily wanders from the correct course for solving the problem. If the pupils examine and discover the essences of the contents with a teacher, an ordering of them is of great importance for providing a clearly defined course for a childs learning activities to follow. This

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is a fundamental pedagogic condition for a pupil to experience security regarding the contents. At this stage two aspects are identified that will influence a teachers ordering contents. On the one hand, the childrens readiness to understand and accept the contents is of exceptional importance; on the other hand, the nature and structure of the subject from which the teaching theme is drawn will equally influence the ordering. Each subject has its own inherent order that a teacher must take into account when preparing his lesson. This is a matter of particular importance in insuring that a child will fully understand and grasp the meaning of the contents. In terms of these aims, a teacher must establish whether the children are capable of following an abstract discourse or explanation. Further, he must establish whether they can proceed from the known to the unknown by means of a steep spiral, as it were, or whether they are only capable of following him along a smooth, level horizontal line of reasoning. These factors are of equal importance with respect to ordering the contents. It is in light of these questions that a teacher schematizes the contents and seeks the most appropriate and effective didactic ground-forms as well as the effective methods for introducing the contents in a lesson situation. 4.1 Chronological ordering

As its name indicates, this principle of ordering teaching contents is concerned with organizing them in terms of time. Various subjects or parts of subjects have a historical nature. This means that they reflect the course of history and that they essentially have a timeorienting function and meaning. Many human activities, traditions, aspects of lifestyle, the economy, etc. are developed in time. The succession of these aspects represents the culmination of human history, for instance Greek and Roman civilization, the Renaissance, Gothic architectural style, the emergence of the natural sciences, and the first voyages into space. There also are sequences within the different occurrences that are, e.g., political, economic and social. The Middle Ages occurred before the Renaissance, the Portuguese Empire before the British Empire, steam locomotives

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before electric trains, etc. It is only logical that ordering these contents in teaching is according to the time they occurred. Understanding one period is often a precondition for understanding the next. For example, it is very difficult to understand the Reformation if one does not understand the situation of the Church during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. When a teacher orders learning contents according to the course of history, he is using the chronological principle of ordering. The value of the narrative teaching method is quite obvious in this form of ordering. A teacher who is a gripping storyteller can vitalize the contents for the children whether the theme is the history of Richard the Lion Heart or the history of atomic theory. 4.2 Symbiotic ordering

The concept symbiotic literally means to live together. Therefore, subjects with a symbiotic nature have their origin in life, as such (e.g., biology), but also includes subjects that have their origin in human society (e.g., economics). Symbiotic ordering, therefore, is inherent in those subjects that directly reflect the relationship between person and world, which means the relationship between persons and their surroundings (nature, persons and fellow-persons, person and God). The point of departure in symbiotic ordering is reality itself: the fountain, the manufacture of clothing or the cultivation of agricultural products. Where the contents are ordered symbiotically, a teachers aim is to bring a child into direct contact with reality as far as this is possible. The idea is that a child must understand his existence in the surrounding world. Symbiotic ordering is not only confined to a single lesson or series of lessons; it is equally valid in designing a curriculum. In this case, the curriculum is not designed in terms of a number of school subjects but in terms of the nature of the contents as they appear in concrete reality. Because the ordering occurs on the basis of what is actual for a child, i.e., within the framework of reality as life reality, the concept of the principle of actualization also is applicable to this ordering. The idea behind this particular ordering possibly can be clearly expressed with the example of a teacher dealing with the theme of

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types of leaves. One possibility is to deal with this theme in class with prints and drawings or to take the children out of the classroom, refer them to various trees and give each child the opportunity to pluck a leaf off that he then studies later in greater detail. By its nature, the symbiotic principle refers to the second possibility. 4.3 Linear ordering

A teacher often treats the contents analytically by strictly reducing them to their essences in order, for example, to explain causality by means of a number of sequential facts. In this manner, one fact leads to the next as a result or a cause. The facts pertaining to cause and effect are dealt with consecutively of linearly. One fact is not more or less important than another, they are all on the same level of importance in order to explain the phenomenon. Linear ordering of learning contents is arranging them in a consecutive, related sequence of facts, from the first to the last, by means of which a certain structure, experiment or military battle, e.g., forms a complete whole. It is only logical that the integration of consecutive facts into a meaningful whole is an important final phase in teaching for both teacher and child because both must create a synthesis out of the analysis. The linear form of ordering is clearly correlated with example as ground-form. An example serves as the point of departure to isolate or generalize the specific characteristics of an object or phenomenon. We see this clearly in botany. In other school subjects, the experiment and related teaching methods are equally dependent on linear ordering. Here the aim is to systematize the sequence of facts clearly and unambiguously. The crux of this approach is that the features, characteristics, preconditions, etc. that describe a particular matter in its essences eventually are united or integrated into a totality-image. What is said here regarding the correlation between the linear form of ordering and example as a ground-form also holds for play as a ground-form, and in particular with experimenting that, as a method, is rooted in play. Where there is experimenting, a teacher

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and pupil are going to work analytically. The same can also be said about the didactic ground-forms of assignment and conversation where contents also are naturally broken up and then can be integrated into a totality-image. The deduction is that the linear way of ordering does not necessarily imply only one of the didactic ground-forms for unlocking the contents. 4.4 Divergent ordering

In addition to the symbiotic, chronological and linear forms of ordering, the divergent form also is differentiated. Divergent ordering means that a teacher gives a systematic account of a topic by taking his point of departure from a certain center that then is expanded from all sides to include various areas of knowledge that are related to the theme, as such. By ordering a theme in this way, it then is possible to arrive at other themes that can be integrated with it. This ordering is especially important in project teaching where contents usually are constructed around a specific theme. An example is a project such as providing water for a city. Apart from such aspects as sources of water, geo-morphology, water requirements for the economy, water pollution, technical problems in providing water, water purification, etc., the theme expands to include other themes such as the industrial development of the city, preparing personnel for the industries, the question of housing, the provision of other services, etc. Divergent ordering makes it possible to move naturally from one theme to another, provided they are contextually related. As a form of ordering learning contents, its main aim is to remove the boundaries between the contents. Perhaps the point of departure for this particular ordering is the notion that a child, as a totality, is capable of experiencing the surrounding cultural and material world as a whole. In this respect, the principle of integration, included in divergent ordering, tries to maintain the unity of reality. 4.5 Spiral ordering

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The final form of ordering considered is spiral ordering. This ordering is used especially when a teacher aims at working concentrically, i.e., when he leads a child from a general and uniform understanding of a theme to a more complex level. Thus, his point of departure is the simplest aspect of a theme or problem in terms of which he then leads a child to a mastery of its more involved and complex structures. As noted above, spiral ordering and the concentric principle of teaching are closely related. Concentric teaching takes into account that a child is not capable of fully understanding all of the aspects of a theme at a certain age. Hence, the idea is to expose a child repeatedly to certain aspects of, for example, history or mathematics, in accordance with his level of readiness. In this way a teacher tries to insure that the degree of complexity of the contents is spread over a number of years as the child becomes affectively and intellectually ready to deal with greater complexities. In practice, spiral ordering normally culminates in grouping children according to age and this is the basis of the learning readiness of the children in a particular group or grade. To repeat an example that is used from time to time in this text, the spiral ordering of the theme climatology could be the following: because the climatological factors of location and geomorphology have such an elementary relationship in equatorial climatic regions, a teacher will deal with this topic first. In terms of the relationship between these factors, he will then consecutively deal with the savannah region, the warm deserts, the warm east coast regions and eventually the Mediterranean region. The reason is obviously that the interplay of factors producing, e.g., the winter rainfall region is much more complex than that of those producing the equatorial climatic region. The principles of ordering contents briefly discussed are by no means exhaustive or the only ones. They were selected only because they are generally familiar to everyday teaching. However, it is the primary task of subject didactics to describe the particular principles of ordering contents in accordance with the nature of a specific subject and to indicate the various ordering possibilities for particular themes within that subject.

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At this stage it is important to emphasize that the way the contents are ordered also gives a lesson a certain flavor or shape. For example, where chronological ordering is used, the sequence of the contents is presented in accordance with the time in which they occurred. This is different from a spiral ordered lesson where a teacher proceeds from the easy to the more complex and where the original theme is related to relevant ones. The symbiotic form perhaps is the most conspicuous in the sense that it directly involves a child with reality. The conclusion so far is that the didactic ground-forms, the specific methods used to present particular contents as well as the ways in which the contents are ordered all significantly determine the form of a lesson. A final aspect that influences the form of a lesson is the methodological principles used in teaching. By methodological principles is meant the inductive and deductive representation of contents. Since the relationships among the didactic ground-forms, teaching methods, ways of ordering the learning contents and the methodological principles influence the form of a lesson, a brief description of the methodological principles now is necessary. 5. METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES The inductive and deductive methods are dealt with in the didactic literature. Because the inductive and deductive methods have fundamental significance in a lesson situation, it is more accurate to speak of them as methodological principles or approaches. In normal teaching there is often an interchange in using the principles of induction or deduction in the same lesson. Therefore, it is quite correct to speak of an inductive-deductive or deductiveinductive approach in the same lesson. 5.1 The inductive principle

Socrates question-method is probably the origin of the inductive approach. Although he made use of other methodological principles, the method he primarily used was inductive in nature.

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Comenius later revived this idea by initiating the ordering of contents according to the principle from the known to the unknown because the inductive method proceeds from the parts to the whole. The concept synthesis is closely related to the inductive approach. As a methodological principle it understandably has many possibilities for teaching. The best known of these possibilities are those in which the results of an occurrence are examined to establish their causes. In this case, the point of departure is the known or directly present or concretely observed; from here one proceeds to the unknown or abstract. Because the procedure is to move from the known to the unknown, it also is called the principle of discovery. The advantages of this approach are self-evident. Because inductive teaching follows a step-by-step approach, it is a safe method of discovery for a child. If also offers an opportunity to clearly understand different points of view and this in turn makes it possible to apply new knowledge and insight accurately. Furthermore, this principle makes certain demands of a child, especially regarding his observation and judgment. In this sense the idea of induction rests on the responsibility of a child in the learning situation. Discovery that is so conspicuous in learning is effectively reflected in the discovery so basic to the inductive approach. Certain subjects such as elementary science, grammar and even arithmetic, can be understood effectively by means of the inductive approach. This is an important approach, especially for younger children, because the exploration is carried or directed by a childs spontaneous-affective attunement or approach to the surrounding reality. A childs practical-active form of living is clearly reflected in the quality of generalization that is so characteristic of the inductive approach. There are, however, certain disadvantages to this approach. In the first place, it has a slow tempo. It is also obvious that this approach relies on a childs observation and his ability to follow a teachers analysis. A child must also be capable of placing the identified essence in a synthesis in the sense that he must eventually understand the generalization. The inductive principle also relies on a teachers exceptional skill during his preparation as well as his

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handling of the contents in the class. This is especially true as far as the eventual integration of the new contents with a childs prior knowledge is concerned. 5.2 The deductive principle

Aristotle was probably the first major exponent of the deductive approach. Long after induction had been accepted as a principle in scientific thinking, deduction was still evident in teaching. As with the inductive, various concepts are also associated with the deductive principle. Deduction is actually based on a syllogism; i.e., a statement is made, a comparison is made and a conclusion is reached. The analysis associated with this approach is very important because its point of departure is a general rule or a whole. The analysis is then directed at identifying the particulars or parts before assembling them in a synthesis. In contrast to the inductive approach, the deductive approach has its origin in a generalization (rule or law) in terms of which the particulars are systematized in order to prove the validity of the generalization. The most important advantage of the deductive principle for teaching is that it makes an accelerated teaching tempo possible. A child does not discover the answer; it is given to him and his task is to prove the validity of the answer by analysis. Consequently, the deductive approach is considered to be more effective for more advanced children. Disadvantages of the deductive approach include the following: as far as a child is concerned, it is generally a more rigid approach than the inductive. The generalization and analysis that must be made are not necessarily part of a childs horizon of knowledge or a part of his previous experiences. If a child does not clearly understand the general law or rule that is taken as the point of departure for learning, this can easily give rise to memorization, learning without insight or even faulty conclusions. It is also noteworthy that the character of discovery, so prominent in the inductive approach, is entirely absent in the deductive principle.

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Because the inductive and deductive principles function in particular ways in unlocking the contents, a teacher must carefully consider the use of these methodological principles in designing each lesson. Since the nature of the learning contents, the readiness of the child, the teaching conditions, the available teaching and learning aids, the time available, etc. are all factors that influence teaching, a teachers choice of one of the two or a combination of the two methodological principles is of particular importance. The correctness of his choice will depend on his didactic insights. The discussion of the forms of teaching presented in this chapter emanate from the forms of living of persons in the life world that have didactic meaning in the original experience of educating. The ground-forms distinguished (play, conversation, example and assignment) are forms of teaching or forms in which teaching can be realized because parents use them to direct their childs spontaneous going out to reality. It is important for a teacher to take note of this so that at least he can explain the form of his practice and, in addition, can account for his practice because teaching in a second-order situation (school) does not necessarily or generally proceed spontaneously. Hence, a teacher must take responsibility for consciously and purposefully creating a didactic situation as well as for its good course and results. Aside from the didactic ground-forms, the teaching methods used also color the form of the lesson. It is indicated that any groundform in terms of any general method or combination of methods can serve as the foundation of a particular lesson situation. Because contents always arise directly in a didactic situation, the way the contents are ordered was also investigated and it was concluded that the choice of a particular ordering is the result of a teachers reflection on the unique nature of the subject and the readiness of the child for whom the teaching is intended. In addition, it was indicated that the ordering influences the form of a lesson in such a way that the course of unlocking the contents proceeds differently with different orderings of the contents. Apart from ordering the contents, the point of departure in presenting the contents, as such, is important in the sense of the point from which

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a teacher present them. In other words, the principle or approach regarding this is investigated because the approach taken also gives a particular course and form to a lesson. Consequently, the inductive and deductive principles or approaches were discussed successively. Various theoretical aspects of teaching have been discussed in the different chapters: the relationship between didactics (teaching) and pedagogics (educating) (Chapter2), didactic theory, as such, (Chapter 3) and the form of teaching (Chapter 4). In each of these discussions it is repeatedly argued that contents are an aspect or constituent of didactic activities in both the spontaneous and formal teaching situations. For the further orientation of the reader, it now is necessary to focus on a full description and explication of learning contents as a didactic matter. This is the theme of the next chapter.

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CHAPTER 5 LEARNING CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION While describing various matters in previous chapters, the question of contents or learning material repeatedly entered the foreground as an important didactic matter that continually had to be taken into account. Thus, it is clear that contents have an important place in explaining the relationship between educating and teaching; furthermore, contents were dealt with in relation to the different aspects of a theory of teaching and their implications for practice also were considered. Contents also were part of the line of reasoning concerning the description of a teaching situation as well as a clarification of the part that schooling plays in educating a child. Hence, at this stage it is necessary to examine more deeply the entire matter of teaching contents and to arrive at an understanding of their importance for a didactic situation as a whole. Comments about contents made in previous chapters lead one to conclude that they are not merely confined to what is reflected in a school syllabus. The curriculum, including all of the considerations about its structure and construction, are an important aspect of teaching practice and warrants a chapter in its own right. As far as didactic theory is concerned, contents, as such, are fundamental because they essentially influence the activities of teaching. In order to understand the problems interwoven with the learning contents, it is wise once again to return to the educative reality or educative situation in which an adult and a child jointly realize educative activities. A study of the original pedagogic situation of adult and child in the home reveals that both exhibit a particular form of living in the way they participate in this educative event. The adult shows himself as an adult, i.e., his form of living is clearly that expected of or associated with adulthood. In contrast, a childs form of living is not yet adult. As far as one can judge from appearances, the form of living adulthood especially manifests itself in that an adult person is responsible and morally mature. This

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responsibility and moral maturity are the results of an adults command of a wide variety of life contents in terms of which he is capable of acting independently and responsibly. On the basis of his mastery of life contents it is possible for him to guide a child in an educative situation. On the other hand, a childs form of living is clearly not yet adult; this implies that his grasp, command and understanding of life contents are limited to the extent that he cannot adequately evaluate and judge or act responsibly in certain situations. Consequently, a child needs an adults support as far as his evaluation of reality is concerned. This emphasizes one of the most important differences between an adults and a childs forms of living; namely, a child does not yet adequately possess the life contents in terms of which he can command life situations. These contents of living are known in various forms or categories such as experiencing, intellectual penetrating, and moral judging. On the basis of these conspicuous shortcomings in a childs form of living, an adult involves himself in a childs existence over a period of many years with the aim that the child must eventually be emancipated as an adult person. One could also emphasize the distance or difference between an adults and a childs forms of living that primarily amounts to the fact that a child does not yet possess those contents in terms of which an adult generally lives as an adult. For this reason educating also has the aimand this is a fundamental aspect of its practiceof eliminating these shortcomings by creating a series of educative and teaching situations in which a child is confronted with contents with the expectation that he will master them. Contents naturally appear in the reality of educating as contents of living. Therefore, it is understandable that they cover the wide and varied fields of a persons daily activities. The two-fold origin or source of these contents has been mentioned previously: life reality, as such, and ones view of life and the world. These two sources are continually brought into harmony in an educative situation in order to strengthen a childs grasp of reality. There is also a definite increase in the amount and complexity of contents as a child

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progresses toward adulthood. They vary from easy, everyday, concrete matters to complex, exceptional and abstract ones. The ways an adult is involved in guiding a child stress the fact that he recognizes that a child is not always ready for or capable of understanding certain contents. Consequently, he varies his presentation in order to establish a harmony between the nature of the contents and the level of a childs readiness. It is also important to note that, for a teacher, the contents are not always an aim in themselves. Although contents often are exposed for their own sake, an adult always has in mind furthering a child on his way to adulthood. Didactically, this is very important: an adult uses contents either as an end or a means to aid and support a child on his way through the world. The primary contents exposed in an educative situation understandably are coupled with the concrete, human experiences and everyday life situations in which a child finds himself. They are also mainly aimed at certain activities of a child in order to try to guarantee increasing his security and mobility in life situations. Insofar as one strives to arrive at formal (theoretical) conclusions about this elementary, initial presentation of contents, one must not be misled by its seeming simplicity. The initial contents an adult presents to a child are meaningful and important to him because his basic situation is acknowledged and accepted. On the basis of this acknowledgment and acceptance, a foundation is laid for the later addition of more difficult and abstract contents. For this reason, the initial contents are no less important than the more complex contents introduced later, especially in school. In fact, they provide a beginning to a more complete mastery of life situations without which a child could not eventually show the image of being an adult. Aspects such as insights into the meaning of healthy and clean habits, correct table manners, a daily routine, the ability to dress oneself properly, reverence during religious exercises, respect for the property of other people, etc. may superficially simply seem to be forming good habits. However, a deeper examination of each of

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these aspects fundamentally influences a childs form of living especially in two ways. In the first place, each one of these facets introduces a child to a reality that is primarily concerned with certain norms. These norms or standards are not merely coupled to activities, as such: they provide an adult with a point of departure on which to base his expectations for a childs future. More specifically, they indicate what is decent and proper and, thus, what must be revealed in a persons own lifestyle for it to be as it ought to be. In this light, learning correct table manners has a certain value because it is useful and represents an aim in itself. Usefulness, however, is not the only aim an adult is concerned with when he intervenes in an educative situation with respect to a childs table manners. He also expects a child to directly acquire these life contents in order to progressively exhibit the image of a human being in an eating situation. On the basis of this aim, an adult continually admonishes and disciplines a child because a human being does this and not that. The demands of propriety and the authority of the norms (contents) are, therefore, important considerations; in fact, they bring their own influence to bear in every educative situation. The second aspect that must be considered is that the initial elementary contents are the basis for communication between adult and child. As a matter of communication, these contents necessarily are also a matter of language. This implies two demands a child must meet: in the first instance, he must properly master the activity. In the second, on the basis of language, he also must arrive at a particular awareness of the meaning or sense of these contents. This meaning or sense is closely related to each persons approval or disapproval of the contents. For this reason, language, as such, is an aspect of the educative reality that must be carefully considered in school. The dialogue or conversation between adult and child in an educative situation follows a certain course provided by the contents. An adult expects a child to master these contents in order to change his activities in the future and in doing so to act and behave in ways an adult approves. The educative involvement with contents must help a child change because he can change and,

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therefore, must change. Thus, educating a child implies that he subjects himself to the authority of the contents (norms) and that in mastering them, he is able to act differently in the future, i.e., like an adult. The distance between the basic situation of a child and an adult is eliminated, in principle, by educating him. In mastering elementary, everyday activities, he learns to act like an adult. Consequently, even at this early stage, a child is beginning to exhibit an image of adulthood, however incomplete or imperfect. The relationship between forms of living and life contents deserves closer attention. In light of the above examples, it is clear that a child learns (is educated) to understand that his activities in certain situations are subject to evaluation. It is expected that he will comply with certain codes of conduct. Such compliance is evidence that he has mastered certain contents and this is why demands are made of him with respect to them. These demands are aimed not only at a greater mastery of a situation but also at awakening his conscience by means of self-criticism and self-censure. When evaluating a childs activities, an adult generally demands accountability especially in two respects: knowledge a child has of the contents, and obedience to the norms contained in these contents and the ways this is externalized in relevant situations.

What is now of particular importance is the unity and reciprocal bond between the contents (knowledge) and the forms of life (obedience) that is of considerable importance in any teaching situation. Without knowledge of the codes or norms relevant to a situation, a child cannot obey them. On the other hand, unconditional acceptance and obedience of the norms reflect a childs feeling of respect for them. This convergence of contents and form in elementary, everyday situations is of fundamental pedagogic importance. As a child grows older, this mutual relationship not only increases in scope but it also increases the level and quality of the demands made of a child. In assessing learning contents as they are dealt with in a didactic situation in school, a teacher must understand that certain contents are part of a childs primary involvement in reality and life.

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Consequently, being confronted with contents in school is not foreign to a childs experiences at home. The only real difference in an educative situation at home and a more formal school situation is that in school contents are presented in formalized ways in terms of particular systems and fixed routines. It is obvious that the learning contents a child is exposed to in the immediate, small world of his home are not adequate for him to fulfill his form of living and lifestyle. Although a parent does not relinquish this aspect of his involvement with his child as long as he is still at home, he does transfer the formal aspects of his involvement to the school as soon as his child is ready for it. In this way, a school exposes the wider world outside of the home by means of contents with the expectation that he will orient himself in terms of them in order to enrich himself and reach a fuller form of living (adulthood). In principle, a school continues the educative activities initiated at home. Within the framework of this brief explanation, it is necessary for a teacher to account for learning contents and their implications for the practice of teaching. 2. LEARNING CONTENTS IN DIDACTIC PERSPECTIVE From what has been said, learning contents represent unknown aspects of the life world that a child still has to examine and make his own. The relationship between the learning activities of a child and his guidance by a parent or a teacher puts the activities in school under the concept going out into life. Although the contents in school are generally formal, the transition from concrete, everyday contents of living (in the home) to the more formal, structured curriculum of school is gradual. All life contents, i.e., all of the knowledge a human being possesses, are products of the activities of the human spirit. Insofar as learning contents are a reflection of the sciences with which humans are involved, actually it only is an image of reality that a human being gradually builds up. The fact that a child becomes involved with the learning contents in school implies, on the most fundamental level, that he goes out to life itself.

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We know that the learning act is an existential matter. In the same light, learning contents also are contents of life, our cultural heritage and a representation of human ways (means) of living generally. The correlation between learning contents and contents of living are clearly seen in the way a child flourishes and grows in a learning situation to become a responsible and morally adult person. To the extent that a child is involved with contents in school, to that extent he is placed in the presence of reality. He becomes involved in reality itself. By means of contents, a child examines the human life world and learns to live as a person or human being. This is exceptionally important for a childs eventual perspective on life and view of the world. In a later chapter dealing with the orienting task of the school, it is indicated that learning contents presented there enable a child to establish his own position in time and space. In school, learning contents are introduced to eliminate a childs shortcomings regarding space and time by means of which objects, people and even God are brought closer. Learning contents, thus, provide a confluence of past, present and future, and they are presented to a child in various ways (e.g., by means of language, direct observation and experience). A childs questions about what is, what was and what will be are basically answered by contents. One can only understand the importance of the above for a child himself if one considers the initial affective entry of a child into reality is supplemented by introducing learning contents and that a childs existence is enriched and fulfilled by means of an increasing cognitive command of reality. It is peculiar to a child that as he grows older he deals more rationally with reality; in fact he becomes more adept at intellectually understanding and explaining relationships between various matters. Dealing more rationally with reality occurs whether or not a child attends school. However, a school offers a wide and varied field of possibilities for a child, with the support and guidance of a teacher, to ensure that he develops to the fullest extent of his potential and capabilities. When examining learning contents didactically a teacher must consider the following aspects carefully in order to meet the demands made of him in a teaching situation.

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2.1

The situation of being a child

The basic consideration an adult takes into account when involving a child with contents is that a child does not know the contents nor does he have the necessary skills to discover their essences on his own. For this reason a child cannot command the various aspects of the life world if these shortcomings are not made good. Hence, the basic issues concerning learning contents are essentially pedagogic (educative). A child must learn the contents and learn to judge them if he is eventually to choose correctly as an adult and be capable of accounting for his choices. The relationship between the pedagogic and didactic involvement of a child with learning contents becomes clear if one considers that learning contents represent the whole or totality of the life world. This whole includes religious, moral, social, historical, physical, esthetic and other categories of reality that directly influence a childs world of knowledge and therefore his judgment and choices. One must also realize that learning contents can never be considered in isolation from a human beings awareness of values. Thus, learning contents are always subject to the authority of values vested in a view of life and world. It is within this context that a teacher accepts the validity of learning contents. The unity of a childs world of knowledge and values is made possible by each one of the categories mentioned above. Because the learning contents selected by an adult represent the totality of reality, a teacher in his presentation (lesson design) makes a representation of an aspect of known reality that influences his form of living and that eventually enables him to make decisions. The quality of his decisions is reflected in his lifestyle. A teachers responsibility in this respect is immense. To represent reality for the benefit of a child means fundamentally to influence the image of reality that a child eventually accepts as his own. For this reason a teacher tries to realize the educative ideal in his classroom by overcoming a childs not knowing and not being able to do certain things.

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2.2

The didactic-pedagogic task

When a child achieves a certain level of competence regarding reality, he also establishes a clear relationship with that reality in the sense that his relationship is stabilized and expanded, thus providing him with a base for further exploration. The nature and scope of a childs relationship to reality is directly influenced by his knowledge of it. The nature of this relationship becomes apparent in his ability to make genuine decisions in a given situation, thereby determining and strengthening his own position in it. Eventually he achieves a different attitude toward life and also a certain lifestyle. The realization of his relationship to reality and his own lifestyle make up a large part of his becoming an adult person. Becoming an adult represents both a pedagogic and didactic ideal. Consequently, the contents by which a child establishes a relationship with reality as well as a personal lifestyle are of fundamental importance. For this reason, selecting and presenting learning contents in school deserve an adults careful attention. A teacher must subject the learning contents to his educative norms. The validity of these contents is not only assessed by scientific criteria but also in terms of criteria emanating from his view of the world and life. Therefore, he makes his decisions about learning contents in terms of both of these types of criteria. This is especially important if one considers the open, future-directed mode of living, particularly of a young child. The course on which a teacher leads a child to reality is represented by the learning contents and the relationship between the various aspects of them. In this light, learning contents are not primarily the aim of educating but they are the means for realizing it. One must understand that a childs going out to and being involved in reality, by its nature, is characterized by a sense of achievement. This achievement is directly related to the learning contents while he is at school. During the school years an adult sees a childs acquisition of the learning contents as the surest guarantee of his increasing adulthood and especially his eventual vocational independence.

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As far as a child is concerned, learning contents are a matter of demands, responsibilities and the acceptance of tasks. On the one hand, they offer him opportunities for self-knowledge and selfdiscovery; on the other they provide opportunities for creating his own life world. On the basis of the achievement-directed nature of a childs involvement with reality, and therefore the school situation, learning contents represent a challenge he cannot avoid or deny. In any case, a teacher will not allow him to avoid this challenge, The essence of the didactic-pedagogic task concerning learning contents is to select, order and present them in such a way that a child will participate authentically in a teaching situation. For this reason learning contents are studied by a teacher as a didactic problem in close relation to every other facet of didactics. A teachers task is to select the learning contents and design his lesson in such a way that he presents a child with an image of reality that he will consider worthwhile and therefore something in which he will want to become involved. 2.3 Learning contents and the teacher

The teaching event is given its course and theme by the learning contents. Hence, it is not strange that learning contents are largely responsible for the meaning of teaching. As an area of involvement of a teacher as well as a pupil, learning contents can serve as a means or an aim. With an eye to designing a teaching situation, a teacher can choose the learning contents as an aim or a means. It is also important to note that a teachers authority is largely vested in his own command of the contents. A teachers knowledge makes him a suitable person to support a child in his discovering and understanding reality. Whether leaning contents will have an important formative effect on a child depends on how capable a teacher is of interpreting the contents for him. One must also accept that when a teacher presents a certain aspect of reality to a child, he can never be absolutely neutral, objective or impersonal. As a human being he is a religious person, cultivated (cultured)

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being, etc. and remains so in a teaching situation. He has his own experiences and preferences about the contents. For this reason, a teachers interpretation of contents is based on his own life world and view of life, i.e., on his own experiences, observations, dispositions and attributions of meaning. Hence, a teachers interpretation of the contents markedly influences a childs understanding and appreciation of meanings and relationships between concrete matters. A teacher must keep in mind that in a didactic situation a childs activities generally follow his example. This means that a child generally learns in terms of the teaching he receives. A child imitates the example a teacher sets; what a teacher does and says is also said and done by a child. A teachers interpretation of the contents is the basis for a childs interpretation. This interpretation of the contents revolves around their meaning; i.e., it is directed at their value and appearance/emergence in the life world. Hence, a teacher is responsible to the community he serves to ensure that he has a thorough command of the contents and especially that his interpretation will allow a child to enter that specific aspect of reality. The interpretation a teacher offers is closely related to the way he himself is involved with the contents and the criteria he uses to evaluate a childs attempts. Therefore, it is imperative that in his design and presentation, and especially in his interpretation, he consciously searches a childs life world to construct new structures that will be meaningful to him. In addition to the above, and as far as the didactic imperative is concerned, the relationship between a teacher and the learning contents is summarized as follows: 2.3.1 In designing a lesson, a teacher must ensure that reality is meaningfully represented to a child. To do this he must carefully take into account a childs life world and form of living in order to relate his teaching to a childs experiencing, willing, knowing and behaving. As an adult, he is aware that as far as his lesson design is concerned, he must be thoroughly conversant with each one of these aspects of a childs psychic life because they have not yet been finally formed.

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His aim in presenting contents is to ensure greater stability and a more accountable form for these as yet partially formed structures. This is to ensure greater mobility of a child in and out of school. If children possess certain experiences of a matter, theme or topic, a teacher must attempt to exploit their experiences as far as possible in his presentation and interpretation with the aim of fostering and promoting their learning. If a child does not have relevant experiences, a teacher tries to supplement his experiences artificially or to directly present opportunities for experiencing. This can be done with teaching aids. A teachers task is difficult. He must place a certain aspect of reality that a child does not know within the boundaries of his lesson in a classroom. Also, he must support a child in learning consciously and with understanding. 2.3.2 A teachers presentation, therefore, is also a matter of supporting and helping a child. Support, aid and help are not only confined to presenting a lesson. A teachers task is related to every aspect of the schools activities, whatever they may be. The influence of his teaching must be continued in every other form of activity that the school considers to be meaningful for its curricular program. For this reason, control and evaluation are the culmination of his aid and support. They must be thoroughly planned and carried out responsibly because they are primarily concerned with creating a future for his pupils. 2.3.3 In view of the above, a child must create his own image of reality. This implies the highest form of influencing (a teacher influences a child and a child a teacher) in a teaching situation. The formative as well as pragmatic value of the learning contents must be evident to a child. This means that he as well as his image of the world or perspective on life must change as a result of his contact with the learning contents. Change in a teaching situation always has a positive emphasis and is expressed in terms of an increased and more effective grasp, wider and sharper insight, more relevant and clearer

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application, etc. Each of these matters will be discussed again when the theory of the elemental and the fundamental is dealt with. 2.4 The authority of the learning contents

In the didactic literature, learning contents are often described as form-systems of a culture. Apart from the quality of representing contents of life, they also place time and space within a childs grasp, enabling him to transcend the learning contents to situations, realities and abstract structures that would otherwise remain beyond his reach. By starting with a childs immediate surroundings, a teacher offers him an opportunity to range farther afield by means of the learning contents. In this way he encounters the rest of reality, enabling him to establish his own views, opinions and conceptions. In this way he comes to reality in the world with other people. Learning contents, as an image or representation of reality, undoubtedly have authority because certain aspects of what is in reality are placed at a childs disposal. After all, the life-space a child inhabits is demarcated by contents and is made accessible by presenting them. Factual knowledge introduced when presenting learning contents has authority since they are true or valid in one sense or another. By accepting the authority of learning contents in terms of their validity, a child places himself under the authority of the contents that provide him with access to the life world. The validity or truth of learning contents is only the first aspect of its authority. When a pedagogue deals with world and life world with contents and learning contents, his considerations always include values and norms. Values and norms always impact the meaning and sense of the contents. An adult always aims at a child gaining knowledge of and insight into norms and values of the life world by means of contents. For this reason, an adult also unconditionally subjects his own knowledge and science, especially in practical life situations, to the authority of values and norms. The contents that a child must master in a didactic situation thus imply knowledge of the structure of norms that a human being accepts in his pursuit of science.

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If we take into account that human beings past, present and future converge in learning contents, they have authority (apart from their scientific authority) in terms of the following: a) they describe the life world and, therefore, make entry into it possible; b) they give perspective to the life world regarding intuitive or pre-scientific existence and a human beings explanation of reality; c) they make certain demands of a child concerning both the scientific as well as the pre-scientific aspects of reality by which a balanced life space is made possible. In this sense, learning contents represent fixed beacons of the general human life world by means of which a child can orient himself in order to establish his own position in the world. The relationship between the authority of a teacher and the authority of the learning contents is obvious and is not dealt with any further. 2.5 The learning contents and the pupil

From what has been said concerning the relationship between a child and the learning contents, the main points are summarized as follows: a) learning contents and the orientation of a child in reality are closely related; b) contents provide a child with fixed points in terms of which he can determine his own position in reality; c) educational authority and the authority of contents cannot be separated; d) because learning contents make certain demands of a child, they offer him the opportunity to account for himself by means of his achievements. A childs life of achievement deserves closer examination. In a teaching situation, learning contents especially provide excellent

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opportunities for a child to achieve affectively as well as intellectually. The meaning of this achievement will be lost if one considers learning achievements in isolation from life achievements. To achieve a certain level regarding contents in a learning situation essentially means that a child announces himself as a person among other persons. His achievement is essentially a matter of moving toward or grasping his future. Besides the utilitarian value that the command of contents implies, the conditions are created for self-discovery and self-realization in a learning situationbut always in the presence and under the protection of an adult. In each one of these activities a child experiences his involvement in reality as a participating person. However, as soon as this participation loses its character of achievement it becomes pedagogically inadmissible and unacceptable. In this light, presenting learning contents creates a new life space for a child in especially three respects: a) they provide him with the opportunity to understand the values and norms that are valid in the life world of adults. In this connection a teaching situation influences a childs opportunity to respond systematically to the appeal that adults direct to him as a person; b) presentating learning contents provides a situation in which educating is continued and completed. To act in accordance with the learning contents is being accountable. If one takes into account that teaching insures a gradual transition from play to the world of work and labor, then the learning contents open new horizons of living for a child; c) presenting learning contents also help a child to change his initial openness to the world to a more closed form of living of an adult. By means of contents, a child achieves a surer and clearer concept of reality and everything this implies. This quality helps him in his choices and radically influences the preferences and rejections he, as a unique person, arrives at over a period of time. The difference between what a child accepts and rejects is an indication that his initial open worldrelationship has progressed to the more cohesive world-

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relationship of an adult; this is mainly a result of the teaching to which he has been exposed.

This brings us to the essential nature of the contents, which is dealt with next under the heading of the theory of elementals (German: das Elementare) and fundamentals (German: das Fundamentale). 3. THE ELEMENTAL AND THE FUNDAMENTAL 1 In order to understand the significance of contents in the personworld relationship, the German didactician Glaeser suggests that one try to forget everything one knows, everything one has experienced, heard or learned; one should attempt to ignore everything that surrounds one; stop what one is involved with and avoid all actions in which one influences something or by which one is influenced; forget all names, characteristics, all laws and all consciousness of color, form and feeling. Then one should try to account for oneself and everything that surrounds one. Although this is not possible, the attempt to imagine a world without contents gives some indication of the actual scope and complexity of contents and meanings. It was stated that grasping and understanding the world essentially means grasping and understanding contents and meanings. In this way the relationship between person and world is built up. At the same time the contents serve as a mirror in which the quality of a persons involvement with everything that surrounds him is reflected. For this reason it is the task of teaching to present the contents in such a way that a child is offered the greatest opportunity to grasp them and acquire insight into them. During this activity a child must learn to know himself and establish a relationship with reality. To teach contents means to make them accessible for someone who has not yet mastered them. Therefore, a teacher also must have insight into the total framework or constitution of reality (contents) in accordance with its nature and essence.
1

In this connection, see the study by R. A. Kruger: Die betekenis van die begrippe elementare en fundamentale in didaktiese teorie en praktyk (M.Ed. thesis, University of Pretoria, 1974) and published as Pedagogiekstudies/Pedagogic Studies, No. 86 (1975). 145

This problem was mentioned in passing in a previous chapter. In that explication it was indicated that in truth reality shows a categorical structure. This means that one can really examine reality only if one views it in terms of or by means of its essences. The categories or essences of reality include all of its various facets one encounters. In this connection one thinks of such essential aspects of reality as the religious, the economic, physical, chemical, historical, geographical and many more. These categories actually have different identities only in a persons consciousness. This means that in the totality of reality they do not appear separately or as different entities. Both reality and the life world are totalities. Therefore, to the extent that there is mention of particular categories that appear as a totality in reality, this only means that a persons investigation and description of this reality makes use of these categories in order to describe the variety encountered within the unity or totality of reality. Therefore, there is not a religious or chemical reality existing as separate unities, as such. Each can only acquire a certain identity through human thinking and can be denoted and described in terms of human understanding. As in every other case, the whole is much greater than its parts. Also, the parts cannot be separated from the whole or be described or examined as a distinctive aspect of the whole. The above makes an important statement regarding the nature of reality. The separate aspects or categories always must be viewed and interpreted within the framework of the whole. If this is not done one easily can fall into a scientific error by which the truth or validity of scientific findings seriously are interfered with. What must be taken into account is that a person as a totality is involved in reality as a whole. The various categories of reality represent the great number of variations or aspects of reality mentioned. And just as one cannot separate ones intelligence from ones willing, so, e.g., one cannot separate the religious as a category of reality from the historical or geographical as categories. Each of these facets appears within the coherence of the whole. Consequently, especially for a teacher, this coherence represents the most important insight into the nature and essence of reality, i.e., of

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the contents. Each of the categories is connected with and in context with each other; without an understanding of the coherence of reality as a whole an insight into the whole of reality cannot be attained. Reality shows itself as a whole because of the coherence among its various categories. Thus, the religious category cannot be understood fully outside of its coherence with, e.g., the moral and the juridical. If a teacher confronts a child with the well-known commandment: You may not steal, then this has meaning for the religious, moral and juridical areas. The coherence and interrelatedness among religious, moral and juridical categories are clearly illustrated by this commandment. In light of the above, one can understand that insight into and command of certain aspects of reality by a person actually are of a two-fold nature: The first is that he gains insight into the meaning or sense of reality. The second is insight into the factual or objective composition of reality. In terms of what was said above about the importance of coherence, a persons knowledge of reality fundamentally is two-fold in nature: a) insight into coherencies of sense or meaning, and b) insight into factual or objective coherencies. At this stage it would be difficult to draw a different conclusion than that teaching ought to be attuned to these coherencies of meaning and facts of reality as a whole but also to disclose their various categories. Only by searching for the meaningful and factual essences of categories of reality in their mutual coherencies can a child be led to a real and authentic participation in it. In this way, evils of teaching such as knowing-it-all, knowledge without insight or skill and overloading a child with learning contents are avoided. However, one also can understand that no single person can be aware of all of the categories of reality at the same time. Given our contemporary explosion of knowledge it no longer is possible for a single individual to be able to make scientific judgments about all of the facets or categories that appear in reality. This especially is true of the life world of a child. Not all categories of reality are

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immediately present from the beginning in the conscious life of a child. From the nature of his existence as a child this cannot be otherwise because certain aspects of reality have a stronger and more immediate appeal than others. As we know, after his birth a childs greatest needs are to be nursed in an emotionally safe and stable way and properly nurtured physically. In many respects it takes many years before his consciousness becomes focused on moral and religious issues and the coherencies they have with his emotional and physical life. One can accept as a mere fact of experience that certain aspects of a childs involvement in reality come into focus earlier than others. In addition to the two mentioned above, one thinks, e.g., of language, fellow persons and his immediate surroundings. In this way a child proceeds to order reality and establish a life world for himself as was briefly described in the introductory chapter. The fact that reality is constituted in accordance with particular essences or categories also implies that the various facets of the categories similarly are constituted in accordance with certain essences or essential aspects. One cannot grasp these various facets of reality without sifting out their essences and making judgments on the basis of them. Thus, there are certain essences that distinguish botanic reality from chemical reality and essences that distinguish geographical reality from historical or economic reality. To acquire access to any aspect or category of reality means to keep in view its essences. No one can acquire insight into the structure of a particular aspect or slice of reality by concentrating on what is non-essential to it. For example, it would be impossible to understand the contemporary South African political situation if one did not take into account the awakening of the national consciousness of Black people in Africa, the mutual economic dependence of different areas and the history of especially British colonial politics. This example illustrates that certain basic or fundamental insights provide access to the aspect of reality in focus. In didactic theory these basic facts that provide access to and insight into an area of reality are known as elementals. To the extent that the question of the elemental crops up in teaching children one can understand that this does not have to do

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with content for the sake of content or with insight for the sake of insight. For an adult the aim of educating indeed manifests itself as an attempt to introduce to a child contents of the life world to help him become an independent person. Therefore, teaching the contents must have a clear and recognizable effect. Also the facts of the contents must influence a childs basic attunement to God, fellow persons and the world. Insofar as this influence is observable in the life of a child, didactic theory speaks of it as a fundamental, i.e., the effective change in a childs lifestyle as a result of the radical influence of teaching. It is only logical that these two concepts (the elemental and the fundamental) represent the final reduction of the learning contents. Therefore they warrant further examination in any view of teaching contents. 3.1 The elemental (German: das Elementare )

The teachers task is to unlock or expose the contents of the life world for a child. As educator, his aim is that in this way a child is in a position to orient himself in reality as a whole. The way he tries to realize this aim is to expose those categories of reality that individually and collectively must form the basis on which his mobility in reality ought to rest. In order to succeed in this, as already indicated, a teacher determines the essences of these categories or slices of reality. Thus, there is very clear mention of carefully defined contents that must provide access to a certain aspect of reality, i.e., elementals. These elementals (contents) represent the only way a child can acquire an understanding of the life world as well as the objective facts of reality. The previous explanation implies that not all contents are elemental contents. A teacher must arrive at the elementals on the basis of the reductions he makes. These reductions to the elementals have two essential facets: the first is in the activities of curriculum experts who, on the basis of careful reductions of a school subject area in its totality, determine which elementals are relevant for one or another grade level and for differentiated teaching. A teacher in a classroom really has little to do with this reduction and since the entire question of curriculum theory is dealt with in a separate chapter, this issue is considered there.

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The second aspect of reduction to the elementals certainly is the task of a teacher. The themes or aspects of the school subject chosen by the curriculum expert as elementals and inserted into the curriculum, in their turn, also are a matter of elemental and nonelemental contents. With the aim of designing a lesson a teacher must be in a position to differentiate these two aspects of his lesson contents (elementals and non-elementals) from each other. His aim is effective learning on the basis of the pupils insight into the essences of the learning contents. Regarding a particular lesson theme, the elementals are those aspects of the contents that can carry a childs insight into the particular theme. To master a particular aspect, theme or problem implies that a child have a grasp of the elementals of that particular aspect, theme or problem. Because a child does not yet know and understand it cannot be expected of him that he differentiate between elemental and non-elemental aspects of the contents. He also does not possess the background of the subject to reduce the contents to their elementals for himself. To reduce the contents to their elementals means that a teacher must have the necessary subject background and knowledge as well as knowledge of a child to be able to strip a lesson theme of all aspects of the contents that are not essential to it so it can contribute to creating and stabilizing a pupils insight into it. Thus, when one speaks of elementals one is involved with a comprehensive and difficult concept. The elementals often are that aspect of the contents that expose the basic, elementary and fundamental structure of a matterbut that, per se, are not necessarily a simple matter. Elementals indeed are basic contents but, as such, not easy or uncomplicated. At this stage, a brief description of some aspects or descriptions of what elementals are is systematized in order to make the following explanation clearer: i) ii) an elemental implies learning content reduced to their essences; an elemental is a basic (essential) aspect of reality;

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iii) iv) v)

an elemental provides access to a basic concept, principle, law or definition; an elemental always is authentic, i.e., the authority of its pronouncements can never be doubted; an elemental always is the foundation of insight.

In their coherencies, elementals represent the foundations or original composition of reality. One could expand this thought; however, that is not the aim of this introduction. The basic insight here is that elementals are the simple, basic and authentic contents that provide access for a learning child to reality as such. That is why the categories of reality appear in the elementals in the form of concepts or denotations, laws, processes of nature, numbers, quantities, etc. In the case of teaching Christian-Protestant doctrine elemental contents are the Fall of Man, his redemption and his gratitude. In the same sense concepts like statesman, constitution and foreign policy are elemental contents of history. In natural science elementals, e.g., would be the fact of gravity, the change of seasons and the life cycle of plants. Authentic insight into and understanding of these contents (elementals) are the conditions for effective learning in each of the different school subjects. Thus, elementals function as providing access to the greater, constituted and involved descriptions and explanations of phenomena of reality that are systematized in the school curriculum. In this sense, elementals can be compared to a gateway leading into a city or a door leading into a room. Therefore, it is understandable that elementals are the primary focus of any didactic theory dealing with contents. Where elementals are ignored, progress in the formal teaching situation is an incidental, haphazard and thus inauthentic matter. Each pronouncement about the question of elementals has direct and decisive significance for didactic practice as this is given form in a teaching design. However, it cannot be denied that a teacher must give form to the elementals in accordance with his own insights and teaching skills. Even so, the fact of the matter is that all lesson designs are in vain if the reduction of contents to the elementals of the matter does not expose the theme directly and clearly.

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Everything that has been said above about the elementals refers to the fact that they are the means by which reality is represented for a child. In other words, reality cannot be unlocked for a child by an adult except by means of elementals. In order to present these elementals directly and clearly a teacher continually estimates a childs foreknowledge and especially his experiential world. In his explanations and interpretations it is imperative that the teacher keeps as close as possible to reality and life. The fact that he focuses on the elementals may never allow him to lose sight of his learning aim; he must evaluate everything in terms of the learning aim and as far as his lesson design is concerned, the learning aim always must be at the center of his attention. In this connection Kruger2 says directly: The elemental first must be found by an adult. An elemental must be unlocked for a child in a didactic situation. A child must throw himself open and step up to the unlocked reality. If this happens categorical forming occurs and a child changes in that his insights are increased because of his participation in a life demanding unlocking. The elemental must be understood in this way and not as if this merely occurs as a double unlocking in the life world. In this way formal teaching contributes to a childs becoming. His insight into reality and his mobility regarding the elementals must stabilize this becoming or forming with an eye to his eventual maturity. Maturity or adulthood is the final, all-encompassing aim striven for. Both the teaching aim and the learning aim are incorporated in every lesson design. All teaching is initiated from this all-encompassing aim. This means the contents also must bring about effective changes in a childs lifestyle, relationship to reality and view of the world. In this way insight into and mastery of reality must return to the situation of life itself. If this were not the case, a school would produce a polished and intellectually facile barbarian in society. The wonders of reality and its inherent order and regularity also compel (under the guidance of a teacher) modesty, a sincere unassuming attitude and wonder, respect for knowledge and gratitude for life. When this has occurred the elementals have become fundamentals, i.e., they show educative
2

Ibid. 152

dividends in the course of a childs life. He becomes involved in reality as a human being, his relationship to reality, God and his fellow persons must change because his insights enable him to establish his own position in the world with greater accuracy. In fact, he is progressively creating his own life world in which these elementals function as fundamentals. 3.2 The fundamental (German: das Fundamentale )

It has been repeatedly stressed that the activity of educating never is without an aim. Teaching is included in the activity of educating because educating actualizes itself through teaching. As such, both concepts speak very clearly to the fact that an adult consciously intervenes in a childs life with the aim of bringing about change (more becoming). The concept fundamental indicates the expected dividend that must accrue from teaching. This teaching dividend can be qualified as the degree of change that can be noticed in a child-world relationship. Also, it was stated that educating and teaching are actualized in one activity. Therefore, the educative and teaching aims are original in nature and also must be actualized at the same time. Nowhere in educating are there situations that are purely educative or other situations that are purely teaching situations. In light of this a school continually strives to present reality as authentically as possible and to integrate its coherencies of meanings and facts into the relationship between child and world. The sense of the elementals is to place the essentials of the contents within an understandable relief. But this is not enough. In order to support and stabilize a childs becoming, the elementals also must progress to the terrain of the fundamentals. Therefore one can define briefly the fundamentals as the becoming visible of the coherencies of meanings and of facts, the spirit or ethos of the contents in connection with life itself. Teaching with respect to the elementals presupposes that a child learns to know. Teaching, as far as fundamentals are concerned, implies that a child also learns to live as a human being ought to live. Fundamentals are a matter of deepening (in the sense of greater spiritual value) the contents that lead to self-knowledge,

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insight into ones own being situated with all of its demands and a willingness to answer positively the appeals and demands of life itself. Seen in this way, as far as teaching is concerned, the concept fundamental means a direct and conscious influencing and attuning of a child to accept a valid view of life, to respect his language and culture, his history and the origin of his people, his surroundings and their unpolluted conservation, to mention a few important aspects. Fundamentals influence and form a childs dispositions and views of the world. The grasp he has acquired of the elementals must enable him to experience his own life as meaningful. On the basis of the fundamental contents a child must be able to assess and evaluate his own being situated in reality. He also must be able to anticipate the future and the demands it will make of him. Under the influence of the fundamentals he must internalize and make his own the spirit and ethos and the explicit and implicit meanings of everything he comes into contact with. As with the elemental the fundamental also is a concept that has to do with contents. Elementals make it possible for a child to enter reality authentically, gain access to and be able to master it. Fundamentals involve the question of what a child is going to do with these contents. Thus, to the extent that there is mention of fundamentals, the emphasis falls strongly on making the contents functional (useable). Wolfgang Klafki says that the fundamentals represent an extension of the elementals into a demanding and meaningful world. Since a child himself must learn to know, in a teaching situation he himself must use these contents or make them functional. An educator (teacher) certainly will thoroughly guide, influence, help, interpret the contents for him and support him. But he has to realize the fundamentals himself because they always are a difficult and demanding matter of his personal existence. A childs lifestyle, his interpersonal relationships, his willingness to accept tasks, his sense of duty and responsibility within the framework of the reality of educating represent what the fundamentals are about.

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The basic insight that must be understood is that the elementals must always be pushed through to the level of the fundamentals if one can speak of effective teaching and the actualization of educating through teaching. 4. THE CONSTRUCTION OF LEARNING SUBJECTS In order to establish the structure by which the various learning subjects are incorporated within a school curriculum, a didactician should ask the question of how persons order reality as a whole. This means that in a scientific examination of every aspect of reality certain major structures are used that enable a person to demarcate the encompassing whole in order to provide access for research and reflection. The demarcation of reality in major areas understandably is in close accord with a human beings experience of reality. This means that those areas with which a person becomes involved will be identified. The following possible classification should help a teacher determine the relationship between the different learning subjects: a) b) c) d) the the the the religious-moral terrain; linguistic-literary and esthetic terrain; historical and social-political terrain; mathematical-natural scientific terrain.

In order to help orient a child concerning the totality of reality, an adult will have to take each one of these terrains into consideration when constructing a curriculum. The curriculum must represent the totality of reality. Therefore, in school, there is a grouping of subjects chosen from these different terrains and included within the curriculum. The choice an adult makes in this regard partially rests on his aim to present a child with a representative selection that will include every aspect of reality. He also bases his choice on the degree to which he can make use of the formative and orienting possibilities of the school subjects in light of his overarching educative aim. Because language is the basis of communication in a teaching situation, it is understandable that language-study will be a focus of teaching during a childs school career. From linguistic-literary

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teaching, other esthetically formative subjects (music and art) will develop. The construction of the subject structures in this terrain enables the teaching to intensify and reach a more formative level. In addition to language studies, school subjects of a social-political nature, with history especially as a focal point, will have to be included in the curriculum. This combination enables a teacher to select and order themes such as citizenship, geography, legal science and many others. These themes are arranged and integrated within the social-political whole in an attempt to involve a child in this aspect of the life world, but in accordance with a childs readiness. A third terrain that must be included in the curriculum consists of the mathematical-natural scientific subjects. They provide various possibilities to arrange and order the most important related subjects and themes. Special attention can be given to various aspects of the natural sciences in accordance with the demands of differentiation. The composition of the curriculum regarding this terrain will depend on an adults teaching aim and how the related subjects will be dealt with in higher education. Technical and economic education will have to be included in close conjunction with the above three terrains. On the one hand, technical and economic education provides a solid basis for generally formative educating, especially during the first years of secondary schooling. Technical and economic educating are important in themselves because they reflect an important aspect of human activities in our contemporary cultural situation. Including the above in a curriculum does not mean that its structure has been finalized. The religious-moral development of a child provided for by relevant schools subjects cannot be fully realized by only presenting the specific school subjects. This aspect of educating a child includes all subjects or learning contents and therefore must be viewed by a teacher as a primary factor in teaching [in South AfricaG.D.Y.]. Because this aspect generally represents a particular point of view, it will be interpreted and applied in accordance with specific aims and, therefore, will radically influence the presentation of various school subjects. For

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this reason, the religious-moral forming of a child deserves careful consideration and attention by those who plan teaching situations. From this general ordering of various scientific areas, there must also arise a definite indication of teaching subjects to reflect a persons working and creative activities. Whether this aspect of teaching is the concern of vocationally directed schools or whether it should be realized in post-school vocational training is not an issue. What is important, however, is that it is an essential focal point of the curriculum for teaching, as such. The construction of learning subjects must clearly provide for the following major contents in terms of which a teacher can assess the validity of a school curriculum: i) ii) iii) iv) religious education, offered in conjunction with ethics; physical education, also offered in conjunction with esthetically formative subjects like music; linguistic-literary subjects. Besides the Mother tongue, as many foreign languages as possible should be included; esthetic subjects or rather subjects that will develop a childs esthetic experience and appreciation. Subjects such as art, music, history of art, domestic science, etc. serve this purpose well; history, socially and politically directed subjects, including subjects such as civics and judicial subjects reflecting the social structure, must be included; technical subjects that offer the opportunity to do manual work and undergo vocational preparation, but that also provide opportunities for the application of subjects such as mathematics, physics and chemistry are important; empirical-scientific subjects where relationships and logical order, but also the natural phenomena of the world, are the focus of the teaching.

v)

vi)

vii)

The above views and reasoning put the learning contents in school into perspective. However, it is a teacher who actually deals with learning contents in school. This is why the final stage of his preparation for teaching is devoted to the study of subject didactics. It was mentioned that the major problem of subject

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didactics is to particularize the general didactic pronouncements. Learning contents also must be particularized. Subject didactics starts from the point of view that the didactic pronouncements concerning contents must serve as a background or frame of reference. Against this background, subject didactics interprets each one of the school subjects as a subject with its own nature. When subject didactics makes a pronouncement about contents, the nature of the school subject is a teachers point of departure. The nature of history differs from that of biology as mathematics differs from chemistry. It is in a lesson design that the nature of a school subject comes into its own right. Therefore, the nature of the subject provides important guidance for designing a lesson. A teacher must be well informed about the importance of the nature of the school subject that makes certain demands of a lesson design and, at the same time, gives direction to a teachers planning. In the final analysis, it is a teacher who gives substance to the ideals described in the general educational and didactic literture.

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CHAPTER 6 DIDACTIC PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING

1. INTRODUCTION The task of the teacher with respect to learning is to systematically create formal situations within which it can occur. Starting with this premise, this chapter is not involved with a comprehensive and detailed explication of the phenomenon of learning. Learning, as such, is not described. Rather, the aim is to view learning as an activity that necessarily has to be actualized by the didactic act. In discussing the didactic ground-forms in Chapter 4 it was repeatedly indicated that in the original experience of educating, adults spontaneously go out to a child's reality to the extent that they recognize that, on the basis of ordinary forms of living, they create situations for their child within which they can direct his learning activities. The connection between a child's learning (modes of learning) and the parent's activities to actualize it are studied along these lines. The implication for the teacher is that the forms of teaching and the child's learning activities are closely related. For this reason it is desirable that the reader study Chapters 4 and 6 together. In an introduction to didactic pedagogics of this nature it is important to say a thing or two about the point of departure for describing a child's learning activities. In this regard, many writers from different disciplines have emphasized that learning is not a simple process that necessarily follows a particular course to a learning effect of a particular quality. A synthesis of the most important views of learning indicates that, in its essence, it is a way of being, a primary form of living, i.e., a way of being a person-inthe-world. In the usual practice of educating and teaching it is conspicuous that when a learning child is following his educator's didactic guidance, there are few reasons that this will lead to troubled educating. Consequently, there also should not be much difficulty regarding the childs future. This is understandable if it is noted 159

that through teaching a child acquires knowledge about reality. When a child cannot master these contents (reality), forming a disposition regarding them becomes impossible. The relationship between the contents of teaching (instructing) and educating has already been discussed in Chapter 2. Without undue repetition, it is important to stress that educating without teaching is impossible because the educator expects the child to acquire appropriate knowledge but also particular dispositions and attitudes in connection with these contents. Dispositions or attitudes ultimately give an indication of the child's judgment and points of view which, in their turn, provide the opportunity for selfactualization in subsequent life situations (teaching situations) which give the child the opportunity to create a reality for himself. It is on this basis that teaching, as such, guarantees the progress of the educative event. The possibility of the educative event, and therefore the teaching event, lies in Langeveld's pronouncement that a child is someone who wants to be somebody himself. In this regard, a child's task is to direct his intentionality (consciousness) to the surrounding reality. The child's intentional directedness to this reality is expressed in his learning activities and this implies that if he will become somebody, he has to learn. The adults guide these learning activities because, ultimately, the adults are responsible for the child. The child's learning activities are meaningful because they stem from his life situations and especially from the pedagogic situation that is of decisive significance for his progressing to adulthood. In learning a child is continually involved in creating a life world for himself. Because a child has to step out of himself to be able to become involved in reality (on the basis of his intentional directedness to reality), essentially learning is a matter of Dasein, i.e., it is an existential matter in the sense that the child enters the world. The fact that a child necessarily is going to enter reality (exist) implies that he is going to change with regard to reality. It is in this necessary change that the adult sees his educative and teaching responsibilities. On the basis of educative teaching the adults now have to give particular form to this necessary change in the child. From this introduction, certain conclusions are drawn: learning does not lead back to anything because, in itself, it is a primary 160

phenomenon of being human. Although learning is observable in a variety of ways of being a person, its original manifestation refers to the child as someone who wants to be somebody himself. The child's learning activities are observable in his intentional directedness. They also are visible in his openness to reality in the sense that reality directs an appeal to him that he answers by learning. In this respect, regarding learning, there is a "being open for reality" and a going out to reality" as reverse sides of each other. The precondition for learning is a person's existence (the fact that he can step out of himself) and in this way it is possible for him to master the surrounding reality. Since the adults direct the child's learning involvement with reality to try to insure that his relationship to it has a particular form, in this respect, the child's learning activity means that he and the adult anticipate a particular future. Because a person is in the world as a totality (i.e., as body, as intellect and as a lived experiencing and experiencing person), a person's existence in reality cannot be described merely in terms of his intellect. Thus learning is not merely a purely cognitive matter. Therefore, when a person exists in reality by learning there is mention that learning is a bodily way of being human, it is also an affective (emotional or pathic) way and a cognitive way as well. However, one cannot separate these three ways of being from each other; they merely are indicated to point out the totality (whole) of a person's being involved in reality in learning. It has to be further indicated that these differentiations are not a matter of growth or development but clearly only are differentiations of the ways intentionality shows itself. These pronouncements are particularly important to the teacher because they confront him with particular demands when he wants to create a formal learning situation. The greatest task is that the teacher has to design and organize the lesson situation in such a way that the course of learning will progress spontaneously and ultimately end in a normal way. The problem for the teacher is that the life world to which a child turns in the spontaneous act of learning in school is usually erected in an artificial way. This means that the teacher has to study didactically the child's learning to really come to know the categories of learning (that describe the learning activity, as such). 161

For this reason it is meaningful for the reader if what has been said about the learning activity now is systematized and elaborated on where this seems necessary and judgments made here and there. The child's learning has its origin in the childs openness to reality. This means that the ways a child learns will change in light of the variations noted in a person's life world; therefore, the modes of learning are unlimited. For a child, the field of learning is the total surrounding reality or life contents. How he learns the totality of reality and what aspects of it have to be learned varies from person to person, from situation to situation and, as far as the school is concerned, this also can vary from classroom to classroom. Because the child's relationship to reality is open, his learning activities show a particular spontaneity, a venturing attitude, an exploratory journey, an encounter with reality and an intentional directedness. These attitudes, attunements and activities carry the learning. Further, these forms of manifestation of learning are described as categories of the act of learning, as such. One also notices that, on the one hand, these categories imply creating a secure space for the learning activities and, on the other hand, erecting an open field of the child's involvement with reality. The categories mentioned emphasize that the learning activity has a particular dynamic and that the child, in learning, can be described as a person-in-motion. The destination of the child's path of learning is, from the nature of the adults' guidance, the future. Thus, it can be concluded that in his learning activities a child is involved in constituting his future. It was mentioned that the ways a child involves himself in reality (learning involvement) vary according to the appeal from reality. This means there is the closest relationship between the way a child learns and the nature of the appeal that a particular reality directs to him. This is important for a teacher in the sense that the appeal directed to a child in the classroom by particular content will largely determine the child's response to this appeal/content. In its essence, teaching is nothing more than appealing to the child to deal with the content being presented. Thus the teacher should always be aware of this relationship. In this respect, there is a reciprocity between what the teacher offers and the child's learning activity which can be of decisive importance for planning and executing formal teaching situations. Consequently, the teacher has 162

to have insight into the learning phenomenon so that from its categorical structure (that which constitutes the learning activity, as such) a coherent teaching situation can be designed. It is understandable that the teacher take as his point of departure the learning activity as it manifests itself in the classroom situation in order to penetrate to its essence. Unfortunately, such a starting point can only result in a false or prescribed methodology by which the teacher deprives himself of his own creativity. For this reason, the teacher really can do nothing else than by-pass the formal class situation for the spontaneous life world in order to determine how the child's original openness becomes observable in particular learning activities. If this is not done, the learning categories, as such, can be obscured. The idea of describing the categories of the learning activity is that they bring the essences of learning to the surface. Consequently, the essences of learning are considered rather than making the results or outcomes of the learning activity available for judgment. The teacher's task is to know precisely what is meant by the concept "learning intention" and how it manifests itself outside of the classroom. The teacher has to know that learning activities certainly are the most direct way a child gives meaning to the reality surrounding him. The question of giving meaning is of particular importance to the teacher because the didactic situation designed by him has to at least be meaningful before it can be expected that the child can have a meaningful share in it. Then he can give meaning to the contents being presented to him. The fact of the matter is that a child cannot intentionally and directly learn what is meaningless; at most he can try to memorize it. For this reason, it is important to view more closely intentionality and attributing meaning in their relationship to the phenomenon of learning. 2. INTENTIONALITY IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING If the teacher is to understand the significance of intentionality for the learning activity in the teaching situation, it is important for him to know that learning is a matter of intentionality in the sense that it is a form of existence on the basis of which a person is conscious of things around him. The child who is attuned to learning (intentionally directed to learn) is aware of a reality that at this particular stage he has not yet meaningfully penetrated to its essentials. 163

In this respect, intentionality, as the activity of the learning, can generally be described as consciousness (i.e., being-conscious). For this reason the total structure of consciousness has to be understood to grasp the essence of intentionality: consciousness (beingconscious) always means to be conscious of something--there is always something (contents) of which a person is conscious. Beingconscious does not mean that a person only is conscious cognitively (intellectually). Being-conscious is much more than a purely intellectual awareness. That is, a person does not learn to know reality only on the basis of being conscious intellectually. A person also can be emotionally (affectively) conscious of something as well as bodily (somatically) conscious of a particular aspect of reality. Therefore, being-conscious is a complex concept of "being". This means that a human being is involved as a total being or person in a matter, object or event. From this it is concluded that a person becomes or is conscious of particular contents of the life world that surround him and that he acts in the situation he finds himself in and that always directs a particular appeal to him to act. Conscious activities are the basis for the origin and meaning of intentionality. Just as consciousness can be differentiated into intellectual, affective or bodily being-conscious, so can intentionality be differentiated into an intellectual-affective or somatic aspect. This means that no human activity can be described as purely intellectual, affective or bodily. Because a person is involved in reality as a totality, each of these aspects shows itself in his actions. The question the didactician now has to answer is what is the essence of intentionality? Existential philosophy describes it in terms of a person's conscious activities. To the extent that a person is conscious of reality, he directs himself to reality and learns to know and master it. If the essence of intentionality is conscious activities, it is also important to know what the ground is of consciousness itself. The essence of consciousness is its synthesizing (compiling or constituting) function regarding all aspects of the reality the child learns to know. That is, the results or achievements of the synthesizing or constituting are an essential feature of consciousness. 164

For the teacher, a very important conclusion can be reached from this: intentionality (as an essence of consciousness) is always directed to the meaning of a particular structure. Further, consciousness assumes (intends) that the structure of the contents have a particular sense or meaning when it directs itself to that particular structure, whether an object, or a matter, etc. In other words, consciousness directs itself to the sense and meaning of contents that are pointed out in the life world. Stated otherwise, consciousness goes spontaneously to the matters or objects at hand to sort out and order the meanings in them. It is for this reason that attributing meaning is so important in the teaching situation. It is also to be understood that intentionality has an achieving and, therefore, a learning character because the child's intentional learning activities are directed to achievement. Because intentionality is so particularly important in the course of the learning and thus for constituting and establishing learning situations, it is important to summarize briefly the points made above: The ground or essence of intentionality is in a person's activities of consciousness. Activities of consciousness are characterized as having a synthesizing and constituting function. On this basis, a person's conscious activities are directed to the meaning of a particular structure and it assumes that the life world has intrinsic and immanent meaning that consciousness then sorts our and orders. Because giving meaning is so important in learning, a brief discussion of this topic is important if the teacher is to establish formal teaching situations in which the child can participate by giving meaning. 3. GIVING MEANING AS A PRECONDITION FOR AND AS A RESULT OF LEARNING The teacher now knows that intentionality, through acts of consciousness, seeks the meaning of reality. Activities of consciousness are, therefore, directed to sorting out and ordering the meaning of the contents in the didactic situation. In this respect, the meaning of a particular structure of reality is the inspiration of intentionality that the acts of consciousness place strongly or weakly in the foreground. In other words, if the teacher is to allow a child to participate meaningfully in the lesson situation, he has to guide and help him attribute meaning himself to the 165

learning contents. When the contents then are not meaningful, intentional consciousness cannot easily proceed to construct a personal, unique knowledge of this reality--in other words, then the child cannot achieve regarding reality by his intentional directedness. This also means that the reality outside of the meaning giving function of consciousness (which is directed to constituting or constructing) will have little significance. Hence, the meaningstructure of or the conscious attribution of meaning to reality (learning contents) is a precondition for purposive learning. To the degree that his intentional consciousness can discover, systematize, order, etc. the sense of a particular structure of reality (learning content), to that extent the child is able to attribute meaning to it. For the teacher, this means that sense and meaning are identical concepts. In addition, giving meaning is a comprehensive or aggregate matter that carries the interaction between reality and intentionalitydirected learning. In this framework, the child's learning activity is to give meaning to particular learning contents that had remained unknown until this stage. In the learning situation, giving meaning also shows itself in the child's life as a conscious striving to achieve the meaning of his own involvement with reality. This meaning giving involvement in reality is observable in a learning child's continual search for a synthesis of the contents that are unlocked for him; that is, contents that direct an appeal to him that he cannot avoid. When intentional consciousness discovers the sense and meaning of this appeal, the child constructs a personally individual disposition and lifestyle that directly brings about his selfactualization. Therefore, it is important for the teacher to remember that a child's learning activities are an inherent part and even a decisive factor for his disposition toward life and his lifestyle. It also is important for the teacher to note that when he makes learning contents available that appeal to the child's intentional consciousness, he has to realize that the child's giving meaning first should show that there is an implicit sense to the content itself. That is, the sense or meaning that lies in the content itself is presupposed by the child's achieving consciousness whenever he intentionally goes to the content.

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Briefly, the child's achieving consciousness is directed to the sense of the contents at hand because he believes and knows that they are not meaningless. This means that his achieving consciousness simply accepts that the contents presented to him are meaningful so that he can set for himself the aim of discovering, systematizing and ordering the sense locked within them. There also is an explicit sense in the contents presented to the child. In this respect, explicit sense means the sense the child himself attributes to the matter as a result of the ordering and meaning which achieving consciousness has already accomplished. This aspect of giving meaning is observable in the didactic situation when a child deepens, appreciates, assimilates, criticizes, restates, etc. the contents. The didactic implication of this is that the child's giving meaning to the totality of contents is closely and inseparably related to the lived experienced aspect of its implicit and explicit meanings. Thus, a child is continually disposed to experience and deepen the sense of the teaching situation that largely determines his attitude, interpretation and command of such situations in the future. This means that the discovery of the sense or meaning of particular learning contents really serve as an inspiration by which intentionality enters the foreground more strongly and learning consciousness, as achieving consciousness, acquires more mobility and suppleness in the life world. The most important consequence of giving sense and meaning in the lesson situation is that the child also is actualizing himself in reality; in other words, he is creating a world-for-himself or a personally meaningful world. It is by giving meaning that a bridge is built between the life contents the child goes out to and the form of living or lifestyle he eventually shows in his relationship to reality. The question that is now important for the teacher is where or how does the child's learning intention show itself and in what forms can the teacher cast the achievement character of intentional consciousness so that the learning intention in it can be awakened and directed? To be able to answer this question it is necessary to first become cognizant of the ways the learning activities show themselves in the original, spontaneous and naive life situation of educating (teaching). 4. LEARNING AS A WAY OF BEING IN THE ORIGINAL EXPERIENCE OF EDUCATING (TEACHING)

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The question that the teacher has to ask in this regard is how a learning child acts in a spontaneous life situation so that an adult can say without any doubt that in one way or another he has learned something in this situation? The teacher also remembers that the parent is continually involved in the child's life world by providing guidance and protection; in other words, he is continually creating a secure space where his child can learn without all sorts of risks. This clearly means that the teacher has to recognize that the adults are always present in the situation when their child learns, i.e., the adults are always present when their child spontaneously engages in the learning activity. They want to protect him because reality is not without its dangers. The point of this discussion is that the forms achieving consciousness takes (the ways it is observable for description) emanate from the activities of the child himself. Hence these forms, as a primary factor, are introduced so that it can be verified to what extent they are allowed to function in various spontaneous life situations. Since there has to be a harmony between the spontaneous forms that achieving consciousness takes and the forms of the learning situation created by the adults, the forms of the adults' teaching interventions also will be considered. In other words, first the ways achieving consciousness manifests itself will be considered and then the ways that the adults give form to the situation within which the learning activities of the child can be actualized. By penetrating to the forms of the child's learning intention, the focus of the discussion is on the activities themselves. When the adults (teachers) activities in this regard are investigated, the educative-teaching situation has to serve as the point of departure. For orienting the reader to the matter of forms of expression of the learning intention, it is once again important to indicate that the learning activity cannot be reduced to a simple process of intellectual consciousness. In this discussion learning continually is viewed as a person's way of being. For this reason, a person is involved in the learning activity as a totality and this totality also must make itself observable in the forms the learning intention takes. In an introduction of this nature, the idea is not to discuss each of these forms in detail. Consequently, the forms are very simply typified and systematized 168

to serve as an introduction to possible categories (essences) of learning. The typification of the forms of the learning intention is established merely to focus on essential information. The aim is that in this way eventual gaps in the discussion of the categories possibly can be avoided. In this regard, this first discussion is simple in the sense that the learning activity shows itself in these ways in the life world. Each adult can observe and order these forms in his interventions with a child without necessarily accounting for his observations and findings in a formal, scientific way. Scientific findings regarding the constituents of the learning activity (its categories) cannot be avoided in an introduction of this nature and are offered next. 4.1 Observing (perceiving) A person has particular sense organs at his disposal that he can use while learning to discover aspects of reality such as temporal duration, form, color, size, weight, distance, sound and taste. Thus, it is in terms of these sensory abilities that a person can explore and learn to know the reality surrounding him. Hence, a person's ways of learning are possible because he can see, hear, feel, smell and taste and that these senses enable him to systematize and order the reality around him. At first, for a small child, this reality is certainly undifferentiated and diffuse. However, later he learns, according to his own experiences, preferences or anticipations, to relate to this diffuse or unstable structure and its aspects in particular ways and in doing so he is able to master it. Eventually a child can recognize particular structures and in the recurrence of certain situations he can repeat an activity that he had carried out before and which, depending on the demands of the situation, is evidence of greater insight and proficiency. A child uses all of the senses to perceive the reality around him. This perceiving, as an aspect of the learning act as it spontaneously manifests itself in the child's life world, is especially important because the child is forced to interpret reality and to differentiate the sense or meaning of the contents of reality and remember them. In perceiving it also is clear that the child forms his own likes and dislikes that are particularly important for his education. 4.2 Playing 169

For any parent or adult who has anything to do with children it is obvious that they play and in playing they also learn. For a very long time, prominent pedagogues have described play as a way of being. The most important aspect of this description is summarized briefly. A child lives spontaneously and completely in his play. In this way he casts himself to reality and in playing he continually creates new realities for himself. It is especially exploration that appears clearly in his play activities and is of particular significance for the teacher. During this exploratory (play) activity the child unhesitatingly turns to his field of perception and the ordered identities (characteristics) that he has discovered about reality through perceiving, further investigates and learns to know them better. Even the smallest details captivate a child in his play and can keep him involved for a long time. The fact that a child surrenders himself in spontaneous and affective (emotional) ways to the theme or object of his play is of particular didactic significance. However, the reader has to understand that the child's exploratory activity is not merely limited to his play activities but it does manifest itself particularly in them. 4.3 Talking Various pedagogues have indicated that a child's greatest single achievement is acquiring language. Acquiring language places the whole of reality in a child's potential grasp so that by controlling his language he also controls reality. On the other hand, language certainly is the most important factor that brings about good progress in the child's learning activities in the spontaneous life world. An additional aspect of language in learning is that the child's possessed learning can be judged in terms of his language. In the spontaneous learning activity, the use of language is conspicuous in two ways: first, by means of language, a child asks questions by which he places the whole of reality in his field of consciousness; second, he names things that appear in his field of vision. Giving names that occurs by means of language does not have to do only with naming but also with the child giving reality a particular identity by means of language. When a child gives 170

identity to reality by means of language, it becomes meaningful for him. The function of language has a further particular didactic meaning because when a child names reality, he objectifies it or distances himself from it. This means that language makes possible the distancing and objectifying tendency of achieving consciousness. 4.4 Imitating Each parent or adult who deals with a child is aware that the child imitates reality and the adult's activities in reality. To the extent that the world in its outward form and its contents has changed, to that degree the child's imitations change in order to keep up with the changed reality. It is understandable and correct that the adult support the child in his imitating merely because he really is being gradually steered in the direction of the adult life world. Even a perfunctory look shows that there is no aspect of the adult life world that is not taken up in the child's imitating. In this respect, imitating also is a matter of the child's achieving consciousness. Accordingly, as themes of his imitations, one thinks of religion, social customs, sports and recreation, economic activities and transactions, death, sickness and marriage. The child's imitation of the adult life world is really evident in his play. On the other hand, it also is true that in his imitating, he attempts, in practical and in meaningful ways, to apply to his everyday situations his experiences of what he has seen his parents and other adults practice. For this reason, his imitating also shows a truly creative aspect. In his imitating a child experiences the enjoyment of success as well as the disappointment of failure. When he fails he looks for tools and implements for creating a reality that is in harmony with his original perceptions. Since his imitating is rather a fantasized creation of reality, in this respect this reality is not dangerous to him. It is clear that imitating gives a child the opportunity to learn and achieve and, in this respect, it is one of the most important forms of his spontaneous learning intention. Because of its nature, imitating, which a child does so spontaneously, is of particular importance to the teacher, even in formal situations. 4.5 Fantasizing 171

Achieving consciousness also is realized by means of the child's fantasy (however naive it might be) in order to establish a unique life world. Because fantasy usually functions naively and spontaneously, the learning activities that spring from it do not provide a child with a particular perspective on the matter. This also is understandable in light of the foundation of fantasy, as such. On the other hand, however, it is true that by fantasizing, a child makes representations for himself of particular aspects of reality and in this way he anticipates the future, however unrealistic this also might be. What is of particular significance for the teacher is that this tendency to anticipation is so clearly observable in the child's spontaneous learning activities and they are the basis for the teacher guiding him in order to better and more clearly deal logically with the anticipated reality. Orthopedagogic research shows that a child who does not adequately implement his imagination feels lost in tomorrow's reality. Although a child's flights of fantasy often are amusing to the adult, they are an extremely serious matter because, as a matter of achieving consciousness, they are of great significance for his spontaneous learning activities. On the one hand, in this way a child creates a new reality for himself, but on the other hand, in his flights of fantasy, he is anticipating his future reality. 4.6 Working The child's continual imitation of the activities adults carry out in their life world leads naturally to work. Although this work often is not productive, to the child it is very serious. When he spontaneously ventures into the work situation, he feels the urge to do something himself, producing something, experimenting with something and finally producing something visible that shows a particular resemblance to the everyday activities of the adults he identifies with. Just as in the adult's life world, the child's work is characterized by skillfulness, insight and the use of his powers of observation. The work that a child carries out in this spontaneous situation is for him

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a matter of achievement, of being grown up, of ingenuity, of foresight, of judgment and also of self-criticism. In this respect it is important to note that the work the child is led to in his imitating has the effect of accumulating and broadening the achievements as aspects of his spontaneous learning. These ways of acting in the child's form of living give the adult the opportunity to eventually give him tasks or assignments and engage him as a person in full-fledged ways in the family's course of living. When this spontaneous learning is lacking, these simple acts of work cannot be actualized. And the child knows this intuitively. It is for this reason that he exerts himself in spontaneous ways by throwing himself into reality as a learner and in doing so he achieves as a person himself. 4.7 Repeating In the spontaneous being together of adult and child in the original experience of educating, it is conspicuous that types of situations are continually repeated. For example, a child repeats the activity of tying his shoes, there continually is attention to table manners, clothing, cleanliness, etc. Repetition is peculiar to a child's life situation and, therefore, he also orients himself to reality in this way. In this respect, the child's task is that, by virtue of his involvement in life situations, he has to be disposed to achieve with respect to this tendency to repeat that he shows so particularly in the educative situation. Achievements such as skillfulness and judgment are refined by repetition and in this way it offers him greater suppleness regarding the demands of reality. This tendency to repeat clearly is a matter of practicing and drilling without which the spontaneous learning intention simply will not develop further and will stagnate on an inadequate level. It is interesting and important to note that repeating types of situations in which the child's skills are improved are not boring to him. The reason probably is that repeating the particular types of situations provides the opportunity for his skills to be put on a higher level. On the other hand, repeating the situations gives the child the opportunity to demonstrate his particular achievements. In this regard, then, he shows his independence with respect to the particular activity.

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Repetition, which also is so peculiar to the child's leaning activity, is extraordinary importance for the teacher especially because it so directly affects his ability to achieve and the level of his achievement. This discussion of the forms of the spontaneous learning intention is not necessarily complete. What is important though is that they certainly are basic or primary when one observes a child in spontaneous life situations. When the categories of learning are described later in this chapter, each of these spontaneous learning intentions will be brought up again. Before viewing the learning categories more closely and describing them in more detail, it is important to quickly view the parents' spontaneous teaching activities correlated with the child's spontaneous learning activities. The reason for this is that it is important in a didactic introduction of this nature to try to gauge the didactic implications of these activities. Moreover, as said at the beginning of this chapter, it is important to understand that a penetration of the learning categories really has to serve to put the teacher in a position to then create formal situations so that the child's learning activities (also spontaneous learning activities) can be carried out in them in the most effective and clearest ways. As also said before, the parent does not simply allow his child arbitrarily to meddle in reality but he creates situations within which this involvement of the child in reality (spontaneous learning activities) is given particular form on the basis of particular contents that are unlocked for him. This mutual relationship between the child's spontaneous going out to reality and the parents spontaneous creation of teaching/learning situations is of primary importance to the teacher. For this reason, it is important to see how the parents spontaneous teaching activities reflect the child's spontaneous learning activities. 5. THE PARENTS SPONTANEOUS TEACHING ACTIVITIES BASED ON THE CHILD'S SPONTANEOUS LEARNING ACTIVITIES *

* Some paragraphs have been rearranged to correspond more closely to the four basic or

fundamental forms of teaching.

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In order to penetrate the spontaneous learning activities of the child, when we take as our point of departure the learning situation in which the child finds himself, it is conspicuous that the adult purposefully and consciously creates opportunities and situations for him to spontaneously learn. This spontaneous learning situation captures the nature of the original experience of non-formal educating. The adult intuitively senses the child's learning-directed intentions and intuitively creates situations within which spontaneous learning can occur. Thus, in the original educative situation, the child is the recipient of teaching that arises and progresses spontaneously. When we now shift to viewing the adult in this spontaneous learning and teaching situation, it is obvious that his activities correspond to or correlate with the spontaneous learning activities of the child, and this is discernible in the ways he accompanies the child so the forms of learning can be actualized. The basis for the adult's teaching activities is very simple--because the child wants to learn, the adult wants to help him learn. The unity that arises in this way reflects a splendid harmony between the child's spontaneous going out to reality (learning) and the adult's spontaneous creation of learning situations (teaching). The harmony that the teacher strives for in the formal classroom situation comes down to the harmony between the forms he creates and the child's potentialities for spontaneously learning in this situation. For this harmony in the original experience of educating to be possible, the adult's teaching activities must arise as correlates of the child's spontaneous learning activities. 5.1 The child plays--the adult shows him how to play The fact that parents play with their children in the everyday occurrence of life is obvious. However, what is less conspicuous, and often not even noticed, is that gaps arise in the child's play that only can be bridged by the adult. These gaps arise because the child does not necessarily have at his disposal adequate knowledge, skills, or judgment to allow the play to progress meaningfully or to allow it to come to a meaningful conclusion. What, perhaps, is even less conspicuous, and of particular importance here, is that the authority of the adult continually is invoked in order to interpret the rules of play by which the child's judgment of right and fairness is developed and decisions are made regarding the rules to be followed. 175

Adults often are stimulated to lead the child when he plays. The adult's leading has a strong character of teaching (a didactic character), and in this regard play offers a basic form within which the act of teaching, as such, can be actualized. One sees this especially when an adult dramatizes a particular course of play for the child. By dramatizing play, the adult presents the child with a particular aspect of reality with the aim that it is made available to him in a real, vivid, life-related way. The parent does this with the aim that in this way the child himself will appropriate the contents presented to him. 5.2 The child observes--the adult points out The adult has an intuitive insight into the meaning of perceiving (observing) as a child's way of learning and, therefore, he continually points out particular things (objects, etc.) to the child. The idea here is that the adult isolates and directs the child's attention to particular aspects of reality, but not to the extent that the adult exemplifies the things or the contents to the child. Because the adult (parent) primarily is an educator in the educative situation, it is important to him that the child's observing becomes differentiated, reliable, and independent. Pointing out, with the aim that the child will observe, certainly is one of the most basic, elementary aspects of the activity of teaching. Also, it is one of the most important aspects of teaching a small child such as one meets in the family. This form of teaching is of particular importance for the child simply because it is concrete and direct. A parent, however, does not view this as teaching; rather he sees it as an ordinary life occurrence that is commonplace and meaningful in his involvement with his child. 5.3 The child imitates--the adult demonstrates The imitation of the adult by the child in his spontaneous intention to learn is possible because he identifies himself with the adult. This means that the child wants to be like an adult, but further, it means he himself wants to be an adult. The fact that an adult acts, does things, is busy, etc. is particularly important to a child, and he wants to imitate these activities. Consequently, the adult's activities bring about a rich variety of possibilities for the child to imitate. The adult exploits this inclination by teaching the child in informal 176

ways in the everyday life situation, knowing that in this way he will learn. The reciprocal relationship between the child's imitating and the adults' demonstrating is of particular importance to the didactician. Once again, here a harmony is indicated that provides the child with the possibility to spontaneously learn in a meaningful way. The adult's demonstrations require patience, persistence, and tolerance. When the adult neglects to demonstrate, the child asks the adult to do so. For this reason, the adult's example or demonstration often is highly situation-bound, and this is especially true also of the child's learning activity. 5.4 The child talks--the adult prompts In the usual course of the family situation, a child asks questions whenever he experiences problems and whenever he doesn't know something. He expects an answer to these questions. Where a child is learning by means of language, the adult is spontaneously busy helping and supporting him by answering his questions, by providing explanations and motivation, by distinguishing objects and things from each other, by describing and showing the usefulness of particular objects, by guiding the child to attribute values to certain matters, etc. The communication-idea of spontaneous teaching shows itself in the ways an adult, through language, accompanies a child in his spontaneous learning activities and encourages him to investigate and master the contents surrounding him. In the prompting by the adult, it is important to note that he must reduce for the child complex matters and structures so the child's spontaneous learning intention is not negated by the complexities and intricacies of such structures. 5.5 The child fantasizes--the adult narrates Because the adult is intuitively aware of the importance of the child's fantasy in spontaneous learning activities, and because the child's fantasy is characterized by naivet, the adult continually tells the child certain things. He tells him of his family history, stories, fairy-tales, personal experiences of all kinds, etc. that for a child are an important source of enjoyment and information. 177

Through the narrations of the adult, a child experiences reality, although this reality possibly comes from the past or, at this stage, lies outside of the child's field of experiences. Thus, the adult's narrative complements a child's experiences and the adult continually directs him, via the other forms of teaching/learning, to the contents in the adult's narration that now have become important to the child. By means of this narrative form of teaching, the adult confronts the child with traditions, legends, opinions, beliefs, attitudes, etc. Because s child's fantasy and the adult's narrative are so closely intertwined, there are few aspects of the spontaneous teaching activity that so completely captivate s child's attention and so directly pique his curiosity as does the parent's narrations. In this regard, one cannot imagine that the spontaneous educative teaching in the family could be actualized without the parents' narration. Irrespective of the source of the knowledge narration offers the child, it often influences the intimacy of the relationship between the child and the adult, especially when one of the grandparents is involved. The narrative of a grandparent makes it possible for a small child to imagine and to build up a historical dimension for himself. 5.6 The child works--the adult gives assignments (instructions) For the parents, it is a well known fact that when they are busy working (doing things) in the child's presence, more often than not, the child wants to help. He wants to help because he wants to do things for himself, and, for this reason, the adult gives him assignments (instructions) to carry out. The assignments themselves serve a number of aims in the spontaneous activity of teaching; the most striking are giving the child's opportunities to display his skills, competencies, and talents. The parent also gives assignments (and instructions) to test each of these aspects in the child's life, and, if necessary, he provides opportunities for their improvement. However, what is important here is that the child, in the execution of these assignments, continually seeks and asks for the critique and judgment of the

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adults--he continually wants to know if his achievement of the assignment meets with the adult's approval. The adult also offers criticism to the child in such a way that he eventually breaks through to self-criticism. On the other hand, an assignment has the effect of continually building up the child's sense of responsibility, especially regarding matters such as punctuality, obedience, neatness, accuracy, and enthusiasm. The parent's assignments meaningfully limit the child's freedom in the learning activity, and this provides the child with a feeling of stability and security in that his achievement of the assignment is delimited and made demonstrable. 5.7 The child repeats and so does the adult Because a child's learning activities must show a character of achievement (and this is expected by the adult), it is understood that the adult must continually repeat particular types of teaching situations in order to insure that the child himself can acquire the ability to control and sustain the variety of contents that appear in his life-reality. These repetitions are not strange or unacceptable to a child; rather, he spontaneously welcomes them because they offer him the needed opportunity to practice. Repetition and practice are a part of everyday life where particular matters, events, and activities need to be repeated. The child's very nature requires that he participate in the occurring situation and, at the same time, that he demonstrates that he can hold his own in that situation. The adult repeats these situations in order to try to promote and eventually to insure the child's independence. The adult repeats these situations to try to elevate the independence of the child in such a way that this ultimately can be guaranteed. The adult knows that even though a child possibly understands a matter, his understanding will not endure if there is no practice. The child's control of reality remains superficial in the sense that he easily forgets important aspects of reality when they are not repeated and practiced. In previous sections of this chapter the spontaneous learning activities of the child in life situations were discussed briefly in terms of his intentionality, as a directedness to learning and giving 179

meaning, and as a precondition for learning were discussed briefly. Then, it was also indicated that in the original experience of educative teaching, learning is a mode of being (way of being or modus of Dasein). The most conspicuous forms of a child's learning intention in spontaneous learning activities, namely, perceiving, playing, imitating, fantasizing, working and repeating were described and then the spontaneous teaching activities of the parents correlated with these learning activities were considered. It is important to indicate that these forms of the spontaneous intention to learn and the parents spontaneous teaching activities correlated with them illustrate the mutual interaction between learning and teaching and that in this interaction they are in harmony with each other. It also is important for the reader to realize that the forms of the spontaneous intention to learn now have to be penetrated more deeply to disclose the categories of the learning activity, as such. In that way the implications of the categories of the learning activity and the task this confronts the teacher with in order to create formal learning situations in relation to the corresponding forms of teaching are focused on in Chapter 4. In this respect, the question, now important for the teacher, is what is learning? The investigation and penetration of the learning phenomenon now has to establish its constituents (categories that describe the phenomenon as it is). Separately and together, these categories have to withstand the test of a person's experiential life that learning indeed is what the categories describe it to be. Because the learning phenomenon is dealt with here from a didactic perspective, the intermeshing anthropological, psychological and even philosophical backgrounds and findings related to this discussion are not involved in the descriptions. The reader has to always realize that provision has to be made in a formal lesson situation for the categories of the learning activity that are described here by the forms that the teacher gives to the lesson situation so that learning, as such, can occur there. 6. THE CATEGORIES OF THE LEARNING ACTIVITY 6.1 Perceiving

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Achieving consciousness, as discussed above, cannot achieve anything without perceiving. A person lives in a particular reality that directs an appeal so that it becomes available to him. A person becomes aware of surrounding reality through perceiving it. Here perceiving is viewed as a particular form of being directed (Intentionality). A person's being-directed concerns his consciousness and, as such, it is focused on the reality that appears to him. Through perceiving it is possible that total impressions are constituted into meaningful details. It is important to note that perceiving, in itself, is a primordial given, i.e., perceiving cannot lead back to or be reduced to a particular cause. An additional aspect that perceiving makes possible, other than, e.g., its fantasy character, is that it is a particular judgment of reality (a judgment grounded in the reality at hand). Also, perceiving is not a purely physiological "process". In this respect, it has to be indicated that even other important factors in the learning activity, e.g., a person's previous experiences, cannot restrict the sensing that stands out in perceiving. The reason is that perceiving is an intentional act of achieving consciousness. For this reason it is focused on the question of giving meaning which necessarily is present in each act of perception. Giving meaning is not the result of a physiological process. A person lived experiences particular sensations when he perceives, irrespective of the quality of his knowledge about the matter previously acquired. The perceiver is focused on meaningfully clarifying his perceiving, itself, to the extent that he can place what he perceives in a meaningful field and order it. Perceiving also cannot merely be reduced to conceptualizing--the conceptual, regarding the perceived, arises formally when language is implemented as a system of ordering the perceived piece of reality. This is distilled out by verbally describing a structure of the particular nature brought about by thinking. It is in this way that perceiving brings about a particular order and classification out of the total surrounding reality and gives meaning to it. The fact that reality is ordered by perceiving means, on the one hand, that a particular object's place in the whole is indicated and, on the other hand, that the essence of an object is brought to the surface.

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The question that now can be asked is how perceiving shows itself in a person's learning. This is really a question of the forms of perceiving as they manifest themselves in the life world. Before the essential forms of perceiving can be described, it is important to indicate the ways perceiving functions in learning. Four functions of perceiving are considered briefly. Because a person also is present in perceiving as a totality, it is not strange that it has a strong subjective-dynamic character. That is, perceiving does not deal only with establishing the factuality of an object. Because of the totality of the perceptual act, a person is involved with the object perceived. Each person sees a particular object differently and in this sense it is subjective. Consequently, perceiving leads to a unique assimilating and broadening of a perceivable reality. Further, perceiving continually offers details that are compiled into meaningful totalities by achieving consciousness, especially in their functional connections and relations. This is of particular didactic significance because the entire principle of object-teaching rests on this in the sense that the presentation itself presumes an analysis of these meaningful connections. In the learning activity, that which is lifted out by the analysis is compiled into a synthesis or a structure or insight into the essence of the matter. Because perceiving is focused on analyzing the perceived into its essentials, finding essentials makes it possible for the perceiver to know the greater reality represented by the object. In this respect perceiving is exemplary or categorical in nature. Because it is, it presents a synthesis of understandable generalities and perceivable concreteness. In this way it is possible that an analysis that occurs in perceiving a concrete matter has validity in a general sense for the perceiver because the concrete is a representative illustration (exemplar) of an aspect of reality. To illustrate this matter, one can look at a stool, a palm tree, a bulbous plant, etc. Each of these objects is, in itself, an example of stools, palm trees and bulbous plants so that an exhaustive knowledge of all possible particular stools, etc. is unnecessary. For the teacher this is an extremely important matter. Because perceiving has an exemplary or categorical character, it is possible to reduce the contents to their essentials for teaching. In the learning activity, these essentials can be built up into a synthesis, structure or insight into the essence of what is being perceived. 182

Closely connected with its exemplary and categorical character, perceiving also is developmental in nature. The perceiving person searches for the first way or form of appearance of a particular object in order to understand its essence as it develops in time. The idea here is that a child's perceiving moves progressively from the simple appearance of an object to the more complex. From a model of the workings of an internal combustion engine, a child can acquire an understanding of the complex machinery that exists today. In this regard, perceiving searches the simplest or earliest form of the internal combustion engine. This discussion has particular significance for the teacher in the sense that now his task is to construct exemplary structures for perceiving so that its developmental nature is reflected in them. Apart from the subjective, categorical and developmental nature of perceiving, it also is comprehensive. This shows itself in that many groups of perceptions can lead to a comprehensive understanding. For example, before a child can master a comprehensive and pure concept such as "climatic regions", he has to be presented with many groups of perceivable material. In the same way, a child has to first perceive and become acquainted with a large number of sonnets before he can get a comprehensive understanding of "sonnet". In light of the functioning of perception in the learning activity, we can now view the various forms in which perceiving manifests itself. 6.1.1 Pre-objective perceiving This form of perceiving is described well by the old expression, "He looks, but he doesn't see". Everyone stares at one time or another without truly seeing something. When he does this, in fact he looks "through" an object or person that is before him merely because his thoughts are elsewhere. With this kind of perceiving he cannot give an account of what he is observing. Indeed, he can say what he thinks about it and possibly his course of thinking is involved in the object before him. However, this means he does not "see" but "thinks" reality. If preobjective perceiving has to become focused, something has to happen to focus consciousness. That is, something has to occur to focus the looking, hearing, tasting, feeling, etc. before there can be 183

perceiving, as such. Only if there is a focus is there a field of perception. Pre-objective perceiving cannot materialize the dynamic, functional ordering and integrating so peculiar to perceiving. In this respect, pre-objective perceiving has a clear character of "absence". It also is understandable that this pre-objective perceiving does not support the learning activity, as such. In order to focus pre-objective perceiving, it is especially movement that serves to delimit the staring field of visions, as passive, and focus attending on what has to be perceived. This is a particularly important matter for the teacher because everyone knows that a child's attention span does not always remain adequately focused on what needs to be perceived. For the focus to happen, especially in teaching young children, the teacher first lets the children carry out a particular movement or the teacher moves himself in front of the class. 6.1.2 Perfunctory perceiving On the basis of perfunctory perceiving a person orients himself in a familiar setting or regarding something he knows or presumes that it has to be of a certain nature. Here there is no detail. Matters are viewed, ordered and integrated in their general totality. Here perceiving is directed to acquiring an overview of things in the field of vision by which the sense of the synoptic perception is eventually established. Perfunctory perceiving is implemented to search for meaningful relationships of the things as they thrust themselves into awareness. Perfunctory perceiving goes beyond the factual immediacy (imminence) of the things in his visual field. In this transcending, what is perceived is perceived as a whole in anticipation of a situation that must follow, a situation that possibly has to be brought about and within which perceiving will occur in a more refined way. Through perfunctory perceiving the connection of reality and the possibilities within one's reach are established and, for this reason, it brings about a reliable association between a person and the things around him in reality. As far as teaching is concerned, this is particularly important because perfunctory perceiving has a high orientational value. It also has unusual significance in the sense that it establishes a 184

constant reality and the constant possibilities of it. What appears in a person's field of vision is immediately recognized or known, as such, while the truly unique activity structure is immediately determined by it--thus one can act with firmness. Two important actions follow from this perfunctory perceiving that are particularly important for the teacher: here there is mention of verification and of schematization. Since a person's learning activity is continually moving from the known to the unknown, he reaches back to what he knows to be able to grasp what is not yet in his horizon of knowledge. In this regard, verification and schematization have particular didactic significance. In perfunctory perceiving there is a possibility that one reaches back (regressive move) to control known aspects to see if the perception of the new in any way corresponds to it. The schematizing that perfunctory perceiving leads to allows a person also to grasp, in advance (progressive), possible connections of matters appearing in the field of vision. Perfunctory perceiving, as a consequence of the verification and schematizing it makes possible, is particularly important for the pure orientation and anticipation that largely determine the further and attentive progress of the course of learning. Schematizing is very important for the progress of the learning activity, i.e., it creates the possibility to grasp, in advance, and to go beyond the data of the perceptual situation in order to understand the meaning of the object in the field of perception. 6.1.3 Objective perceiving Objective perceiving is linked to the perceiver's aim. In objective perception, the intention is directed to a particular matter and it is possible that other relevant matters are shifted to the background. This means the perceptual intention (consciousness as intentionality) takes the object out of the background and makes it available for special and penetrating perception. It is for this reason that objective perceiving is so important for teaching. In a teaching situation the object of perception has to summons attending so the object or matter will be of such a nature that the perceiver can place it in his experiential field as familiar. The quality of the appeal from the object also can be of such a nature

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that it awakens the perceiver's curiosity so that he wants to know what the nature of this object or matter is. To satisfy this quality, the act of perceiving has to insure the perceiver that what he perceives is meaningful. As far as teaching is concerned, the object used in teaching has to appear such that a clarification of its particular ways of appearing is or will be necessary or desirable or enjoyable. If this must be reached, again, there is mention of differentiating, ordering and integrating. When a perceiver differentiates, orders and integrates, the structure perceived is obscured because the perceiver considers the qualities, judgments, choices, etc. regarding the matter as important. These qualities, judgments and choices are evidence that he has attributed sense and meaning to the object. In this way, perceiving is a link in the total chain of learning activities. Therefore, this creates a unity with what is learned and which now has to be kept in view regarding what the person has yet to learn in the future. The reader has to understand that perceiving is not an isolated function. Thus, it cannot be viewed apart from other aspects of conscious life, and there must be an awareness that perceiving also is determined by other aspects of the learning activity. One cannot talk of perceiving without taking into account thinking and language. The reason is that what is perceived, in the first place, has to be ordered. Ordering implies that important aspects of perceived reality have to be differentiated from less important aspects, and what belongs together has to be united. This differentiation also is a matter of perspective in that what is important is more prominent in the landscape than what is less important. What is less important is not unimportant for the object, as such, because it provides the atmosphere within which more meaning can be allocated to the object perceived. Perceiving, therefore, is perceiving in a particular situation. In this situation, meaning is given to what is perceived that leads to perceiving as an event being exceeded in the interpretation that necessarily flows from it. In this regard, the close connection between perceiving and thinking is clearly noted. The thoughtful ordering of the perceived object and field of perception is possible because language is available to a person to accomplish an ordering 186

of reality. This is important to the teacher: he has to realize that language is the immediate companion of perceiving. Language is the means by which ordering neutralizes meaningless and chaotic perceiving. This guarantees that the learning child will form concepts and integrate them regarding a particular perceived reality. The conclusion to be drawn from this is that perceiving, language and thinking are an inseparable trinity, a unity, a harmony that presents itself, as such, in the original form of the event of learning in the life world. When a learning person gives sense to reality this is permeated by his perceiving and the interactions among perceiving, thinking and languaging clearly are shown. Meaningful learning cannot occur without perceiving. Perceiving, simultaneously, leads to a broadening of and a broadened experiencing of what is in the learning child's reach. For the teacher, this guarantees the involvement of teaching, as such, in reality. Furthermore, the teacher has to be mindful that the totality of perceiving at the child's disposal, and what he brings with him to school, for a long time will be the basis of his learning activities. If perceiving in school is not recognized for its particular significance in learning, an unnatural separation is made between the child's learning activities and the schools learning aims. Such a separation has the effect that the learning activities will have an artificial and a foreign-to-life character. A further consequence is that the classroom is not true to reality. For the teacher, the implication is that the reality (contents) to be made available to the child's perceiving has to be prepared. The fact is that because perceiving is so subjective, a child sees the contents from his own life world and in this way he perceives the learning contents. Thus, he concentrates his attention on matters that to him seem important and interesting. However, there also is the possibility that the child will only perceive perfunctorily and will leave the classroom without really having constructed his own perspective on the perceived aspects about which the lesson was concerned. The teacher has to remember that a child will base his perceiving on the fundamental activity of collecting and ordering similarities and differences. This ordering of similarities and differences directs two tasks to the teacher. To collect and order the 187

lesson contents, the child has to analyze them. He also has to compare the immediately preceding perceptions and experiences to be able to integrate the presented learning contents with them. Here the ultimate didactic aim is to use anticipation and to help the child in terms of both aspects with the prospect of ordering future contents and problems of the matter that arise. It is only then that previous experiences as well as immediate perceptions are of real significance for the learning activity. In practice the teacher repeats already experienced and perceived learning contents so they can be linked up with the new learning contents because without this, anticipating cannot become a purposeful activity for the child. Thus, in the first place, this does not have to do with practicing. There is repetition in order to promote the integrating and to once again bring about ordering so that the pupil can understand the future direction or progress (therefore also the aim) and direct the way additional contents are presented to him consciously, or not consciously, and in this way direct the teacher's unlocking of contents. The reader should have noted that the matter of experiencing, as it was also incidentally considered with the question of perceiving, is the second category of learning that has to be penetrated. 6.2 Experiencing Aristotle had already noticed and typified, as categories of learning, the relationship and connection between learning and experiencing with the pronouncement that experiencing is the foundation of the phenomenon of learning. According to this, experiencing is the necessary beginning of learning because the perceived particulars are generalized in experiencing and, in this way, are affirmed as valid. From the nature of teaching, as such, as a category of learning, experiencing is of particular significance just because the learning activity that is so peculiar to teaching makes possible new experiences for a child. A person's experiencing is not the sum-total of his separate daily life realities. It cannot be understood apart from the theory of intentionality. The relationship between intentionality (achieving consciousness) and experiencing is that there is a unity between learning and experiencing. It is for this reason that one cannot obtain a grasp of reality without experiencing. 188

This has particularly important implications for didactics because experiencing enables a person to interrogate unknown reality. Experiencing also is a person's possibility for being with reality. In this respect it is a matter that stimulates a person's original interest in reality and, therefore, is responsible for the fact that a particular relationship between person and reality continually increases in breadth and depth. For a child, experiencing means an initial and penetrating grasp of the matters appearing in his life horizon. Simultaneously, it provides the primary and fundamental possibility for a relationship between him and the things surrounding him. The fact that experiencing makes it possible for a person to interrogate reality is just as important for teaching because, on the basis of a person's experiencing, reality can be anticipated. When a person experiences reality, particular data about that reality are made available to him. For example, a child perceives that rain comes from the sky. This perception places certain aspects of reality in his relationships in the foreground as obvious or conspicuous; for example, a child perceives that rainwater flows into little streams and later into the river. The perception of this piece of reality (falling rain) is, as far as rain is concerned, really incomplete because various other aspects of this reality cannot be seen (for example, patterns of air pressure and rising air, which causes condensation and that ultimately results in rain) but this can be presumed or hypothesized by the child. An aspect he cannot perceive but that he can presume to be is known as anticipation. To discuss perceiving, as a category of learning, the meaning of anticipation is broached to some extent. However, what is of particular importance is that anticipating is an inseparable and essential part of experiencing. In experiencing, anticipating works in a complimentary way in the sense that it gives rise to pre-understandings and consequences that are not necessarily denotable. In this way perceiving is transcended in experiencing and a person is able to gain insights by anticipating what cannot be found in direct perceiving. Anticipating from experiencing and the transcending of direct perceiving are of particular didactic significance because, in the first place, this is a matter of achievement.

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The connection between learning and experiencing is recognized everywhere. The usual explanation of this connection is that the learning activity is to be understood from its achievement (learning effect) and that learning makes itself available to evaluation in the learning achievement. This approach is logical and also acceptable. However, when the phenomenon of learning is itself examined (i.e, viewed categorically) it is important to ask the question whether or not the learning achievement can be understood from the learning activity. The conclusion from this question is that learning is not merely the consequence of experiencing. It is possible that experiencing is also the result or consequence of learning. This means that the learning activity, in the sense of possessed learning, is not only a possible consequence of experiencing but that it is a necessary consequence of it. It follows necessarily from experiencing that new or qualified learning activities will enter the foreground. In this respect, learning is a consequence of experiencing. This implies that each experience necessarily has learning consequences. This conclusion means, further, that as far as learning is concerned, experiencing is not merely "learning to know" but also "a moving toward something new". As a consequence of learning, the insights and concepts the child had constructed on the basis of previous experience are qualified or changed by his being able to investigate, penetrate and understand the new reality presented to him in the classroom. In the spontaneous life world, a child's experiences provide him with his first acquaintance with the world. Two meanings can be attributed to the concept experience in so far as learning is a matter of experiencing. On the one hand, experiencing means a simple, first acquaintance with something, i.e., a matter about which one acquires knowledge. On the other hand, experiencing grows and increases and enables one to acquire something new on the basis of previous experiences. In this sense, experiencing continually turns back on itself, especially to judge the possibilities of the new experience and to give it meaning. This retrospective nature of experiencing is of particular didactic importance because it is in this way that formal learning occurs. Without the first acquaintance with something this retrospective return to itself is not possible. For this reason the act of learning is strongly attuned to particular foreknowledge and the learning person continually is confronted with his foreknowledge when he learns via experiencing. 190

Experiencing and perceiving are the cornerstones of the spontaneous learning activity of a child in the life world. However, both would be meaningless if the learning person could not proceed to the learning contents that come to him by way of experiencing and perceiving, order it objectively and place it in his horizon of living and knowing. Ordering the contents are possible because the child has language and thinking at his disposal that allow him to build a meaningful structure of reality from his experiencing and perceiving. The brief discussion of language in this chapter showed that it makes it possible for a person to distance himself from immediate reality. Without objectifying and distancing, ordering cannot occur and if it doesnt, learning cannot be actualized. In this light a third category of the activity of learning is exposed, namely objectifying. 6.3 Objectifying Learning is a matter of communication because the relations among language, thinking and learning in the learning activity form a solid unity. It is in the childs communicating with others, especially adults, that it becomes clear whether the child has learned. However, communicating is equally important in that a conversation is always about something. In each conversation there is always talk of objects, matters or persons. It is clear that in these conversations the speaker talks about something; the conversational partners talks about one or another aspect of life reality. A conversation about things indicates that the conversational partners already know the matters about which they speak because these matters have been encountered before and also they have a particular attitude toward them. The fact that persons talk about reality means that they have distanced themselves from that reality; that is, they remain objective about the matter. The fact that people talk about things means that the things have become objects for them; this is a product of understanding. In conversing about them, the objects are purely abstract concepts and for this reason abstract concepts really belong to the scientific thinking of persons. However, it also is the case that irrespective of the so-called objects, there also are things that loom up in a persons life 191

world that really have a pre-scientific meaning; i.e., the person has not yet rendered a predication or judgment about the so-called thing. As far as the life world of a child is concerned, in his prescientific world there is little mention that objects really exist in an abstract or purely scientific sense. Things in a childs pre-scientific world are concrete. The question now is how things in a childs pre-scientific world find a place in his life world. Before this question can be answered it is necessary to take three aspects into account. In the first instance, a thing in a childs prescientific world is something about which he can talk but which he cannot talk to and where the thing also does not join in the conversation. Secondly, a thing is a matter of daily practice. It is something with which one can act in the sense that it possibly can be a tool, but it cannot act itself. Third, especially in the childs life world, there is talk of things because they have a particular identity that can be talked about. As an example, a fork is something about which a person can talk, that does not join in the conversation and does not itself speak. Irrespective of the fact that one eats with a fork, it can appear to a person in other ways. For example, he can use a fork to remove a cap from a bottle, etc. In this way, things are disclosed as objects, practices and identities in ones life world and it is especially important to indicate that when one talks about these things, at the least there must be a particular objectivity regarding them that amounts to a definite distance between the person and the things with which he is involved. The fact that there is a distance between a person and the things that appear in his life world means that he consciously directs himself to things and, by this reasoning, it follows that objectifying is a question of an intentional achievement. The question of importance here is how this minimum objectivity arises. In other words, mindful that objectivity also is a question of achievement, what intentional achievement realizes this distance between person and things. Regarding this question, there are at least three aspects of a persons intentional achievement required to accomplish minimum objectivity. One must first isolate the objects from himself, then identify them and finally he must name them. The intentional achievement (conscious directedness) exists in that one can 192

distinguish a particular person from other persons, a particular thing from other things and also a particular situation from other situations. The distinctions can be made perceptually or by practical actions. In other words, the learning person can make these distinctions in his perceiving a particular person, object or matter or he can do so in his everyday actions and especially in the way he handles objects. The otherness of a person, matter or activity makes isolating possible because one person is not another, one thing is not another, and one activity is not the same as another. Therefore, it is clear that if there is no isolating it is not possible for achieving consciousness to be able to objectify something. This means that consciousness cannot be fixated on one matter or another. Where isolating is absent, things among other things or persons among other persons cannot be brought to the fore. The deduction is that isolating, as activity, is a precondition for the fact that a particular person or thing can be ascribed a particular identity; for example, This person is my son or This thing is a motor. Now, it is important for the reader to note that identifying flows naturally from the act of isolating because to attribute identity means to identify. It also is important to indicate that identifying must not be confused with isolating. Identifying is primarily directed at determining the nature or character of something with the aim that thereafter this matter or thing can be recognized. Where the childs achieving consciousness is involved in learning, isolating and identifying are clearly there such that he can talk about the things. In his discussion of the matter or thing a child must name it and because the matter has a particular nature or character, and therefore an identity, the naming is consistent because the same thing is indicated with that name. In this way, naming is an essential activity and is observable in language. Because the thing is named it is possible to be able to talk about it without the thing itself having to be present. In this way, the thing becomes a concept and is added to the childs possessed concepts. For example, if one calls to awareness the concept hammer, it is a thing that one can strike something with, but one also knows that it is made of steel and is heavy.

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If there isnt an objective attitude, this means that achieving or intentional consciousness remains stuck in concrete experience and stagnates. Consequently, the learning child will be held fast by concrete things in such a way that, in their presence, he can only learn in terms of them. This also means that his perceiving and experiencing without distancing merely have immediate value for learning and there will be no transferability to or recognition in other situations. Really, the matter is much worsethe child will not learn because he is so totally lost and locked up in the concrete things that they only can have any meaning for him in the same sorts of situations. Thus the child must learn to know each possible variation of the matter separately so that he can master the situation. But since a child continually is involved in distancing (objectifying) himself from reality (by isolating, identifying and naming objects) it is now possible for him to know an object such as, e.g., a table without learning to know it in all possible situations it can be involved in. The fact is that the table was isolated, identified and named long before, and when a child is asked to say what a table really is, he can handle the concept, as such, although he possibly thinks of a particular table. A persons objectivity makes it possible for objects to arise for him. This means that the child gives the matter or object its objectivity and not the other way around nothing is objective for a child without him declaring it as such. Objectivity makes it possible for a person to consciously take into view the surrounding reality. Objectivity has the additional effect of putting the totality of ones experiencing and perceiving functionally within his grasp in order to reach things and look further, anticipate, order and finally learn about them. Objectivity is not the same as an objectivistic attitude. As a category of learning, objectivity is especially a matter of ordering. The objective ordering of surrounding reality does not mean that these things can be placed along side each other on the same level. In the learning situation, as it does in the spontaneous life world, the childs objective attitude has rather more to do with perspective. This means that certain things, matters or events are placed in the childs conceptual landscape where certain ones are more important than the others. In his activity of objectifying, the child gives significance and meaning to the total reality that surrounds him precisely because he has isolated, identified and named its separate 194

characteristics. For this reason, it is not possible to talk of learning without the objective attitude of the learning person also being there. The learning persons perceiving in the learning situation confirms this statement. Although the child himself objectifies the matters and things in a particular situation, it is possible that he can transfer his objective attitude to other situations. A childs objective attitude makes the accumulation and the progression of learning possible in the sense that in a particular situation where he is dependent on learning, on the basis of his objective attitude, he can reach back to the experiences and perceptions that he has previously undergone and implement them in the prevailing situation and, on the basis of his insights, he can transfer the new insights to a possible future situation. For this reason, learning in the spontaneous life world of a child also involves objectifying. The reader must understand that the childs subjective involvement in the matters that surround him rescue him from objectivism. This means that although he distances himself from the matter, its appeal certainly remains directed primarily to his subjectivity (affectivity or emotionality). In the same way, the childs objective attitude protects him from being delivered to his own subjectivitybecause he distances himself from matters and can talk about them, their immediate presence is not necessary for him to give them meaning. The childs distancing from and objectifying of reality means that he revokes it and this necessarily gives rise to learning achievement. However, objectifying reality is incomplete if a child does not immediately establish a new reality for himself. This means that the learning activity, as such, cannot be realized if there is not mention of establishing or creating (constituting) reality. With this we arrive at the following category of the learning activity. 6.4 Constituting The concept constituting means that a person, to the extent that he is involved with reality, goes out to it and on the basis of its available structures, creates or builds up or brings about his own insights, relationships, appraisals regarding that particular reality. In this light it is clear that perceiving, experiencing and objectifying, as categories of learning, really culminate in this act of constituting. In spite of this, it also is true that there can be little mention of achieving consciousness or of intentionality because the 195

achievement of the achieving consciousness is visible in the fact that a person creates reality for himself. The quality of the created reality refers to the quality of the achievement. Now, it must be understood that the creation of a personal reality by a child is not obvious. The fact is that in order to create reality, it must already be known. And this means that there must have been previous learning. It is in the category of constituting that the interactive course of knowing and learning is most clearly evident. For the teacher this means that a child, by means of his achieving consciousness, continually creates a new reality for himself. If he does not constitute a reality for himself, there is no learning. Now, it is important to indicate that this activity of creating (constituting) a personal reality shows itself in everyday life in terms of five facets. These five facets (communicating, synthesizing, transforming, lifestyling and emancipating) are of exceptional significance and are discussed further. 6.4.1 Communicating with reality By means of language a child can isolate, identify and name aspects of reality or things in it. In the previous discussion of language it is stated that a childs acquisition of language certainly is one of his greatest achievements. It is almost obvious that this first aspect, namely language acquisition, is of primary importance in constituting a personal reality. It is also logical that the naming that the child does in learning also must be further broadened in order to bring about distinctions and relationships with respect to things. The distinctions and relationships of the things the child encounters in learning also require that he must acquire an increasing notion of time. For example, a child must acquire and master concepts such as the days of the week, the months of the year, yesterday and tomorrow, early and late because he also must create a reality for himself with respect to them. The fact is that a child not only creates reality for himself in space but also in time. Therefore, he comes to all communicating with a particular notion of time. However, this notion of time remains isolated unless he also learns to broaden his communicating with 196

reality into a spatial orientation. In his communicating with reality he experiences things as near or far, high or low, flat or deep, etc. These examples are given merely to indicate that in his communicating with reality he is compelled to talk about these matters and through language, notions of time and concepts of space to proceed to order the things with deliberation. For example, there are types of food that he must be able to distinguish in his world of ideas and in talking about them. Eventually, he must be able to talk about the cloths he wears in terms of the materials they are made of and for what part of the body they are intended. However, a child cannot communicate with or question reality if he cannot distinguish forms from each other. In his life world, for example, there are objects that are round, flat and thick but there also are such things as circles, triangles, squares, etc. that are given particular meaning that often emphasizes their function in the everyday life world. A childs acquisition of language, notion of time, orientation and differentiation of forms eventually lead him in his communicating to create his own life world and to make particular judgments. The childs judgments involve matters such as beautiful or ugly, better or worse, etc. and they also lead eventually to the idea of what is right and wrong. The fact that a child has acquired language, has a notion of time, can orient himself in the world, can distinguish forms from each other and can make judgments are evidence to the adult that he has acquired specific insight into a particular reality. When a childs manifested changed relationship to reality and also to time is examined, it is clear that the great scope of the everyday life world and his making it his own by means of his achieving consciousness, it is largely done by actualizing these aspects individually and collectively. Concerning the didactic implications of this, it is obvious that the school subjects are organized in such a way that the constituting communication of the teachers presentation of them serves to help the child actualize his relationship to reality. In this regard, language teaching is conspicuous. In history and related subjects the child is oriented to time. Subjects such as arithmetic, physics, music and literature greatly promote his ability to order and distinguish various forms from each other. Finally, subjects such as religious teaching, guidance and literature help him to decide what is beautiful, ugly, right or wrong. 197

6.4.2 Synthesizing A childs communication with and about reality cannot be realized if he also is not able to synthesize or summarize particular information. In the discussion of objectifying as a category of learning it became clear that the things surrounding a child have a separate identity and particular meaning for him. However, he must be able to synthesize the things around him in order to be able to classify them according to everyday experience. Synthesis leads to concepts that make him much more flexible regarding that reality. A simple example of this is a concept such as path. Path in a childs life world is not merely limited to paved paths; they also are dirt paths, gravel paths, footpaths or little animal paths. The most important aspect of learning in this respect is that the summary or synthesis leads to new insights into and mastery of reality. The synthesis that a child arrives at eliminates his initial naivet: to the extent that what he learns is in time, he will not be satisfied so easily. Syntheses that let the child consciously work through the surrounding reality force him to fathom the essence of the things that appear in his landscape and to add this to his already available knowledge. It does not matter if this occurs perceptually or experientially. What is important is that in these ways he eventually creates a life world. It is important to indicate to the reader that in particular ways constituting, in this respect, enables the child to anticipate reality and to intercept problems that would not be solvable without the synthesis. Synthesis also has a progressive or even prospective character in the sense that it enables the child to unite two experiences such that a third possibility can be constructed from the synthesis. 6.4.3 Revising/changing To the extent that a child is involved in creating a personal life world for himself, he is involved in changing. This change shows itself in that now he manifests a different outlook, attitude or behavior toward reality.

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The changes in the child during the learning act are matters of revision because he continually is involved in changing or revising the image of reality that he has acquired. The revision that he arrives at on the basis of his own insights, relationships, involvements, etc. can be a radical turn-about that affects his religious knowledge and conduct and social-normative actions. On the other hand, this revision brings about a differentiation in already existing insights; this means that they are refined and assimilated in order to establish a changed view of a particular reality. As far as the didactic is concerned, the revision that a child arrives at in learning is of particular significance for the simple reason that if he has learned, he no longer is the samethe reality that he has learned does not leave him untouched. 6.4.4 Lifestyling When a child changes and his relationship to reality has been revised, in constituting his own life world he acquires his own lifestyle. The revision that he arrives at is unique because this is an enlargement and amplification of his own life world. His personality is expressed in his own lifestyle and also is manifested in his act of learning. Quality in his going out to reality is particularly clear in his personal lifestyle: caution, hesitation, forwardness, selfconfidence, recklessness, etc. all are tendencies in his own lifestyle without which his learning could not be realized. In this respect, factors such as character, temperament, social background, etc., and their relationships are strongly emphasized in constituting as a category of learning. 6.4.5 Emancipating Elsewhere it was stated that the younger a child is, the more open he is to reality. A little child naively accepts what an adult presents to him. It also was said that possibly a child never learns as much as in the first six years of life. His open relationship to life is narrowly limited by his achieving consciousness. During the course of time and to the extent that he learns it also is the case that he shows a more closed attitude toward life by which it is clear that he has become more formed and shows better judgment. In this way learning really is a matter of attributing meaning and of progressing to responsible judgments and this assumes that he eventually can make independent choices and decisions.

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In this respect learning is emancipating. In this context, emancipating refers to a child purposefully, but also spontaneously, proceeding to more closely delimit reality and at the same time determine more closely his participation in it. Emancipating in the sense of constituting refers to giving an account of reality and taking a standpoint with respect to it. Ultimately, emancipating refers to the child himself giving an account of and taking responsibility for his actions and relationships to reality. If one now examines constituting as a category of learning along with its different aspects discussed above, it is clear the a child in his achieving directedness to reality eventually is able to give an account of and take responsibility for his actions. Educationally, this means that with respect to the life world he has created or constituted for himself, he is in a position to responsibly answer the demands of the norms that speak in this reality. Where a child can himself answer the demands of norms it is evident that he must be able to judge and criticize himself in his relationship to reality. Thus, the whole question of self-criticism is the grindstone of learning. For this reason it deserves a brief discussion. 6.5 Criticizing

A child grows up in a milieu where norms are central in educating him. For this reason exercising criticism is obvious in educating, teaching and also in learning. To the extent that criticism is involved in educating it is important to indicate that learning is a matter of drawing distinctions and making decisions. For this reason, learning is a matter of making choices so that in this way learning comes under criticism. The core of the matter is the childs dispositiondisposition is the basis of a childs activities and, therefore, it is the first aspect for judging them. Concerning the didactic, the childs disposition in the learning event and how it shows itself there are exceptionally important. Criticizing comes to the foreground early in a childs life. However, it becomes clear in the form of self-criticism when a child is involved in justifying his own actions in connection with the moral authority and judgment of his parents who he imitates in his actions. A child is continually involved in making judgments about his learning activities. 200

Self-criticism of his own learning activities is importaant to understand because learning is a matter of ordering reality and, as such, it is by its nature a question of norms and values. The yardsticks or criteria inferred from these norms and values do not automatically find their way into a childs judging. A criterion functions in learning only if it is explained to and accepted by the learning person. This means a child himself must appropriate the criterion, as such, and apply it in his own judging. For this reason, it is important to understand that a child, where his own critical attitude is not yet possible, continually and readily asks for criticism and judgment from adults. In the course of learning, criticism is exceptionally important because when it does not exist in the child, or outside of him (in the adults), learning stagnates and he cannot progress. However, in the act of learning intentionality or achieving consciousness cannot direct itself against the voice of conscience or against the norms of the milieu in which a child lives. It is in this light that the reader can understand the problem of criticism in the spontaneous learning situation, whether it is now self-criticism or is from outside. The yardsticks and criteria inferred from norms offer achieving consciousness a particular security because a child feels that he is free to investigate the things he experiences in the life world without fear that a moral account is going to be required. This means that, in a moral sense, the achievement is guaranteed by the prevailing criticism so that the learning activity in other terrains, such as practice, can proceed relatively freely. Without this guarantee offered by criticism in this sense, judgments (objectifications) in learning are not possible for a child because his perspective does not arise without considering already existing norms. Here it does not matter whether these are ethical or material norms. The child intensifies the criticism in the learning event by adopting for himself the norms that prevail with respect to things (contents). When this happens it implies that a child uses criticism to give direction to his intention to learn in order to help direct its course. In this context, when criticism is accepted the total human being does so, but a decline is seen in the childs emotional (affective) experiences that are closely connected with the role of criticism in the course of learning. 201

The role of the affective (pathic, emotional) in the progress of the learning event is nowhere clearer than here. The reason is that, in this respect, there also is an inner learning attunement, i.e., an emotional surrender to the appeal of reality in the situation. Surrender is possible because it creates a safe distance from criticism for a child and for achieving consciousness. Once again, here there is harmony between the external climate for learning and the inner attunement to learning. The adult sees this harmony as the childs intense directedness to learning. However, it is important to indicate that the criticism unique to the learning person creates tension in the intentional act and, therefore, also in the learning activity. The reason is that these two matters enter the foreground, namely reality and the possibilities of the situation, and the learning child relates them to each other. In this regard, learning always is a matter of evaluating reality and anticipating possibilities. However, neither evaluating nor anticipating is possible if criticism is not part of the learning. It is obvious that criteria or judgments are necessary for both. Without criticism, the earlier experiences and perceptions of a child are largely isolated and for this reason cannot really contribute to learning. It is important for the teacher to note that the significance of this discussion for the classroom situation is that without criticism the accomplishments of a child and the quality of his activities fade away. For this reason, criticism has two aims in a formal teaching situation: first, it prevents complacency by a child and, second, it maintains a balance of learning with respect to meaningful achievement. Thus, here criticism serves the aim of elevating the level on which achieving consciousness moves. The teacher must take note that criticism is only valuable if it is timely, in accord with the childs readiness, and is clear and distinct. A child cannot intensify or accept vague criticism. A teacher also must be selective in his criticism and direct it in accordance with the aim stated for the learning activity. Irrespective of the conciseness of criticism, the teacher must always remember that a child experiences the criticism as criticism of him as a total person.

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The progress and course of purposive and directed learning become clearer if it is remembered that early in a childs life he experiences that he must comply with certain norms and, therefore, must be subjected to particular criticism. This means that what a child learns to do must be learned and carried out in accordance with certain norms or pronouncements, otherwise there is little learning in a positive sense. Learning activities not directed by norms limit the child instead of providing him room. The aspects, among others, that really are open to criticism are the direction of the learning activities, the meaning of the things that he learns to know, the relationship of the contents that he encounters and the images of reality that he constructs. A childs learning achievement remains provisional and tentative until he has subjected it to criticism. This verifies the achievement, as such, and he then can be accountable for it. The aim of distinguishing and describing these five categories of learning is to provide a more formal explication of the spontaneous, everyday learning acts and activities of a child. A child objectifies the reality surrounding him through perceiving and experiencing, and via implementing language and thinking. However, objectifying reality, as such, is inadequate if a child does not immediately create a new reality for himself. This constituting also is not really valid until he verifies that it is real and valid through criticism. This means that criticism of the spontaneous learning act indicates that the adult shows a formal approach to the spontaneous learning that forces a child to give up his nave activity structure and learn in a purposeful (conscious) way. The five categories of learning taken up in this chapter, namely perceiving, experiencing, objectifying, constituting and criticizing are not necessarily all of the categories there are. It is important for the teacher to be aware of the findings of a general pedagogicalpsychological nature and even findings from the psychology of learning because they also can influence the form of planning a lesson. For this reason, categories from these domains are briefly indicated. 7. A SUMMARY OF PEDAGOGICAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF CATEGORIES OF LEARNING THAT DIRECTLY CONCERN DIDACTIC PRACTICE 7.1 Memorizing and reflecting 203

When a child is consciously and purposefully directed to mastering knowledge that he already has acquired in such a way that he can reproduce it, there is mention of memorizing. Memorizing and reflecting are closely related to each other where reflecting means consciously recalling representations, visual images or already existing knowledge. A child often carries out memorizing and reflecting by repetition. He repeats again and again in order to have particular contents directly and easily available for use in the further course of subsequent learning activities. In this respect, a child has definite limits; for example, he cannot evoke the information immediately or in their entirety. However, he also has definite possibilities, e.g., he easily evokes particular experiences or specific details. In classroom practice, the practice lesson or drill work is the form in with both memorizing and reflecting can be realized. The experimental psychologist of learning believes that there is a very clear relationship regarding the quality and scope of the learning results and whether or not the acquired insights and knowledge have been memorized. 7.2 Fixating Because a learning person in a learning situation is addressed by either a general or specific problem, and to the extent that it demands his attention, he is inclined to deal with the problem with greater concentration or intensity. In this sense one thinks that there is fixating if there is learning. Fixating, as a category of learning, is especially visible when the learning person is emotionally (pathically) involved in the problem. This is because then he is inclined to exclude other things or matters from his field of concentration and to attend only to the problem before him. Then achieving consciousness excludes problems, things or matters for particular attention to which achieving consciousness can be directed. It must be understood that fixating is not necessarily profitable or detrimental for learning; it is only peculiar to it in the sense that the learning activity cannot come to a positive result without it. A concept such as accentuating information in learning explains fixating without which a matter such as constituting is not possible.

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7.3 Analyzing and synthesizing When learning shows itself in thinking, analyzing and synthesizing are two important aspects of the conscious learning activity. Analyzing and synthesizing are reciprocally related and they also mutually influence each other. Analyzing a whole that appears to the learning person always depends on the characteristics on which its sub-parts rest. The implication of this is that pure analysis is not merely directed to investigating the parts, elements, or characteristics of the whole, but it also searches for the mutual relationships or connections among the parts, elements or characteristics. In this way, the analysis is carried out not merely to constitute the whole from its parts, but also to restructure the whole. Restructuring, as such, refers to showing new connections (correlations) among the parts, elements or characteristics and in this respect it also is a matter of synthesis. Thus, a synthesis will form a new, meaningful whole from the parts. 7.4 Integrating When a child learns, there is always an acquisition of knowledge. One sees this in the everyday life world in which a childs expressions make us mindful that the knowledge the child has acquired becomes his own possession, i.e., this knowledge is unique to him. The conclusion is that there can be no learning if a child has not made the knowledge his own possession. Integrating, as a category of learning, means that the learning child has previously acquired amounts of knowledge at his disposal and the newly acquired knowledge is taken up and placed (integrated into) in this already existing whole of knowledge. It is obvious that this integration is not only directed to the intellectual or cognitive aspect of a child but it simultaneously involves his cognitive and affective aspects. Thus, in this way it influences all of the activities of the achieving consciousness. In this sense, integrating once again emphasizes that the total person of the child is involved in learning. 7.5 Restructuring

The concept restructuring is used to show that in the progress of the course of learning, when the learning person has so changed a 205

concrete-visible field or totality of observable data that it now forms a new whole or structure on the basis of abstract insights into the relationships and possibilities that he has shown, there also is learning. To better understand this statement, it is indicated that by an abstract solution to a problem in concrete data, e.g., when a person reads a map in order to visualize the area of the other side of a mountain, the whole-image of the observable data is changed into a new structure. The new structure is formed on the basis of the abstract insight into the matter shown by the learning person. For example, the insight that the map-reader has in contour lines makes it possible for him to infer the topography of the area. 7.6 Reducing

Reducing, as a category of the learning activity, means that the learning person strips a particular matter of everything that is superfluous or incidental so that it can be reduced to its simplest form. It is important to note that fixating along with analyzing and synthesizing, as categories of learning, are attuned to seeing the essences of the matter. When, in learning, a child strips the matter to its essences, he proceeds to analyze complex matters to their most simple or most essential data. He does this on the basis of deducing the relationships that constitute this structure. 7.7 Concentrating

Experience, as well as the findings of the psychology of learning and psychopedagogics, indicates that learning without a doubt is a matter of problem solving. The problem claims the child to such a degree that he must direct his achieving consciousness in such a way and fixate on the problem so that there is mention of concentrating. Thus, a child must show a sustained attentiveness regarding the matter or theme of the learning task so that, especially regarding relationships, he mobilizes all of his powers and possibilities of reflecting and thinking with the aim of an adequate solution. Without concentrating, the course of the learning activity is haphazard. From the nature of the tasks of the formal didactic situation (school situation), a haphazard course of learning is not acceptable. 7.8 Actualizing 206

Actualizing means that the learning person in particular situations recalls contents or knowledge that he previously learned in a haphazard way and uses them to master the data of the new situation. What he previously learned haphazardly he now makes actual for application in the new situation. For example, in everyday experience one haphazardly encounters a person without purposefully striving to learn his name. In a following situation, e.g., when we again encounter the person, he immediately is remembered and we can use (implement) his name so that we can recognize and place him. This means that the name learned incidentally in the first situation is actualized in the second one. In this way, actualizing is evidence that earlier there was learning in a haphazard way. The fact is that there is no learning without actualizing. 7.9 Reproducing

Actualizing and reproducing are closely related to each other. Actualizing has special reference to remembering matters that were learned spontaneously and haphazardly. Reproducing involves recalling something in a new situation that had been previously learned and memorized purposefully. Thus, reproducing especially involves contents or things that the person himself previously had purposefully exercised. For example, here one thinks of a poem that a child had learned by heart or of the times tables. In this sense, reproducing is a form of actualizing but actualizing is not necessarily always a form of reproducing. The reason is that everyday forms of actualizing can occur without any discernible links to consciousness. 7.10 Transferring Actualizing and reproducing can result from repetition but it is not necessarily so. Irrespective of cases where a repetition occurs of an earlier relationship or experience, actualizing a learning effect also can take place as a whole of action that is new to the learning person. In this respect, transferring means that what one has learned in one situation, under certain circumstances, can contribute to the activities in a subsequent situation.

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The fact of transferring means that there is no need for new learning; insights, solutions, methods of solution, etc. from one situation are applied to another to solve a new problem. Transferring also ensures the linking together of subsequent learning activities. 7.11 Anticipating When a person intentionally learns one can note that he often chooses his answers or activity structures on the basis of a totality he is aware of. Thus, a person does not always proceed immediately to analyzing. He selects his answers or activity structures possibly on the basis of some particularities that intrude themselves in his thinking. In the case of a totality, a learner anticipates or runs through the particularities of the whole on which he is working in advance. When he concentrates on the sub-parts of a whole he again anticipates the whole on which he is working. This means that in his learning activity he makes leaps of thought by anticipating aspects of the contents without spending direct time or energy on them. Anticipating is of the greatest significance in learning because it has the consequence of quickly increasing the level of thinking. The reader must understand that the categories of learning are of great significance in a formal didactic situation. He also must note that since the learning activity, as discussed in this chapter, continually is involved with the question of thinking and language, it is not possible to think about the learning activity without the two overarching categories of insight and generalization. Insight is connected with learning to the extent that it also is modified by the immediate grasp of the relationships among matters and the connections, causes and functions of a particular event or activity. There can be little or no learning if there is no insight. Generalizing also is connected with learning because the learner continually recognizes that the valid findings of one matter or situation are valid for another related matter or situation. This means that the learner continually draws connections, makes applications and in his generalizing he works through to generally valid findings that help him to understand and clarify for himself the essence of the matter with which he is working. For these reasons, insight and generalizing arise to a greater or lesser degree

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with all of the categories mentioned and in working through the categories of learning, the reader must always keep this in mind. The explication presented here of the categories of learning, in the first place, is focused on because, separately and together, they directly influence the ground forms of teaching. By restudying the teaching forms in Chapter 4, the reader notices that there is frequent reference to the learning phenomenon in the childs spontaneous going out to reality and the forms of spontaneous teaching that the parent creates in order to realize or actualize learning.

Because a teacher in a second-order or formal teaching situation (school situation) cannot exceed the forms of teaching of the original teaching situation in the family, he must know the essences (categories) of the learning activity before he can establish the most effective teaching forms for the child and select particular content for the lesson situation. The relationship, and especially the harmony between the lesson form a teacher chooses to unlock particular contents for a child is determined by the learning activity that can most clearly be directed to the essences of the contents in that lesson form. In the following chapter an explication is given of the aspects of the theory that a teacher interprets in a particular lesson situation to guarantee, as far as is possible, positive learning results. In Chapter 7 an explication is offered of the theoretical source of the different aspects of various aspects of lessons that, in their eventual integration, guarantee the good progress of teaching. The reader will note how emphasis was placed on the mutual effect of learning and the teaching form and how a teacher must set about to guarantee bringing about the harmony between the two in order to guarantee the eventual learning achievement of a child.

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CHAPTER 7 THE LESSON STRUCTURE

1. INTRODUCTION In the previous chapters, a scientific description was given of the various aspects of a teaching situation. The aim of this chapter is to interpret these findings and apply them to actual teaching situations. In order to describe a teaching activity (the task of didactics) a didactician must bring it to a standstill, so to speak. Only then can he systematically determine and validly synthesize the essences of this activity. The understanding reached in this way enables a theoretician to advise and guide a teacher in planning a lesson. In contrast to this, a teacher plans a particular lesson for particular children and he chooses particular contents (learning material) for them. His lesson especially shows a dynamism, i.e., its shows movement in time. This dynamism is seen in a teachers guiding/accompanying a child from a not knowing and not being able to a knowing and being able until he becomes adulteducative teaching does not continue beyond that time [although teaching does]. Therefore, a teachers task is to establish a teaching practice out of his scientific knowledge of teaching (didactic knowledge) by particularizing and interpreting it for a specific teaching situation; this is because the theoretical always refers to the general while, in his practice of teaching, he is always involved with the particular. However, it also is true that a didactic theory does not always remain on a strictly abstract level but in its findings it moves closer to practice. This essentially means that each didactic theory eventually results in a particular practice simply because the theory describes a piece of practice that eventually must be put into motion again. A valid theory must always be able to become a practice. The essential relationship between theory and practice is contained in this statement because theory without practice is lifeless and easily degenerates into mere speculation while practice without theory is usually sterile and unable to account for or improve itself. The conduit from theory to practice or the juncture

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between them is called a lesson structure. It is in terms of a lesson structure that a teacher is able to interpret a theory for practice, and especially for his particular practice. From the above it is clear that each didactic theory must necessarily result in a lesson structure so that it is a lesson structure that can provide a justification for a teaching practice. If various didactic theories are examined, we see that each has it own lesson structure. A lesson structure provides a course, as it were, by which a theory is actualized (made actual or real) in practice. A very clear example of this is a behaviorist theory of learning (as a one-sided theory of teaching) that maintains that a human being learns by correct responses to particular stimuli being rewarded. Even though this theory of learning is not a didactic theory, as such, it does have didactic consequences because, according to it, the didactic task (especially regarding method) is to construct lesson situations where the correct responses of children to certain stimuli are strengthened so that they will learn. A lesson structure stemming from this learning theory is so-called programmed instruction (see Chapter 10: Teaching strategies, programmed instruction). Unfortunately, each didactic theory does not have the same point of departure; in fact, they often have contrasting and even contradictory points of departure. This explains why there are so many teaching models and lesson structures; this diversity is confusing to a student teacher. The point of departure for the lesson structure described in this chapter is described in the first six chapters. The aim here is to view the concept lesson structure more closely so that the pronouncements about it that follow will not be confusing. 2. THE CONCEPT LESSON STRUCTURE The concept structure (derived from the Latin structurato build) refers to the origin or beginning of something. In this context, lesson structure means the origin or beginning of the activity we call giving a lesson. But even more, structure also means acting in order to combine or constitute. This means that a lesson structure is the origin or beginning and presumes the combination

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of related aspects. This origin or beginning is not easy to indicate because so many particularities, opinions, standpoints, etc. have arisen that the origin, basis, point of beginning or primary facts are glossed over. This theme is returned to later. As far as the lesson of the lesson structure is concerned, it has been practiced for centuries in one or another form of teaching. The concept lesson is closely related to the concept read (Latin: lectio to read). Through religious practice it later acquired the meaning of reading part of the Bible to someone during public worship. The contemporary meaning of teaching had its origin in this aspect of instruction and in the course of time it acquired a school meaning. This meaning of the word also is linked to the rise of the book publishing industry because a teacher or docent had read from the manuscript for his pupils. Thus, the original meaning of the word lesson is much broader than the meaning given to it in school. And yet the concept lesson is the hub of the activities that occur in school and that, therefore, gives schooling its particular character. However, it would be scientifically impossible and even unaccountable to deduce the origin or beginning (structure) of a lesson from schooling or search for it there. In its essence, schooling is a reconstitution of the original activity of teaching that shows itself in the spontaneous and nave educative activities in the home (See Chapters 2 and 3). Teaching in a family situation, that carries educating and makes it possible, thus is the place or source or beginning where a lesson has its origin and where its meaning must be found by a teacher. Although a child also is educated outside of the home, it is in the home situation where one originally experiences educating; the original experience, then, is the ground or source of a lesson structure. The reason for this judgment is the unbreakable relation between educating and teaching that was discussed before. This briefly amounts to the fact that the parent in the family situation educates his child in terms of particular contents (norms, customs, attitudes, habits, skills, etc.). A parent does this to try to attain a particular educative effect that actually amounts to increasing his childs adulthood. We say a parent unlocks the contents for his

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child; he unlocks the meaning and thus the sense of the contents for his child. This activity of unlocking is a pure act of teaching. This means that as there is educating there is teaching, or, as previously discussed, teaching carries and initiates educating; i.e., teaching makes educating possible, and in this respect is the only way to educate. It is in the original educative situation that teaching shows its purest appearance. Consequently, we can say that teaching shows itself most purely and clearly in the original experience of educating. A teacher who now wants to establish practice necessarily must go to the original experience of the activity of educating in order to build on the source of the lesson. While a parent educates his child he is involved in indicating certain things to him, explaining, making connections, drawing conclusions, including the demands that arise in assignments for a child to interpret, etc. In the activity of educating a parent covers the entire width and even depth of what we understand by a lesson. But he does this spontaneously when a childs actions require specific (educative) intervention by the parent until he is satisfied with the quality of his childs actions (the quality of the educative effect). In addition, the way a parent acts in an educative situation is mainly grounded in his knowledge of his child and his abilities that he is intuitively attuned to. It is in this sense that we say that a parents teaching in an educative situation is nave, because by the nature of things few parents have made a study of pedagogics and their children nevertheless are educated well. However, a teacher cannot just spontaneously give a lesson (i.e. professional spontaneity cannot be characteristic of the practice in a classroom); he must present his lessons at set times and places for particular children and in terms of particular contents. This implies that where a parents teaching is spontaneous, a teachers is planned. This planning of a lesson also is not possible along purely intuitive lines (although it is true that a good teacher has a refined intuition). A teacher has always studied both pedagogics and didactics before he is allowed to teach professionally.

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In light of the above and by way of a summary, the lesson structure cannot be sought in any area other than the original experience of educating. Now, if a teacher looks at the everyday practice of educating in order to try to unravel the source of the lesson structure, what is it that he sees in this educative situation? In other words, what is it in the original educative situation that provides the fundamental facts or grounds from which to restructure the lesson structure? 3. THE PRIMARY FACTS THAT THE ORIGINAL EXPERIENCE OF EDUCATING PROVIDES TO THE LESSON STRUCTURE We know that a large number of details and particulars concerning the educative practice in the home make it a complex situation to describe accurately. However, there are aspects of this original situation that appear universally; that is, they are the same for all educative activities for all people. Hence, one can provisionally set aside all incidental details in order to concentrate only on the essences of the educative activity, insofar as they concern teaching and, thus, the lesson structure. Each educative activity occurs in terms of contents. These contents include such things as values, norms, morals, customs, manners, attitudes, etc. and all are a direct reflection of and benefit to the life- and world-view of the adults (parents). Parents decide on the contents in the sense that, from the totality of reality, they choose certain contents and arrange them into a particular hierarchy of values according to their own life- and world-view. These contents chosen, in the first place, serve as a means for elucidating a parents life- and world-view. However, it must be noted that these contents do not allow educating to occur; they must be taught. Indeed, educating occurs in terms of contents simply because a parent cannot educate a child in terms of nothing. It is a parent who allows educating to occur. Although the quality of a childs behavior in a particular situation appeals to a parent to intervene, it is a parent who takes the initiative in educating. He recognizes his childs educative distress in that he behaves inadequately; it is an activity that, in a parents judgment (on the basis of his life- and world-view) does not meet the demands of

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propriety. This means that every educative activity must have both an educative aim and an educative course. The coherence between the educative aim and its course assumes a certain relationship between parent and child. This relationship is broadly described as educative support or aid a parent offers his child so that the latters lifestyle can change. This change is an educative effect. Where there is not an adequate educative effect, a parent repeats the educating until his child shows a more responsible and accountable relationship to reality in his actions. A parent certainly does not want his child to be considered uneducated. In the original experience of educating, there are especially two aspects that are particularly important for teaching and that already have been mentioned, namely contents and form in which a childs change in lifestyle is cast. A parent carefully chooses the contents he is going to use as means for giving a particular form to his childs lifestyle. It is true that one can teach a child to tell lies and to threaten, but this would not meet the demands of propriety so fundamental to all educative aims. The contents are chosen in accordance with accountable life- and world-view criteria because they also are the means by which a child must eventually make independent choices and decisions outside of an educative situation. In this respect, the contents serve as means for giving form to a particular lifestyle. The educative aim mentioned above is thus directed to bringing about a childs forming; a childs lifestyle has to take on a specific form that must be in accord with the parents educative aim. Apart from this, the educative activity has a course that can be recognized by its form. This course is characterized by communication: the parent speaks and the child listens; the parent indicates and the child observes; the parent gives assignments that the child carries out; the parent plays for and with the child so later he can play by himself; the parent makes use of examples so that the child can learn to deal with complex structures, etc. Thus the parent and child are in communication with each other about the contents. In this respect, the course of educating has just as much impact as the contents and form in changing a childs lifestyle. This course also provides information for our understanding of the structure of

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teaching that occurs in an educative situation. They are nodal points or foundation stones, as it were, of our understanding of teaching because without insight into the relationships among the form, contents and course of the educative situation, their significance for teaching (and, therefore, also for the lesson structure) cannot be understood. In summary, a penetration of the original experience of educating provides a teacher with the following beacons in terms of which he can better understand teaching: an educative aim that is the basis for a teaching aim; the form in which a childs change in lifestyle must be cast, as well as the form of the course of educating that, for the educator, makes the form of the lesson accessible; and the contents of educating that provide for the choice of teaching contents. These three aspects (aim. form and contents) must be examined more closely before their possibilities for educative teaching activities can be placed in view. The reason is that the aim, form and contents provide the meaning, the actualization and the themes of teaching while functionalizing (implementing) them defines the course of a lesson (i.e., the phases of a lesson). 3.1 The teaching aim It is important to be clear about the concept teaching because an explication of the teaching aim and everything related to it necessarily is grounded in an insight into the essence of teaching. The word teach is derived from taecan (Old English) that means to show. In everyday usage teach also means to direct; to impart knowledge or art to; to guide the studies of; to exhibit so as to impress upon the mind; to accustom; to counsel. These derivatives emphasize the activity of the teacher. The German word Unterricht, on the other hand, contains both the teaching and learning activities of which a teaching situation is essentially composed. The first part of the word, unter, means together and richt means to show. Therefore, the concept Unterricht literally means to show together. The adult shows or indicates the path a child is to take to eventually reach adulthood, but he does this in close conjunction with a childs will and desire to become an adult himself. The way

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adulthood can be attained is revealed by the learning contents. This means that a teacher and a child are both involved in the learning contents in a teaching situation. A parent teaches his child with the definite aim in view of helping and supporting him to eventually become an adult. The child responds to this appeal by learning because he wants to be grownup himself. A child wants to, is able to and ought to become adult and this is actually a precondition for teaching to occur. The fact that a child should learn in every teaching situation gives rise to the expectation that each teaching situation will have a learning aim. This means that a teacher must include a teaching aim in his preparation and that it must be directed at the childrens learning activities. It is in this sense that the teaching aim initiates the event that makes the learning aim possible. In other words, the lesson aim initiates and directs the teaching activity in such a way that realizing the learning aim is possible; the lesson aim is viewed as the narrower concept because attaining the learning aim reaches further and really describes the learning effect of the teaching. As noted above there is a t eaching aim that an adult has in mind and that he tries to realize in the teaching situation, the ultimate aim of which is a childs adulthood. This aim involves the responsibility the teacher takes for the entire planning of the teaching situation. This teaching aim is differentiated into a lesson and a learning aim. The lesson aim typifies the role that the teacher takes in so far as this concerns the presentation of teaching contents. The learning aim refers to the role that the children are going to take in order to bring about real learning (or teaching) results. A student teacher must understand that the teaching contents join the lesson and learning aims together and, therefore, that the lesson aim, by means of contents, enables a child to achieve the learning aim. It also is so that because a teacher has an aim for the lesson situation that he anticipates in his preparation of it, he must be able to account for the way the children will realize the learning aim with his guidance and support. This means that his activities in the classroom must, as far as possible, guarantee that the children will learn. In addition, a teachers lesson aim must flow into a learning

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aim; this indicates a direct relationship between the lesson- and learning-aim and contents. Consequently, the purpose of the following section is to further explain the relationship between the teaching aim (i.e., lesson and learning aims) and the learning contents. 3.2 The relationship between teaching aim and learning contents

Learning contents have always been of particular importance for didactics. Mainly the emphasis has fallen on a teachers relationship to the learning contents having enjoyed attention in the sense that if a teacher has a thorough command of them and if he can explain, order, systematize, etc. and interpret them at the level of a childs understanding and readiness then the idea is that satisfactory teaching will result. These aspects of a teachers role are extremely important in a lesson situation. As far as learning contents are concerned, a teacher does not have much choice regarding the themes he is to teach because they are prescribed in the form of the syllabus or scheme of work he is given. But this does not exonerate him from the teaching responsibility to choose the specific contents to be taught in a lesson. The overemphasis of learning contents in traditional didactics can be attributed to the fact that the point of departure of such a theory is the lesson situation in the school. With this, the equilibrium between form and contents, as exists in the original experience of educating, is overlooked. In addition to being able to account for the form of his lesson, a teachers primary responsibility regarding learning contents is to mobilize every possibility to unlock their meaning or sense for a child. He must explain and interpret their meaning so a child can understand these contents and make them his own. Discovering and understanding the meaning of the contents is a childs primary learning task. A child himself must discover the meaning that is inherent to the contents a teacher presents. This means that a teacher and a child cannot treat the contents arbitrarily. Where this happens, a teacher will not be able to

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account for his teaching and the child will not display the motivation to learn that will result in adequate learning. This is why a teachers task and responsibility to expose the inherent meaning of the contents for a child are so important. This also means that everything that occurs in a lesson situation must be provided for in a teachers preparation with the primary aim that the inherent meaning of the contents will be exposed. This aspect of the relationship between the teaching aim and the learning contents emphasizes a teachers responsibility. If he does not know what the teaching situation is all about, a child cannot discover the meaning of the contents by himself. As far as the role of a child in a lesson situation with respect to the contents, a few aspects have been noted above. A childs role is eventually explicated more completely when the didactic modalities are discussed later in this chapter and it also is attended to when the learning aim is considered. If one analyzes the activities of a teacher, it is clear that he must be able to account for the following regarding the learning contents: reducing the contents; formulating the problem that will give direction to the learning activity; and ordering the contents. 3.3 Reducing the contents

Reducing means turning back to an original or primary matter where opinions, deductions, standpoints, etc. are provisionally put aside. In other words, reducing means to simplify something to its most elementary form (See discussion of the elementals in Chapter 5); it means to simplify contents in order to identify and expose what is essential. For example, one could reduce an equation in mathematics to its simplest form or reduce a complex phenomenon to its components. In a lesson, reducing is concerned with contents and in this context it is a teachers responsibility to reduce them to their essentials that expose and explain their meaning. Reducing is, as it were, a purification of the facts so that the elementals, that carry or clarify their meanings for a child, are all

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that are left. The understanding and insight a teacher aims for are only possible if a child understands these clarifying elementals. Therefore, a teacher must be able to differentiate between the essentials and non-essentials of the learning contents because reducing them is of particular significance for realizing the learning aim. Reducing the contents implies fundamental subject matter knowledge by a teacher and for the following reasons: The learning contents are part of a childs life world because they originate in the contents of living. All learning contents encompass or include the whole of the contents of living, for instance, from the concrete to the abstract (irrespective of the teaching subject) and all knowledge has a historical origin. In other words, all knowledge has a scientific discovery and description. These contents appear as school subjects in the lesson situation. A teacher, in fact, is in a position to make the first scientific description of reality as far as a child is concerned. Ordering the life world in school subjects enables a teacher to explain phenomena, happenings and perceptions to a child that he is aware of. Explaining (understanding) a phenomenon is vested in its essences (that only can be brought to the surface by careful and rigorous analysis). In this way the essentials are identified and the non-essentials ignored because they do not contribute to understanding the phenomenon. They are superfluous in a teaching situation because they obscure rather than clarify the contents. A good explanation does not rest on many facts but on relevant ones. A teacher can easily jeopardize positive learning results if he tries to teach too many facts in one lesson. Analyzing the matter (contents) in accordance with the learning aim will indicate which facts will carry a childs insight and understanding. Therefore, a teacher must continually ask: What must a child know to really get to the root of the matter? This implies fundamental subject matter knowledge because a teacher must take up the essences of the matter not only in his lesson structure but

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the course or sequence of a lesson must be planned such that his pupils can be guided to a fundamental mastery of the contents. The fact that the contents already appeared somewhere in a childs life world and the fact that a teacher must reduce them to their essences are preconditions for giving direction to a childs learning activity. However, before the learning can bear fruit a teacher must express these essences or basic facts in words. His formulations give the contents a meaningful, comprehensive and clear image because they are described in language that is understandable to children of their level of development. Knowledge (as laws, points, of view, judgments, etc.) is usually the result of scientific work that a child will not understand if explained in scientific terminology. Language that is beyond a childs grasp at a certain level of development obscures the contents and confuses him. This means that a teacher unlocks reality for the sake of the pupils and in order to place the contents within their reach he must use the language of the children. This responsibility makes certain demands of a teachers mobility in the subject because without it he simply cannot formulate clearly, with the result that his teaching is often in vain.

In addition to these three fundamental aspects of reducing the learning contents with the aim of realizing the lesson aim that must culminate in the learning aim, there are other aspects (mentioned previously) that must be taken into account. The essences of the contents resulting from their reduction are not isolated from each other but constitute a logical, chronological or interrelated whole that determines the solution of the whole of the lesson problem. The intertwining of the essences into an interconnected whole does not occur by itself but must be planned by a teacher in accordance with his pupils potentialities. Teaching the relationships between the essences establishes the line of reasoning or insight and is done in such a manner that a child is involved with a teacher in relating or structuring the essences in order to find a solution to the lesson problem.

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The essences and their interrelationships must still be interpreted in the sense that a teacher must place them in related contexts, he must explain them or make certain pronouncements regarding their nature, importance and meaning. The inherent meanings of the learning contents acquire proper form in his interpretations. This aspect is one of the most important considerations in reducing the learning contents without which a lesson structure cannot be established. 4. STATING THE PROBLEM In the usual classroom practice a teacher merely announces the theme of the lesson as it is prescribed in his scheme of work. This practice cannot progress meaningfully from a lesson aim, via reducing the contents, to a learning aim and eventually to positive or significant learning results because the learning contents are not necessarily a meaningful and ordered whole in a childs life world. Consequently, he cannot give much meaning to a lesson theme that is merely announced. Within the scheme of work, as a refinement of the syllabus, there are many themes. These themes can have a certain order in the sense that a child must first understand a previous theme before moving to the next. This structure or order often leads a teacher astray in that he easily assumes that a child has the previous themes at his fingertips and that the mere announcement of a new theme will evoke burning enthusiasm from a child. Nothing is further from the truth. Experience and scientific research indicate that learning occurs most effectively when a child is led to experience a very definite problem. Therefore, it is a teachers task to present a problem to a child that is inherent to the theme but in accord with his level of development. In this way, he can ensure that a child experiences the problem as worthy of being solved. A theme, as such, does not announce or present a problem. A teacher must make the theme a problem. The idea is not to pose a problem for every lesson. In the primary classes, where learning contents are offered in small units, a problem for every lesson is feasible. In the secondary classes it often is the case that the problem is solved only after a series of classes covering lessons. As

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far as this aspect is concerned, there also is a difference from subject to subject. Hence, the number of problems presented also depends on the nature of the subject. In addition to the various possibilities mentioned, it is generally accepted that a lesson or series of lessons cannot function as a unity without a problem and that positive learning effects also cannot be achieved without a lesson problem. The essence of stating a problem is that a teacher places, integrates it into a childs world of meaning. To be able to do this implies ingenuity, insight, fundamental subject matter knowledge, the ability to reduce the contents, the ability to interpret and synthesize them, and, last but not least, knowledge of the child on the part of a teacher. Stating a problem awakens a childs learning intention (directedness to learning). Explaining contents (that now function as finding a solution to a problem) focuses the learning intention directly on meaningful learning results in order to ensure that the progression from the lesson aim to the learning aim occurs. As in the case of the essences and their interrelationships, a teacher must formulate a problem in such a way that it falls within the linguistic and cognitive potentialities of his pupils. A problem must function meaningfully, grippingly and questioningly in a teaching situation. It must awaken a questioning attitude in the pupils. Without being involved in the contents by means of a problem, in effect a child is isolated from them. Hence, a teacher must carefully consider and plan this aspect of his lesson because creating a questioning attitude by stating a problem is a precondition for a childs meaningful participation in the exposition of the contents. 5. ORDERING Because ordering contents has been treated comprehensively in Chapter 5, only those aspects that must be emphasized in a lesson structure are discussed here. New or unknown contents really are chaotic for a child because for him they are not yet ordered. Thus, a teachers task is to order the unknown contents for a child in such a way that they eventually can become permanent possessions of his.

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The meaning of the contents and the meaning of ordering are closely related to each other. This means that the forms of ordering are vested in the unique nature of the learning contents; e.g., contents that are directly available in the life world require a different ordering than contents that are more abstract. However, it is not only the nature of the contents that influences the form of ordering but so will a childs level of development and a teachers learning aim and the way he plans to present the contents. Since ordering is also dealt with comprehensively later in this chapter, here it is sufficient to indicate that ordering already arises in the first association between teacher and pupil; a teacher must keep this in mind and always pay close attention to the problem of ordering otherwise his teaching cannot eliminate the chaos. In the following chapter on preparing a lesson, it is indicated how these contributing aspects of ordering the learning material speak to a teacher and allow him to be able to account for his practice. At this stage it is once again important for a student teacher to orient himself with respect to the way an analysis of the original experience of educating culminates in a lesson structure. This analysis emphasizes the importance of conscious aims in teaching, reducing the contents to their essences, stating a problem to awaken and direct a childs learning intention and ordering the contents in order to deal with them responsibly. All of these matters must be included in a lesson structure and serve as the basis for a teachers planning. Individually and collectively these aspects provide the meaning of and the conditions for effective teaching. However, they are not enough to ensure accountable teaching because a teacher also must be able to account for the lesson form in which he is going to cast the lesson event. 6. LESSON FORM Didactic ground-forms A child is always taught and educated by means of contents. Contents are not always directly available and therefore a teacher must consider various means for placing the absent reality within a

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childs field of vision. The activity of teaching is brought into motion the moment contents are introduced. In this sense teaching is directly concerned with introducing contents, but in such a way that a child will gladly and willingly participate in the situation. This means that the contents must be presented in such a way that a child will become involved in a lesson by learning. The question in this context is: In what ways is it possible for a teacher to introduce the teaching contents in a classroom to ensure that the children will become involved and learn? The most obvious and certainly the best know way is by means of language. The symbolic, contained in language, enables a teacher to place meanings (symbols) within a childs grasp by means of conversation. In other words, by means of language, absent reality, that so often is the learning contents, can be made present. This means a teacher can tell the children about the contents. If the contents are concretely available, allowing its manipulation, a teacher can guide the children to play with the objects in order to become familiar with them. It is also possible for a teacher to help the children become familiar with certain contents by means of carefully and clearly formulated a ssignments, e.g., to make something, to do something, to carry out an activity, etc. If it is possible, a teacher can bring an object into a classroom, e.g., a model, in order for it to serve as an e xample of the teaching contents. A teacher knows full well how excited a child can become if he is directly confronted with an object! Conversation, play, giving assignments and using examples were previously mentioned as the ways that a teacher uses to allow a child to become involved with the contents. These ways have been fully described in Chapter 4 (and Chapter 6) as didactic groundforms. They originate in everyday human forms of living. In the original experience of educating we see that a parent uses these forms of living to educate his child: he converses with him, tells him things, asks him about his experiences, allows him to talk about his own experiences; he plays with him, and helps children to play with one another, he demonstrates certain play activities to his child (here one thinks of traditional folk dances that are taught in this way); a parent also gives his child certain assignments, he insists on a certain routine in carrying out tasks; he makes use of examples,

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models, samples, specimens, etc. in order to explain things. (A father who helps his son make a kite is, in fact, involved in the basic principles of aerodynamics). When we penetrate the original experience of educating we notice that a parent integrates these forms of aiding and supporting with the forms in which his childs learning activities are expressed: Forms in which a childs learning activities are expressed Observing Playing Talking Imitating Fantasizing Working Repeating The ways a parent aids and assists his child

Pointing out, indicating Playing to, playing with Prompting Demonstrating Narrating, telling Assigning, instructing Repeating

We can classify the forms in which a childs learning activities are expressed and the ways a parent aids and assists his child under the four didactic ground-forms of play, conversation, example and assignment. For a teacher, the above implies that he must present the learning contents in such a way that a lesson situation results in effective learning. Effective learning is a result of the harmony established in a lesson situation between the contents (including their nature) and the most suitable forms that can be used to present them. The form is the basis of the teaching methods a teacher uses to unlock or present the contents to a child, taking his level of readiness into account. The form must place the contents in a childs grasp in such a way that they awaken and direct his learning intention. Therefore, the form of a lesson is just as important as the contents. In addition to contents, a teacher also must prepare the form of a lesson. In addition to the contents, the form is also part of a teachers lesson aim. This aspect of the lesson structure will

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possibly become clearer in the following chapter that deals with the problem of preparing a lesson. This very brief description of the lesson form should be read along with Chapter 4 where a comprehensive discussion of the didactic ground-forms is given as well as their methodological possibilities. Besides the didactic ground-forms, it is of vital importance whether a teachers point of departure is particular data in order to arrive at general conclusions or the reverse. A point of departure from the general to the particular ((deduction) gives a lesson a different form than does a point of departure from the particular to the general (inductive). Since a teacher must choose either an inductive or a deductive approach, they deserve closer examination. 7. THE INDUCTIVE AND DEDUCTIVE APPROACH In contemporary teaching practice, there is a close connection between the inductive and deductive approaches and certain forms of teaching such as the exemplary. Exemplary teaching is discussed separately in Chapter 12. In this context, it is important to mention that the knowledge explosion (especially technological knowledge) must also be taken up and reflected in the school. Encyclopedic knowledge is impossible: a child is simply not capable of understanding or remembering everything the knowledge explosion has made available. For this reason the didactic premise and aim is understanding rather than memorizing. In order to achieve this aim, a teacher looks for examples (that, in themselves, are valid for the matter they represent) to enable a child to acquire insight into the totality of the matter. A teacher can choose a particular example or examples to represent something general and then, together with the children, reduce the example to establish or disclose its inherent essences, fundamental reality, general rule or general law. A law, rule or essences appear through analyzing different examples. This kind of lesson is inductive by nature. The inductive approach, then, puts a lesson in motion by examining one or several examples in order to arrive at a general conclusion. In a lesson situation, this approach manifests itself when a teacher investigates an on hand example with the

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children; they analyze and reduce it to eventually synthesize its essences into a conclusion, law or rule. Where a general principle, rule, law, theorem, proposition, hypothesis, etc. is taken as the point of departure and is explained and applied, a teacher is proceeding deductively. Thus, the deductive approach is the opposite of the inductive method. The important difference is that in the deductive approach, the point of departure is a conclusion, deduction, theorem, definition or rule that is examined by means of particular examples that serve as illustrations of the general starting point. The inductive and deductive are in fact organizational procedures or schemes used by a teacher in the design and course of his lesson for the realization of insight by the children. In this respect, they are more than methods and they qualify as methodological principles. The deductive approach aims at applying general principles to a number of data and making correct deductions. The inductive approach departs from a specific experiential fact that, after it is examined thoroughly, eventually leads to establishing a general concept or rule. It is important for a teacher to understand that the inductive or deductive approach cannot be chosen arbitrarily; the choice of methodological principle must be in accordance with the nature of the contents and the level of a childs readiness. Where a child has not yet developed to the level of abstract thinking, insight will probably be much more effective if conclusions are drawn from an example or number of examples, i.e., if the approach is inductive. The inductive approach is more functional in arriving at insight into certain contents than the deductive approach. The deductive approach often has the danger that a child simply memorizes the theorem, law or rule. The inductive approach has the advantage that it coincides with meaningful analysis that leads to selfdiscovery, i.e., a child is led to think for himself and to formulate his findings by himself. Especially in language, literature and music teaching, the inductive approach has a greater advantage than the deductive, especially when unlocking or teaching new contents.

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However, the inductive approach is not always functional in establishing insights in trigonometry because all rules/theorems of trigonometry are deduced from fundamental axioms. In the natural sciences one can distinguish between so-called inductive subjects that have open systems where rules, laws, etc. are formed by induction. Good examples are physics, biology, chemistry and geography. Other subjects have a more deductive character in terms of the more closed system they represent and in which the rules are arbitrary or definitions are made or conclusions are drawn from other rules, e.g., mathematics and logic. As far as the humanities are concerned (that in contrast to the natural sciences are basically multi-formed and diverse), the choice of an inductive or deductive approach is based on the question of which one of the two methodological principles will ensure the most effective learning activities. The inductive methodological principle is by its nature a slower approach, making a slower teaching tempo mandatory. It guarantees a permanent grasp of the contents and entails a wide variety of modes of learning. A younger child experiences greater security in this approach because his learning activities depart from the concrete objects of his everyday surroundings. In the higher classes, the inductive approach is usually used only to introduce a new theme because the scope of the syllabus demands a quicker tempo. In contrast, the deductive approach has a quicker tempo because already established insights are implemented. The security that is at the foundation of a childs learning activity is established by a teachers control of the quality of a childs insight and conclusions he draws. The effective use of one or both of these methodological principles, even their interchange within the same lesson, depends on a teachers experience, his subject knowledge, the readiness and tempo of his pupils and the didactic ground-form(s) a teacher has chosen for his lesson. If a teacher chooses the example as didactic ground-form, he will necessarily have to use the inductive principle. It is clear that the didactic ground-forms and their related teaching methods, as well as

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the methodological principles of induction and deduction will give a particular form to a lesson or series of lessons. The principles in terms of which the learning contents are arranged or ordered in a lesson will also influence its form and thus deserves closer attention. 8. PRINCIPLES FOR ARRANGING OR ORDERING CONTENTS It has been mentioned that learning contents are primary aspects of a lesson that a teacher must account for in preparing his lesson. He takes the particular lesson theme from his work scheme that establishes systematically the contents of a particular subject for a year for particular pupils on a certain level of readiness and type of school. His task is to make the particular theme understandable for each child in his class. In examining the specific contents, a teacher seeks to establish their essences, key concepts, possible problems that could hinder insight, different points of view on the contents in order to anticipate the childrens problems, etc. A teacher knows that a childs learning activity is brought into motion and given direction by a problem. Therefore, he sifts and evaluates the essences of the contents in terms of a childs prior knowledge for possibilities and opportunities to present the contents by means of a problem. He also realizes that the contents are unknown or strange to the children in the sense that they are not yet arranged or ordered which restricts their insight into and overview of the contents. The implication is that the contents must be arranged or ordered by a teacher in such a way that the children can follow and understand his explanations. If the contents are not ordered in accordance with a childs level of readiness they easily lose direction. Well-ordered contents ensure a steadiness of direction and security in a childs exploration of the contents. Apart from a childs readiness, the nature and structure of a subject influences the ordering of the learning material because each subject has its own intrinsic ordering. The primary task of a teacher is to guide the children so that they experience the contents as meaningful in that they can attribute

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their own meaning to them. For this reason it is important for a teacher to know whether the children are capable of abstract thinking. Are the steps to be followed to gain authentic insight gradual or can these children manage a steeper gradient by themselves? Can they stay only on level or smooth ground and reach the heights only by roundabout and devious routes? These questions lead a teacher to choose certain didactic ground-forms that should enable him to order the contents in such a way that the children will achieve what they ought to. The question now is: How can learning material be ordered? If we consider subjects and themes that occur in time (history, religious instruction, language history) then a chronological order is apparent: an event that took place previously must first be dealt with before a subsequent one can be understood. Certain themes in geography (e.g., geomorphology, aspects of climatology and economic geography) are ordered chronologically in order to emphasize and maintain the principle of causality that is basic to them. Contemporary history teaching has a tendency to take a well-known modern situation as the point of departure in order to identify an equivalent situation in history: the aim is to better understand and evaluate historical occurrences. This kind of ordering is known as the principle of symbiotic ordering (sym=with, bios=live). Biology, physics, chemistry and subjects where skill is of primary importance often use this principle of ordering. The didactic ground-forms of play and example seem well suited to this principle. Where, however, an analysis must be made of the factors responsible for an historical event, the aim of the analysis is to arrive at a synthesis that implies a building up of ideas. This is referred to as l inear ordering: the relevant material is examined on one level and along one line of reasoning. Example, as a didactic ground-form, is used effectively with this principle of ordering. Play, as didactic ground-form, is equally important here because it is the basis of the experiment that figures prominently in linear ordering. Although the didactic ground-forms of example and play are clearly correlated with the chronological and linear principles of ordering, the contents also can be effectively analyzed and

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synthesized by using assignments and conversation, as didactic ground-forms. In addition to the chronological and linear principles of ordering, there are the divergent, spiral and concentric principles. These principles were discussed briefly in Chapter 4. The divergent principle has as its point of departure a chosen central point that then is systematically extended to relevant themes. Divergent ordering is especially important in tasks and projects and is well illustrated by a wheel with its hub and spokes. The spiral and concentric principles of ordering are closely related in the sense that concentric ordering is a principle used in constructing a curriculum and it means that the same contents arise in subsequent years of study, but each time they are broader and deeper in scope and difficulty [while spiral ordering really is the way of ordering the learning contents that allows the concentric to occur]. By means of spiral ordering the children are guided from the most elementary to the most difficult and complex contents. In mathematics teaching spiral ordering actually reflects the nature of this subject. In penetrating the form of a lesson situation, there were successive discussions of the didactic ground-forms, the methodological principles and the principles of ordering the learning material. The ways these aspects determine the form of a lesson were also discussed. An aspect that was suggested but not clarified is how the methods of teaching give particular form to a lesson. 9. TEACHING METHODS The correlations among the didactic ground-forms, the methodological principles and ordering principles were emphasized above. Furthermore, these correlations and especially the emphasis that these various aspects are given depend on the nature of the contents and the readiness of the children to be taught. Teaching methods must also be viewed in this context. What is important here is that the nature of the contents can influence the preference for a ground-form and a method or

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combination of methods for unlocking or presenting the contents. If one examines the ground-forms and their methodological possibilities, one notices a natural relationship between them that is briefly summarized as follows: Ground-form Play T eaching method Experimenting Demonstrating Questioning and answering Drilling (exercising) Free activity Telling, narrating Questioning and answering Demonstrating Free activity Class conversation Learning conversation Textbook Drilling (exercising) Experimenting Telling, narrating Questioning and answering Demonstrating Experimenting Textbook Demonstrating Questioning and answering Drilling (exercising)

Conversation

Assignment

Example

However, the practice of teaching shows that any ground-form can be the basis of a certain teaching situation by means of any teaching method or combination of methods. The basic consideration that determines the choice of ground-form and method(s) is the nature of the contents, the readiness of the child, the lesson and learning aims and the time available to complete the lesson. These factors underlie the choice of specific methods. The implication is that a teacher chooses certain methods or combinations of methods to

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serve as ways to ensure eventual authentic learning by a child. A teachers mobility and flexibility in a teaching situation are also obvious in the ways he changes methods to achieve meaningful learning results. Choosing, applying and accounting for groundforms, methodological principles, principles of ordering the contents as well as the teaching methods used guarantee a teachers creativity and originality. They provide him with his own style of teaching that should not be jeopardized by any departmental or official prescriptive measure. A question that can be asked at this stage is: Does the uniqueness of each teaching situation arise (because each lesson is planned for particular children with particular contents) from the fact that there is no correspondence between different lessons? This question can also be stated differently: Irrespective of the uniqueness of every lesson, is there no possibility that lessons can be classified or arranged into similar lesson types? The idea here is not to establish a lesson typology but, if there are lesson types, a teacher must be aware of them to be able to account for his own teaching practice. 10. TYPES OF LESSONS Once again it is important to stress that a lesson situation reveals itself in terms of its structure. The structures of a didactic situation are characterized by reducing the contents, stating and solving a problem, using teaching methods, employing teaching and learning aids, formulating lesson and learning aims, etc. The way these structural aspects are assembled provides a lesson with a certain form that when present in a number of similar lessons can be described as a lesson type. Briefly, a lesson type is the result of the particular relationships among the teaching aim (more specifically, the learning aim), the didactic principles and the ways of learning. Lesson types commonly identified are appreciation lessons, explicatory (to make explicit, to explain) lessons, experimentation lessons, demonstration lessons and drill or exercise lessons. Lesson types must not be confused with model lessons which itself is a particular type. It also is important to note that pure lesson types do not exist in the reality of teaching. In one way or another, in the course or progression of a lesson, each lesson type contains aspects

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of other types. A lesson type is identified by a certain profile of the form of its structure. The question now is: How is a lesson type determined by the relationships among the lesson and learning aims, the didactic principles and the modes of learning? There is a close relationship between the lesson and learning aims and the types of lesson. To illustrate: if the l esson aim is that a child will eventually appreciate something it is obvious that the lesson will basically be an appreciation lesson; if he must be able to carry out an experiment we speak of an experimentation lesson; if he must exhibit certain skills we speak of a demonstration lesson; if he must acquire insight into new concepts this is an explicatory lesson; if he must consolidate particular acquired insights this is drill or exercise lesson. The ways the learning aim can be attained are usually differentiated in the sense that without observing a structure, obviously, little understanding of it is possible; without exercising [applying] a concept a childs grasp of it is easily lost; without demonstrating, a childs attempts remain undirected and consequently he cannot assess his own achievements in terms of what his teacher expects; without observing appreciation remains diffuse. A single lesson, therefore, generally consists of a number of lesson types but where one type is given more prominence by a teachers emphasis. Authentic learning results are realized by appreciation that enables a child to transcend the immediacy of the unlocked contents. A child appreciates a certain structure, e.g., music, poetry, literature, Biblical history, etc. However, the structure must be understood otherwise his wondering cannot be raised to the level of admiration. Appreciation acquires meaning for a child to the extent that the structure stands out more prominently as a result of his insight into it; the deeper the understanding, the deeper the appreciation. Hence, appreciation must be refined and directed by observation. In this way, an appreciation lesson goes hand in hand with an explication, a demonstration, an experimentation and a drill lesson, etc.

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This means that the type that a lesson is depends on the emphasis given to the aspects of its form. A predominantly appreciative lesson appears differently from a demonstration lesson because a teacher emphasizes different aspects of form. Certain modes of learning are more prominent, the control of insight progresses differently and even the class organization can be different. The lesson type can also by recognized by the contents and the methodological approach during its course. In an appreciation lesson, that traditionally deals more with esthetic-normative contents, the essences are less rigid and more humane and are generally taught by means of conversation as a ground-form and its variations. In an explicatory lesson, that generally deals with fixed, uniform contents, what is central are concepts and their interrelationships and they are taught by means of direct observation, analysis, structuring and synthesis. In an experimentation lesson the emphasis is on understanding the chronological, necessary relationship between certain factors and consequences (like causes and effects). Here relationships and syntheses are central and usually includes subject-methodology (in accordance with a childs readiness). A demonstration lesson deals mainly with a specific series of activities where their fluent unity (carried by insight) is central and there is unlocking through directed observation as appreciation. In a drill or exercise lesson the aim is to consolidate already acquired insights and concepts, integrate them into a particular meaningful relationship, place activities in the correct order and ensure mobile activity. To achieve these aims, certain methods of exercise are used extensively. As already mentioned in passing there is a close relationship between types of lessons and a childs modes of learning. In appreciation the emphasis is on a childs sensing or becoming aware; he notices something out of the ordinary. He senses that a particular content has intrinsic meaning that, at this stage, he has not yet specified. This arouses his wonder. In sensing a child first becomes acquainted with a matter; it is an affective acquaintance where the object (content) is still diffuse and unordered. Sensing or becoming aware is characterized by a gestalt- or totality-view; it is a global view of the totality of something unknown, strange or

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unexpected. Here the viewing moves on a more pathic-affective level where feelings are more prominent than rational explanations. In demonstration and explication, perceiving or observing is the means for intensive exploration. A child mobilizes his observing to order and classify objects by type and quality so that he can make comprehensive statements about the matter. Perceiving or observing is essentially reduction; it is an analytic activity aimed at identifying the constants and essences of the contents. In observing, a child seeks fixed points by which his thinking can be established and directed. Thinking is prominently given direction in an explicatory lesson. By appreciating, new and disconnected concepts are internalized but they must be brought into meaningful relief by thinking. Thinking progresses on a conceptual level where a child applies language structures, meaningful relationships and methods for solving problems to make an eventual synthesis possible of the new and disconnected concepts. Here there is even a distinction between productive and reproductive thinking (see below). In drill or exercise lessons, a childs remembering is the most prominent mode of learning. Remembering implies recalling already acquired insights and structures of thought. This involves mobilizing already acquired activity structures and is directed to integrating new meaningful relationships into his prior knowledge. Because the modes of learning impart a specific quality and procedure to lesson types, it is obvious that there is a close relationship between teaching and learning aids and types of lessons. Teaching aids that emphasize the structure, form, order or dynamism of the contents as a whole are well suited to sensing or becoming aware as a mode of learning. In this context, pictures, a representation or a moving or colored model are important. However, there also must be something problematic present in the total view; at the same time it must indicate direction for the next phase of learning (perceiving, observing) by indicating certain aims that will later contribute to building up a synthesis to a final gestalt. Apart from the quality, the quantity of teaching aids is equally

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important. A child must not be smothered by an unnecessary amount of audiovisual materials. If this happens, he can easily be emotionally (pathically) flooded such that his eventual rational grasp can be hindered. When perceiving, a child establishes fixed points in terms of what he already knows. This requires that he distance himself from his earlier affective disposition and view the contents more objectively. In doing so, he surmounts the limitations of hearsay and prescientific conceptions. Here the actual teaching object, as teaching aid, is of considerable importance in helping a child reach the desired cognitive level. One thinks here of the microscope, the magnifying glass, the working model, the sample etc. From direct and refined observation, a child establishes his own image of the contents. This later gives him the necessary security to try to reach the next level of competence. As far as thinking as a mode of learning is concerned, one can differentiate between teaching aids that promote reproductive (insight-applying) and productive (insight-making) thinking. Productive thinking can only be guided by the indirect function of teaching aids. For reproductive thinking, aids are used that call to mind prior knowledge as conceptions. Here slides, a film, pictures, diagrams, graphs, tables, schemes, etc. are effective because they are specifically designed or adjusted for the specific teaching situation. A child must use the aids to restructure and order the essences differently to find a solution to the problem. As far as productive thinking is concerned, a child is left to wrestle with the problem independently and at the same time to discover deficiencies in his own field of experiences. He must now be helped with supplementary knowledge and skills, but he must be continually brought back to the matter itself to look for better insight. The teaching aid only provides direction (possible ways of solution) when a child loses his way. Hence, a teachers means of control or monitoring and support are radically important. In a drill or exercise lesson, where a childs remembering plays the most prominent part, aids such as the blackboard, handouts, textbooks, the overhead projector, etc., are important. Because insight into what is essential has already been broken through, the

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aids are aimed only at exercising the insight in new situations. As many new problems and possibilities of application as feasible must be identified, e.g., excursions, exhibitions, films, etc. At the end of a lesson or series of lessons, teaching aids can be used to evaluate a childs achievements: tasks, demonstrations, questionnaires, etc. are useful. From the above, it is clear that a teacher must reconsider the introduction and application of aids for every phase of a lesson. This consideration is directed by the readiness of the children and the complexity and nature of the contents. In addition, it is noted that certain aids are more effective than others in supporting the different modes of learning. Therefore, it is understandable that certain teaching and learning aids will be more prominent in some types of lessons than in others. Finally, there also is a connection between the type of lesson and the ways a childs insight and understanding are controlled or evaluated. During the evaluation phase of a lesson, a teacher must determine whether a child has achieved the learning aim (and thus the lesson aim). This means that at the end of an appreciation lesson, a teacher must establish whether a child has, in fact, reached a certain level of appreciation and, therefore, he has to structure his evaluation in such a way that the quality of appreciation can be clearly determined. The assessment of appreciation is complex because it is very personal. In an explicatory lesson, assessment revolves around the question of whether a child has gained insight into the contents and whether he can integrate the new concepts with his prior knowledge with understanding and also whether he has a new perspective on them. At the end of a demonstration lesson the question is whether a child has achieved the facility of skills necessary for understanding the essences and structures of the activity structure. In a drill or exercise lesson the question is whether he can apply his newly acquired knowledge and insights to similar problem situations. It is clear that evaluation and assessment for different types of lessons are specific and that the essential differences appear most clearly in the evaluation phase of a lesson.

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An examination of the original experience of educating also reveals the form of this human activity and, at the same time, it indicates the origin and limits of the practice of teaching. By going back to the origin of his practice a teacher can identify and account for his own practice. He also can account for the type of lesson he brings about with the knowledge that a type of lesson, in its particularity, can never be uniform or pattern-like because a child never relates to reality in simple or recipe-like ways. In the explication of a lesson structure to this point, the contents of a lesson were mentioned only when they were relevant to its different aspects. Because it also was mentioned repeatedly that a teacher tries, in terms of the guidelines a lesson structure provides him, to establish and maintain a harmony between form and contents during the course of a lesson, it is important to examine closely the contents taught in a lesson. What was said about contents in Chapter 5 applies generally to every lesson and the following remarks about how the contents influence a lesson structure should be read with these findings in mind. 11. LESSON CONTENTS Lesson contents assume a terrain of life that is not yet known by a child and that must eventually be mastered. The didactic activity in a school is aimed at supporting a child to go out into life. For this reason, there is a gradual movement away from everyday life contents in the home to a more formal and structured curriculum of a school. In order to remain true to life and educatively valid, the lesson contents can be nothing more than life contents, cultural inheritance and human forms of living. A simple indication of the correlation between life contents and learning contents is that a child flourishes in a learning situation and, in terms of lesson contents, into a morally responsible adult person. This implies that a child explores the human life world and even learns to live as a human being in terms of learning contents. In addition, he establishes his own position in time and space by means of these contents. Thus, learning material involves the totality of life reality. It includes the religious, moral, social, historical, physical and esthetic

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categories of reality that directly influence a childs knowledge and, therefore, also his appreciation of options and the eventual choices he makes. The learning contents can never be detached from a human beings life of values and hence the learning contents are always subject to the authority of generally accepted values. In this sense, learning contents must be normative (contain and disclose norms) in order to serve as a means to achieve the pedagogical aim of adulthood. The totality of life reality is too comprehensive to merely be presented as contents in school. But a human being arranges or orders reality as a whole and in his ordering activities he also recognizes the inherent categorical nature of reality. That is, the differentiated nature of reality is recognized in terms of its own categories. A persons ordering of reality is really a demarcation of it into major structures that are closely related to his experiences and encounters of it. This demarcation indicates terrains, terrains that make a persons involvement in reality possible. (See the section of Chapter 5, the construction of learning subjects, for the ways teaching contents are derived in school). In compiling a curriculum each of these terrains must be taken into account. The primary criterion for compiling a school curriculum is the degree to which it reflects the totality of reality. Because the various terrains of reality are coordinated with each other in the sense that, collectively, they constitute the totality of a persons involvement in reality, school subjects deduced from them are equally coordinated with each other and are equally important. This is valid for all subjects except language. Language carries all communication in a didactic situation and, consequently, it is understandable that language study is the central or focal point of a childs entire school career. The well-known statement that all teaching is language teaching should be viewed in this light. The above is a very brief explication of the origin of learning contents and provides the primary considerations and criteria for compiling a curriculum. The curriculum is further differentiated in such a way that it provides a blueprint for all types of schools. Although [in South Africa] the curriculum is a functional plan for

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realizing national educational policy concerning differentiation, each curriculum must contain the terrains of reality mentioned above. If this is not the case, there is the danger that the forming of a child will be disharmonious in the sense of being one-sided. Where this is so, a school loses its meaning of giving form to a childs existence as a precondition for him to be able to eventually respond as a proper and responsible adult in relating to reality as a whole. Thus, a curriculum describes the scope and depth of a childs mastery of the various school subjects that in their origins include the various terrains of human involvement in reality. Hence, a curriculum has a two-fold aim: first, to lead a child to adulthood by means of the school subjects comprising the curriculum, and second, to prepare him for tertiary education and vocational training once he has mastered the contents of the school curriculum. Because of the general nature and scope of the curriculum, a teacher cannot use it to infer specific lesson themes. Since [in South Africa] each curriculum refers to a specific type of school, e.g., pre-primary, primary, general secondary (commercial, technical, art and music, etc.) and schools concerned with exceptional children (partially sighted, partially deaf, deaf, epileptic, etc.) each curriculum is further reduced and extended to provide a syllabus (plan of action) for each school. A syllabus describes the consecutive contents for each school subject and for each grade level of a specific type of school. Therefore it provides a certain order that at least reflects the nature of a subject as well as the level of readiness of a child. Although the ordering of the syllabi is diverse, they suggest the ordering of the contents for a particular lesson. Because a syllabus, e.g., provides the sequence and order of the contents for geography in the secondary school for children following the university entrance course of study, it is still too comprehensive for a teacher to use as a daily scheme of work. By means of further reduction and interpretation, a class or subject teacher establishes the specific themes to be dealt with in every

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teaching period for every day. A scheme of work is constructed such that the relevant themes are ordered in a certain way. Thus a scheme of work is the immediate source for the themes to be dealt with in a specific lesson or series of lessons. It includes a tabulation of the themes or topics a teacher must deal with in a specific week. In this way it is the origin of the lesson contents for a teachers daily preparation and planning. The announcement of a theme is necessary for a teacher to choose an example of the theme for a particular lesson or series of lessons for particular children. A teachers criteria for choosing a particular theme are the prior knowledge of the children, their readiness, the contents to follow, the time at his disposal and the tempo according to which the contents can be taught, the simplicity of the specific example, etc. During his preparation, a teacher reduces the example he is going to teach to its essences and determines from these essences and their relationships the aims, problems, ground-forms, methodological principles, principles of ordering the contents, teaching methods, didactic principles, modes of learning, teaching aids, etc. of the lesson. In a class situation the contents become the learning task of the children, and in order to master them, they must further reduce them and arrive at their own synthesisbut always with the aid and support of a teacher. An example of the way contents are involved in a lesson structure will clearly illustrate this matter. The curriculum of, for example, the junior secondary phase (grades 8 and 9) for general secondary teaching must provide for the mathematics-natural science orientation of a child. To achieve this aim, subjects such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology and geography are included in the curriculum. The description the curriculum provides, for example, for geography, will include geomorphology, economic geography, oceanography, mathematical geography but also climatology. The curriculum merely states that the climatic regions of the world must be studied generally. The syllabus for grade 9, for example, in the general secondary school reduces from the curriculum the following climatic regions of the southern hemisphere that must be taught: savannah, highveld, winter rainfall, warm desert regions, etc. During the composition of a scheme of work reduced from the syllabus, these climate regions are logically and rationally ordered

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in the following manner: Week 1: Equatorial climatic regions; Week 2: Savannah climatic region; Week 3: Highveld climatic region; Week 4: Winter rainfall climatic region; etc. When a teacher is dealing with the theme for week 4, he chooses the winter rainfall region of the South Western Cape because most of the children either know the area or have visited it. His further reduction of the contents enables him to identify the factors that cause the climatic region: latitude, ocean currents, prevailing winds, pressure systems, etc. His reduction furthermore provides him with the lesson aim, lesson problem, the form and the didactic modalities. All of this is reflected in his preparation and is realized in a classroom. In describing the different aspects of a lesson structure it was often mentioned that a lesson is brought into motion and what actually brings it into motion, or what makes the dynamism of a lesson possible, is known as didactic modalities. This aspect deserves closer examination. 12. DIDACTIC MODALITIES Where a lesson aim gives meaning and direction to planning the teaching of a lesson, and the ground-forms, methodological principles, principles of ordering the contents, and particular teaching methods give a flavor to a lesson, the didactic modalities initiate its movement or dynamism. They are especially directed at the effective realization of the lesson aim and the form of a lesson in a lesson situation. The question or problem that the didactic modalities try to answer or solve is how the principles of actualization, the modes of learning and teaching aids, as aspects of a lesson (together and separately), constitute the dynamism of a lesson. It is interesting to note that although the specific contents and themes may be forgotten, one clearly remembers the forms and methods used by a good teacher. Etymologically the Latin concept modus refers to a manner or way of doing. Hence, didactic modalities indicate human ways of doing that are relevant to teaching. If we carefully examine a persons activities in the original experience of educating and concentrate on

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his way or manner of doing/acting, a number of human ways of living become prominent. Activity is most prominent in the original experience of educating. The activity of a parent is described as guiding or supporting a child so that he is later in a position to act by himself. Activity, therefore, is a principle of didactic practice because the activities of a child and an adult initiate and give direction to the event. In addition to activity we notice that individualization, socialization and tempo variation are ways of doing that have didactic significance because they initiate and direct the teaching activity. The problem a teacher confronts is how these principles can be realized or actualized in a lesson situation. In other words, how can activity, individualization, socialization and tempo variation, as principles, be realized in a lesson situation, or what is their didactic significance? Actualization deals with recalling prior knowledge and previous experiences (images, concepts, relationships, methods, impressions, etc.). It also can occur in an activity that is new and where prior knowledge, methods and their various forms provide the means for giving meaning to the new situation. Actualizing or realizing a didactic principle in this context means that a specific way of living is consciously and formally realized in a lesson situation, or that opportunities are created in which they can function. An example of the actualization of the principle of activity indicates that a teacher has succeeded in creating a teaching situation in which a child is active. The specific principle of actualization is closely related to the lesson aim because it provides a particular way of teaching and learning. In the usual course of teaching it is clear that an adult initially accompanies (supports) a child until he is capable of being independently accountable for the contents. For this reason it is important to distinguish between accompanied activity and self-activity because it clearly indicates and emphasizes who is to take the initiative. A careful analysis of the general principle of activity confirms a human beings original openness and freedom to act in terms of his own decisions. The basis of his activity is the precondition for his

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learning activities, explorations, etc. Thus a teacher can always depend on a certain amount of activity by a child, and this becomes apparent in his observing, thinking and remembering. However, it also is true that, notwithstanding a teachers attempts to realize the principle of activity, a child is not always willing to learn. A child is not always free to act according to his own preferences or will in a teaching situation. His task is to discover himself in the situation. This means that he must already have given meaning to the situation before he is able to discover himself in it. The extent to which a child is prepared to enter reality and be open and receptive to it determines the quality or effectiveness of the teaching. This double unlocking (reality by a teacher and himself by a child), as a precondition for forming, is clearly stated in the principle of activityguided activity (unlocking reality) and selfactivity (learning) jointly realize themselves in forming a child. The ways a child becomes involved in reality (the modes of Dasein or human existence) are apparent in the various modes of learning. Thus a child can be led to establish his own position toward reality. The concepts direct and lead imply that a teacher takes the initiative regarding activity in a teaching situation. Examples of this in a practical teaching situation are seen when a teacher demonstrates and then supports a child by performing the activity with him in order for him to be able to act on his own. In the final analysis, this course of activity is the basis of the teaching structure in a teaching situation where an adult first takes a position in front of a child (between a child and the contents), then next to him and finally behind him. An analysis if the general principle of individualization shows that, departing from the original openness of being human, each person gives meaning to reality in a unique way. This gives a person his own individuality, peculiarity, uniqueness, originality and even eccentricity. Individuality requires that a person must realize (become) himself in a situation, i.e., he must given meaning to reality, discover himself in a situation and eventually create his own life world.

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Each person has his own identity that is actually the precondition and possibility of self-discovery. The self-identity of a person is revealed in the dynamism of his personality. A human beings individuality acquires its autonomy in his becoming, i.e., in what he can be. The quality of what he becomes is assessed according to criteria of being human and according to the ways he has realized his potentialities. The form of organizing teaching that realizes individualization effectively is known as individual teaching: each pupil has his own teacher. However, from the nature of the modern task of teaching, such a form of organization is not possible. Therefore, other measures must be taken to realize the principle of individualization while teaching within a classroom setting. The principle of individualization strives to create ways of realizing inter- and intracommunication that result in a child establishing a personal lifestyle. In this sense, inter-communication refers to an openness to reality while intra-communication refers to a persons withdrawal into himself (in order to orient himself with respect to space and time, forms and ways of living). The meaning of the general principle of socialization (where socialization as a principle of actualization is implemented) lies in an encounter. The basis of an encounter is Dasein (human existence) that is inextricably embedded in Mitsein (co-human existence, being-with). This means a human being is always in communication and this also is the ground for his thinking and existence. Being-in-communication also implies being-with-another; it is always a matter of an inter-subjective relationship. Being-with others has far-reaching consequences for didactic pedagogics: a childs giving meaning to reality progresses, among other ways, via his identification with the person of a teacher. Furthermore, by means of socialization, a child eventually identifies himself as someone who wants to become a person himself because in his relationships and involvement with other people he discovers himself. This is why socialization does not hinder individuality; it underlies and strengthens a childs sense of his own individuality. In realizing the principle of socialization, the distance between

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teacher and child is closed by a joint, mutual and reciprocal weness as an inter-personal involvement. The idea is that a teacher uses the principles of actualization to effectively bring his planning into motion. This motion shows itself as the sequence or course a lesson takes in a lesson situation. This sequence is further divided into a beginning, a progression or course and an end phase. The tempo according to which the various phases of a lesson proceed can support or disturb the harmony of the entire lesson. The responsibility for a smooth or constant lesson tempo is equally divided between teacher and child. A teacher must present a certain amount of contents in a certain period of time that a child must learn in that time. If this tempo is too fast, a child becomes unsure and confused because he cannot keep up. If it is too slow, this leads to frustration and a teacher can possibly expect discipline problems. Where tempo variation, as a general principle of actualization, is used effectively, the result is mainly two-fold. By the nature of the differentiated tasks in the course of a lesson, a constant lesson tempo simply is not possible. The tempo must be planned anew for every phase of a lesson; for example, during actualizing possessed experience (or prior knowledge) the tempo can be quicker than during the exposition or presentation of new contents [See Chapter 8 for these specific phases]. In addition, varying or differentiating the tempo implies that the activities during a lesson also must be reconsidered and changed periodically. As already mentioned, a further distinction must be made regarding the principles of actualization of activity, individualization, socialization and tempo-variation or -differentiation. For each of these principles, it is possible for a teacher to anticipate the learning activities of a child and, therefore, guide and support him until he can act for himself. The progression from a teachers guiding to a childs self-activity proceeds by a teacher demonstrating to a child, then participating with him and then the child acting alone. The implication is that this must be planned anew for each phase of a lesson if a teacher is to realize the principle of activity.

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It also is quite clear that, on the one hand, the principles of actualization primarily refer to a teachers activities. In this respect they have more of a didactic meaning in that they emphasize the teaching perspective. On the other hand, it is equally clear that they appeal to a child to really act (learn) so there also can be mention of these principles as viewed from the perspective of learning. In school, a child is dependent on a teachers guidance. It is a childs task through self-activity to appropriate the life-contents and forms offered to him in school in order to thereby anticipate his own future. However, a child cannot attain or reach this aim without the guidance of a teacher. Stated more formally, the category of unlocking reality implies that a teacher throw reality open for a child and guide his participating in it. The question now is how this guiding shows itself in the various principles of actualization? The activity of guiding or accompanying has its origin in the fact that children and adults inhabit the world together. Because adults know and have knowledge, a child is dependent on them to lead him to a particular level of knowledge and skillfulness and eventually to the normative image of adulthood. Accompaniment makes it possible for a child to be taught and, indeed, if there is no accompaniment, there is no teaching. With this, accompaniment is expressed verbally as a didactic category. Actualizing the activity of accompaniment does not mean the slavish or recipe-like imitation of activities. The ideal is to bring about a harmony between accompanying activity and self-activity in a lesson situation. However, when a child fails in his self-activity, a teacher again offers his guidance and accompaniment until a childs self-activity reaches the desired level. Although a child is born as possibility/potentiality his becoming is not exclusively dependent on it. This view supports accompanied individualization. Through directed and accountable guidance, a child must be helped to be himself. A child can only benefit from an adults accompaniment if he opens himself to an adult. Accompanied individualization usually departs from a childs experiencing and places it in a new light or framework. In a

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formalized school didactic situation, accompanied individualization is mainly realized through differentiated teaching. The idea of differentiated teaching is that particular help is provided a child in accordance with his readiness and potentialities. To bring this about, children are arranged into homogeneous groups so the optimum opportunity is created for a child to be able to achieve in accordance with his potentialities. A childs individuality is emphasized in the group and is the basis for emphasizing self-study. The most important problems with grouping are first the criteria for assigning individuals to groups and second the most appropriate modes of learning and forms of teaching to allow the individual in a group to learn effectively. Part of the solution is in a flexible class organization that makes provision for, e.g., a childs self-study. The idea is not that, in this respect, a teacher is only a mere organizer because this would ignore his essential function as an initiator. A child is dependent on an adults accompaniment in order to lead him to adulthood. In this accompaniment, adults and teachers also use forms of teaching such as a learning conversation, a discussion class, the teaching question, etc. These forms of teaching emphasize that a child cannot find his own way through the world to adulthood. In the original experience of educating we note that a child imitates an adult, i.e., his language, play, activities and thinking. Even in his imitating a child is involved in evaluating his own achievement against the quality and level set by an adult. This selfevaluation progresses to the extent that a child becomes involved with more people. To the extent that this involvement with others increases in intimacy, a child discovers himself. In this respect, actualizing accompanied socialization is an important and meaningful didactic aim. When a child acts socially, his achievement consciousness is optimally appealed to and hence he can ascertain his own potentialities. A teacher monitors, supplements and helps a child realize his own potentialities. Here his accompaniment is clear. This gives a child stability (security) that is a precondition for his acting himself. An intimate relationship with adults and the experience of a stable class climate

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brought about by the influence of the group, promote his experiencing and security. It is for this reason that class and group teaching fulfill an irreplaceable function. In this way a child can have a part in the social awareness of a group. However, excessive accompaniment can affectively restrain a child in the sense that his thinking and selfactivity are not realized properly. A teacher must be mindful of this and continually alternate between accompanied socialization and self-socialization. A general misunderstanding is that all children can master the curriculum with the same tempo and rhythm. The practical effect of this view is that it is assumed that, irrespective of the unique compilation of potentialities, readiness and interests, for five hours each day a group or class must master the same skills and insights. The fact is that not all children learn at the same tempo and the task of a teacher is to teach with an accompanied tempo so that it is in step with the development of potentialities. In addition, through direct and differentiated accompaniment a talented child can quickly acquire a firm grasp of the contents and a slower child is protected from an overload arising from a quick tempo. This means a teacher must teach with a tempo that benefits the class. Consequently, a teacher cannot orient his teaching tempo to the quicker or talented pupil, let alone to the so-called average child and least of all to the slower children in his class. This also means that a teacher must not see nothing but the time at his disposal, to the detriment of both child and contents, but that he always must remind himself that he is working with persons. Hence, his planning of lesson situations must possess a particular suppleness that makes tempo differentiation possible because it is indispensable in a classroom. Also, this means that a teacher must plan anew the tempo of each phase of a lesson. Accompanied actualization indicates the role of a teacher; however, these same principles of actualization must be realized by a child. Accompanied actualization is a didactic or teaching task while selfactualization by a child originates in the phenomenon of learning. A childs intentionality lays the foundation for his self-actualization.

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Intentionality is directed to a child himself acting in a situation; i.e., intentionality is directed to self-realization in situations. In this respect, self-realization is a precondition for both the didactic and learning effect. It also is closely related to an awareness of norms because self-realization is awakened by norm awareness. Self-actualization in school is of decisive importance. A childs life-energy and vitality are also directed to mastering the contents offered in school. In this respect, a school subject entices a child to action and self-discovery. Also these school contents provide a child with an opportunity to acquire original experience. In addition to self-activity increasing the quality of learning, it provides a child with enjoyment. The importance of self-activity and self-actualization are clear in the familiar expression, a child must himself learn because another cannot learn in his behalf or for him. Learning shows itself in a changed relationship with reality. By virtue of a persons openness and his Dasein, his potentiality to change in his relationship to reality is given with being human. This change, as improvement, is not only a precondition for his becoming but also serves as his task. The fact that a child can learn proclaims the possibility of the activity of teaching. Also, the fact that a child will learn brings about the reality of the activity of teaching. And in as much as a child must learn properly, i.e., must achieve properly and also master proper contents, the activity of teaching is necessary. Self-activity is realized where the possibility, reality and necessity of the learning activity are prominent. Apart from a child wanting to be independent (i.e., he wants to emancipate himself from an adult), he also anticipates his own choices. Because of the complexity of a reality that often is experienced as foreign to life, a child is dependent on anothers guidance and accompaniment. It is also for this reason that situations are purposefully created to realize self-activity. The concepts exploring and constituting are very closely related to the concept self-activity. All three recognize a child as an individual and who has the task of discovering himself. Selfactivity, as a didactic principle recognizes the uniqueness of each person.

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A form of expressing self-activity, among others, is selfindividualization, a concept that apparently seems like a tautology. The fact that a child wants to be someone himself underlies his activities. Constituting (designing ones own life world) implies selfactivity, the self-discovery of reality and the individuality that becomes visible in a new relationship to reality. With more experience, a child acquires better judgment and more certain willful decisions. In this way, his openness is reduced; this really amounts to a particular quality of becoming formed or formedness. This aspect of a childs emancipation is seen in his own style (lifestyle). In this respect, a lesson situation offers a particular opportunity for a change in a childs relationship to reality. Self-individualization further refers to both a rational and affective participation in reality. Therefore, the actualization of the principle of selfindividualization means that the achievement consciousness of a child becomes awakened and directed. Lesson forms and modes of learning such as group work, problem solving and freely created activities are particularly suitable for actualizing selfindividualization. Joint activities (e.g., playing with, talking with, working with) must (where possible) originate, continue and be repeated in connection with a teachers guiding a child. In this respect, once again it is important to indicate that unnecessary help and guidance by a teacher can restrain or hold a child back. The playful, nave and spontaneous association with peers is the aim of self-socialization and, given its nature, should occur mostly without an adults accompaniment. A child becomes acquainted with the social norms in original and genuine ways because there is an all too clear danger that a slavish imitation of already presented patterns of activity can only result in superficial and pseudo-formedness. The idea is not that the individuality of a child must be at the cost of a concern for the individuality of others. Rather, this means a child must learn that his activities (disposition, attitude, standards) influence his world relationship and with this also his relationship to fellow persons and their relationship to him.

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Effective learning results often come to grief in a lesson situation because a child has not been given the opportunity to assimilate the learning material at his own tempo. Although the actualization principle of own tempo sounds like a contradiction to the supportand help-seeking nature of a child, the meaningful realization of a great variety of modes of learning and their intertwining in the activity of learning depend on a variation in ones own learning tempo. The significance of this is that each child masters reality with his own tempo and style of learning. A childs own tempo is already discovered early in his encounter with the contents. By actualizing his own tempo a child acquires the opportunity to discover his own tempo in relation to that of another, and to realize for himself his own learning or life tempo. The forms of practice so unique to the teaching activity can contribute to improving a childs learning tempo. It is conspicuous from the above that the effects of the principles of actualization are first apparent in the modes of learning that are disclosed by them. Further, the connection of the modes of learning and teaching and learning aids can be deduced from these principles of actualization. It serves no aim to repeat these connections because they are discussed in detail under the heading Types of lessons. What indeed is relevant is a succinct explanation of the meaning of instructional- and learning-aids in a lesson situation. 13. TEACHING AIDS The concept teaching aids includes both instructional- and learning-aids. The concept aids is much too comprehensive because it can include desks and chairs, air conditioning, lighting, etc. if it is not confined to the teaching (instructional) act. In contrast, the concept audio-visual aids is too narrow because it excludes what are not audio or visual by nature. However, it is meaningful and useful to differentiate between instructional and learning aids because the use of either the one or the other emphasizes the activity in a class. Where the activity of a teacher is emphasized (e.g., unlocking new contents, accompanying), instructional aids are sought. Here a black board

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and wall chart serve as examples because both contribute directly to effective teaching. A learning aid is looked for to emphasize the learning activity of a child, e.g., a model or a program. A child must use the aid to gain insight into a matter, i.e., to learn effectively. Finally, it is emphasized that the didactic modalities must be designed anew for each phase of a lesson because the relationships among didactic principles, modes of learning and instructional- and learning-aids are so intimate, and because a teacher must realize each phase of a lesson as a moving or dynamic aspect of the unity of a lesson. Further, in lesson planning there must be careful consideration of a progression from the accompaniment by a teacher to the self-actualization of a child because all lessons are directed to the eventual independence of a child; they are aimed at supporting a child to learn by himself, to decide by himself, to make his own judgments, and act by himself because he must eventually account for himself. This chapter is devoted to a description of the origin of a lesson and all of its aspects that a teacher must consider thoroughly when he proceeds to establishes a practice. A student teacher must understand that a lesson structure is not the practice itself, but that it offers a synoptic view and description of the origin of a lesson situation. In this respect a lesson structure functions as a blueprint for planning and realizing a lesson and certainly not as a recipe for teaching. The following schemes summarize what has been said above and illustrate the mutual relationships among the aspects of a lesson structure:

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LESSON STRUCTURE (Meaning/Sense) Teaching aim: Lesson aim: responsibility of a teacher Learning aim: responsibility of a child Stating the problem Solving the problem (Form) Lesson form: Didactic ground-forms Methodological principles Principles of ordering contents Teaching methods (Dynamism) Phases of a lesson: 1. Actualizing prior knowledge 2. Stating and formulating the problem 3. Unlocking/exposing the new contents 4. Actualizing the new contents and control of the immediate learning effect 5. Functionalizing 6. Testing/evaluating

Didactic modalities They initiate and direct the dynamism of a lesson and must be planned for each phase of a lesson. Didactic principles Modes of learning Instructional and L earning aids Blackboard Textbook Pictures Film Computer

Principles of activity* Principles of individualization* Principles of socialization* Tempo differentiation*

Sensing (becoming aware) Perceiving (observing) Thinking (conception) Imagining/fantasizing Remembering

Must progress from a teachers aid and support (accompaniment) to self-actualization.

The relationships among the teaching aim, didactic modalities and lesson form result in types of lessons such as an appreciation, an explicatory, an experimentation, a demonstration and a drill or exercise lesson. A question that follows directly from the above is how must a particular lesson be planned from the lesson structure as a blueprint? This question is considered in the following chapter.

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CHAPTER 8 LESSON PREPARATION

1. INTRODUCTION Each professional activity is preceded by preparation. A ministers sermon represents days of hard work in his study. A lawyer cannot properly defend an accused in court unless he has done weeks of prior preparation. This preparation is not conspicuous but the quality of professional activity and conduct is evidence of it. In this respect, a teacher certainly is a prime example of someone whose professional activity must reflect his thorough preparation. The fact is, all teachers must be prepared. Hence, anyone who is involved with teaching must be prepared, and this includes the entire range of teaching from pre-primary teachers to instructors at a university. A teachers preparation essentially is preplanning a lesson situation that he is going to establish in the future. He must plan each aspect of the lesson he is going to present because it should not progress haphazardly and because, as a professional educator, he must be able to account for what he brings about in a classroom. He must prepare for each particular lesson because the children for whom it is meant are not completely predictable. This makes his didactic reflection difficult. A teacher can never say with certainty if the children in his class are going to learn the new learning material in a particular way or if his planning will necessarily result in positive learning results. However, these uncertainties are not an excuse for him to not plan his lessons. Rather, the opposite is true: a teacher must thoroughly take into account what is unpredictable because ultimately he must be responsible for what occurs in his classroom. In the previous chapter it was often mentioned that a teacher must continually search for harmony between form and contents in his classroom practice. That is, his lesson preparation is nothing more than his academically and professionally polished initiative to establish a ground plan (lesson plan) in terms of which he is going to create a harmony between form and contents in a particular classroom situation. This ground plan must include certain elements that reflect the demands of the subject contents and the

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circumstances [situations] of the children. Also, the unforeseen has to be allowed for in the general ground plan; his lesson preparation must be flexible, but it also has to appropriately reflect the essentials of the didactic-pedagogic and subject didactic. This ground plan is discernible in the lesson write-up and in the classroom realization of the lesson situation as previously stated in the plan. Lesson preparation, thus, is a teachers professional responsibility. He must be able to be didactically-pedagogically accountable regarding the form of the lesson and he also must be able to account for the subject scientific and subject didactic meaning of the contents he is going to unlock in the lesson. His lesson preparation is his justification for the choice(s) he has made to harmoniously synthesize the form and contents of his lesson. Although the expression practice makes perfect is applicable to a teachers classroom practice, this does not mean that he will necessarily arrive at an accountable practice during the course of his classroom experiences. Neither does this mean that a student teacher is abandoned to his inadequate teaching experience. Rather, an experienced teacher who does not continually keep himself abreast of the developments in teaching theory and the subject matter he teaches stagnates in the experience of one year. Such a teacher with ten years of experience really has repeated one years experience ten times. A young teacher is not completely defenseless when he enters a classroom for the first time. At least he possesses a thorough orientation with respect to a number of subject sciences that constitutes one leg of the possibility to establish a meaningful classroom situation. In this respect, a young teacher has the benefit of being formed in a subject science and, at least, he is up to date regarding contents. His subject study is of such a nature that he has mastery of the structure of the subject area in the sense that he understands the essential relationships that are the basis of constructing the subject and he knows what is superficial and incidental. This subject mastery underlies the possibility that a young teacher can penetrate a particular theme to its essences (that will constitute

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the core of his unlocking) and, accordingly, structure the course of the lesson he is going to present. A young teacher knows what a child must understand about the theme and he also is able to evaluate his own unlocking so that, at least, he can meet the demands set by the nature of the subject. Unfortunately, subject knowledge alone is not sufficient for a young teacher to guarantee that his teaching the contents to a child will be meaningful. Today there is still the view that the mastery of a particular subject insures successful teachinga misunderstanding that reigns supreme at universities and other tertiary institutions. All of us know the brilliant academician who cannot make contact with students at all or who cannot properly explain the subject contents. Students endure such an instructor and cannot be at all convinced of the meaningfulness of his teaching. The conclusion is that subject knowledge alone is in no respect a reflection of the ability to unlock the essences of the contents in such a way that students will assimilate them as meaningful. A young teachers didactic-pedagogic and professional training provide him with the other leg of his practice. They provide him with the basis for scientifically accounting for his practice. In his scientific study of didactic pedagogics (teaching a child by an adult), a basis is provided for interpreting his subject knowledge didactically-pedagogically. The fact is that a teacher does not unlock the contents for the sake of the contents or subject; he teaches the subject (as a representation of an aspect of the total surrounding reality) so that a child can acquire a better understanding and skillful manipulation of reality. The aim of this achievement is for a child to eventually be able to relate to reality in more responsible (adult) ways. Lesson preparation is primarily involved with a teachers scientifically accountable interpretation of his subject knowledge. On this basis he can crate a harmony between the form and contents so that he can ensure the meaningfulness of the lesson he is going to present to a child. Because the lesson situation and the learning activity occurring in it are so complex, a teacher can hardly ignore his planning. For this reason, it is meaningful to write up the lesson. The lesson write-up helps him to continually be accountable

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for the harmony between form and contents that he is going to establish for particular children in a particular lesson situation. 2. ASPECTS THAT MUST BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN PREPARING A LESSON In the previous chapter it was indicated how a didactic theory results in a lesson structure. This is really a logical necessity because if this is not so, it means that the theory really is empty speculation and, thus, that the lesson has no source. The description of the essences of the lesson structure also was directed at clarifying the relationship between theory and practice. In this work, the fundamental reflections that a teacher must take into account in creating a meaningful lesson situation are clarified. From this it is clear that his lesson preparation and planning are the pivotal points of his professional activities. In the narrowest sense of the word, a teachers lesson preparation is the ground plan for his teaching. Everything that his professional training can influence in a classroom must be taken into account in his lesson preparation and be evident in his lesson write-up. In his lesson preparation, a teacher must justify his interpretation of both his academic subject knowledge and his didactical-pedagogical knowledge in light of the demands (didactic criteria) that the practice of teaching presents to him. At the end of his lesson a teacher must be able to declare in a straightforward way that his lesson has met all of the didactic criteria because the child for whom the essences of the lesson contents were unlocked has properly appropriated them. In his preparation a teacher must solve the problem of how he can meaningfully interpret his theoretical (academic) subject knowledge for a child. That is, he must be able to interpret the contents in terms of the childs present life and, at the same time, show their meaningfulness for his life as a future adult. In addition, he must interpret the contents for him in such a way that the social, cultural, scientific and technological requirements of the particular didactic situation are structured in such a way that a child is going to be meaningfully involved in the learning situation.

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Essentially, the problem of the purposeful preparation a lesson is a problem of meaningful interpretation. This meaningful interpretation necessarily concerns and includes a whole variety of factors that are relevant to a teaching situation. For example, one thinks of a childs foreknowledge in light of which a teacher must be able to answer the question of how he can introduce the new learning material to a child in such a way that, in light of his knowledge and experience, he can experience the theme as meaningful, but also, at the same time, experience that his knowledge is deficient, which then can serve as a motivation for him to want to learn. Other factors that can influence the course of a lesson are the time available, the composition of the class (homogeneous or heterogeneous), the contents that will follow the unlocking of the theme, etc. The result of a teachers interpretation of didactic theory in a particular lesson situation is a specific lesson structure in which he gives evidence of the mutual and reciprocal relationship between theory and practice and the way in which both are relevant to the situation he is planning. Therefore, it is important to indicate what the various facets of the lesson situation are that he must interpret to be able to accountably prepare a lesson. The lesson situation that he envisages is the result of his interpretation of the following factors: 2.1 Pedagogic-didactic categories and criteria Interpreting the pedagogic-didactic categories and criteria means that a teacher is able to justify the particular lesson situation he has established in light of his knowledge of what a didactic situation is (categories) and how he can evaluate (criteria) if the structure he has created reflects the essences of the didactic. 2.2 The child

This especially involves the level of a childs insights into his possessed knowledge and the quality of these insights. For example,

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questions that must be answered are: What does a child know about this theme? What has he already experienced about this matter? Is his coordination of such a nature that he can carry out this activity properly? What experiences are necessary for a child to be able to master these new contents? In this framework it is only logical that a teacher cannot unlock specific contents that lie outside of his conceptual field. 2.3 The nature of the subject matter

The unique nature and structure of the subject matter that a teacher is going to unlock for a child are of particular importance for interpreting the subject. In this respect it is important to note that an inductive methodological principle is more relevant for certain subjects because it can better contribute to gaining insight into the subject while a deductive point of departure is necessary for another subject. 2.4 The methods of unlocking (teaching)

In light of the fact that the methods of unlocking are one of the aspects that brings about the form of a lesson, by the nature of the matter, the choice of a method of unlocking has to be relevant to the didactic ground-form chosen, a childs level of readiness and the particular nature of the learning contents. The method a teacher uses is only meaningful to the degree that it is integrated with the other demands of the course of the didactic. Thus, no method exists as the method. Each method has the right to exist to the degree that a teacher can justify his choice of it, i.e., to the degree that it is an organized part of the whole of his lesson. The pedagogic-didactic demands that each lesson must fulfill do not diminish a teachers originality or creativity. The contrary is actually true: the didactic categories offer a teacher the possibility and also the mandate to exercise his originality and allow his creativity to thrive. The fact that children differ essentially from each other and that one class differs from another is a task for a teacher to at least harness his originality and creativity in each lesson situation. Thus, he must continually look for ways of recognizing the individual differences of the children in his

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classroom and to modify, accordingly, his unlocking of reality in such ways that each child can be meaningfully involved in the lesson event. To succeed at this, a teacher must reflect and reflect again and this directs a particular appeal to his originality and creativity. The above implies that a teacher must know a child thoroughly if his unlocking of reality for him is to be meaningful; however, knowing a child as a person is not sufficient. A teacher also must thoroughly know his level of attainment and his readiness to understand new knowledge as well as his ability to integrate this new knowledge into his horizon of knowledge. This implies that a teachers pedagogic-didactic knowledge of a child has to be integrated with the requirements the learning material demands. A teachers pedagogic-didactic knowledge is the basis for deciding the didactic ground-form(s) into which he is going to cast his lesson; the methodological principles and unlocking (teaching) methods he is going to use; the principles by which he is going to order and systematize the learning material; and the forms of actualizing the didactic principles he is going to select. All of these choices are made against the background of a childs situatedness and ability to understand the new learning material. A child and his situatedness are not the only aspect a teacher must take into account to arrive in making decisions, even though he does unlocks reality in behalf of a child and especially in behalf of his eventual becoming adult. The nature and complexity of the learning material also must be considered in his choices and decisions. If a child is the only consideration in a teachers reflection, the harmony between form and contents becomes disturbed. Such a teaching practice is pedo-centric (childcentered). However, where the contents (subject contents, learning material) are given the greatest weight in planning a lesson, the harmony between form and contents also is disturbed and such a teaching practice is described as subject matter-centered. It is a teachers task in the secondary school to acquaint a child for the first time with the systematized subject sciences that are represented by the school subjects. Thus, it is obvious that a

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teacher has to understand the essences of a subject itself so that his decisions about the contents can, at least, be accountable. Consequently, a child and the structure of the learning material must be taken into account in order to choose particular methodological principles (inductive, deductive or their combination) and corresponding specific methods (or combinations of methods in their essential, logical relationships to the didactic ground-forms) in terms of which he is going to unlock the theme for a child. When a teacher wants to establish a lesson situation it is necessary for him to be able to justify the aim that he will and must attain with the lesson. Therefore, he also must be able to account for the ways he plans the course of the lesson to be able to attain the aim stated in his lesson prospectus, i.e., how he is going to introduce the lesson, how he is going to unlock the new learning material and how he is going to ascertain (control, verify, monitor) whether the children have mastered the learning material that he previously stated in his lesson plan as the lesson aim. He must be able to justify the ways he is going to give life to the didactic modalities, i.e., how the didactic principles, the childs modes of learning and the implementation and use of teaching and learning aids are going to function in his lesson to attain the lesson aim. Now the question is how are all of these aspects integrated with each other and how must they be assembled into a lesson scheme or framework that is evident in a lesson write-up? To be able to answer this question it is necessary to briefly summarize the aspects of the lesson structure in a systematic context so that the scheme or framework derived from them can serve as a basis for a lesson writeup that can reflect the essentials of the lesson structure. 3. THE ASPECTS OF A LESSON STRUCTURE 3.1 Teaching aim

Instruction in school is purposive. Thus, in each lesson there must be an aim. The aim in itself is not referred to because it is only thinkable in light of the essences of the learning material and the insights a child must acquire. Consequently, the preference is to

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talk of a teaching aim as an overarching concept under which a lesson aim, a learning aim and stating the lesson problem are subsumed. When a teacher wants to unlock new contents for a child he must carefully formulate the lesson aim he wants to attain by exposing the learning material. The theme that he has now elevated to a lesson aim is put in the work scheme. The themes that appear in the work scheme according to weeks, months and in some cases even according to days delimit the themes he has to cover in a specific time. In its turn, the work scheme is derived from the curriculum. The insights, skills, knowledge structures, appreciations, etc. that appear in the work scheme as themes have to be elaborated and restructured into a lesson aim by a teacher. The theme that appears in a work scheme is merely an announcement. A teacher has to elaborate this announcement into a lesson aim following didactic-pedagogic considerations and subject matter criteria. The lesson aim is what a teacher aims for, what he wants the children to attain. Such an aim is not necessarily motivating enough for a child to awaken and direct his achievement consciousness simply because he does not know precisely where the teacher wants to lead the lesson. For this reason, a lesson aim needs to be presented in such a way (by means of stating the lesson problem) that a child experiences the meaningfulness of the theme and accordingly will want to learn the stated aim. A learning aim appears from stating the problemit is what a teacher expects a child to achieve and what he wants to achieve in order to solve the problem because by means of the problem statement, he experiences the theme as meaningful. A precondition that makes formulating a lesson and learning aim possible is that a teacher has first reduced the learning material to its essences. The curriculum, syllabus and work scheme are all reductions of reality to essences. For a teacher, a work scheme is the first reduction because in choosing and structuring the themes taken up in it there already is a reduction in the sense that this choosing and selecting announce the essences of the subject.

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A teacher now reduces the theme further to its essentials on the basis of his knowledge of the subject matter: he strips the contents of everything superfluous and unnecessary until only the elementals or essences remain. The essences of a theme are what a teacher will require a child to understand. While he is involved in reducing the contents to their essences, he takes note of a childs relevant foreknowledge; a childs readiness to be able to properly master the new contents; possible bottlenecks that can arise in his exposition of the contents and the ways a childs insights into the matter can be restructured in order to serve as a framework for insight into the new learning material. From the above, it is clear that there are close relationships among the lesson aim, the learning aim and reducing the contents to their essences. This amounts to a teacher interpreting particular learning material in ways that are meaningful for a childs existence. In order to interpret the learning material didactically and existentially, he must first reduce it to its essences. From this reduction a teacher can appreciate and formulate the aim stated in his plan for a specific lesson as well as the learning aim he expects a child to attain as something meaningful to him. Because a childs learning intention, and thus his achieving consciousness, is most effectively awakened and directed by problems, a teacher has to guide him in such a way that he eventually experiences the problem as his own. A child cannot accept such a problem as his own if the theme is merely announcedannouncing a theme is not stating a problem. Thus, a teacher is compelled in introducing his lesson to search for ways to allow a child to experience his inadequate insights, possessed knowledge, skills, etc. as deficient. Should he experience this deficiency as well as that his knowledge of the theme is inadequate for him to solve the problem, this awareness of inadequacy is the motivation and incentive for solving the problem, provided the problem is meaningful to him. What a child wants to know in order to solve the problem is really the learning aim. It is clear that stating the lesson and learning aims lead in natural ways to formulating and solving a problem. In order to eventually arrive at a meaningful problem solution, a teachers reduction of the

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learning material to its essences and his knowledge of a child are preconditions. Thus, these aspects must necessarily be attended to in a teachers lesson preparation and be evident in his lesson writeup. The way this can be done is exemplified later in the chapter. 3.2 The pedagogic-didactic imperative

The quality of a lesson is not only in the harmony a teacher establishes between form and contents. He must also structure his lesson so that it is didactically refined and pedagogically meaningful. Although the importance of the didactic ground-forms, the methodological principles, the principles for ordering the learning material and the didactic modalities were discussed at length in the previous chapter, and also briefly indicated in this chapter, nevertheless, it is important to again indicate that a teacher has to understand the individual character of each separately as well as their reciprocal relationship to and mutual interdependencies on each other. Therefore, a teacher has to bring these factors into a particular relationship with the demands made of him by the learning material and the child in order to be able to account for the specific type of lesson he creates. Although he has to make room for and realize the didactic principles and criteria in his lesson structure, this does not mean that he must surrender his practice to so-called didactic recipeshis own lesson is essentially original because the children for whom he unlocks reality are always unique. A teachers practical originality is equivalent to his ability to appraise a child in the specific didactic situation, and then, in accordance with his appraisal, create a didactic structure (grounded in didactic categories and corroborated by didactic criteria) by which he can better guarantee that his exposition improves a childs relationship to reality. Even though there is no rigid lesson typology, still there are structural correspondences among the different lessons that give a lesson its particular character. In this sense, there are types of lessons, e.g., a demonstration lesson can be distinguished from an experimentation lesson, from an appreciation lesson, etc. The type of lesson a teacher states in his lesson plan has to be thoroughly thought through in his planning and be evident in his lesson write-up. The reason is that a type of lesson will have a

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specific emphasis especially regarding the modes of learning of a child, the teaching and learning aids that are going to be used as well as the teaching aim. 3.3 Actualizing foreknowledge

A teachers lesson aim is for a child to attain the learning aim during the course of a lesson. Although this statement is patently obvious, nonetheless it is fundamental in that a teacher must understand the factors underlying the attainment of the learning aim. A teacher has to stimulate a childs foreknowledge of a theme. This foreknowledge includes bringing into view knowledge, skills, experiences, insights, attitudes, dispositions, etc. of relevance to the theme. In this sense, foreknowledge is not limited only to cognitive (intellectual) mastery; it also implies a childs experiences that are relevant to the theme. In stimulating a childs foreknowledge, a teacher really is involved in helping him to consciously re-live his experiences and placing his foreknowledge in a new framework (the framework of the theme the teacher is going to unlock for him). In this way, it is possible to allow a child to experience the new theme as meaningful. During the course of a lesson, a teacher is continually involved in placing a childs foreknowledge in meaningful relationships, but in ways that lead him to experience a problem that is inherent to the new theme. A teacher accomplishes this because he supports and guides him to seek answers or solutions to the problem (or question) with which he confronts a child. In this way a teacher stimulates his foreknowledge in relation to the new knowledge that he experiences as a problem. Thus, a teacher evokes and directs a childs previous insights, skills and knowledge structures so that he can solve a problem (answer a question). Placing a childs foreknowledge in a relationship with the new theme is a precondition and thus is necessary if a teacher is to reach a didactically fruitful moment in unlocking the new contents. In its turn, this fruitful moment is a precondition for the further unlocking of the new theme for a child. It underlies the possibility of attaining authentic learning results because without it a child is unable to eventually form concepts, understandings, etc. regarding

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the theme properly. The possibility of a fruitful moment is that a child, with the help and guidance of a teacher, can generalize and abstract the unlocked essences of reality (the contents). That a child has acquired new concepts and insights does not mean that a teacher can now leave him at his own devices or that his grasp of them will be lasting. Further, this acquisition does not imply that he is mobile or flexible with the themethe requirement is that he has to firm up such insights and concepts by exercising them. However, before a teacher can assure himself that a child has the essential insights into the theme at his disposal, he has to actualize the lesson contents by controlling (verifying, monitoring) the essences of the themes structure. This control of the essences can be accomplished by arranging them into a logical scheme (schematizing them), by supporting a child to use his newly acquired concepts and insights; this use includes two forms of practice or exercise (namely, practicing to insights, which is especially important in acquiring activity structures, and practicing of insights), and, finally, by evaluating his insights into the new knowledge structure. The relationships among these matters are important aspects of a teachers preparation and must be evident in his lesson write-up. 3.4 Didactic principles and the phases of a lesson

If there is one thing that can be said of a lesson situation it is that it is dynamic. Thus, in his lesson preparation a teacher plans a dynamic course. It is for this reason that, in his planning, he needs to think about how he is going to let the dynamism of a lesson take its course and how, by virtue of the pedagogic-didactic requirements, he is going to direct the lesson. That is, in the course of a lesson, he has to realize the different principles of actualization (activity, differentiation, individualization, socialization and tempo variation).

It seems that there is the following rough analogy: practicing of insight : reproductive thinking :: practicing to insight : productive thinking. ( G.D.Y.) 269

Further, in his preparation, he has to be able to justify the principles of actualization to be used in each phase of a lesson in order to allow the particular phases to take their course. Therefore, he has to be able to account for a relevant principle of actualization (or combination) during the lesson phases of actualizing foreknowledge, stating the problem, exposing the new contents, actualizing the new contents, functionalizing the contents and evaluating insights. The relationships among the principles of actualization and the phases of a lesson are dependent on authentic learning effects in the sense that a teacher must continually search for the most effective principles of actualization for a specific phase in order to guarantee the best learning results. For example, one thinks here of the necessity for implementing differentiation as a principle of actualization in an ordinary classroom situation because an individual child will not necessarily open himself to a teachers unlocking in precisely the same way as will a classmate. In a heterogeneous class there must also be further differentiation (e.g., differentiation of assignments or tempo) in order to reach each child. Tempo variation is necessary in each lesson situation (and especially in each phase within a lesson). While stimulating foreknowledge the tempo is faster than while exposing the new learning material. Activity is obvious in each lesson; if a child is not actively involved in the lesson event, he simply is not present. These are not matters of course, i.e., they do not just happen. A teacher must thoroughly plan them and write them into his lesson scheme. 3.5 The learning activity

The ways a child goes out to reality are not uniform, e.g., he can sense, perceive or lived-experience it. The ways he enters reality (the way he exists, enters reality out of himself) also are not uniformly or unambiguously describable. For example, the fact is a child does not just purely perceive; during his perceiving he also experiences reality affectively. For this reason, his ways of relating to reality cannot be separated from each other; at most we can distinguish them.

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One of the most conspicuous characteristics of a childs going out to reality is that it is a learning activity. Also, his modes (ways) of existing correspond to his modes of learning. It also is the case that in a particular situation, a particular mode of learning must be mobilized (e.g., thinking, perceiving, remembering, etc.) in order to enter reality, depending on the quality of the appeal reality directs to him. Consequently, in a didactic situation, certain learning material will help determine which modes of learning will best offer a child access to that reality. Correspondingly, it is a teachers responsibility to take into consideration in his planning the specific modes of learning that are going to be stimulated and directed during the different phases of a lesson. This mainly amounts to a teacher planning the stimulation and direction of particular modes of learning (or combinations) for each separate phase of a lesson because these modes of learning will most effectively promote insight into the contents. In this respect a teacher anticipates the way a child can become properly involved with the contents. The question that now is important for a teacher is: With respect to the learning material, what modes of learning during the subsequent phases of the lesson are most likely to result in authentic learning effectsduring actualizing and stimulating the relevant foreknowledge; during the joint reduction of the contents to essences in the lesson exposition; during unlocking the lesson contents and integrating the foreknowledge with the new structure of knowledge in order to promote restructuring, etc. The synchronization of the most effective modes of learning with the phases of a lesson is of particular importance for a teacher because the ultimate aim of a lesson is realized in a childs learning activity. Consequently, this aspect of the lesson structure requires particular preparation and planning and also must be evident to a teacher in his lesson write-up. 3.6 Teaching and learning aids

In a classroom a teacher is primarily directed to allowing a child to become involved with reality. It is understandable that reality, as

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such, cannot merely be carried into a classroom situation. A possible solution to the problem of a reality that is absent from a classroom situation is to represent it by means of teaching and learning aids. In this respect, teaching aids are materials representative or symbolic of reality that a teacher uses to make reality accessible to a child while learning aids are materials by which a child himself can acquire insight into reality to the degree that the material (aid) represents it. A teacher handles and uses teaching aids and a child handles and uses learning aids. Under teaching aids we can mention, e.g., projectors of various kinds, wall maps, models, the chalkboard, and illustrations; learning aids include, among others, textbooks, models, representations, microscopes, and graphs. The meaning of teaching and learning aids is never found in the aids themselves; a teacher must elevate an object (e.g., a model, a map) to a teaching or a learning aid. The implication is that he must decide when and how he is going to insert particular aids into the course of a lesson and for what specific aim he is going to use and allow the child to use them. It also is clear that this aspect must be thoroughly planned and attended to. That there is a particular relationship between teaching and learning aids means that in his lesson preparation a teacher must also be able to justify or account for his coordinating and synchronizing the teaching and learning aids with a childs various modes of learning, his readiness and especially his ability to integrate new knowledge, as well as the specific nature of the learning material that is going to be unlocked. This means that a teachers use of teaching and learning aids during the different phases of a lesson, where they also can be applied, also must be clearly justified. The uses and reason for the teaching and learning aids must be discernible in a lesson write-up. 3.7 Controlling (verifying, monitoring)

All of the children in a classroom are not necessarily going to achieve a lesson and a learning aim as they should at the same time and on the same level. Hence, on the basis of his knowledge of a child and of the children in his classroom, during his preparation of

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the contents (i.e., reducing them to their essences), a teacher must be alert to possible bottlenecks and problem areas that can arise in his unlocking them. A childs view of and insight into the learning material that a teacher has unlocked (the learning effect) and a teachers controlling (monitoring) his insight into the essence of the learning material indicate to him where a child has stagnated. Especially it is in his didactic-pedagogic interpretation of the learning material that he anticipates possible bottlenecks and modifies his unlocking in such a way that these bottlenecks are anticipated in his exposition and, where possible, they are avoided. This act of modifying is always present in the course of harmonizing form and contents. In a classroom situation the unlocking of the contents is modified according to the quality of a childs immediate learning effect. For this reason, a teacher repeats, allows practice again, allows doing again, returns to previous insights, etc. if he cannot see the quality that he demands in the immediate learning effect. All of this takes time and, therefore, a teacher must provide for it in his preparation. However, when a teacher notices obstinate stagnating and even derailment, he has to provide orthodidactic (remedial) help for which he must also plan in his lesson preparation. Essentially, lesson preparation is anticipating a didactic situation directed to an authentic encounter between a child and the learning material, i.e., where authentic learning is the dividend or result of a teachers unlocking reality. This encounter between a child and the learning material must culminate in an improved relationship with reality that, for a teacher, is evident in his improved involvement with the learning material. A child also has to surpass (transcend) the immediacy of the learning material that is carried by his admiration and is evident in his life of values. These achievements are neither mechanical nor obviousa teacher must prepare thoroughly for them. If his preparation is not evident in a lesson write-up, there is the danger that his preparation merely gets stuck in a line of thinking that cannot constitute or direct a didactic situation. 4. THE LESSON SCHEME

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The discussions offered in this chapter are not meant only for a student teacher. These discussions offer a student an introduction to the essence of the practice of teaching but for a practicing teacher they can serve him to once again think through the grounds of his practice in order to stimulate a critical attitude toward his own practice. Each lesson ought to be a model lessonthis holds for both student teachers and practicing teachers (if here we seek an analogy with the medical profession, this means that each operation that a surgeon performs, by the nature of things, must be a model operation)in the examples in a lesson write-up there is no distinction made between a model lesson and an everyday breadand-butter lesson. The reason is that the same criteria that are valid for a student teachers write-up of a lesson for critique also are valid for a practicing teachers write-up because both must show clear evidence, against the background of pedagogic-didactic knowledge, that they can realize a harmony between the contents (subject knowledge) and the form of the lesson. Ultimately, a teachers only demand to be considered as a professional practitioner is the degree to which he can justify his practice. The evidence for his justification is in the write-up of his lesson preparation. At the risk of repetition, it is stated once again that the following discussion should not in any sense be taken as a fixed pattern or recipe. It serves only as a guideline because it is expected that each student teacher and teacher will display his own originality and initiative in his unique teaching situation. Herein lies the possibility that their classroom practice will be dynamic and enthusiastic and will not be based on a recipe that will give it a second-hand and stiff character. Each teachers originality and initiative are the basis for his style of teaching, something that he must maintain at any cost, provided he can justify it. The guideline offered here also is aimed at insuring that a lesson will not have a haphazard character. The lesson scheme requires that a student teacher (and teacher) be accountable for each phase of the course of a lesson. Also, a lesson scheme is arranged in such a way that a teacher has to continually keep in mind the unique nature of the subject and a pupils readiness in order to bring about

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a meaningful harmony between the form and the contents of a lesson. As stated above, a teachers originality and initiative are evident in his style of teaching. This teaching style is also the result of his choice and implementation of the didactic principles, modes of learning, teaching aids, didactic ground-forms, methods of teaching, etc. After all, it is in these choices and their implementation that his individuality is most forcefully expressed. It is for this reason that observing a practicing teacher by a student teacher can only have limited valuethe slavish imitation of an example, irrespective of how good it is, can only obstruct a student teachers latent style of teaching. The scheme for a lesson write-up presented below is mainly a systematized and schematic rendering of the previous expositions of the lesson structure. A criterion applied to the scheme is that a teachers justifications for his choices are synoptically and concisely perceptible. 5. SCHEME FOR A LESSON WRITE-UP (LESSON PLAN) 5.1 LOCALIZING INFORMATION 5.1.1 Grade level: A teacher must know precisely the level of the children who are going to be taught. The level of their readiness will be of decisive importance for a teachers pedagogic-didactic reflection and planning. This is also going to largely direct his planning. Under this heading the grade is simply mentioned, e.g., grade 4, grade 10. 5.1.2 Subject: Here the subject to be taught is listed along with its sub-divisions; e.g., geography (geo-morphology), history (European); mathematics (quadratic equations). 5.1.3 Time: Because a teacher must deal with specific contents in a particular lesson or series of lessons, the duration of a lesson is very important. Here the duration of a lesson is written down, e.g., 35 minutes, 40 minutes. A teacher has to know precisely how much time he has to unlock particular essences of the learning material. The greatest mistake of

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many student teachers in this connection is that they want to deal with too much material in a period. This problem originates in the fact that a student teacher has not reduced the theme to its real essences and also that his experience of the childrens learning tempo is not yet refined. If the limitations of the amount of time are not thoroughly taken into account in his planning, this results in disturbing the tempo of a lesson. This has the additional effect that a student teacher seldom will arrive at the phases of actualizing and functionalizing the new contents. The amount of time available for a particular lesson forces a teacher to plan a time division among the different phases of the lesson; e.g., 10 minutes for stimulating foreknowledge and for stating and formulating the problem; 20 minutes for presenting the new contents; 10 minutes for controlling (verifying) the quality of the insights into the new knowledge structure. By the nature of the matter, a final pronouncement cannot be made here regarding the division of time among the different phases of a lesson. In the lower classes, where the learning material can be presented in one period, perhaps the above example of time division is valid. In the higher classes, especially at the senior secondary level, it often occurs that a period (or even two) is used for actualizing the foreknowledge. Here the practice is often to unlock a theme in a series of lessons over several periods. If a teacher does not bear in mind the time factor, his lesson shows a weak didactic structure and it is loose and disconnected. 5.2 GROUPING

Children are divided into groups according to various criteria. It is important for a teacher to know if the children in his classroom are grouped homogeneously or heterogeneously because, by the nature of the matter, the grouping will influence his entire didactic performance. It also is important for a teacher to know the criteria applied to the particular group, e.g., to form homogeneous classroom groups. Possible criteria or yardsticks that can be used are age, intellectual potentialities, choice of subject matter and interests. Because a

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teachers unlocking of the contents is for the benefit of each child, knowledge of the criteria for grouping is of particular importance to him. For example, if a class is heterogeneously constituted on the basis of age, a teacher must be aware that he has to make provision for much more differentiation and individualizing in his planning. Under this heading, the grouping is merely named, e.g., homogeneously grouped according to intellectual potentialities; homogeneously grouped according to choice of subject but heterogeneous with respect to intellectual potentialities and gender, etc. The various possibilities for grouping children in a class are great and is a factor that a teacher has to take thoroughly into account. In light of the changes brought about (in South Arica) by the new differentiated secondary teaching, especially in classroom organization, this aspect of a teachers planning is especially important. In most secondary schools the grouping of classes often is based only on a pupils choice of subject. Practice teaches that these classes often are heterogeneous with respect to pupils intellectual abilities. 5.3 THE TEACHING AIM

5.3.1 The lesson aim What a teacher aims for with the specific lesson is explained. The idea is not that a teacher merely transcribes the theme as it appears in the work scheme and presents it as his formulation of his lesson aim. The theme is only an aspect of a subject and must be integrated into the whole in subsequent lessons. A teacher knows how his pupils have progressed with the theme in a series of lessons, and he also knows what successive insights are going to be required of his teaching. In addition, he knows how the specific lesson theme fits into the whole of the subject. A teacher has to interpret a particular theme in such a way that it is possible to integrate the foreknowledge of the theme with the succeeding work. For example, a syllabus for 11 th grade history includes The Industrial Revolution. This theme fits into the

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Napoleonic Wars and the colonization movement of Australia and Africa. It makes little sense to a pupil to announce the industrial revolution as the lesson aim. Since it is impossible to try to unlock or present the entire industrial revolution in one period, this theme has to be differentiated into themes for a number of lessons that form a series such as the inventions that preceded the industrial revolution, the social structure, especially in England, during the industrial revolution, its consequences, with special emphasis on its social-societal and social-economic impact, etc. As necessary and chronological aspects of the whole, a teacher can transform each of these themes into lesson aims. His purpose is that his pupils must acquire insight into the essential structure of a particular theme because without this insight they cannot progress with the theme as a whole. A careful and precise description of the lesson aim also has the advantage that a teacher knows precisely what he is going to look for in evaluating the pupils insights. At the same time, this provides him with the basis for structuring his unlocking so that the essences of the learning material and their necessary relationships are effectively made evident to the pupils. The formulation of a lesson aim is really one of the most important steps in reducing the learning material to its essences. Because a teacher first decides on a lesson aim, i.e., he must first delimit and refine the theme, he is in a position to look for examples by which he can realize his lesson aim. (This also holds for formulating a learning aim). The choice of a specific example by a teacher once again forces him to reduce the learning material and to look at what degree the example is the best fit for the specific situation, the particular structure and complexity of the learning material and the level of readiness of the specific pupils. Later, reducing the learning material is dealt with more fully, but nevertheless it is already necessary in the formulation of a lesson aim to indicate that reduction is a precondition for good planning. A lesson aim has to be formulated concisely and powerfully, but also accurately, e.g., the story of the poem Barefoot-sounds by I. D. du Plessis; the power of a true faith in Christ as this arises in the purification of the lepers, etc. In these two examples the unlocking

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of the contents are going to be directed at the story in the first case and to the power of a true faith in Christ in the other. 5.3.2 The learning aim Just as announcing a lesson theme in the work scheme cannot be a lesson aim, the lesson aim equally cannot be a learning aim for a child. This aspect of everyday practice is often neglected at the cost of the children. Too often a teacher merely announces, Today we are going to deal with the poem Barefoot-sounds by I. D. du Plessis or Today we are going to consider the inventions that had led to the industrial revolution or Today we are going to calculate areas. The task of a learning aim is to appeal to and direct a pupils consciousness to achieve. Announcing a lesson aim cannot accomplish this. Such an announcement cannot insure that a pupil is going to exert himself to master the lesson theme. A learning aim indicates what a pupil must achieve. It involves insight into the concepts that allow the essences of the theme to be meaningful to a pupil. Hence, now, a teacher must make a choice of one or more good examples by which the delimited essences (as summarized in the lesson aim) can be made available to the pupil. In the geography curriculum for the secondary school, pupils are expected to acquire insight into the different climatic regions of the world. These regions are simply named, e.g., the equatorial, savannah, warm desert, Mediterranean. Each of these regions is, in itself, a separate lesson theme and can be formulated as a lesson aim. If a teacher handles the winter rainfall (Mediterranean) region and expects that the pupils merely will acquire insight into the connections among factors such as geomorphology, location, prevailing winds, ocean currents, etc. and the ways these connections of factors crystallize into a specific climate region by unlocking the concept winter rainfall region, the learning effect of his pupils will be disappointing. In this case, a teacher is compelled to choose, e.g., the Southwest Cape region as an example for penetrating and unlocking the essences of this climate region that is caused by the coherence of the various climatological factors. Here the learning aim ought to be the factors that cause the winter

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rainfall region because the teacher wants his pupils to acquire insight into the factors that cause so they understand the term winter rainfall region and can deal with it insightfully. This means a teacher must ask himself, What precisely are the concepts the pupils must possess to be able to understand the theme? The answer to this question is the learning aim. As in the case of the lesson aim, the learning aim must be concisely and accurately formulated, e.g., the factors that underlie the winter rainfall region. 5.3.3 Stating the problem

5.3.3.1 Formulating the problem The mere announcement of a problem does not in any way mean that it is a problem for the pupils. Experience and science (psychopedagogics) indicate that a childs achieving consciousness is stimulated and directed by a problem. Thus, a teacher is compelled, by meaningfully linking up with a pupils foreknowledge, to lead and guide him to his own formulation of the problem. This matter is explained in more detail later. Nevertheless, it is necessary once again to indicate that only when a child experiences shortcomings in his own structure of knowledge, in light of the lesson problem, will he accept responsibility for solving the problem.
A task for a teacher is to lead him to formulate the problem for himself and take responsibility for solving it. He must indicate to a pupil that his foreknowledge is inadequate to solve the specific problem. Thus, for a child, solving the problem is aimed at overcoming his own deficiencies in knowledge, insights, actions, etc. A childs wanting to eliminate his deficiencies in knowing, etc. is his motivation to eventually attain the learning aim as well as the basis for his motivation to want to learn. It is important that the problem appear clearly somewhere for the child. The reason is that a pupil must be continually aware of precisely where the lesson is headed. For example, it doesnt help for a teacher to merely write the learning aim the factors that cause the winter rainfall region on the blackboard. Here a teacher must

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lead his pupils in such a way that they become aware that their knowledge of the connections among the climatological factors is inadequate to be able to answer the question what are the connections among the climatological factors underlying the winter rainfall region? A teacher leads the children to ask this question themselves by linking up with their foreknowledge of, e.g., temperature, temperature change, prevailing winds, precipitation, humidity, air pressure, degree of latitude, ocean currents, etc. Under this heading, the lesson problem is formulated clearly but accurately: What are the connections among the climatological factors underlying the winter rainfall region?

5.3.3.2 Solving the problem A teachers unlocking of the essences of the contents in terms of a chosen example or examples provides the possibility that the essential insights, refined concept forming, coherence of meanings, good solution methods and manipulation schemes become understandable to a child. This aspect of the lesson is planned as a chalkboard scheme and it appears in the lesson write-up under this heading.
In preparing a lesson, a teacher has reduced the contents to their essences and systematized them in his lesson write-up. This systematization merely provides points of orientation to allow the lesson situation itself to progress; in the actual lesson he allows the pupils to participate effectively and actively in that now he, together with the pupils, reduces the learning material. This means that the pupils must experience the coherence of his reduction and to be able to do that they must reduce the material themselves. The purpose of the reduction that systematically becomes evident in the chalkboard scheme is precisely to help the children reduce the material themselves. A teachers reduction helps them to create order out of chaos; without this reduction they cannot acquire any logical overview of the essences and, therefore, they cannot learn with insight. Writing down the board scheme in his lesson write-up has a fourfold benefit for a teacher: first, it assures that he has included all of the essences in his exposition; second, it assures him that the

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relationships among the essences will be logical and meaningful to his pupils; third, it forces him to make sure that the structure and coherence of the essences will gradually and systematically lead to a solution to the lesson problem; and fourth, it also allows him to become aware of possible bottlenecks and problem areas that can arise and that have to be avoided by means of branching or repeating his exposition. Thus, planning a board scheme is extremely important to a teacher because it assures him, to a high degree, that his unlocking can achieve the anticipated learning effect. 5.4 THE LESSON STRUCTURE

Apart from planning the contents of his lesson that were discussed with respect to the teaching aim, the lesson aim, the learning aim, formulating and solving the lesson problem, a teacher must also be able to justify his choices that will give form to his lesson. The form given to a teachers lesson depends on the particular relationships among his choices of the didactic ground-forms, methodological principles, principles for ordering the learning material and the methods of unlocking or presenting the contents. A teacher must also plan the didactic modalities for each phase of the course of his lesson because they allow his lesson plan to be mobilized. 5.4.1 Form of the lesson 5.4.1.1 Choice of the ground-form(s) In accordance with the unique nature of the learning material and the readiness of the pupils, a teacher chooses a particular groundform or combination of ground-forms in which the contents can be cast so that they are presented most effectively. Thus, the choices of ground-forms are closely related to the lesson aim. A teacher chooses from the four possible ground-formsplay, conversation, example and assignmentthe particular form(s) that gives his lesson the most favorable form for achieving his lesson aim.

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5.4.1.2 Choice of methodological principle(s) In this context, methodological principle means the way that is to be followed in order to present the contents from the beginning of a lesson through its course. The methodological principles are mainly the inductive or deductive principle. In certain lesson situations a combination of the two can be used, e.g., there can be a working through from the inductive to the deductive and the reverse. The choice of methodological principle will largely depend on the level of readiness of the pupils and the nature and complexity of the learning material. The methodological principle or combination of the two and the order in which they will be used are simply indicated under this heading. 5.4.1.3 Choice of principles for ordering (arranging) the learning material The ways a teacher is going to arrange the learning material is indicated under this heading. He chooses a principle (or combination of principles) of ordering the learning material that will reflect the unique nature of the contents and match a childs level of readiness. He chooses from among the symbiotic, the progressive, the linear, the concentric, the chronological, the divergent and the spiral principles (or some combination) that will make available and present synoptically the essences of the learning material to his particular pupils in the lesson situation in the best and most effective ways. Planning the form of a lesson usually proceeds in this sequence: choice of didactic ground-form; methodological principle; and principle of ordering the learning material. However, the lesson and learning aim, the unique nature and structure of the contents and the readiness of the pupils also must be taken into account. These three factors need to be considered each time there are choices that determine the form a lesson will take. Further, in light of a teachers choice of ground-form, methodological principle and principle of ordering, he can now deduce from these choices the most effective particular ways or methods of presenting the contents in the classroom.

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5.4.1.4 Method(s) of presenting (unlocking) the contents Under this heading, a teacher must give a brief explanation of the anticipated method or methods expected to crystallize out of his previous decisions. It is understandable that his choice of didactic ground-form(s) and their logical methodological possibilities will guide a teacher in his choice of particular methods of presentation, that the methodological principle(s) chosen will have a particular influence on his choice of a particular method and that the principle(s) of ordering the learning material are equally important in choosing a method of unlocking or presenting the contents. It is also important for a teacher to keep in mind that the methods of presentation often change during the course (phases) of a lesson. For this reason, use is often made of various methods during the various phases of a lesson. For example, during actualizing foreknowledge the question-and-answer method or the class discussion is used; during stating the problem, a combination of the question-and-answer method and narrating (lecturing) as a method is meaningfully implemented; while unlocking the new contents a combination of the methods of narrating and demonstrating or the method of experimenting present the essences of the contents, and so on for the other phases of a lesson. 5.4.2 The course (phases) of a lesson and the didactic modalities A teachers planning must be brought into motion in a lesson and it is the function of the didactic modalities to do this. The movement that is accomplished by the didactic modalities is observable during the course of a lesson. In its turn, the course of a lesson is differentiated into different phases. Thus, it is necessary to plan the didactic modalities anew for each phase of the course of the lesson. For this reason, the course of a lesson and the didactic modalities are viewed as a unity in writing up the lesson plan. In the usual course of a lesson, six phases are differentiated: actualizing foreknowledge; stating the problem; exposing or unlocking the new contents; actualizing (controlling, monitoring) the new lesson contents; functionalizing (applying, transferring); and testing (evaluating).

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The didactic modalities are the combined effects of the didactic principles, modes of learning and teaching/learning aids. The choice of a particular didactic principle (activity, differentiation, individualization, socialization and tempo variation) is a determinant of the teaching effect striven for. For this reason, the choice of a particular didactic principle is closely related to the lesson aim. To try to provide more certainty to the learning event, there has to be an additional working through the didactic principles to a delimiting of one or more planned modes of learning. The teaching effect can be promoted by a responsible use of aids such as different real objects, models, slide projectors, tape recorders and films. The nature and complexity of the learning material and the readiness of the pupils offer a variety of choices of didactic principles, modes of learning and teaching/learning aids. The discussions of the phases of a lesson that follow are merely examples and hence are not the only possibilities. 5.4.2.1 Actualizing foreknowledge During this phase of a lesson, the pupils are led to call into awareness their relevant foreknowledge of the matter under consideration. A teacher helps a child search for meaningful connections between his foreknowledge and the new knowledge to ensure that he attributes meaning to ita child must experience the new theme as meaningful. Now, in the lesson write-up a teacher has to explain how he is going to call up the pupils foreknowledge, e.g., by asking questions about already acquired insights, by leading a class discussion of the work already dealt with, or by letting the pupils talk about their own experiences. Didactic principle(s): Here a teacher has to explain which of the didactic principles (i.e., activity, differentiation, individualization, socialization and tempo variation) are going to be more prominent in this phase of the lesson, e.g., activity and tempo variation. Each pupil has to be actively involved in recalling and implementing his foreknowledge. However, because this involves familiar insights, the tempo can be considerably faster than when exposing or unlocking

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the new contents. Thus, under this heading a teacher writes: activity and quick tempo. Mode(s) of learning: It is usually the case that remembering is the most prominent or important mode of learning in this lesson phase. Because in most subjects this involves remembering previous insights in the sense that they are not merely recalled but rather these mastered insights have to be placed in a new framework, which requires thinking, a teacher can write down both remembering and thinking. Teaching and learning aids: The task of teaching and learning aids in this phase is to call up previous insights and hidden knowledge as quickly and effectively as possible. Teaching and learning aids that can be effectively used here are, e.g., a quick chalkboard scheme, a print or illustration, a graph or a scheme. 5.4.2.2 Stating the problem During this phase of a lesson the foreknowledge (hidden insights) is recalled and placed in a new relationship that contains a problem for a pupil. Under this heading a teacher clarifies how he is going to lead a pupil from what he knows to noticing the problem in the new contents by leading him to experience the inadequacy of his insights. This phase requires careful planning because the lesson progresses or falls flat to the extent that a pupil is motivated by the problem to attain the learning aim. Didactic principle(s): The activity of each pupil is essential in this phase of a lesson. During this phase a teacher has to keep in mind the pupils individual differences so that individualization can occur. Usually during this phase, the lesson tempo decreases because a teacher has to be sure that each pupil accepts the lesson problem as his own problem. Accordingly, under this heading a teacher indicates: activity, individualization and a slow lesson tempo. Mode(s) of learning: In this lesson phase the problem places the acquired insights in a new relationship or structure. For this reason, thinking, as a mode of learning, will be of particular importance. Here a pupils perceiving is not yet differentiate or clearly directed but his sensing is stimulated. Thus, under this heading, a teacher writes down thinking and sensing. Teaching and learning aids: Because stating the problem really involves stimulating foreknowledge and questioning it from within a

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new structure, aids are chosen that call forth previous knowledge again as representations, such as slide projectors, films, prints, diagrams, graphs, tables and schemes. These aids are usually very effective because they once again represent to a pupil his foreknowledge. It often happens in teaching that these teaching and learning aids are the point of departure for a lesson. By using aids that stimulate a pupils sensing (e.g., teaching aids that represent the structure, form, order, etc. of a matter as a total or global image), a pupil questions his own knowledge. Here one thinks of a print, a representation, a moving or colored model, etc. Under this heading a teacher simply writes down the different teaching and learning aids he is going to use during this lesson phase as well as their sequences, e.g., graphs and tables and then a scheme. 5.4.2.3 Exposing (unlocking) the new contents Here an explanation is given of the course of unlocking the new contents. A teacher has to clarify how he is going to make the essences of the learning material evident or bring them to the surface. In addition, he must be able to justify how he is going to put these essences in a logical relationship and how they (as they appear, e.g., on a chalkboard as a scheme) gradually make a solution to the problem evident. In unlocking the new contents, a teacher continually reaches back to his pupils foreknowledge to make his exposition more meaningful to them. Thus, it is almost a matter of course that, during this phase, use is made of the question-and-answer method, the class discussion, the learning discussion, etc. Because of the nature of unlocking new contents, a teacher continually directs his pupils perceiving to the essences of the learning material. During this phase, their active involvement is necessary and this gives this phase its particular dynamic character. During unlocking the new contents, concept formation is primarily what occurs. Under this heading the concepts to which the lesson aim is directed are named. The order and relationship of the concepts are equally important and for this reason they should also be written down. The explanation provided under this heading

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differs from a board scheme in that the board scheme makes the sequential (i.e., chronological) and essential (i.e., structural) aspects of the theme evident while the concepts used to unlock the new contents are the contents of the lesson aim. The didactic modalities also must be fully planned and worked out for this phase of the lesson. Didactic principle(s): Above, the activity of each child in this phase of a lesson was emphasized. If a child is not continually actively and meaningfully involved in this phase of the lesson, the insights to which it is directed cannot be guaranteed for a child. In addition to activity as a principle, during this phase the lesson tempo will be slightly slower; really the pupil, together with the teacher, reduces the learning material to their essences and grasp the relations between them. During this phase, with respect to the tempo, a teacher allows himself to be guided by the quality of the immediate learning effect. To determine and elevate the quality of his learning effect, a teacher will individualize, especially by means of individually directed questions, and by eliciting commentary from the pupils. Under this heading a teacher writes, e.g., activity, slower tempo and individualization. Mode(s) of learning: In this phase of a lesson, insight into the concepts central to the new contents is essential. Therefore, a teacher will actualize those modes of learning most appropriate for and applicable to gaining insight into the concepts. For example, in an explicatory lesson, thinking and perceiving will be central: perceiving to establish a point of focus and thinking to order the point of focus into a profile or relief (e.g., of similarities and differences). Here a teacher simply writes down perceiving and thinking. Teaching and learning aids: As in each of the other phases of a lesson, the basis for choosing a teaching and learning aid is the nature of the learning material (e.g., is it meaningful to try to present specific concepts visually?), the level of a child (e.g., will this child understand an abstract scheme of a course of action?) and the modes of learning (e.g., which teaching and learning aids can direct perceiving and actualize thinking with respect to the essences of the learning material?).

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During this phase, the teaching and learning aids ought to provide a pupil with the opportunity to use them according to his own needs and tempo (e.g., a real object, a model, an apparatus). Because thinking during this phase is implemented on a more reproductive level, aids should be used that call up representations of already acquired knowledge (e.g., slide projectors, films, diagrams, graphs, tables, schemes). Under this heading a teacher writes, e.g., a model of , experimental apparatus for a experiment, prints of , graphs of ., tables of . 5.4.2.4 Actualizing (controlling) the lesson contents Here the concern is with pupils control of their insight of the essences. In other words, this deals with the control of the immediate learning effect. Under this heading, a teacher explains how he is going to determine whether the pupils have gasped the essences of the learning material, e.g., by intermittent questioning during the unlocking, while gradually completing a prepared part of a whole, etc. During this lesson phase a pupil should be given the opportunity to use and handle his new insights himself. The nature of some learning material (e.g., mathematics, arithmetic, natural science) is such that the essential concepts and activity structures can only be penetrated to real insight if a pupil practices (uses) the essences until insight breaks through. Under this heading, a teacher must show the different practice examples by which the insight can break through. During this phase, a pupil has to be able to schematize his newly acquired insights, i.e., place them in a synoptic scheme with his foreknowledge. This scheme needs to include the essences of the learning material as well as the relationships among them. Naming the new insights is also important herethe unambiguous description, articulation, etc. expressed in language requires a pupil to engage in productive thinking (in contrast to reproductive thinking). This entire phase is really focused on stimulating and directing productive thinking. The schemes and names to which the entire exposition has led have to be explained here. Didactic principle(s): Individual insight into the essences of the learning material really distinguishes this lesson phase from the

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others. Consequently, individualization is an important didactic principle. During this phase a teachers guided tempo usually shifts to the background and the individual tempo of each pupil is stressed. Hence, for this phase a slow or fast tempo is not planned. Although activity is obvious in each lesson phase, it is especially important during this phase because a pupil actually (really) has to place the essences of the learning material within his own horizon of knowledgethis requires whole-hearted activity from a child. During this phase, differentiation of the contents is not yet prominent because all of the pupils have to understand the same essences. Under this heading a teacher writes: individualization and activity. Mode(s) of learning: Since the concern here is to firm up the insights in the sense that each pupil has to assimilate them himself, thinking (especially productive thinking) is particularly important. Often a teacher lets the pupils struggle with the problem on their own and in this way discover shortcomings in their own field of experience. However, it is not desirable for a teacher to abandon them to their own fate during this phase. Usually he helps each child individually by providing supplementary knowledge and skills. Each time a teacher provides help to an individual child he demands that he return again to the matter and look for better insight. Here aids only give direction in finding possible ways to solve the problem. Thus they give impetus to thinking or, when a pupil digresses from a method of solution, again they correct the direction of his thinking and, in this way, serve as controlling aids. Here a teacher simply writes: productive thinking. Teaching and learning aids: General aids are not of much importance here. Aids are chosen and implemented that correspond to each pupils needs and difficulties. Although here the matter takes an individual course, nevertheless, a teacher has to anticipate these difficulties and make sure he has enough suitable aids on hand. Such aids are listed under this heading. 5.4.2.5 Functionalizing This phase of a lesson is directed to firming up and making functional (useable) the insights the pupils have acquired during the phase exposing the new contents. Hence, a pupil has to be able to use the insights in similar problem areas with understanding. In this phase, practicing insights often is called for.

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This can be seen most clearly where the sequence of work is firmed up in selected practices, e.g., in mathematics and arithmetic. Such practices are explained under this heading. The new insights must be integrated with the foreknowledge before they can be used functionally (brought into function, functionalized). Integrating the new with existing knowledge demands particular preparation and reflecting by a teacher. This is true for all learning material but because of the multiplicity of the so-called human sciences (language, history, etc.), the problem of integrating the new is more difficult; e.g., in exposing or presenting the reasons for the settlers of 1820 coming to the Cape of Good Hope, teacher and pupils eventually have to integrate this historical event with the Napoleonic Wars and the Industrial Revolution. At the same time, the cultural and especially the constitutional history of the Cape after 1820 are suggested and put in perspective. The integration of new insights with existing ones is explained under this heading. Functionalizing really implies that a pupil must be able to apply the new insights. The form in which this application can be observed has to be carefully planned and considered and then explained under this heading; for example, application exercises of similar problems, working out one or more related examples, firming up the concept in a pupils own composition or poem. Didactic principle(s): Besides the central significance of activity, because each pupil must actively exercise insights, these insights must be integrated and eventually applied, there is mention of a differentiation of learning material because a teacher changes the forms of exercise and application according to each pupils potentialities. There is also individualization. Once again, the lesson tempo cannot be planned beforehand because each pupil will exercise, integrate and apply his insights according to his own tempo. Here a teacher simply writes: activity, differentiation and individualization. Mode(s) of learning: During this phase, productive thinking and remembering are particularly important. The pupil has the task of re-structuring his already acquired insights so that they can be integrated and used; in addition, he has to rely on his memory to apply them (behave with insight). It is necessary to indicate once again that the particular nature of the learning material, the pupils level of readiness and the type of lesson will determine which

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mode(s) of learning have to be stimulated and directed during this lesson phase. In an ordinary explicatory lesson, productive thinking and remembering will be listed under this heading. Teaching and learning aids: In addition to direction-giving aids that can encourage thinking, in this phase it is important that aids also be used to monitor (control) whether the pupils insights into the new knowledge are at the level expected. To ascertain this, a diagram or scheme (without words) can be used for a quick and effective review. Here a tape recorder or a program also is useful. Each individual pupil has to be given the opportunity to exercise and apply the new insights. For this aim, a chalkboard, unrolled sheets of paper, textbooks, an overhead projector, etc. can be used. Since insight into the essentials of the concept have already broken through, the aids will remain directed only at exercising the insight in new situations. For this reason, as many new problems and possibilities of application as are feasible have to be shown such as, e.g., field trips, exhibits and films. Here the specific teaching and learning aids are written out.

5.4.2.6 Testing (evaluating) After the end of a lesson or series of lessons, a teacher has to test the proficiency of the pupils insight into and understanding of the essences of the learning material or evaluate their thinking, creativity, activities and experiences about the matter.
Testing and evaluating are always necessary and therefore a teacher has to make provision for them in preparing his lesson. This aspect of a lesson is orienting for both teacher and pupil. By testing and evaluating the pupils insight into the essence of the learning material, he determines their readiness to progress further in the subject. At the same time, he takes note of the quality (in the sense of effective or authentic learning results by the pupils) of his own unlocking of the contents. By testing and evaluating, he also can ascertain which pupils have a need for remedial help and similarly he can avoid bottlenecks in a remedial program. For a child, testing and evaluating are orienting in that a teacher affirms for him that his knowledge is satisfactory or unsatisfactory, that he has or has not reached the expected level of achievement,

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that he is unable to deal with the essences of the learning material, that he has certain problem areas, etc. It is self-evident that a teacher has to prepare the form and contents of his testing and evaluating with particular thoroughness. He must know precisely what he is going to test and evaluate. The test has to be constructed in such a way that he can be sure that it reflects the quality of the pupils insight into and handling of the essences of the learning material. The form the test is going to take also deserves special attention. For example, is he going to test by having the pupils fill in or complete a list of questions, by an essay, by a dictation-exercise, by systematically explaining contents, by a qualitative analysis of a pupils own constructed object? Under this heading a teacher provides a complete explanation of both the form and contents of his testing and evaluating of insights. Didactic principle(s): During this phase, self-activity and tempo variation are very important. A pupil must be given responsibility for the quality of his insights into the essences of the new learning material. In this context, responsibility is nothing other than selfactivity; a pupil brings his insights into motion, he mobilizes and directs them to solve related problems. Assignment, as a didactic ground-form, is at the foundation of testing and evaluating in the sense that a teacher gives the pupils an assignment to solve particular problems by means of their insights, to make particular applications, to search for specific relationships, to draw particular conclusions, etc. A teacher differentiates the assignments according to his knowledge of an individual pupils potentialities; for example, he gives simpler assignments to slower or weaker pupils, and for the stronger pupils, he gives assignments that require more of them with respect to depth and breadth. In this way, there is differentiation and individualization. The nature of the learning material and the form of testing and evaluating determine whether a teacher sets a minimum time limit and whether the pupils are going to follow their own tempo in carrying out the assignments. Under this heading a teacher writes, e.g., self-activity, differentiation and fixed tempo.

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Mode(s) of learning: During this phase, a special appeal is directed to a pupils memory and productive thinking. In this phase he has to recall his insights into the essences of the learning material and place, order and integrate them in a related problem area and find relationships to be able to properly carry out the assignment. This requires productive thinking that, didactically speaking, provides the means for attaining the didactic-pedagogic aim through unlocking reality, i.e., independence and responsibility. Under this heading a teacher writes, e.g., remembering and productive thinking. Teaching and learning aids: Because the concern during this phase is with testing and evaluating a pupils insight, skills, knowledge, etc., teaching aids will be used that correspond to the unique nature of the subject matter such as tasks, projects, completing or filling in a list of questions. Here a teacher simply writes, e.g., task, project, etc. 6. SUMMARY: SCHEME FOR WRITING UP A LESSON (PLAN) The above discussion is summarized in the following synoptic scheme: Localizing information: Grade: Subject matter: Time: Grouping: The teaching aim: The lesson aim: The learning aim: Stating the problem: Formulating the problem: Solving the problem: The lesson structure: Form of the lesson: Choice of ground-form(s): Choice of methodological principle(s): Choice of principle(s) of ordering the learning material:

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Choice of method(s) of unlocking (teaching): The course (phases) of a lesson and the didactic modalities: Actualizing foreknowledge: Didactic principle(s): Mode(s) of learning: Teaching and learning aids: Stating the problem: Didactic principle(s): Mode(s) of learning: Teaching and learning aids: Unlocking the new contents: Didactic principle(s): Mode(s) of learning: Teaching and learning aids: Actualizing (controlling) the new lesson contents: Didactic principle(s): Mode(s) of learning: Teaching and learning aids: Functionalizing: Didactic principle(s): Mode(s) of learning: Teaching and learning aids: Testing (evaluating): Didactic principle(s): Mode(s) of learning: Teaching and learning aids: APPENDIX SOME EXAMPLES OF LESSON WRITE-UPS The aim of these examples is not to present a "model" to be slavishly followed. Indeed, the examples are not the only ways the themes can be unlocked or presented. The fact is, each teacher, in

These examples did not appear in the original text but were inserted by me (G.D.Y.). I borrowed them from my translation of Van der Stoep, F, et al.: (1973) Die Lesstructuur (The Lesson Structure). Johannesburg: McGraw-Hill, pp. 184-201. 295

unlocking reality reveals his own teaching style in his teaching activities. A teaching model only makes sense if a teacher can gauge its basis and boundary, i.e., if he can interpret it in accordance with the didactic-pedagogic context underlying the structure of the model. In a didactic sense, this claim holds for all so-called "models" (models, teaching models, learning models, etc.) because if the "model" does not contain the didactic essentials, it is not really a model of teaching. What are offered are merely examples of how individual teachers plan to unlock specific content in order to attain a specific teaching aim. FIRST EXAMPLE: Localizing information: Grade level: 8th grade. Subject: Geography (introduction to map work). Time: 35 minutes. Grouping: Homogeneous with respect to age and intellectual potentialities but heterogeneous regarding gender. The teaching aim: The lesson aim: To unlock or present the concept "direction" and to firm up its description. The learning aim: To provide an answer to the question, "What is direction and how can one describe it?" Stating the problem: Formulating the problem: The learners are led via the lesson phases actualizing foreknowledge and stating the problem to pose to themselves the problem, "What is direction and how can one name or describe it?" This problem is written on the left side of the chalkboard. Solving the problem: During the lesson phase of exposing the new content, the following board scheme is presented gradually:

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1. (a) The sun rises in the EAST. (b) The sun sets in the WEST. 2. Direction is determined by the sun. 3. NORTH is where the sun is at 12:00 (noon) in the Southern Hemisphere. 4. SOUTH is where the sun is at 12:00 (noon) in the Northern Hemisphere. 5. South is in the opposite direction from NORTH. 6. At night, direction is determined by the stars. (a) Southern Cross in the Southern Hemisphere. (b) Polar star in the Northern Hemisphere. 7. Direction also is determined by a MAGNETIC COMPASS. 8. Direction is described by N, S, E and W. 9. Between two directions, there also is a direction N and E: NE N and W: NW S and E: SE S and W: SW 10. Direction is a description of the position of one place with respect to another place on the earth's surface. 11. Direction is described by a compass card as N, S, E and W and points between. The lesson structure: Form of the lesson: Choice of ground-form(s): discussion, example and assignment. Choice of methodological principle: inductive. Choice of principles of ordering the learning material: symbiotic and progressive. Methods of unlocking (teaching): During actualizing foreknowledge, the q uestion-and-answer method prevails. During stating the problem, n arrating alternating with question-and-answer are the prevailing methods. During exposing the content, narrating alternating with demonstrating prevail. During actualizing the lesson content, learning discussion alternating with free activity prevail. During functionalizing, the primary method is d rill. During testing, the methods used primarily are

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question-and-answer alternating with the textbook. The course (phases) of the lesson and didactic modalities: Actualizing foreknowledge: The pupils are lead by the following questions to actualize their foreknowledge of direction: Where is your house in relation to the school? Where is the City Hall, church, station, etc. in relation to the school? What way must you travel to arrive in Durban, Cape Town, Windhook, etc.? (In each case the pupil has to show where the place is, the direction, by pointing). These questions give the pupils the opportunity to recall their own knowledge of the relationship between one place and another. Didactic principles: activity, individualization (questions are directed to individual pupils), fast tempo. Modes of learning: mainly remembering alternating with reproductive thinking and perceiving. Teaching and learning aids: the actual City Hall and church spire (which are visible from the classroom). A large aerial photo of the city. Stating the problem: On the basis of explanation and the question, "You have all shown where your house, etc. is, but what have you really shown?", the pupils are guided to answer the question with the word "direction". The question is now stated in terms of the possibility of accurately showing direction when one cannot do so by gestures, e.g., by means of the following questions: 1. How would you w rite to someone where a place is in relation to where you live? 2. How can a ship in difficulty describe o ver the radio where it is? Now the pupils are guided to conclude that the names of direction must have a shared meaning. It is now advisable that the lesson problem, "what is direction and how can one name it?" be written on the chalkboard.

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Didactic principles: activity, individualization, slower tempo. Modes of learning: mainly reproductive and productive thinking and remembering. Teaching and learning aids: none. Unlocking the new contents: By means of questions and narrating, the following facts are established: 1. The sun rises in the EAST. 2. The sun sets in the WEST. 3. Direction is determined by the sun. Each time, the pupils have to indicate where EAST and WEST are. Maps on the wall with E and W in the correct places are introduced. Also, a map is placed on the floor and an East-West line is drawn through it. The pupils now are led by the question "Can we also determine the other directions by means of the sun?" to a discussion of methods for determining NORTH with a compass, with a stick in the ground and its shadow, and with a watch. NORTH and SOUTH are indicated and the NORTH-SOUTH line is affixed to the map on the floor as are the letters N and S to the map on the wall. The pupils are questioned about how they can determine direction at night. The use of the Southern Cross (Southern Hemisphere) and the Polar Star (Northern Hemisphere) are now discussed and explained. The question "Can we now say where one place is with respect to another?" leads to a discussion of labeling direction. The other points of direction on the compass card are discussed. For example, by the question, "How can we describe the direction of a place between NORTH and EAST?", the pupils are guided to formulate for themselves the label NORTHEAST. The same holds for the other intermediate directions.

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The compass card, with intermediate directions filled in, is on the floor and the pupils show with it that the directions on the map are really correct (i.e., really are on the earth's surface) when it lies horizontally on the floor, but that we hang the map vertically to more easily work with it. The pupils are guided to deduce that NORTH is always at the top of the map on the wall. A world globe is now displayed and the following have to be established from questions: (1) NORTH and SOUTH are the main points and refer to the NORTH POLE and the SOUTH POLE, respectively. (2) EAST and WEST are not main points but refer to the direction in which the sun rises and sets. The pupils are guided to deduce that: direction is a description of the location of one place with respect to another by means of N, S, E and W and the intermediate points on a compass card. Didactic principles: activity, individualization. Modes of learning: perceiving alternating with thinking. Teaching and learning aids: maps, globe, magnetic compass and prints of the Southern Cross and the Polar Star. Actualizing (controlling) the new lesson contents: The pupils are now asked to describe the step by step construction of a compass card. During this task, control of the insights is exercised. The correct labeling of the directions of the wind are especially attended to. The pupils are individually called upon to show and to label the directions of the wind. Didactic principles: individualization. Modes of learning: productive thinking and remembering. Teaching and learning aids: model of a compass card, land maps. Functionalizing: The insights into direction in constructing a compass card are implemented by the following assignments:

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(i) Draw a compass card. (ii) Determine the direction of the following places from each other according to the principles of direction and their labels (e.g., N, S, SE). Use a land map. (a) Cape Town lies to the ________ of Port Elizabeth. (b) Port Elizabeth lies to the ________ of Cape Town. (c) Johannesburg lies to the ________ of Cape Town. (d) Cape Town lies to the ________ of Johannesburg. (e) Pretoria lies to the __________ of Bloemfontein. (f) Bloemfontein lies to the __________ of Pretoria. (g) Kimberley lies to the _________ of Bloemfontein. (h) Bloemfontein lies to the ________ of Kimberley. (i) Durban lies to the _________ of Pretoria. (j) Pretoria lies to the _________ of Durban. (iii) For the quicker pupils, more difficult ancillary exercises are given. (iv) Describe briefly the meaning of the concept "direction". Didactic principles: activity, differentiation and individualization (especially regarding individual tempo and differentiation of exercises). Modes of learning: productive thinking, remembering, restructuring. Teaching and learning aids: land map of South Africa. Testing (evaluating): The test completed in the functionalizing phase is evaluated to determine the pupils' insight into the essentials of the learning material. This brief test is collected and corrected after the lesson. For this reason there is no need to make provision here for didactic principles, modes of learning as well as teaching and learning aids. SECOND EXAMPLE: Localizing information: Grade level: 10th grade Subject: Mathematics (greatest common divisor and least common multiple of algebraic expressions). Time: 40 minutes.

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Grouping: Homogeneous with respect to age and intellectual potentialities but heterogeneous with respect to gender. The teaching aim: The lesson aim: To synthesize algebraic expressions by factoring and by correctly defining the concepts g reatest common divisor (GCD) and least common multiple (LCM). The learning aim: To effectively implement the concepts least common multiple and greatest common divisor in such problems as combining algebraic factors and using these concepts insightfully in additional problem situations. Stating the problem: Formulating the problem: Via the lesson phases of actualizing foreknowledge and stating the problem, the pupils are made aware of their inability to determine algebraically the least common multiple and the greatest common divisor without an analysis into factors. Correspondingly, they are guided by the question, "How can a least common multiple and greatest common divisor be determined by analogy with arithmetic examples?" The teacher writes the question on the chalkboard. Solving the problem: During the lesson phase of exposing the new content, the following board scheme gradually is shown: 1. 8 = 2 x 2 x 2 12 = 2 x 2 x 3 18 = 2 x 3 x 3 GCD = 2. LCM = 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 = 72. 2. 18a2 - 18 = 18 (a2 - 1) = 18 (a + 1) (a - 1). 18a2 + 18a + 4 = 2(9a2 + 9a + 2) = 2(3a + 1) (3a + 2). 18a2 - 15a - 18 = 3(6a2 - 5a - 6) = 3(3a + 2) (2a - 3). GCD = 1. LCM = 18 (a + 1) (a - 1) (3a + 1) (3a + 2) (2a - 3)

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Note: The similarity between the logical construction of the algebraic and the arithmetic example (which the pupils already know) is stressed. The lesson structure: Form of the lesson: Choice of ground-forms: discussion, example and assignment. Choice of methodological principles: initially deductive and then inductive in order to discover the concepts. Choice of principles of ordering the learning materials: linear. Methods of unlocking (teaching): During actualizing foreknowledge: demonstration. During stating the problem: primarily q uestions-and-answers. During exposition of the new content: primarily demonstration intermingled with questions-andanswers. During actualizing the lesson content: primarily demonstration intermingled with questions-and-answers. During functionalizing: mainly the textbook. During testing: preponderantly t extbook intermingled with q uestions-and-answers. The course (phases) of the lesson and didactic modalities: Actualizing foreknowledge: Since the concepts "factor", "greatest common divisor" and "least common multiple" embrace the core of the foreknowledge, these concepts have to be clarified again with appropriate questions. Some computational examples will be used as demonstrations after the concepts "greatest common divisor" and "least common multiple" are first analyzed so the meaning of each part-concept also is clear. Such part-concepts as "common", "multiple", "factor" must first be illustrated by simple examples. Didactic principles: activity, individualization, tempo variation. Modes of learning: Thinking, perceiving, sensing.

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Teaching and learning aids: chalkboard. Stating the problem: On the basis of the relevant foreknowledge which is actualized, the pupils realize that at this stage they can find the greatest common divisor and the least common multiple of arithmetic numbers and simple algebraic monomials. The application of the concepts to algebraic polynomials, however, awakens a feeling of the problematic in the child. By further analyzing the problem, they realize that their already existing concepts need to be generalized and can be applied to algebraic polynomials. Here the relationship between "arithmetic number" and "algebraic expression" has to be clearly expressed. Didactic principle: Guided activity. Modes of learning: Sensing and perceiving. Teaching and learning aid: Chalkboard. Unlocking the new contents: The correspondence between the determination of the greatest common divisor and the least common multiple of arithmetic numbers and algebraic monomials is demonstrated by appropriate examples. The difference in presenting the new lies in the fact that the analysis of algebraic expressions into factors presents an obstacle. The difference and similarity can be illustrated for the pupils by a good example: First step: Analyze each expression into factors: Arithmetic example 8=2x2x2 12 = 2 x 2 x 3 18 = 2 x 3 x 3 Algebraic example 18a2 - 18 = 18(a2 - 1) = 18(a + 1)(a - 1) 18a2 + 18a + 4 = 2(3a + 1)(3a = 2) 18a2 - 15a - 18 =

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3(3a + 2)(2a - 3). Second step: Look for common factors in all three expressions and numbers. In the arithmetic example, there is only one such factor, namely 2, which is the greatest common divisor. In the algebraic example, there is no common factor and thus the greatest common divisor is 1. Third step: Use the arithmetic example to show how the least common multiple of the three numbers is found. Begin by writing down the factors of eight, namely, 2 x 2 x 2. To make this a multiple of 12, the factor 3 is needed (2 x 2 x 3). In considering 18, an additional factor of 3 is needed (2 x 3 x 3) and thus the least common multiple is 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3 which is 72. Now the algebraic example is used in a similar way to come to the conclusion that the least common multiple is 18(a + 1)(a - 1)(3a + 1)(3a + 2)(2a - 3). This arithmetic example can also be studied with insight by applying concepts from set theory. Didactic principles: guided activity, guided tempo. Modes of learning: perceiving and thinking. Teaching and learning aid: chalkboard. Actualizing (controlling) the new lesson contents: One or two examples with slight differences are now worked through with the pupils to give them the necessary confidence with respect to the correct explanation and factoring. Didactic principles: guided and self activity, guided tempo. Modes of learning: perceiving, thinking, imitating. Teaching and learning aid: chalkboard. Functionalizing: Suitable examples are now sought which the pupils themselves have to do so the newly acquired insights can be exercised. In this

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assignment, the examples are arranged so that there is a perceptible increase in level of difficulty. A few difficult examples are presented as a challenge for the more discerning pupils. Didactic principles: self-individualization at one's own tempo. Mode of learning: thinking. Teaching and learning aid: textbook. Testing (evaluating): A number of problems that cover the whole range of difficulty (re factoring) can be presented to the pupils to evaluate their level of achievement. It should always be kept in mind that each problem has to test the essentials of what is presented (unlocked). Didactic principle: self-individualization. Mode of learning: Thinking. Teaching and learning aid: copies of the examination.

THIRD EXAMPLE: Localizing information: Grade level: 12th Subject: Afrikaans (Literature). Time: 40 minutes. Grouping: Homogeneous with respect to age, subject choice, intellectual potentialities and gender (girls). The teaching aim: The lesson aim: The striking imagery in the "Ballad of Grayland" by D. J. Opperman. The learning aim: To sharpen insight into the way a creative poet goes about characterizing persons in their regular dayto-day existence in the city. Stating the problem: Formulating the problem: Through actualizing foreknowledge and stating the problem, the pupils are guided to

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state for themselves the problem, namely, "What image(s) are evoked by gray, grayness, gray land?" Solving the problem: Appreciation as well as explication are dealt with in this lesson; therefore, the poem first is read in its entirety by the teacher. The lesson structure: Form of the lesson: Choice of ground-forms: conversation, example and assignment. Choice of methodological principles: initially inductive; later deductive. Choice of principles of ordering the learning material: Symbiotic and linear. Methods of unlocking (teaching): During actualizing foreknowledge: question-and-answer method. During stating the problem: mainly n arration intermingled with question-and-answer which also are maintained during actualizing the lesson content. During functionalizing: question-and-answer. During testing: the textbook. The course (phases) of the lesson and didactic modalities: Actualizing foreknowledge: Foreknowledge is stimulated by means of questions about a ballad dealt with previously. After this, questions are asked of the pupils to guide them to the new content. For example: What is it like early in the morning in the winter in the center of the city? Can we compare this with Johannesburg? What is the difference? Is the name Gold City still appropriate? What image currently is most conspicuous when one thinks of Johannesburg? Why is the image of grayness considered? What is the composition of the color gray? What is the effect of a gloomy, gray day on a person? Didactic principles: activity, individualization (questions are directed to individual pupils), quick tempo.

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Modes of learning: remembering, reproductive thinking, imagining, sensing and perceiving. Teaching and learning aid: a large photo of Johannesburg taken early in the morning. Stating the problem: In terms of their own experiences, the pupils are guided by the question How does Opperman create a striking image of a person in "Grayland"? Didactic principles: activity, individualization, slower tempo. Mode of learning: productive thinking. Teaching and learning aid: textbook. Unlocking the new contents: The entire poem is read to the class in a moving way. Didactic principles: activity and individualization. Modes of learning: sensing, perceiving, productive thinking. Teaching and learning aid: textbook. Actualizing (controlling) the new lesson contents: By narrating, part I of the poem is explained further. With several examples, how a young man goes to the city by train, what his impressions are and how he has to perform tiring and irritating work are described. Each stanza is a quick, flashing image of what happens to him. He changes jobs very quickly. He doesn't like the ugly city; he is in continual conflict: a splendid and touching comparison is when he stacks oil drums on each other and this seems like the cells of a honey-cake but they are empty and not full of sweetness like a honey-cake; for him his work is meaningless and sterile. There is a precise correspondence between the quick hands that grasp and fold together paper in a candy factory and the fast movement of hands playing a piano; but one brings pleasure and the other monotonous drudgery. From the personifications in the sixth stanza of saws that "scream", chisels that "chatter", cars that "nag", we hear the irritations and frustrations of the young man who again has changed jobs. The

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image allows his growing resistance to become a real experience, especially when he finds himself in trouble. Didactic principles: individualization, activity, slower tempo. Mode of learning: productive thinking. Teaching and learning aid: chalkboard. Functionalizing: Exercise of insights occurs by dealing with part II with the pupils, but by the q uestion-and-answer method. Didactic principles: activity, differentiation and individualization. Modes of learning: productive thinking, restructuring. Teaching and learning aid: textbook. Testing (evaluating): Part III can be given to the pupils as an assignment to determine their insight into the essentials of the learning material. However, in this case, a composition with the heading, "Me, my brothers and sisters", is given to the class by which they are linked to the generally human confrontation with a world in which they continually have to give an account of themselves. Didactic principle: self-activity. Modes of learning: from imagining to productive thinking. T eaching and learning aids: none.

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CHAPTER 9 THE PEDAGOGICAL (EDUCATIVE) MEANING OF THE SCHOOL

1. INTRODUCTION In the first eight chapters of this introductory book, various theoretical aspects of the didactic activity and the way theory culminates in practice were dealt with. Thus, from a justification of the point of departure of didactic activity to a description of its essences, there was a move to practical examples of how a teacher can structure his lesson in a teaching situation. The emphasis was especially on an analysis of the phenomenon teaching as it is observed in the original experience of educating, and on the aspects disclosed by this analysis that enable a teacher to account for and explain his practice in a lesson situation. In these considerations, the school was mentioned only casually and it was stressed that it is a second-order structure in that it reconstructs, in formal situations, the original experience of educating (in the home) where teaching is known for the first time. Because the school is the terrain for a future teachers professional activities and because, in modern society, it stabilizes and perpetuates the culture and everything created by culture, it must be examined as a social institution. The school can be described from various perspectives, e.g., from an economic, a judicial, a cultural, a purely social perspective, etc. It also can be described in such a way that it appears as if the school has its own identity and sovereignty in that it, by virtue of its structure, has its own professional-pedagogical task that has little to do with the home. However, when a community establishes a school, it is certainly reasonable to expect that it will have certain aims and goals it would like the school to achieve. It is clear that the community expects the school to further, promote and actualized (make real) what it considers to be valuable. This pronouncement is more or less valid for any institution the community establishes, but it is incorrect to assume that all social institutions have equal status or pursue the same aims.

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The question that now must be asked is: What is it that makes the school an institution of society? Expressed differently: If the school, as a second-order structure, must reflect the original experience of educating, what is it that constitutes its pedagogical (educative) meaning? In order to penetrate this question to its essential coherence, it is necessary to disclose the structure of the school and its relationship to society as well as to the pedagogical, as such. 2. THE CONCEPT SCHOOL Etymologically, school is derived from the Latin schola meaning a scholarly investigation of a particular phenomenon. The Greek schole means free time that is not reducible to a persons material existence, but is used to indicate a striving for knowledge merely for the sake of knowledge itself. The institution school, as we know it today, is derived from the Greek concept schole, implying that a science is studied in free time for the sake of knowledge itself and not for the sake of some material benefit. The current situation really is quite different from the original because both the science studied and the didactic profession in school are involved with a world of work and effort. In this sense, the school has become a social and economic means: one need only list the various types of schools such as vocational, business, subject and technical schools. The nature of the various types of schooling reflects the state and degree of a communitys social differentiation. To the extent that a community develops and grows and, in doing so, makes new fields of human endeavor necessary, to that extent the community creates differentiations in types of schooling. For this reason, there is a direct relationship between the differentiation of types of schooling and the differentiation of labor in a particular community. 3. THE STRUCTURE OF THE SCHOOL The fact that the modern school is clearly related to the cultural, economic, religious and social activities of a community leads to the acceptance in certain circles that it has its origin in and can be described in terms of one or more of these differentiated activities. For example, if one accepts that the school has its origin in the

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differentiated occupational structure of society, this implies that if it is not oriented to or concerned with certain occupational fields, it will not have the status of a school. Such an assumption means that only one of the schools aims (i.e., to unlock reality in such a way that a child is able to create an accountable and responsible relationship to occupational reality) is elevated to ontic status. This means that the school is reduced to nothing more than its aim of orienting the child to occupational reality. The ontic status of the school is in the home, and in its turn, the home is integrated into the life world. The essential character of the relationship between parents and children in the home is pedagogical-didactical in that the parents intervene pedagogically in the life of their children so that they can didactically unlock or disclose specific values and norms while what they teach them (their didactic intervention) is pedagogically meaningful and accountable. (For a full discussion of this interaction, the reader is advised to again carefully read Chapter 2). It is within the framework of the pedagogic-didactic intervention of the parents in the home that the school can be accountable for its structure and teaching contents, and thus, in this respect, the school is an extension of the home. The spontaneous and nave life world of parents and children at home must, therefore, be investigated to disclose the essences (meanings) of this pedagogic-didactic relationship. This investigation is the theme of Chapter 3 and, although certain aspects of it are repeated in what follows, a brief summary is important because it can better orient the reader to the matter of schooling. The life world of parents and children in the home is spontaneous in that a child spontaneously establishes a relationship with reality, i.e., a child experiences reality spontaneously (from a didactic perspective this means he learns spontaneously). His spontaneous learning directedness to reality awakens his parents responsibility to create spontaneous learning situations for him because reality is not harmless for him. Thus, spontaneity is the primary characteristic of the parent-child relationship as seen from a didactic-pedagogic perspective of the home situation. This

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relationship is also nave in that, although the parent carries the responsibility for the learning situation that he spontaneously establishes, he does not necessarily have at his disposal systematic didactic knowledge about what he is doing. The contents of these spontaneous learning situations change according to milieu, cultural background and cultural heritage. For this reason these contents are particular. The form in which the didactic-pedagogic relationship shows itself is described as a didactic-pedagogic universal. In the description of this form it was indicated that the didactical-pedagogical can never be realized outside of its universal form. The form in which the didactic is realized is differentiated into play, conversation, example and assignment. The spontaneous creation of learning situations by a parent, as his teaching activities are correlated with his childs spontaneous learning activities, is realized in one or another (or combination) of these four ground-forms. These ground-forms are not purely didactic but are also ground-forms in which the pedagogical is actualized; no pedagogic intervention in a childs world-relationship is possible without an adult unlocking values and norms, and such unlocking is essentially a didactic activity. The grounds for understanding the school must be penetrated to eventually grasp the pedagogical (educative) meaning of the school. The parent not only unlocks particular cultural contents, e.g., activity structures [behaviors], skills, facts, relationships, etc., but also norms, values, attitudes, dispositions, etc. He does this under the imperative (demand) of adulthood. A parent must orient his child didactically and pedagogically to reality because his relationship to it must change. As a parent unlocks the modes of living for his child, a common world (Mitwelt) is created in which the child experiences acceptance, love, safety and security. These are the foundations on which he can build his own life world (Eigenwelt). A parent and child are jointly involved in the latters becoming. The parent creates opportunities for his child to explore reality. In doing so, he enables him to eventually emancipate himself from his

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parental authority and accept responsibility for his own relationship to reality. By means of his didactic and pedagogic help, a parent guides his child to eventual adulthood, the ultimate aim of his intervention in his childs existence. A parent (educator) guides his child in such a way that he eventually understands the meaning of his own existence; that he will be able to understand himself and, therefore, also be able to evaluate and criticize himself; that he is aware of his own human worth as well as the dignity of others; that he is capable of making independent moral decisions; that he is responsible; that he identifies himself with the valid norms and values of the society within which he lives and applies them in his relationships to reality as criteria for understanding and assessing his own existence. In summary, the pedagogic-didactic intervention in a childs existence is directed to his becoming toward the idea of adulthood, or to realize or reach the world of adulthood in relation to reality. A child has his own destination; it is described as adulthood, as a particular mode or way of being-in-the-world. 4. THE FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ADULT AND THE CHILD IN THE PEDAGOGIC-DIDACTIC SITUATION AND ITS NATURE In the previous section, the form and aims of the pedagogic-didactic intervention were briefly discussed. The question now is: What is the fundamental relationship between adult and child in the pedagogic-didactic situation and what is its nature? An answer to this question will also provide the criteria by which the school can be evaluated as a pedagogical institution. In other words, the school must reflect the fundamentals of the relationship between the adult and the child in the pedagogical-didactical situation in order to have any kind of pedagogical (educative) meaning. A summary of the relevant pronouncements about the pedagogical-didactical discussed in the previous chapters can orient the reader to better understand the pedagogical meaning of the school. When an adult and a child are together in a pedagogical-didactical situation, it is a normative situation in that the contents unlocked must be accountable to the demands of propriety. It also is

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normative because the achievements of the child are always subjected to the values and norms relevant to his progress. The situation is embedded in the life world because the contents presented in the pedagogical-didactical situation are contents of living and the forms in which they are unlocked are forms of living. In addition, the situation is invested with meaning. It is meaningful for parents to lead their child to adulthood and it is meaningful for him to subject himself to their support and guidance. The parent knows the importance and meaning of the situation and, therefore, he leads his child to experience and understand this meaning for himself. Because the pedagogic-didactic situation is a normative one, it also is a situation of authority-- by virtue of the authority of the norms and values underlying the meaning of the situation and by virtue of the authority of the parent (adult)--one of the criteria of being an adult. The activities in the pedagogical-didactical situation are characterized by communication the parent communicates reality to his child and he ventures in their dialogue; with parental guidance, he communicates with reality. Because in time, he approaches the adults quality of communicating with reality, there is a qualitative and gradual difference between adult and child that is represented by a parents accountable and responsible relationship to reality. Furthermore, it is a formative and orienting situation. It is formative because the parent gives form to the necessary changes in his childs relationship to reality. It is orienting because the parent orients his child in light of the childs existing relationship to the world or reality to a relationship that still must be assimilated. The nature of the communication indicates that it also is open and dynamic. It is open because both parent and child initiate a relationship to reality in light of the appeal it directs to them, and it is dynamic because it is always in motion--the child is moving in the direction of adulthood. The quality and nature of the relationship between adult and child characterize the situation as a unity because both are involved in

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and with each other. It also is rational because in their united situation they are involved with reality. Parent and child encounter each other in the world and this encounter can periodically become a pedagogic encounter in the narrower sense. The preconditions for the possibility of a pedagogical-didactical situation are, first, that it must be an existential situation. The participants, as subjects, persons and openness, are ontically dependent on each other (this mutual dependence cannot be reduced to anything else) and the one stands open for the other where there is thus mention of each going outside of himself, as one standing open for the other, of a meaningful encounter aimed at realizing a common future. The human situation is always subjective, personal, interpersonal and ethical. As an existential situation, it is characterized by informality where even its formal aspects are not dominant (but it is dynamic and goal-directed). The situation is further characterized by its purposefulness and by experiencing and fulfilling its (pedagogical) meaning. Experiencing and fulfilling meaning indicates that it is an active situation in which the participants require particular activities of each other in light of which particular criteria are realized in accordance with aims. The situation is designed by both parent and child to be meaningful. In this mutual design it is characterized by a plurality of meanings simply because human existence is multi-formed and heterogeneous. Regarding materials, the situation is oriented in time and space. It occurs in light of a childs possibility to create a different relationship with reality, and in light of the particular situation, also with respect to the participants composition that can change. Because parent and child are subjectively involved with each other in the pedagogical-didactical situation, it is characterized by fundamental dispositions that affectively (emotionally) influence the participants experiences. In the situation the child is provided with a safe, affective haven and in this way he is given a safe place. Finally, each person involved in the situation constitutes himself as an individual, as do the other participants in their joint involvement.

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The fundamental relationship between parents and children and the nature of the educative teaching intervention in the home, as discussed earlier, is the point of departure from which the school in its relationship to society must be penetrated and described because, as a social institution, it is merely an extension of the home where the original experience of didaskein (teaching) is most clearly knowable. Because the school is an extension of the pedagogical-didactical situation of the home, and carries on, refines and further extends the aim of such intervention, it is a means for the child to create his own life world. This creation of a personal life world is only meaningful by virtue of norms and values and that is why the school is norm centered. Thus, the school is not only directed to a childs intellect; it must generalize normative knowledge and normalize universal knowledge and in this way humanize it. Above there was reference to the home-school relationship and it was indicated that the school must manifest the pedagogicaldidactical categories that constitute the pedagogical-didactical relationship at home. This implies that if the school does not manifest these categories in its activities, it cannot function as a school; then it cannot have a pedagogical meaning. Over and above the fact that the school is a second-order structure that has its origin in the differentiated nature of society, the community makes an additional demand on the school: it must be relevant to the community within which the child exists and is going to exist. This implies that the school must unlock concepts that are relevant and realistic in the sense that they must be true and faithful to life. Any interpretation of what is relevant and true to life in this context is a matter of contents. The school unlocks these contents in terms of the following demands: they must be true in light of the spirit of the age and state of the culture; they must take into account the childs situatedness; they must reflect the moral order of society and keep the future mobility of the child in the life world in mind. This actually implies that the lifestyle anticipated for the child in the future (i.e., as an adult) and the teaching style created by adults in the school must basically be in harmony. The lifestyle at which

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the child is aimed indicates a social situation that can be contextually extended or enlarged with respect to both form and contents in the pedagogic-didactic activities of the school. Therefore, it is possible that either the form or the contents can be overemphasized. The predominant factors exerting a strong influence on a community will necessarily influence which is emphasized. For example, in our contemporary technologicalmaterialistic society, the natural sciences and their technologies enjoy prominence. This is why these contents are given more emphasis and why in our schools there is a particular emphasis on technical-didactical aids. If pedagogic-didactic activities in the school are foreign to the demands of modern life, they cannot meaningfully contribute to the modern lifestyle. This raises the following questions: What demands are made of the school by the modern structure of society? Is the school meaningfully related to society? To follow these questions and their implications to their rational conclusions, it must be asked if modern society has changed radically. The answer to this question will define the pedagogical-didactical problem with respect to its enmeshment with a socio-pedagogical perspective in the sense that historical concepts, alone, will only have a limiting function in evaluating and solving contemporary pedagogical-didactical problems. The pedagogic and didactic intervention in a childs existence occur in a community-social as well as historical context. The social structure, in its relationship to a particular historical period, is extremely important if educating and teaching are to be faithful to reality. Teaching occurs in interaction with a particular social structure and a particular historical period. Because cultures are subject to change, a youths situation is not static and religious and moral interpretations also are subject to change. It is for this reason that the pedagogical and didactical form changes in emphasis in different periods of time. At this stage, it is advisable to briefly summarize the above. Forms of living and pedagogic-didactic forms cannot be separated. Forms of living (lifestyle) are recognized in different historical periods by

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different emphases. Pedagogic and didactic style changes to the degree that social structure changes. In order to determine the pedagogic-didactic relevance of the school, what is fundamentally social must be revealed. The pedagogical-didactical implications of the above for the school are manifold. Socio-pedagogics, as a perspective on the pedagogic reality, must describe the pedagogical grounds of the childs social relationships so that socio-didactics can interpret them within the framework of the school. The relationship between school and society can be clarified somewhat by an example. According to the traditional German Bildungsideal (formative ideal), the schools task is to produce persons; society will train the finished product to be vocationally skilled. In contrast to this aim, modern society expects the school to anticipate the adult life world, in general, in its relationship with the child to accordingly orient him to a realistic understanding of that life world. The problem that stems from this aim, among others, is the following: What does general formedness imply, i.e., what are the general didactical criteria for general formedness? What school subjects can guarantee general formedness? Are technical-, vocational-, and trade-schools formative in the sense that childlike Dasein can be given form via these directions of study? Is a differentiated structure of teaching the consequence of previously justified pedagogical and didactical criteria? In what ways can differentiated organizational didactics be changed to be relevant to the pedagogical-didactical criteria? Apart from these questions that the school must answer in one way or another to at least have pedagogical meaning, it is the case that a penetration of the relationship between society and school announces particular concepts that are imperative for the practice of teaching in the school; e.g., that the school evaluate the distance between the school, church, city and society in general and that the school must take a standpoint regarding all of them. This demands that the school evaluate each of these extra-school institutions in light of didactical-pedagogical criteria either to promote their close

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collaboration with the school or to distance the school from them. Such an evaluation will necessarily force the order of the norm structure of society to the surface. For the orientation of the reader, it is important to more closely illuminate the relationship between this norm structure and society. 5. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE NORMS IN SCHOOL AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE NORMS TO THE COMMUNITY If it is accepted that the pedagogical (the educational) can never be separated from values and that pedagogues always describe the pedagogic in the sphere of norms and values, then it follows that the value structure and value contents of a community and the values it holds are an intrinsic aspect of the pedagogic intervention with a child of that community. If this is so, it can be asked if the school must accept the value structure of the community or if it must propose or present particular values to the community. Both possibilities are valid. Further, where a community has surrendered to particular values, must the school necessarily agree with them in order to remain relevant to the community? In such a case, is it not the task of the school to propose particular values to the community? If indeed this is so, does the school have the authority, influence and autonomy to make and carry through on such proposals? It must be remembered that the school essentially is an extension of the family and that the family is anchored in the community. Thus, axiological (value) changes are reflected in the school and family since norms and values (especially moral and ethical norms and values) are elevated by the community to matters of achievement. If the school, accordingly, proposes values and norms (or their interpretation), from where must the school acquire these values, norms and interpretations? In discussing the school-community relationship, the axiological integration of the two is acknowledged. Because the pedagogicaldidactical activities of a teacher in the school are initiated by him, the implication is that he must be able to account for (justify) his particular value-preferences. The pedagogue (teacher), as normobserving adult who consciously and purposefully intervenes in a

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childs existence, who views a particular system of values and norms as good and true, is directed by his hierarchy of values in his educative activities. Without the normative, as primary pedagogical imperative, there is no possibility of meaningful intervention in a childs existence because the meaning of the pedagogic help and support for a child is found in the idea of adulthood. This idea can only be described by values. At this stage, the following question is meaningful: What is the relationship between the value-preferences of the pedagogue-didactician (teacher) and the becoming child? Prominent pedagogues indicate that a child can only become through a personal encounter with reality. This personal encounter is the result of the adults pedagogic-didactic intervention, and it is through the adult that a child can properly relate himself to realitythis includes the norms and values of the community within which the child exists. This means that a childs becoming is determined by the structure of norms and values of the community in which the child is educated. The tasks that these pronouncements present the educator are briefly summarized as follows. The teacher must possess a penetrating perception of the norm-value structure of the community in which a child is educated. He must possess and respect this norm structure himself. He must be qualified to meaningfully interpret these norms and values for a child. The teacher must be qualified to anticipate the shifting emphasis of norms and values and accordingly relate these changes to the life of the child while continually respecting the demands of propriety. A theoretical pronouncement about the relationship between school and society only has value to the extent that it reflects reality. In the previous discussion reality is generalized. This can create the impression that it falls outside of practical considerations and hardly influences the course of teaching in the school. Such an impression can mislead the teacher regarding the fundamental problems he must solve in his practice. The reality of the social conditions within which the values and norms must be realized via pedagogical-didactical intervention deserves special attention. 5.1 The social order

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The above explanation makes unavoidable the question of the nature of the spirit of the time and the quality of the culture and how they manifest themselves in our society. What is the youths situatedness? What is the moral order of society and how is it knowable to the teacher? From the nature of the matter, are the grounds for these questions so intertwined that an answer to the one must be sought in the other? The spirit of the times and the moral order of society are the background against which the situatedness of the youths must be projected. In other words, the youths situatedness is understandable and even explainable against the background of the spirit of the times and the moral order of the society in which they live. This should limit unjustifiable optimism for an introduction of this scope and nature to try to provide a complete and fundamental answer to the above questions. Consequently, only a broad indication of the scope of the problem is indicated. For a good ordering of the explanation, the spirit of the time in which we exist today is first attended to. 5.2 The prevailing spirit of the time The type of community in which the future teacher will have to teach cannot be predicted accurately. However, the social circumstances of the whole world are changing and there are strong indications that the changes that have taken place during the past two or three decades will multiply and increase in diversity at the end of this century. There is little historical evidence that a community can ever really remain static (although particular historical periods can be described as relatively static). During relatively static periods educating and teaching are characterized by a need for solidarity and convergence because then it was generally accepted that the existing order would be equally valid in the future. The opposite is true for communities subject to rapid change. For such societies educating the next generation will require greater divergence. It must invite the child and the teacher to be aware of

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the conditional relevance of what for the children are interpreted as norms and values. The following generation will also experience an additional differentiation in reality as a result of the increasing technological development originating in the Industrial Revolution. This not only has the consequence of revolutionizing the material world but it also takes the form of deeply and radically changing contemporary Western society. Indeed, most social historians accept that contemporary Western society enjoys its particular world position thanks to (or because of) the technological developments (also known as the Second Industrial Revolution) associated with it. Some of the results of these developments are: the uprooting of rural communities; breaking away from cultural traditions; urbanization; the disintegration of an old and established rural lifestyle; the change of social relationships on which the community was established and which, in turn, led to a social differentiation based on economic factors, etc. The consequence of this was materialism and its different variations. In addition, the Industrial Revolution resulted in increased tension between the haves and the have-nots and between the individual and the state. These tensions resulted in unrest in the social, economic, industrial and political fields. Modern persons are often lonely because they cannot manage to create an intimate community within this industrial culture. This resulted in the social alienation of the individual. A modern human being is confused by the overwhelming technological developments and achievements. The above influences on the existence of modern persons result in him preferring to avoid these individual and societal problems. In this way, he loses himself in an existentialism where freedom without responsibility prevails. He maintains the appearance of diligence and keeps involved by losing himself in the procedure while ignoring the aim and essence of his involvement. This degeneration is evident in most spheres of life but educative teaching certainly offers the most noteworthy example: in the midst

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of an impressive quantity of available teaching techniques as well as teaching- and learning-aids, there is an obvious weakening of convictions with respect to the ultimate aim of educating and, thus, of teaching. In the wider social sphere this weakening of convictions ends in a chaotic value-structure that certainly is the most alarming character of our contemporary society. The eventual result of such a chaotic value-structure is nihilism, and by annihilating his values, a person loses his personal structure. The individuals surrender to the State or to the community can be explained from this because in his surrender he avoids personal responsibility. What is the origin of this condition? Sociologists and other scholars agree that modern human beings have difficulty integrating technological developments into the structure of their system of values. As a consequence of this inability they have tended to ascribe a godlike quality to technology under the assumption that what cannot be experienced by the senses need not be seriously considered. The soul, consciousness and conscience cannot be experienced or clarified by the senses or measured and ranked technologically and, therefore, their existence is doubtful. Hence, these concepts do not have important implications for a personworld relationship. This attitude manifests itself in materialism, in hedonism (the view that only pleasure is worth striving for), in utilitarianism (in the sense that the basis for moral differences is in those actions that result in success) and in a sensualism. Our highly developed and differentiated society has a number of social forms in which the boundaries among social institutions overlap (e.g., church, family, school, youth organizations). The aims of these institutions are often either vaguely formulated or are not in harmony with each other. For this reason it is not strange that conflicts occur among them. Our technological culture also promotes conflicts, albeit unconsciously, because it creates a plurality of relationships and values that, in turn, create further tensions. In this context one thinks of pollution, the depletion of natural resources and even the menacing extermination of mankind. It can rightly be said that these tensions have placed modern persons in a boundary situation regarding whether their decisions are true and valuable, that is, where the sense and meaning of their existence is at issue.

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The importance of the above for the teacher cannot be underestimated. The teacher must not only orient the child in such a way that he can establish a relationship with reality; he must also lead him to choose values and to identify with a certain view of the world and of life. The modern teacher cannot depend on contemporary values being valid in the future. The spirit of the time demands that the teacher help the child to accept and understand those values that will be flexible and applicable to the future and that will be capable of meaningful integration of the changes that so rapidly follow one another in his own existence. This is especially true for developing countries. Changes that took ages to occur in the developed countries must be given meaning and integrated in developing countries within decades. Expectations are therefore often made of education that sometimes can be met only with great difficulty. A good example of this dilemma is the rapid urbanization in developing areas that creates crises concerning housing, sanitation and health services, transportation and education. The same problems occur where the economy changes from a rural to a manufacturing-industrial based economy. This brief sketch of the social order and the prevailing spirit of the time within which teaching must progress meaningfully is the background against which the contemporary situatedness of youth must be understood. Once again, a complete explication of the youths situatedness is not possible within the scope of this introductory work and the above cursory discussion must suffice. 5.3 The youths situatedness

In order to understand the situatedness of youth, the teacher must be thoroughly acquainted with them in spheres outside of the formal school situation. He will have to determine the relationship between the school and other social institutions like the church, athletics and other recreational activities, politics and the media. He will have to determine how these institutions influence the child and what contribution they make to his forming (development) in these situations.

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The teachers task of leading and supporting a child to adulthood in our modern society and circumstances is difficult. His task is difficult because youths in the secondary school are inclined to identify themselves with the norms and values of working youths, i.e., with the world outside of the school. Some researchers in this field even go so far as to describe modern youth as the skeptical generation: they are skeptical of the established order and actively attempt to replace it with their own views. Apart from this their world-relationship is described as anti-traditional, without the romantic, radical and realistic. The inclination of modern youth to lose themselves in the masses by which they give up their individuality by identifying themselves with their contemporaries on a horizontal level is an additional matter of particular importance to the modern teacher. Existential decisions are all the less a personal matter for these youth; they readily allow themselves to be led by others. Even in their everyday existence they cannot escape their continuous confrontation with superficial cultural forms and unintegrated sources of knowledge. These tendencies are partly the result of modern communication media by which knowledge is disseminated but in such a way that the youth often view it as sufficient. This makes the school and what it presents particularly irrelevant to their lives as prospective adults. Whatever the teacher may do to attempt to vitalize and make his teaching more interesting, he apparently does not make a clear impression on the already satiated outlook on life of his pupils. This classroom atmosphere is so widespread in Europe that it seems that teaching in school cannot really offer an answer or solution to contemporary and possible future problems of youth and society. The mere fact that the teacher recognizes these circumstances does not mean that he is entitled to capitulate or surrender his responsibilities as a teacher. The fact that he will acknowledge them is really a proclamation of his resolve to reinterpret his role in teaching, but in such a way that his ultimate pedagogical aim remains unchanged (to help and support the youth toward full fledged adulthood). This also means that the teacher teaches in school in such a way that the child must experience the values and

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norms that describe adulthood and in terms of which an adult, as such, must be evaluated. To present these matters more clearly for the reader, the meaning of the school for the childs experience of normative reality must now be considered. 6. THE MEANING OF THE SCHOOL FOR THE CHILDS EXPERIENCE OF NORMATIVE REALITY On the basis of an increased intellectualization as a result of the early technological era, in the course of time the school drifted away from the surrounding reality and established a separate identity. The danger of this for the teacher is that if he thinks about the school as a concept he will attribute a particular identity to it that is not necessarily true. In other words, where a separate identity is ascribed to the school it is not necessarily in harmony with the reality that surrounds the child. When a teacher thinks about the school in this way, there is a tendency to fall into a didactic objectivism and, e.g., to present norms that hold for the school as an institution but that do not necessarily have validity outside of the school situation. When this occurs, the school becomes estranged from life and it can only contribute to the childs forming in haphazard ways. The child in school is not a different child from the one in the family, the church or the one on the athletic field or the one who must participate in social life. In order to arrive at the essential meaning of the school in the life of a child it appears that there must be a return to an uncontaminated way to get to the original pedagogical givens to infer from them the sense and meaning of the school. In this way it is possible to arrive at a purer perspective on the school as a social institution. Although a good deal of what follows has already been considered in other chapters, the idea here is to try to place these findings within the framework of the school as a social institution. In the previous chapter it was clearly stated that the child begins to learn from the moment of birth. From the day of his birth he is involved in learning to know the reality that surrounds him and in one way or another to make himself familiar with it. To put the matter as clearly as possible, a child goes to school from the first day of his life although, naturally, this is not meant in the normal

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sense of the word. To go to school is an inevitable activity that awaits each child. To go to school also is not a matter about which he has a choice. A childs first school is his home. From the beginning the home is the place where he is taught certain contents that must be mastered in order to become a full fledged adult one day. Our experience, confirmed by scientific analysis, shows that a childs primary intention is to become an adult. When we observe a child in life situations (during play, in his relationship to his parents and other adults, in church, when he eats and dresses himself, etc.), his need and resolve to be independent are conspicuous. The parent offers sufficient teaching in natural and spontaneous ways for their child to explore and grasp the immediate world (reality) in and around the home. The reality within which the family exists is only part of the greater whole a child must learn and know if he is to show progress in his resolve to become an adult himself one day. He explores the reality in and around the home spontaneously, intuitively and without obligation and this gradually puts him in a position to acquire and master that reality. However, as he becomes older and enters his toddler years, it is evident that this exploration and mastery appear to be inadequate. The quality of mastering language, quantitative relationships, social activities, etc. in the home are not adequate because the complex and systematic reality outside of the home must also be mastered by him. The cultural structure of a people or a society within which a child must grow up is closely related to the complexity and composition of this reality. The richer the cultural heritage and also a persons command of the technological terrain of the reality outside of the home, the more complex and difficult it is for him to acquire that reality. This reality outside of the home is an ordered and systematized whole that eventually can be mastered only by adults because it is categorically structured and ordered. As far as the categorical structure of reality is concerned, it manifests itself, e.g., in terms of religious, economic, social, physical and esthetic categories with respect to which the adult (the teacher) also manifests particular points of view, preconceptions and dispositions.

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When a child is now educated in a life situation, this also means that the adult will be attuned to orienting him to these aspects of reality, to force his own standpoint on him, and to expect that he will display a particular positive disposition toward these various aspects of reality. This orientation of him to reality is the adults educative task. If the adult or teacher ignores these aspects of reality in complex, modern society, this means that the childs reality will not only be incomplete but that it will be foreign to and removed from reality. It is for these reasons that the childs natural educators (parents) necessarily attend to harmonizing the world outside of the home with the world within if they are to contribute to his most fundamental intention, namely, to become an adult. To try to guarantee this aspect of the childs life-course to adulthood, adults (parents) through the ages and in all societies have proceeded to establish schools, that is specific places where the child is systematically given the opportunity to learn to know and understand the world outside of the home thoroughly so he can master it. In this way the adult places the school on the childs lifepath with the direct aim of helping the not-yet-adult fulfill his journey and in this way to try to guarantee his future (his full fledged adulthood). It is for this reason that he, in his way through the world, must inevitably arrive at the school and that it forms an inseparable part of his experiencing, orienting and eventual mastery of reality. The school must therefore be seen as a facet of the childs life world. It also must be seen as an opportunity created for him to give meaning, under the guidance of an adult, to what he experiences as world and life. In this way the essential aspects of being an adult (an educator) and being a child (a being-committed-to-education) are harmonized in the school. However, a school is only a school in the pedagogical sense of the word when it makes possible the meeting and interaction between adults (teachers) and children (pupils). In our modern society, the pedagogical meaning of the school can only be understood properly if it is interpreted in light of the

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educative aim that the adult has in view and of the need for educating that is present in each child. Also to become an adult, the child has a need for education in the broader sense of schooling. Viewed in this way, the school can never be a child-centered institution. The aim of the school is always the eventual adulthood of children. For this reason, it is rather an educative-centered institution by which not only being a child but also becoming an adult constitutes the meaningfulness of the mutual involvement of child and adult. The path along which and the way in which a child becomes adult indeed is not determined by the child, as such, but rather by the idea of adulthood that his educators aim for in his becoming. For a child, going to school means to bring to a completion certain aspects of his education and for the adult it means to intervene in and influence his becoming adult. The aim of all of the schools activities is the eventual adulthood of all pupils. The point of departure of the schools activities is adulthood and the schools aim is also for the child to reach adulthood through its interventions with him. This amounts to the fact that the events in school begin with the decisions of adults and are meaningful because they lead the participants (children) to greater adulthood. This does not mean that the school is established merely for the sake of the children but neither is it established for the sake of the children remaining children. The task of the school is to complete the education that the child has had in the home. Educating manifests itself as being involved with norms; the contents of these norms are inseparably rooted in the life- and world-view of the adults who educate the child. These norms and the teachers interpretation of them are the central aspect of all of the schools activities. It is for this reason that the schools activities, and especially its character, are described as norm centered. This is not necessarily in contrast to being child centered but it shifts the emphasis with respect to the schools aim. When a school is established for the sake of children this does not necessarily mean that it is directed to child centered teaching because with such a claim one would really elevate the child to a

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norm for the school that, because of the nature of things (in an educative sense), indeed is not possible. On the other hand, a school without children is no school, but a school without adults also is no school. Consequently, one of the constituents (children, teachers) is not more important than the other. The quality and nature of the activities in the school emphasize the fact that it is an institution where adults systematically and purposefully provide answers to the questions and problems that appear in the childs life world. As far as the child is concerned, the school is a place where he learns. It bridges the world of the child to the future world of adulthood. Therefore, the school provides him with the opportunity to move from a nave, spontaneous and not yet responsible involvement in reality to the more closed, normative, obligatory life world of adults. The school supports him to establish a specific image of reality. In addition to this, it is the schools responsibility to help him order the images and conceptions of reality. Furthermore, the school aids and supports him to create his own image of the world. In formal terms, the previous statements are reduced to the fact that the school supports the child to establish his own life world. Because his experience is always central to his relationship to reality, the above responsibilities of the school are of decisive importance. Since the aim of this book is primarily to orient the student teacher, the following aspects of the dynamics of the school are briefly described and ordered. 6.1 The school anticipates the childs future

The distance between the world of the child and the adults world is equivalent to the distance between the childs world and the cultural world. The school bridges this distance in formal ways because teachers are concerned with helping the child master the form systems and life contents of a culture that lend a particular lifestyle to a particular life and world view. This amounts to the adult using certain methods as well as contents (learning contents) that place the form systems within the childs reach.

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However, this is not the only task of the school. The contents that the school presents to the child are artificial because the school situation must continually attempt to imitate or represent life situations that occur outside of the school. To overcome this artificiality, teachers expect children to go beyond or exceed the reality imitated in school. This means they must apply and interpret the contents mastered in school in situations outside of school. His knowledge of the calculation of area must, for example, enable him to calculate the number of floor tiles for a bathroom. But this is not all. It is also expected that he give meaning to contents. The sense and meaning given to reality manifest themselves in his life in that the reality exposed to him in school is the basis for him to create his own image of reality. The most important learning task the child must master is to create a normative image of reality for himself. Reality (also cultural reality) is normative; it is in terms of it that his future forms of living must be discovered and acquired such that in his activities he can show the image of adulthood. From this it is concluded that the school is an anticipatory bridge between two forms of living, namely, that of being a child and that of being an adult. In essence, the school offers the child the opportunity to learn to become an adult, i.e., to learn to know and master the adult form of living. 6.2 The school is an intermediate world for the child When a child goes to school he enters the world of formal time and ordered contents. One can therefore understand the childs apprehension when entering the intermediate world of the school for the first time. Although he is fearful of leaving the safe and stable climate of his home, few children have a negative attitude towards school. The reason is that he wants to become an adult. He also knows that this means that he will have to learn, i.e., learn to know, appreciate and eventually to master life contents. His fundamental resolve to become an adult is manifested in his willingness to learn, that is a willingness to answer, with the act of learning, the tasks that the reality in and out of school present to him.

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The dynamics of the childs readiness and willingness to learn provide the teacher the opportunity to offer him help in going out to reality. In other words, in school he will venture into reality and the adult will support him in this venturing activity. By creating opportunities for the realization of his willingness to learn and venture, the school offers intermediate opportunities for him to broaden his horizon and extend the boundaries of his existence. In this way the school is an intermediate world for the child who is on his way to adulthood. In the school the child acquires the opportunity, under the protection and guidance of the adult, to construct a gradual but systematic image of reality that makes his eventual going out to life reality less risky and thus also pedagogically more accountable. In school the teacher offers the child help, support and guidance to master contents so that he can safely enter the life world of the adult. 6.3 School activities always are (should be) purposeful and never haphazard All activities in the school are carefully planned, conscious and purposeful. The reality that is unlocked for the child in the school is carefully structured according to a definite plan. The dynamic meaning of this is summarized well by indicating that no educative event really can be done justice if it is not also an activity that is thought through didactically. The spontaneous unfolding of these activities is the ground structure of the matter but this spontaneous unfolding is not a deterministic matter; that is, the result of the didactic activities in the school cannot be compared with a mechanistic result. In contrast to a deterministic result, the school shows various developmental moments that through an accumulated system of guidance is analyzed, managed and motivated by the adult. The guidance the teacher provides the child must be thoroughly anchored and justified if haphazard educating or teaching is to be avoided.

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Teaching is the means for realizing education by orderly and systematic support of a child concerning the actualization of his intention to learn. In this way the school insures that the learning contents he is confronted with do not lie beyond his reach. The purposeful, planned and protective character of the school avoid all fortuitousness or haphazardness (in so far as this is possible); this means that all casual or accidental learning or achievement is avoided. Fortuitousness in this sphere results in the child casually creating and establishing his own world. However, should this be the case, the implication is that the teacher, as the one who accompanies, helps and supports the child, can be excluded from teaching. When the teacher is excluded from the event, he cannot be accountable for the childs fulfillment of his learning and, thus, also for his safe passage from the world of his childhood to the cultural world of the adult. The school is, therefore, the place and space within which the child creates his world as well as future. In this context, going to school means that he accepts the challenge that the future holds for him; that is, he is dynamically involved in creating his own future in order to be able to live the image of adulthood but with the support of his teachers. All of this is possible for him because the school he enters is not completely unfamiliar. The child in our culture identifies early with the idea that he will eventually attend school. One need only take note of how intensively the pre-school child plays school, especially if he has an older brother or sister. This playing school expresses his expectation to which he looks forward, although he may be anxious or tense the day he actually starts his school career. It is important for the teacher to know that the childs expectations of the school can be explained by the fact that it represents an opportunity for him: going to school is the first step to becoming an adult! To become an adult means to become emancipated, to create ones own future and to learn to know ones potentialities and limitations. The school is the place where one is squarely confronted with ones own potential and where one learns to know oneself. The quality of self-knowledge will be a determining factor

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for the way he becomes an adult. Another determining factor is the quality of his learning intention. The childs learning intention is normally so strong and intact that the usual failures every child experiences cannot disturb or neutralize it and these failures are often used to motivate a positive learning result. Every learning situation appeals to him to venture into the future. However, in the school situation the future is actually a matter of the immediate. There is an aspect of reality that must be understood and mastered here and now. The teachers unlocking the contents for him, therefore, must be meaningful for his present existence. The childs directedness to come to terms with immediate contents is a meaningful and creative aspect of his development towards adulthood. However, to the extent that he progresses, i.e., to the extent that his conquests increase, he also gradually works through to a reality that is not immediately present. This is a reality that lies more remotely in his future. The adult knows this future reality as one of values and norms. The realization of values is apparent early in a childs life. This realization appears as knowledge of, a feeling for or sensitivity to and an obedience of the demands of values. Learning correct table manners is a good example of what is meant. In essence values are a matter that is projected towards the future in terms of which the quality of the childs eventual adulthood will be measured. The pronouncements above are extremely important for the school. In educating, norms cover and include every facet of the life world. In this way the norm, in the broadest possible sense, is central to all teaching and school activities. As a pedagogical institution, the school must create the opportunities for the child to create a miniature world in the classroom. This little classroom world serves as an analog of the greater world outside of school where everything normative and valuable is exercised. The world in the classroom is therefore a reflection of the world from which the school chooses when it orients and directs the child with respect to reality.

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In this respect, the task of the teacher is that in his teaching he continually nourishes the childs expectations of mastering. This means that it is only when the child fully ventures with the learning or school contents that he will eventually proceed by means of his mastered activities to venture with the life contents from the life world. 6.4 The school must complete the initial educating in the home

Usually the child enters school directly out of the home. For him, the school is an intermediate or between world in the sense that he is systematically introduced to the greater reality outside of the school as well as the home. In this way, the school bridges the spontaneous, nave and informal experiencing of reality to the more calculated and formal command of reality by the adult. In order to achieve this the school must make provision for certain pedagogical foundational principles and incorporate them in its activities because the childs going out to reality is influenced by them. The first of these principles is that the school situation must provide security and protection for the child. He will feel secure only if he is accepted. If the school does not provide security, if there is not the necessary attitude to and inclination toward acceptance and if no opportunities to emancipate are present, then in all reality it is not a pedagogical (educative) institution. In this case the school misses its basic aim. For this reason the childs experience of security in the home must be continued in the school. As we know, the educative situation in the home is a matter of playing, learning and working. In fact, these three activities express the nature of the basic characteristics of a childs existence. The childs lifestyle cannot be adequately or accurately described outside of playing, learning and working. The child also nourishes himself and breathes, but his pets do the same. The identity of the child is clearly revealed in the fact that he plays, learns and sometimes also works. It is only logical that the school must provide for these forms of existence. As far as children in the home are concerned, play is certainly stressed. Yet parents continually transpose the playing activities to the other forms of existence, namely, learning and working.

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The activities that the parents initiate are actually sporadic. From time to time they lead their children from playing to learning and working activities. The school has an important completing task in this transition of activities. Where there is no regular task acceptance and task completion, the childs transition to an adult form of existence is hindered. The school is specifically the place where a child is continually confronted with specific demands and tasks for a certain number of hours of every school day. He is supported in the execution of tasks but at the same time he is expected to behave responsibly. In this way, the school completes the initial, sporadic activities of educating in the home concerning task acceptance and fulfillment by creating situations in which the child must accept tasks and subject himself to the evaluation of the teacher, but always with the aid, help and support of the teacher. The task of the school to complete the education started in the home has important meaning for the childs future occupation. However, the value of this task of completion is not only confined to his future occupation. In every facet of life outside the school and the home, task acceptance is of paramount importance. The systematic organization of time in the school day, school week and school year offers opportunities to lead his education onto a more closed path. The meaning of each one of these aspects is that a child enters a specific relationship with reality in the school. This relationship is of decisive importance in the eventual image he will have of reality and of the image of a person that he will one day show as an adult. The question of whether the school will be a life reality for him is inseparably linked with the question of whether the school will adequately and accountably support him in designing his own image of the world. As a social institution, there are many dangers the school will have to contend with in this context. If the teacher is really to aid and support the child, he must be thoroughly aware of these dangers. In the first instance, there is very real danger that the school acquires its own identity for itself. That is, it attempts to create its own autonomous character that, especially on the basis of its academic attitude and involvement, can easily degenerate into

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activities that are foreign to the child, i.e., foreign to the home and to the world outside the school. Where this happens, the child becomes lonely and solitary in the school situation and this hinders him in his attempt to break out of the smaller (confined) world of the home in order to become involved in the greater social structure. In this case the school is obviously not a pedagogical institution but merely a teaching center where educative aims are achieved only accidentally. This kind of school creates a greater distance between the child and the world instead of bridging or narrowing the distance and leading him into reality. A second and related problem is that the school does lead the child into reality, does accompany him in his examination and exploration of it, does assess and evaluate his achievements, but without creating opportunities for or supporting him to transcend reality. When a child grasps and understands reality he must be able to objectify it. This means that out of this reality he must attain a new structure, find new application possibilities, master new situations; that is, he must constitute or create his own new reality. A good example of this misconception is that teaching that is strongly examination-directed and that the evaluation of the schools contribution to the childs becoming a person, measured in terms of examination results, provide the child with no opportunity to transcend reality. This does not involve him in his security or exploration and therefore it damages the opportunity for emancipation in such a way that he is hesitant and even will refuse to enter the broader life world of the adult outside of the school situation. If this occurs, the school cannot guarantee the future adulthood of its pupils and also there is no mention of vocational adulthood and full-fledged socialization during the childs school years. By viewing the pedagogic significance of the school as discussed above, it is possible to infer that the responsibility for the schools occurrence cannot be thought of apart from the initiative, insight, aims and ingenuity of the teacher. Where the teacher is not present, the child can experience the school as a museum or an archive or even an encyclopedia but not at all as a school in the pedagogical meaning of the word. The childs passage to the adult life world,

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i.e., his constituting his own life world in terms of what the school offers him, moves the adult (teacher) to the center of the activities in the school. In light of what was said at the beginning of this chapter about the pedagogical and the school, it certainly is important to look more closely into the encounter between adult and child in the school situation. 7. THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN ADULT AND CHILD IN SCHOOL The sense and meaning of a childs attending school lies in the opportunities the school offers him for his use in order to reach his destination as a person (adulthood). The child cannot be held responsible for what the school offers in formal ways. The contents as well as the organizational structure of the school are and remain the responsibility of the teachers who in school aim to establish the childs way to adulthood. Where the child enters the school to learn, the adult enters school to teach with respect to the childs learning activitythis means the teacher directs the childs learning intention by unlocking things for him that are life valuable. Irrespective of the differences between adults and children in the school, both enter it as people. This means that the relationship established in the school is above all a human and interpersonal relationship. The teacher presents an important image (example) of adulthood that in fact reflects the image of the future world the child is aimed at. The encounter of the child with the teacher therefore actually means there is an encounter with the contents the teacher unlocks; these contents are matters still to be grasped, understood and applied by the child in the future. It is important to understand clearly the concept encounter and what it implies in the school situation. The question really is: How does the teacher realize an encounter in the learning situation in the school? The importance of the concept encounter in the school situation is discussed below so that it can be clarified as a constituent (category) of the pedagogical in the school-didactical situation.

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In modern pedagogics there is the danger that the word encounter is used commonly and as a platitude in the human sciences. As in the case with the concept school, the teacher must be aware that encounter is used with a definite meaning. As a concept, it is a particular description of a human beings involvement in reality. To be able to penetrate to the essence of the concept encounter it first must be remembered that a person always stands before everything that really is. That is the whole of reality is continually thrust upon a person and he accepts as a task the ordering of this reality and by ordering and thinking he discloses, discovers and grasps it for himself. A relationship between person and reality arises and exists on the basis of the fact that he turns himself to reality in intentional (conscious) and directed ways. The fact that a person continually comes forward to meet reality is a persons original form of living. (In this connection see the discussion in Chapter 4 of a persons original relationship to reality). There is no human being who does not continually come forward to meet reality in one way or another. This does not mean coming forward to meet reality, as such, but indeed the pedagogic task is that an adult in the school must design reality for the child into which he can enter without the danger of being harmed. In this respect the adult is aware that by entering (encountering) reality the child experiences a unique and personal connection with it and therefore also proceeds to discover its meaning within this relationship. It is from the sense that a person has of reality that his joy and clarity of life spring. In this connection it is important to indicate that the entry into reality of each individual is a personal matter. This encounter with reality continuously demands decisions regarding three aspects of reality: the metaphysical, the interhuman, and objects and things. The decisions made depend on a persons knowledge of the phenomena and the meanings he attributes to them. The task that a persons relationship to reality presents to him is that in the above-mentioned ways he must penetrate to the essences of reality. This means that here he encounters the mysteriousness of life itself and from his appreciation of it he must try to clarify and master it. The mysteriousness of life also forces his being

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bound to time and space upon him. His insignificance with respect to all that is, his impotence with respect to a particular piece of reality usually strikes him in his deepest innermost being. In this moment a person encounters his God and fellow persons and he also has an intense experience of reality. It is during this moment that a person changes and becomes different. Consequently, it also is the moment when the form of living of each person comes to fruition. This essential relationship to reality is of particular significance for pedagogics and, therefore, for didactics. A brief explication of what the encounter implies can be expressed as follows. When concrete reality imposes itself upon a person in a particular way, this is a moment of encounter. Thus, it is a moment when a person stands squarely before a given piece of reality with respect to which he must choose and decidereality demands that a person act; the encounter is a mysterious event but, as such, it also is necessary in the course of life and living of each person. The moment of encounter is thus unavoidably on a persons path of life. Because a person encounters, as a person he really has no choice about it. A person encounters reality because he is a person; in the encounter he exceeds and transcends reality i.e., places it in the sphere of the metaphysical and extra-personal. In the encounter a person is confronted with the most fundamental questions and problems of his existence such as those involving eternity, his helplessness as an individual human being and his concept of life. For this reason, the encounter is also a ground-form or groundsituation in the persons existence and it appears to be given with being human. In this context, the encounter is an ontic given. Now the question is: What has encounter to do with the meaningful course of the situation and activities in the school? The answer is that if the school from time to time places the child in groundsituations, it must design its practice in such a way that it will compel the child to develop a growing or maturing style of making decisions. In school the adult is in fact aimed at providing the child with the opportunity to change, to become different, i.e., to become an adult. For this reason he confronts the child with contents in terms of which he must choose and decide. Very often the adult (teacher)

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represents these contents in his own person. In his encounter with the teacher as an adult, the child encounters his own future. Therefore, the adult must create purposefully and with insight an atmosphere or climate of encounter in the classroom. It is important to indicate that the encounter includes communication, i.e., communication between persons that clarifies the meaningfulness of the communicative situation for them. Now it is the case that the classroom is not necessarily a place of encounter. However, it can be one if the events that occur there are really meaningful to the child. As far as the adult is concerned the classroom situation is always meaningful. However, where the situation in the classroom can be called a place of security and accompanied protection, when it really is a home and a place where the child is accepted and feels welcome the teacher has already accomplished much to prepare the child for an encounter. In light of the above, the teacher must be aware that he must continually implement particular pedagogical-didactical means in order to involve and direct the participating child in the learning situation. Didactic means, as far as possible, must serve the aim of presenting the mysteriousness of life to the child. The most important didactic means that the teacher has at his disposal most certainly is language. There is no aspect of reality that cannot be presented to the child through language. For the teacher language not only reflects his relationship to reality but also especially discloses his disposition towards his pupils. It is no small or easy task to verbalize a particular aspect of reality. When the teacher wants to make the classroom a place for encounter, in his preparation and actions he must continually give careful and close attention to the way he is going to verbalize the contents he is going to present. It is with such actions that the teacher often guarantees an encounter between himself and the child. Every other didactic means strives to present or represent reality anew for the child. For this reason, the above pronouncements about language are valid for each form of observational material that the teacher implements in the lesson situation. When the

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classroom has become a life world it can also be the place for an encounter. Thus, it is understandable that the encounter with the teacher really is a precondition for realizing the assumption that the didactic event should affect the child in his deepest inner being and allow for him to change. The encounter cannot be planned purposefully and with certainty and, therefore, it requires of the teacher particular knowledge about the life form of his pupils. In this respect, the teacher must be aware that there is no facet of child life that is not relevant to an encounter arising. His religious experiences, his social relationships, his play, his language, his fantasies, his intellectual abilities, his affective (emotional) experiences, the totality of his possessed experiences, etc. are all factors that must be taken into account if the teacher wants to establish a classroom atmosphere that also can be a field prepared for the encounter. Where the child actualizes the encounter through the learning situation from his side, the teacher must realize that the child enters this situation of encounter as a person. The child does not experience the encounter through separate aspects of his being a person; encounter in the classroom also is a matter of a person-inmotion and in this respect it involves the totality of his being human. The teachers thorough knowledge of each childs way of participating in the learning situation is of particular significance and for this reason it is a precondition for the encounter in the learning situation. Where the didactic event creates opportunities for the encounter it most certainly also must be a help-providing situation. When the teacher provides help to the child he comes close to him, not only with respect to his intellectual command of the contents but also especially regarding the childs innermost relationship and attitude with respect to learning as a task of life and to the contents as life contents. Moments of the teacher providing help to the child in the didactic situation are the purest moments by which the I of the teacher and the you of the child merge into a we in the situation. When the I and the you merge into an us this means that the teacher and child have found a common point of departure to explore and master a certain aspect or aspects of the situation. Moments of

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providing help in the didactic situation are often the purest moments of encounter between teacher and child. In light of this brief explication of the encounter between adult and child in the teaching situation, which ultimately establishes the pedagogic possibilities and character of the school, it is important to indicate something of the schools task in the childs constitution of a personal life world. 8. THE SCHOOLS TASK IN A CHILDS CONSTITUTION OF A PERSONAL LIFE WORLD A child spends about twelve years of his life in school. However, the importance of the school is not that it is an important part of his life history. It is true that the period that the school influences the childs becoming adult is of particular significance because it coincides with his formative years. It also is the case that these years are a sensitive period in his life. It is a period in which he proceeds to a greater rational and intellectual mastery of reality. In addition it is a time in his life when he becomes conscious of his own being a person, of himself as a person, as a human being, as a man or a woman. Also it is in this period that he strongly questions the valid and acceptable aspects of the world and life because as a person he comes increasingly under the appeal of valid and accepted norm structures as proper ways of living. What is more, the school is an aspect of his life world where things continually happen. This does not distinguish the school from other aspects of his life world. Indeed, there is no terrain that he enters as a person where there is not a continual sequence of events. In contrast to other events in the childs life world, those occurring in the school have a particular character. Above it was mentioned that the school is a place where the future is created. In this respect, the school is not only a place where things happen, but it is a place where adults (teachers) allow things to happen. The events or activities in the school are planned, purposive, systematic matters and the childs activities are directed and controlled externally (by the teacher).

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The playful casualness that is characteristic of so many aspects of a childs out of school activities are not identifiable with the school as a teaching-educating institution. The school activities can possibly be accurately described by asserting that they allow the child to appropriate something that is so far-reaching in nature that it radically influences and changes his entire perspective on reality. The school allows things to occur in systematic and purposeful ways and in this respect it contributes to allowing the child to distance himself from his nave, pre-rational and even diffuse perspective on reality. To be a teacher means to confront children with particular aspects of reality in a successive series of particular situations with the aim that the children will eventually master the contents themselves. For this reason, the teacher continually places them before particular aspects of reality and in clear and undisputable ways pairs these aspects that he offers with particular tasks for the children to carry out. The design and provision of help in carrying out these tasks is an essential and integral part of teaching. At the same time, the school-going child continually and with an orderly succession of situations is placed under the appeal of these tasks. Accepting and carrying out these tasks is evidence to the teacher that the child answers the appeal directed to him in particular ways. Consequently, judging and evaluating the childs achievement in order to bring this to a close really is a judging of the way he has come to an ordering and mastery of particular aspects of reality. This course of action in the school situation is perhaps understandable in the sense that the teacher is continually involved in representing reality to the child such that his orderly mastering of it can progress. In this way teacher and child jointly formalize particular aspects of the human cultural world in general but also particular aspects of it. In its curriculum the school does not offer the entirety of reality to the child but selects from it the most important and necessary aspects that he must master on his way to adulthood. The formalizing that flows from this helps the child divest himself of the nave perspective on matters because the school forces him to understandingly and appreciatively assimilate these aspects into his

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way of living. Thus, the school makes a particular contribution to the childs education. In this way the school completes the education of the child that is begun in the home. In the most literal sense of the word, the school is an extension of the family because the orienting and socializing as well as formative aspects of educating are always directly included in the school aims. These three facets do not constitute the totality of the schools influence on the childs form of living. The fact is that the school must realize all of the didactic categories in its activities in order that the quality of the childs mastery of reality can be determined in terms of didactic criteria (See Chapter 3). In linking up with the previous sections, it must finally be indicated that the school must implement the principles of the didacticalpedagogical (as explicated in the beginning of this chapter) in its activities in order to be able to have any pedagogical significance in the life of the child. Apart from the pedagogic demands that are placed on the school as imperatives, the school must thoroughly take into account the societal order within which the teaching must progress meaningfully, as well as the prevailing spirit of the time that illuminates the youths situatednessthat which the school must interpret for the child as a future life world must at least be faithful to reality. It is only if the school answers positively to these tasks that it can have pedagogical significance and also in this respect can guarantee the childs experience of a normative reality. The analysis of the school situation emphasizes the fact that the school anticipates the future for the child, that it is an intermediate world or reality for the child on his way to adulthood, that the purposeful teaching in the school should never have a haphazard character and that the school really completes the didactic and pedagogic activities that had begun in the home. It is in light of these aspects, as the background against which the schools pedagogical significance is found, that the school must realize the encounter between child and adult because the child identifies himself with the appeal of reality via the person of the adult (teacher)the child really identifies himself with the way in which the adult relates himself to the appeal that in the adults activities is observable to the child. This implies that the school must realize

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didactic categories in its activities that, in their criterial evaluation, must corroborate the quality of the learning achievement. This chapter is not meant to present a final or complete pedagogical explication of the school. Rather its purpose is to orient the reader to understand the pedagogical significance or meaning of the school so that he will be in a position to evaluate didactically-pedagogically pronouncements about the school. This means that the teacher must also be in a position, among other things, to be able to evaluate the organization and administration of the school. To further orient the reader on this matter, the problem of teaching strategies is attended to in the following chapter.

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CHAPTER 10 SYSTEMS OF TEACHING

1. INTRODUCTION The study of the many teaching systems that have been described extensively in didactic history is an important part of didactic research because particular didactic principles such as those of ordering learning contents or particular didactic ground-forms have been elevated to the level of the absolute. The importance of this matter is not so much that certain views of teaching are regarded as the absolute answer to all teaching problems but rather in the finely worked out details that have been tested out and described in thorough and comprehensive ways. Various well-known examples of finely worked out teaching systems are available for study. In this respect one thinks of the didactic designs of Decroly and Montessori, programmed teaching, computer-assisted teaching, conversational teaching and project teaching. All of these approaches and practices can be dealt with only generally within the confines of a book of this nature. In the bibliography sufficient supplementary literature is mentioned that can be studied. What follows is a discussion of the most important views and practices that in our time still consistently and even radically influences teaching theory. In the past exemplary teaching has also been incorrectly placed here, but its significance for teaching in general and for curriculum theory in particular place it in an entirely separate category; thus, Chapter 12 is devoted to it. What is of importance in the following discussions of a few teaching systems is that the mutual principles regarding the teaching form as well as implementing the contents must be coherently reflected on and evaluated in light of the theoretical views previously stated. The various systems, to a limited extent, also are mutually comparable to each other because the three important facets of teaching (teaching, learning and contents) are proclaimed to have a very clear relationship to each other. 2. SOME SYSTEMS OF TEACHING

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2.1 Programmed teaching 2.1.1 Introduction The Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century can rightly and historically be described as the beginning of what we know today as the Technological Age. The most important matter to be emphasized in this context is that lifestyles and teaching styles were subjected to drastic change. This change can be characterized as a partial replacement of persons by machines. Advocates of programmed teaching maintain that education did not fully take these radical changes into account. By implication, this means that in the transition from the 19th to the 20th Century the integration of technological development into human existence was largely ignored or overlooked by educators. During the period 1900 to 1950 an attempt was made to introduce programmed teaching on a small scale in order to make the advantages of technology available for teaching. In the 1920s S. L. Pressey of The Ohio State University in the U.S.A. sought an uncomplicated means to use the results of a test. He hit upon the idea that memorizing uncomplicated contents like arithmetic times tables and series of words could be assisted by means of an aid. His first attempt resulted in a simple writing machine with four keys. On the roll of paper that passed through the machine there were four tasks, only one of which was visible through a window. The tasks were in multiple-choice format and the pupils had to choose one of the four alternatives. When a certain key was pressed, the machine presented the next question. The selection of the key was in direct relation to the accuracy of the pupils answer. If he selected a wrong key the question remained in the window and the error was registered on the test sheet. In this way the pupil was forced to repeat his selection to the question until the correct answer was given. Presseys machine laid the foundation for programmed teaching. By 1950 the period of automatization was reached and in 1955 the Ford Foundation in the U. S. A. started the ball rolling by launching the idea of mass teaching by means of technology. The time was

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ripe for this development: there was a teacher shortage and the race for space with Russia intensified after 1958. These factors put teaching under the magnifying glass. These new directions had two important consequences for the practice of teaching: a) there was a tendency toward mass technological teaching by means of various technically constructed apparatuses or teaching machines; b) there was the possibility of much more individual teaching by means of these technological aids. In this way the idea and possibility of an automated classroom were created. Although the teacher was still in control of the situation, both he and his pupils were dependent on automatic teaching aids. This means that the problem of writing programs became a matter of greatest concern. To motivate and stimulate all research, the following points were mentioned: a) the course of the learning activity, with the possibility of certain guarantees for positive learning effects based on certain theories of learning, had to be studied; b) the greater opportunity for individualization when using teaching machines had to be examined. It is understandable that soon the idea of mass teaching spread to all industrial countries. By 1960 mass teaching was common in England, Europe, Russia and Japan. As far as the principles of programming are concerned, the following are implied: a) a specific way of ordering the learning contents; b) the implementation of the stimulus-response theory as it is generally known in behaviorist learning psychology. As far as ordering the learning contents is concerned, the aim of programmed teaching is to present them systematically, step by step and in an orderly way. This structure follows the course from the smallest parts of the contents and proceeds from these aspects to the whole of the theme. The whole or totalilty of the parts that are

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presented step by step is called the program. Programmed teaching is diametrically opposite to the old textbook method. The aim of the program is to lead the child through every step to which the contents have been reduced in order for him to grasp the whole. In contrast to the textbook, which consists of long descriptions based on certain suppositions, the program first of all identifies the crux of the matter and then presents it step by step until it is thoroughly understood. Once a specific topic has been dealt with in this way, the next topic is presented. The level of complexity of the contents is determined by the aptitude of the child as well as the tempo in which he masters the contents because the answers are provided automatically. The child cannot proceed with the program if he has not discovered the correct answers. At the same time, he is actively involved. In this respect, programmed teaching is anti-classroom and ultra-individually directed. In summary, programmed teaching is based on four main principles: a) the principle of learning by small steps: The contents are divided into small units or frames that collectively are the whole of the contents presented in the program; b) the principle of active response: The pupil learns optimally when he is confronted with small sections of the contents and with which he can become actively involved; c) the principle of immediate reinforcement: This assumes that the child learns optimally if he finds the answer to a question immediately by means of a certain decision or choice he must make. If his choice is wrong, there is no reward and therefore no reinforcement. The wrong answer actually weakens insight and must be replaced by the correct answer. Only correct answers are reinforced; d) the principle of individual tempo: It is maintained that each pupil should have as much time as he needs to do the program. Thus each pupil learns according to his own individual tempo. 2.1.2 Linear and branching programs In the course of time two main directions in programmed teaching evolved. They are known as linear and branching programming.

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Although both are based on the same basic principles, there are certain differences. 2.1.2.1 Linear programming The father of this specific direction of programmed teaching is undoubtedly the well-known American behaviorist, B. F. Skinner. He carried out experiments with pigeons in order to establish certain patterns of behavior that can then be extended to general patterns of behavior. During his experiments he discovered that if a hungry pigeon performed a certain desired activity by itself and was immediately reinforced (by giving it food) the pigeon would repeat the activity. The pigeon established this pattern of behavior because it had practiced small parts of the activity that had been reinforced if they were correct. Skinner considers the response of the pigeon to be the result of learning. The application of these findings to human behavior and human learning is the basis of programming as explained by Skinner. The contents must be divided into small steps or units for the learner and presented one after the other with a very gradual increase in the level of difficulty. According to this principle it is impossible for the pupil to give a wrong answer because neither the program nor the teaching machine provides for wrong answers. Therefore, the learner is reinforced whenever he gives a correct response. This reinforcement is the basis of Skinners theory of learning and his explanation of programmed teaching. According to Skinners conception, the following matters are considered to have basic meaning for linear programming: i) every correct response must be reinforced immediately: it provides the sufficient stimulus for the progress of the of the learning process; only behavior that can be determined objectively by means of experimentation is worth the trouble of reinforcing, otherwise the programmer is easily lost in subjective factors; this means that the program cannot be directed at a specific aim. It can take only purposive learning into account and therefore can only provide for it;

ii)

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errors negatively influence the learning activity. For this reason the principle of a low frequency of errors must be insisted upon when working through a program. This is achieved by using small and carefully graduated steps or units in the program. By providing the learner with enough prompts or clues, the correct response is insured; iv) the course of the learning activity is based on gradual and small consecutive steps. In conjunction with the previous principles, the aim is to lead the learner, according to the way the program develops, to concentrate on the aims of the program. Reinforcement is therefore given only to responses that can realize the aim of the program. In presenting the small units of the learning contents, the probability that the learner will give the wrong response is practically nil; v) aid and support to the learner must gradually diminish and be withheld. The learner is provided with precise instructions at the beginning of the program. Aid is gradually reduced so that the learner will later find the correct responses without the help of the program. This is known as the vanishing or fading technique; vi) the pupils participation in the program, especially his observation, must be directly controlled. The aim is to avoid, as far as possible, any factor or circumstance that could negatively affect the course of learning; vii) learning to discriminate is very important. This is emphasized because concepts at all levels do not necessarily have identical meanings. If a pupil learns, for example, that a certain red bottle contains poison, he must also learn to discriminate in the sense that not all red bottles contain poison; viii) the pupil must write while taking part in the program, i.e., he must use a pen. The aim is to create a basis by which the contents of the program can be coupled (as feedback) because then the teacher is in a position to analyze the learners responses in terms of the aims of the program. 2.1.2.2 Branching programming

iii)

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After Skinner, it was especially N. A. Crowder who made an exceptional contribution to programmed teaching. In a variety of respects, Crowders approach represents a variation of Skinners program in that the designs in his teaching programs are not meant to verify a theory of learning. He considers programming primarily to be a matter of controlling the communication between teacher and pupil. The pupils response is mainly a means to determine whether the communication has been effective which then provides the opportunity for corrective teaching. This kind of program uses the principle of branching. Crowders point of departure is that programming is a didactic strategy rather than a principle of a theory of learning. His aim is to aid the pupil to discover and understand learning contents by means of auto-didactic material. Programming is primarily a matter of presentation and ordering of learning contents as well as an active and thoughtful participation in it by the pupil. In the relevant didactic literature this kind of program is often described as the multiple choice program because the pupil is confronted with a choice among different answers. He must choose the one he considers to be correct. The program is thus composed of different branches. The branch that the pupil follows is determined by the nature and quality of his answers to a certain question or problem. A correct response can therefore lead the pupil into an entirely new structure of the learning contents. The new structure in fact represents the aim of the program. The following principles are important for branching programming: i) ii) the items present are generally of broader scope than those presented in a linear program; presentation is normally in the form of a problem (often two or three short paragraphs) that is read by the pupil. In terms of the problem, three or four possibilities are presented in the form of questions or problems relating to the contents; the pupil who gives an incorrect answer to certain basic questions is forced to work through a remedial program before he can return to the main program;

iii)

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iv)

v)

vi)

vii)

possible mistakes by the pupil are anticipated and the program makes direct provision for them in order to utilize the pupils incorrect answer; faulty insight is therefore directly integrated within the structure of the program in an attempt to insure that no aspect of the contents elude the learners attention; the most prominent characteristic of the branching program is not the programs control of the pupils learning activity in terms of certain psychological theories of learning. It is much rather aimed at correlating the pupils self-learning to his aptitudes by means of his active participation; in a branching program the contents are much more important than in a linear one. For this reason, the ordering of the contents is different because the primary concern is the level of thinking of the learner. Much less attention is paid to rote learning. The teaching machine and the programmed text

2.1.3

It is quite understandable that at the time of the development of the policies and perceptions of programmed teaching, the question of the teaching machine and the programmed text would be considered. The techniques of programming raised the question of whether one had any advantages over the other. It would be difficult to deny that the appearance of the teaching machine to a large measure influenced thinking about programmed teaching. As the matter progressed, many advocates of programmed teaching felt that teaching, as a practice, can be as effective or even improved by means of the programmed textbook. Branching programs are mainly presented in the form of textbooks rather than in the form of a program on a teaching machine. It is also clear that teaching machines had different problems in their design and use. The most important are that the machines were so expensive that schools, colleges, universities and even private institutions could not afford them. The result was that both linear and branching programs were presented and effectively used in the form of textbooks.

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An increasing number of researchers in this field emphasize that it is primarily the person who is involved in the programmed learning situation. It is the person who is primarily responsible for the effective progress of the learning activity. A machine cannot evoke the learning intention that is so basic to the learning act. On the other hand, it was also discovered that the teaching machine can identify underlying differences between pupils better and exploit these differences more effectively than a teacher, especially if the machine is a computer. A good example of what is meant is that the computers assessment of the pupil is much more reliable than the teachers. Notwithstanding what has been said above, machines can make a contribution to good teaching. At the same time, machines are not a condition to effective programming. Advocates of this point of view are of the opinion that the program determines not only the teaching contents but also the course of teaching. The machine is only a part of the formal course of teaching that in fact is determined by the program. Advocates of the programmed text maintain that experience has shown that programmed teaching can be introduced without the use of a machine. This is true for both linear and branching programs. However, the introduction of the computer has changed this view dramatically. It is generally accepted that the costs of presenting programs by means of teaching machines are not justified if the results are compared with programs that are presented by other means. Certain circumstances make the use of machines unavoidable, for example when sound is part of the programi.e., the pupils cannot work through the program without using a tape recorder. This aspect of programming is generally basic to the use of language laboratories. Although the enthusiasm for programmed teaching is practically entirely absorbed in computer-assisted teaching, contemporary practice indicates that combining various machines and programs still has positive possibilities as in the case of the language laboratory. However, if the pupil is strongly motivated to learn, the arguments against programmed teaching in book format are irrelevant.

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In conclusion, certain teaching aids are fundamentally important in programmed teaching. In this context one thinks of the radio, television and film. Television is especially important and all indications are that it will become increasingly so in the future. 2.1.4 The language laboratory Within the framework of new views of teaching and their systematized and formalized possibilities, the language laboratory and its possibilities deserve serious attention. The way pupils come into contact with a foreign language often precludes the realization of learning aims. It is understandable that the objections regarding language teaching are especially valid for foreign language teaching. Pupils master only the formal aspects of the structure of the language and hardly ever reach a level of competence where the language is used as a means of communication. The aim of the language laboratory is to remove the inadequacies of traditional foreign language teaching. Its aim is to provide a new method of learning to speak the language: this is briefly to present the pupil with the opportunity to listen carefully to the spoken word and then to speak himself in order to use the foreign language as a means of communication. The language laboratory is located in a special room provided with soundproof cubicles but arranged in such a way that the teacher can observe all the pupils. Each pupil has his own special tape recorder, earphones and microphone. All of the recorders and microphones are linked to a console by means of which the teacher can communicate wither with the whole class or with an individual pupil. The teacher can also use an overhead projector and films. The tape in the pupils recorder is double track so that the teacher can give his instructions on one track and the pupil can give his answers on the other. The pupil tests and evaluates his answers himself by making use of the program. If he is not satisfied, he can erase his answers and repeat the exercise. The advantages of this system of language teaching are briefly the following:

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a) it does not offer the pupils the opportunity only to listen to a carefully prepared lesson, it also provides the opportunity to speak audibly and to express oneself in the language; b) the use of language is individual and private and, therefore, is not subject to the criticism of the other pupils. Pupils are not influenced by the mistakes of others; c) pupils immediately learn the correct language by listening carefully and repeating words and sentences according to their own needs; d) unnecessary repetition by the teacher is largely obviated; e) the language laboratory creates special possibilities for individual exercise; f) group discussion with the class is not necessarily given a less prominent place in the teaching design; g) it makes possible the introduction of a variety of teaching and learning aids. Criticism against language laboratories includes the following: a) the personal contact between teacher and pupil is lost to a certain extent; b) there is a danger that the auto-didactic course of the lesson could mean that the pupil does not recognize his mistakes as mistakes; c) the language laboratory can be given so much authority that there might be a consideration to replace the teacher; d) language laboratories are expensive. Taking everything into account, the language laboratory is a good example of the positive use of the principle of technologically assisted teaching as a didactic strategy. 2.1.4 The evaluation of programmed teaching

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Evaluating programmed teaching understandably reveals opposing and divergent points of view. Advocates offer the following points in support of their views: i) it is claimed that the pupil is intensely interested in the contents presented in the program; ii) the reduction of the learning contents to very small steps enhances the repetition and drill (memorization) to a meaningful aspect of learning; iii) a good program is better than using a poor textbook; iv) a good program forces all of the pupils to be intensely involved in learning; v) it offers all pupils the opportunity to learn according to their own tempo and to use as many exercises as necessary; vi) programmed teaching relieves the teacher of many humdrum responsibilities in the classroom; therefore, he can concentrate on teaching and learning problems; vii) the problems associated with homework are largely obviated; viii) because programmed instruction has such a strong individualizing character, it eliminates problems related to poor school attendance, moving from one school to another and failure; ix) because the auto-didactic aspect is so prominent, each pupil is individually and independently confronted with the contents. Therefore, the pupil is in a better position to evaluate the results of his labor; x) programmed teaching saves a great deal of time, money and energy; xi) the possibility that a pupil might become the victim of a bad teacher is reduced; xii) it creates the opportunity for each pupil to follow any course of study in the school in accordance with his abilities and aptitudes.

Furthermore, programmed teaching is considered to be eminently suited to testing and assessing pupils learning achievements for the following reasons:

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a) it saves considerable time because answers are corrected by means of scoring keys and computers; b) the methods of assessment are fair to the pupil because he is enabled to master certain insight by means of a fixed and highly structured program. He has gained insight by means of small, logical parts that he uses to build up and to understand a greater whole. He is assessed in the same way in terms of the contents; c) in designing a test the teacher is enabled to cover the whole terrain of the program and he can ensure that each step in the program has been mastered. Where a pupil can omit certain facts and even choose certain aspects out of the whole on which to base his answer in the normal essay-type examination, he is forced to know everything when tested by means of the program because it has already reduced the contents to their essences. The child is only evaluated in terms of the essences of the contents; d) the test is one aspect or part of a greater system; i.e., it is a further learning activity. The pupil learns to use the facts of the program in a different context by means of the test and in doing so is able to construct an overview of the theme as a whole; e) pupils prefer this form of testing to the traditional essay-type because they have a better command of the contents after every test; f) it largely avoids the negative practices associated with preparing for examinations; g) the programmed test is thorough in the sense that all of the facets of the learning contents are tested in a simple and uncomplicated way. In spite of the persuasive powers of all of the above arguments, it seems that didacticians in general can formulate serious objections about the entire matter. The following ought to be mentioned: i) the validity of the theoretical foundations of programmed teaching can be brought under strong suspicion. These objections to the theory of the matter do not necessarily concern the idea of a teaching machine since programming can be equally effectively

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organized with or without a machine. To see classrooms of the future equipped with machines at which pupils sit and learn like players in a gambling hall in either case is an image that can have disastrous consequences for teaching. An analysis of these theoretical foundations of programmed teaching must occur along two fronts: a) in what respect is the theory at its foundation acceptable from the entire pedagogical perspective? b) what will be the eventual didactic results of programming in the school and are they acceptable in their entirety? In general it is held that the system of programming rests primarily on the findings of learning psychology regarding stimulus-responsemechanisms and on the theory of the effects of reinforcement. However, on closer examination it appears that the affinity between these two fundamental principles of programming and the generally accepted didactic theory mentioned above are not as harmonious and clear as what is generally assumed. This conflicting or antithetic conception appears clearly from the brief discussion of the following four relevant fundamental principles: a) as a didactic system programming rests on the reduction of contents to small units that are presented in a step-wise manner. According to this principle, the learning contents are reduced to small units or frames. However, the question is if this shows an affinity to the theory of reinforcement and if the claim is valid that, as far as the learning contents are concerned, this amounts to forming particular, predictable patterns of behavior. According to learning theory, these principles have their point of departure in the conditioning aspects of stimulus-response-mechanisms that cannot be described other than as behaviorist; b) the principle of active response. According to this principle the learner learns optimally when he is active. In order to test this fundamental principle it is necessary to determine how much and what sort of activity is relevant when there is a striving for optimal, effective learning. The question also is whether activity must be seen as filling in a blank space or pressing a key on a machine in answer to a multiple choice

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question. The advocates of programmed teaching boldly and emphatically use the word active but not very clearly. Possibly this is connected with the old and well-known view of the so-called learning by doing. The theory of active responding claims that learning activity progresses more effectively in this way but there is no doubt that some pupils learn just as readily by means of stories, lectures, broadcasts, books, films or other teaching aids. Also there are many questions about the activity of pupils in the learning situation. The learning intention does not always show itself in an observable form. Consequently, one cannot easily make claims about observably active actions of the pupil. Any experienced teacher knows that the above-mentioned observable activity does not guarantee that the learning will progress effectively; c) the principle of immediate reinforcement. According to this it is asserted that a pupil learns optimally when he can immediately find the answer to a particular choice that he must make. If his choice is incorrect no reinforcement must occur so that the undesired consequence of it largely can be neutralized by the absence of reinforcement. Precisely the opposite holds true for a correct answer. Also, this principle implies that the program must be compiled in such a way that an absolute minimum of errors are made by the pupil. If this is not the case there will seldom be mention of positive reinforcement and accordingly the pupil will learn little. The problem with this principle is that there is no way of confirming that an immediate reward is reinforcing to all pupils in any given classroom. (Even animal experiments have shown this). Moreover, researchers have found that if they fill the open spaces with the answer and give it to the pupils to read, they do not learn less than a comparison (control) group that must fill in the answer themselves and then receive immediate reinforcement. Finally, this so-called immediate reinforcement very quickly can lead to boredom that puts the claim of effective learning in this way still further in a suspicious light. If with this it is taken into consideration that the matter of immediate reinforcement is directly related to views of motivation in the learning situation, the matter becomes even more complicated. It can be difficult to deny

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that immediate reinforcement will have a large difference in its effect on pupils interested in the learning contents and those not interested. It also must be pointed out that the general fact of experience that a person learns from his mistakes contradicts the generally accepted interpretation of the principle of immediate reinforcement; d) the principle of ones own tempo. Advocates of programmed teaching assert that each pupil may spend as much time as is necessary with the teaching program. However, this also really holds for all other forms of teaching. For example, a pupil can spend as much time as needed with a textbook. More strongly stated, the conclusion that each child learns according to his own tempo is merely a statement that functions as a definition. Thus, it does not make sense to say that each pupil learns according to the tempo of another pupil or that he learns as quickly as he can. To say that a pupil could have learned more quickly does not mean that he has not learned at his own tempo. More likely this indicates that he has learned at his own tempo and that he then was free to review things or to involve himself with other things relevant to the topic. In this connection, one thinks of something such as applications. The only fairly valid statement that one would be able to make in this connection is that at the very least all learning activities occur at a personal tempo. ii) an additional important objection to programmed teaching is the question of the depersonalization of teaching. Until and with the arrival of films and television the presentation of knowledge in the school occurred only through personal contact. In this beingtogether of teacher and pupil authority, restraints of societal aims, mutual respect and trust, among other things, played an important role. In this light, traditional teaching can be described as interpersonal. Modern means of communication and technology carry as characteristics the anomie and impersonal atmosphere in which teaching occurs. Therefore, important aspects are missing in establishing a teaching situation that are necessary for the attunement to the worthiness and reliability (trustworthiness) of the teacher as well as the contents. The person-machine or the pupilprogram relationship is not interpersonal. Indeed, this represents an impersonal, even a depersonalized form of presentation the

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result of which can mainly be expressed only quantitatively. The depersonalized nature of this way of presenting detracts greatly from many topics and also from the moral and human aspects that it shows. In different respects this strips reality of its human values and involvement. Therefore, it can be concluded that mass communication often provides a quantitatively ethical, Indifferent and dehumanized knowledge and information and because of the way they are made known, they are given an impersonal character. The great danger always exists is also realized in the last quarter of the 20th Century that mass media knowledge is merely transmitted and that this transfer promotes an ethical and philosophy of life neutrality. The factor of human approval and disapproval is not relevant to this type of collective spread of information. The young, not yet formed person acquires or sees only, or to a great extent, an ethically indifferent side of reality. Thus, youth confront an impersonal and thus forsaken image of society and all of its activities. In its turn, this gives rise to identity problems, inner conflicts, ethical indifference and a weakened conception of norms. These impediments weaken the preparedness of youth against a philosophy of life alienation and adverse views. This presents the educator with the imperative to thoroughly investigate the nature of mass communication and its influence on the psychic life of the child in education. Any reorientation of the teaching event must fully take into account this factor because the mass media of our time very clearly must be seen as a third educative force in addition to the home and the school; Iii) with respect to the consistent use of teaching machines a great number of objections arise: First it can be shown that any teaching machine and its use is limited to certain circumstances (lesson situations) and to certain subject matters. Next to that the machine includes a particular threat to the pedagogical task of the school. What decisions can the machine make about attitudes, values and morals? Are the problems of the school not also the problems of the world? There is no doubt that in some circumstances the school is directly confronted with a loss of pedagogic influence. Teaching does not lead to completing educating and forming but merely to instructing. With this the entire act of teaching easily can become a matter of a merely formal and extreme technology. Understandably, this can easily give rise to the derailment of

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supportive and constraining mechanisms because it is assumed that the course of learning of all pupils and its implementation are entirely similar. With this, the highly praised emphasis on individualization falls entirely by the wayside. Further, the question remains whether the pedagogic task of the school can be realized partly or entirely by a teaching machine. Third, there is no guarantee and little indication for the effectiveness of particular designs of the teaching machine and the teaching program. Related to this is the fact that there are few criteria for determining if the items included in a particular teaching program are good or weak. Teaching machines are always separately designed instruments with a limited adaptability and flexibility. It can indeed never be clear whether the teaching machine can know if the pupil has mastered the contents or not. Even as a computer, it can only function to the extent that the didactician has provided information beforehand. Lamentably, the human learning situation cannot in such a degree be anticipated and exemplified. Further, the high cost of teaching machines eliminates their effective use in most cases; iv) serious objections can be advanced against programmed teaching regarding the place and role of the teacher. Ultimately teaching always rests on the teacher because educating is an adults intervention with a child. In this respect it is doubtful that programmed teaching can exclude the weak teacher because he also remains a weak teacher in the programmed learning situation. The danger is that the teaching machine can totally take over the teaching by which the teacher is degraded to a mechanic or a technician who only needs to know how to operate the machine. In this way, the teacher becomes all the more superfluous. Even if the question of eliminating teaching machines should arise, some of these objections could be equally applied to the programmed textbook. Pedagogically it is an essential danger that the teacher and his role in the lesson and learning situation can be misunderstood and that by this his educative task can evaporate into nothing. The experience of the technocratic society unquestionably shows that youth have never had a greater need for gifted and dedicated teachers than in our modern times; v) it is obvious that programmed teaching takes its point of departure from a particular psychological standpoint, namely that

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of a behaviorist stimulus-response-mechanism. As a first objection in this respect, it can be mentioned that this view is grounded in the conclusions that stem from animal experiments and that, therefore, hold the position that the activity of learning and its various intentionalities can be explained in terms of patterns of behavior. For programmed teaching the consequence of this is the acceptance that learning can only take its course if the situation is not a problem for the child. Especially in the linear program the possibility of a problem situation is eliminated by unifying small parts of knowledge with the expectation that the whole will be understood in terms of the parts. It is not possible to expect that abstract thinking, generalizations and the acquisition of objective judgments will automatically follow the stimulus-response principle. If one takes all of this into account together with the question that problem solving lies in the ability to recognize problems, to compile and weigh data, to order facts, to arrive at particular and ultimate conclusions, it seems that in this case, the learning psychology point of departure is very nave. These are all matters are isolated acts and judgments but matters that are directly related to life outside of the school. In conclusion, it also can be asked if the successful course of learning is only a matter of quantity. In the teaching- or didactic-analysis there always is mention of the quality as well as the quantity of teaching as well as of learning; vi) programmed teaching is claimed to be ultra-individualized in nature. However, on closer investigation various problems appear. First there is little attention to the question of how each pupil has arrived at his particular answer. Only the end result is taken into account in evaluating and planning. Also it can be alleged that the teacher has neither the training nor the time to prepare learning contents in this way. Thus he must entrust himself to unknown outsiders who are not familiar with his particular circumstances; therefore, he is compelled to accept designs that fall far outside of the particular school milieu. It is obvious that these designs do not allow for the cultural background, socio-economic status, learning readiness, motivation, philosophy of life and selection of the learning contents of a particular school, a particular group or individual child. All of these matters rest on the assumption that the learning contents and the course of learning are the same for all pupils, and similar matters can be assumed. The statement that

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individualization is done full justice with programming is certainly doubtful. If there should be recognition of individual differences, aat most this means recognizing differences in the course and tempo of learning. Any opinions on this matter cannot be endorsed that do not place the child in relation to the teaching aim within the field of vision. In this respect the teaching machine or its substitute is a doubtful factor. If all of the above is taken into account while all learning contents that constitute a program are presented in the same way to all of the individuals, it appears that the matter is still precarious. Reasoning of such a nature about individualizing the teaching ultimately amounts to teaching for the masses. Indeed, the danger is that the individual only receives recognition in the preparation of the program but after that he is left entirely to his own resources; vii) other objections to programmed teaching include the following: a) the selection of learning contents can present considerable problems for this system because often it is not clear what the connection is between the unique nature of the content and the form in which it must be offered. In the same way, ordering the contents in the program and their reduction to their essences (elementals) are no small tasks especially because they cannot merely be left to chance. Thus, the question can rightly be asked whether the learning contents in the program are not merely made logical? And if the basic points of departure in terms of which earlier findings were presented are taken into account, one is faced with the problem of whether the logical and psychological order in which there is mention of programming activities are identical in nature; b) is the interest of pupils claimed by programming an authentic interest or is it only temporary and directed to a quick, correct and rewarding result?; c) regarding the way the pupil is involved with the contents, there is much doubt whether he can ever arrive at carrying out a proficient formulation, reduction and ordering of the contents;

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d) in practice it already has appeared that the pupils can become irritated by this system of teaching because it is extremely mechanical in nature; e) the danger is not excluded that the auto-didactic principles implemented can be done so to its utmost consistency. Consequently, the schools learning situation as a pedagogic situation declines and the teacher can be easily replaced by one or another teaching aid (at least theoretically). If this is so, his role in teaching is degraded to that of an auditor and supervisory technician; f) the idea that learning represents a way of being human has little place in programmed teaching. Within this system the act of learning and the fact of learning is a bald psychological concept and it is interpreted as a way of reacting in a mechanistic sense that even exceeds the claims of the school of pure drill or memorization; g) specializing aspects at the foundation of all teaching threaten to be lost in programmed teaching; h) it would be difficult to deny that the act of learning is entirely isolated from its nature of venturing. The child has no opportunity to venture because the machine (or the textbook) completely thwarts his venturing and exploring attitudes in the learning situation. Seen in this light, learning is no longer a matter of mastering but a mere activity of amassing on the basis, e.g., of multiple choices; i) the act of learning supported by programmed teaching primarily involves implementing intelligence and memory. If learning in anthropological and other respects exceed the matters of intelligence and memory, the didactician must be skeptical about a system that does not take into account these enlarged views; j) research up to the present has not yet shown that programmed teaching can claim results superior to the usual, traditional forms of teaching. viii) finally, attention must be given to the question of whether the above objections directed to the linear way of programming necessarily have relevance for the branching way of programming.

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Closer investigation shows that it is doubtful that branching programs can escape from the mentioned points of criticism. In this connection, it must be indicated that most persons who have expressed themselves in the literature on the matter have not made a distinction between particular techniques of programming. Therefore, this does not really involve how the program is executed but with its construction as such. A broad evaluation of a teaching program ultimately is of the principles that found it. From the following considerations it certainly will seem clear that: i) all forms of programmed teaching rest on the same principles. Thus when the fundamental principles of programming come under the spotlight, they hold for the linear as well as the branching variations; ii) the idea of teaching as a pedagogic intervention of an adult with a child comes under less suspicion with a branching than with a linear form. In addition, with the former the auto-didactic principle is emphasized more and it holds a decided danger for the didacticpedagogic situation in the classroom; iii) attempts to try to justify pedagogically branching programming give evidence of several unanswerable questions: a) without a doubt it can be accepted that the contents (facts) in all cases of the programmed are of primary importance. This does not exclude the danger that the learning contents are given the central place in the didactic situation. And what of the teacher? Learning contents always are only the way along which a child moves to adulthood, while the teacher who knows this way accompanies him in order to try to reach the matter of the normative as a final destination. In this respect see the discussion of the theory of the elemental and the fundamental. In this respect the branching form is not free to talk about a distorted didactic image. But notice the important role that the machine also plays in this form of programming. No important place is assigned to the teacher. The prominent matter in this variation of the program system of teaching is the program itself. In response to this, proponents of branching programming claim that eliminating mechanized teaching is never the responsibility of the adults. But on closer examination this means that removing the demand for

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b)

c)

d)

e)

responsibility for a matter that the teacher is accountable for cannot be an argument in his defense. A teacher cannot be deprived of his task as a pedagogue and then be held accountable for the progress of the didactic-pedagogic event; programmed teaching is sometimes called a teaching aid. It is certainly very possible that particular aspects of it can be implemented as teaching aids in the course of a lesson. But if it is announced as a didactic system it can hardly be declared a teaching aid. Thus viewed, branching programs cannot be any more acceptable as aids than can the linear forms. The fact of the matter is rather that programming, in whatever form as all, easily is announced as a fixed, sole form of teaching activity because its nature and mode, its aims and practice create little opportunity for being combined with other principles that possibly also deserve consideration; as asserted, if branching programming is pedagogically more acceptable than linear programming, it can be asked directly if what is programmed play a less prominent role in the former than in the latter. How does this matter determine the course of the learning activity in either of the two? The programmer and the teacher clearly are not identical persons. If he is not the teacher, here there is really no mention of a pedagogical event; sometimes programmed teaching is called a help- or supplemental-system. That this can be so in certain aspects certainly is possible but it remains a difficult matter to declare a didactic system to be a helping or supplemental activity. In light of the fact that it is often elevated to a fixed form of teaching, the absolute and even categorical pronouncements made about the theoretical foundation, are matters that create little opportunity for combining with other known forms of teaching; in addition to this, it often is asserted that a branching program in anticipatory ways makes provision for all possible learning problems. However, what in truth is the case is that the programmed anticipates generally valid problems, while it is indeed expected of the teacher to design each didactic situation such that it is a definite

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particularization of general didactic insights in terms of the unique nature of the contents and the tasks of the situation. Generally valid anticipations of learning problems is a precarious matter because the distinction between teaching and learning problems in orthodidactic research to date are still not clearly demarcated. 2.2 Computer-assisted teaching (instruction) Computer-assisted teaching is based largely on the same didactic principles as programmed teaching. The main difference is that a highly sophisticated teaching machine (the computer) is used and that all former designs of teaching machines are replaced by it. Because they are so commonly known, the scope and versatility of its possibilities will not be discussed further. The computer, and especially the microcomputer, has placed teaching in a new relationship to the technology of our time. The system of computer programs does not differ fundamentally from programmed teaching but the technology involved in the former has developed remarkably in sophistication. The computer, as a teaching machine, has developed a versatility that is far removed from the teaching machines of the fifties and sixties and they cannot really be compared. It is not only that the teaching machine (computer) is in every respect a work of wonder but the programs that have been developed are refined to the extent that there is hardly an area of knowledge that cannot be computerized and introduced in the teaching and learning situations in this form. The general availability of computer-assisted teaching facilities and the introduction of microcomputers has elevated their use as a teaching system. During the last few years, microcomputers (hardware) have become so inexpensive that they are now within the financial reach of teaching. It is projected that by the middle of this decade (1985) a million microcomputers will be used in primary and secondary schools in the U.S.A. It is also noteworthy that the technological development that accompanied the development of microcomputers has created new interests on the part of teachers for the programmed system of teaching. The interest in the use of teaching machines, introduced by Pressey in

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1920 and developed by Skinner in 1950, has culminated in renewed excitement for teaching programs presented by means of the microcomputer. The role played by the computer in the community outside the school is of decisive importance for its evaluation as a teaching system within the school. The dependence of the community on information has made the computer an integral part of our modern lifestyle. In this context it is thought that during this century the computer will eventually be as commonplace as the automobile. For this reason computer literacy (familiarity with and understanding of the uses of computers) will probably be the most important demand made on education. In industrialized countries the pressure is increasing to insure that computer literacy is given the same importance in the school curriculum as are literacy and numeracy. Advocates of computer-assisted teaching make use of the same rationale as do the advocates of programmed teaching for establishing the use of the computer for teaching and learning. The argument is mainly based on improved learning achievements, the changed attitude of pupils and the shortening of available teaching time: a) the computer provides unlimited opportunities for the pupil to exercise insight and skills. It represents a particular supplement to the teachers attempts in this regard, especially because the pupil works through the exercise individually and in his own time. This activity can be aimed at specific skills such as spelling, arithmetic, calculations, memorizing facts, etc. The pupil receives immediate feedback about the quality of his achievement and the opportunity to repeat the exercise until the computer considers his achievement to be adequate. This factor is important as far as the basic skills in every school subject are concerned. Improvement in the specific area of knowledge is impossible without thorough command of basic skills; b) a computerized program can directly focus on the improvement of conceptualization and mastering skills that can then be implemented in the learning situation. Thus, the computer does not offer only exercises but also support in the

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mastery of skills. This does not mean that the pupil is only given direct feedback about the correctness of his answers. The computer offers assistance and support because it understands the nature of the pupils mistakes and provides him with additional or remedial exercises. Because he experiences his achievement individually, he cannot avoid the judgment of the computer about the quality of his learning. As far as the teacher is concerned, this means that the computer can consistently identify the weaknesses of the pupil; c) the computer can converse or establish a dialogue with the pupil. This enables him to explore the curriculum as a whole. The pupil can, for instance, instruct the computer to give reading instructions. In this case the computer examines the pupils reading skills in order to determine his reading level, to make an analysis of his mistakes and to provide reading exercises in order to raise the level of his reading. During the course of the program the pupil is continually evaluated and given direct feedback concerning the quality of his attempts. If the computer is satisfied with this quality it increases the level of difficulty of the contents and continues its supportive assessment until the pupil has reached the intended level of achievement. This procedure can be provided for all levels of skills in any school subject (this includes basic, intermediate and higher skills). The fact that the computer continually monitors the achievements and can raise or lower the degree of difficulty means that the pupil is given the opportunity to work through the whole syllabus in terms of his own abilities and aptitudes and still reach the necessary level of achievement. The computer can store certain programs; it can assess the answers of the pupil; it can give direct feedback about the quality of the pupils answers and directly provide him with the state of his progress in the available subject. It is obvious that the computers individualizing possibilities are endless, especially as far as the degree of difficulty of the contents and adaptations to the pupils learning tempo are concerned. Research on the effect of computers on the learning achievements of pupils is so vast and encompassing that it is impossible to give a survey of the findings in a book of this

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nature. However, all researchers agree that the computer makes a marked contribution to raising the level of learning mainly because of its potential to individualize and the fact that it can provide remedial programs. Should teaching personnel become critically scarce (for example in developing countries) the computer can be used as an important supplement without supplanting the teacher. In circumstances where adult education is an important consideration in a developmental program (e.g., to provide literacy programs) the computers contribution is obvious. Interesting observations have been made in extensive empirical surveys concerning the learning effect that computers seem to have in support of teaching: a) teachers who make use of computers feel that there is a marked increase in pupils ability to develop skills and solve problems; b) there is also an increase in the motivation of pupils that indicates interest in the learning contents, the status of the pupils in relation to other pupils who do not take part in computer-assisted teaching and a feeling of greater command of contents in the learning situation; c) it is also remarkable that, especially in the lower grades, girls are more diffident and cautious of the computer although this phenomenon disappears as they gain understanding of the apparatus. Generally speaking, it seems that more boys than girls make use of computer programs; d) it promotes cooperation among pupils in a wide variety of learning situations. Pupils who have mastered the computers use often play an important role in involving other pupils in computer procedures and skills and to help them if they experience difficulties; e) it enables pupils to become much more independent in the learning situation in that the computer forces them to find their own answers to questions and problems instead of seeking the teachers help as they would have done previously; f) it is very important to follow a coordinated policy and strategy when introducing computer-assisted teaching. Divergent opinions by teachers, differences concerning the application of computers in the organization of teaching and faulty

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coordination create confusion, uncertainty and resistance on the part of the pupils. Computer-assisted teaching is still in the process of development. It is therefore obvious that certain problems are experienced with this teaching system of which the following appear to be the most important: i) Software The successful use of computers mainly depends on the availability of good programs (software). It seems that there is a world-wide shortage of didactically developed and educationally sound programs mainly because there are very few educationists who are trained to write programs of the quality and scope necessary for teaching purposes. The development of programs is a very expensive item in the budget of computer-assisted teaching. Because this development is confined to industrialized countries, the shortages and problems experienced in developing countries are even more acute as available programs are not necessarily applicable to the educational circumstances in these areas. In addition, there are many different computer systems. Programs developed in one system cannot be used directly in another and this limits the use of existing programs and creates insurmountable problems all over the world. However, the expectation is that with the development of microcomputers, these shortcomings should be overcome during the next ten to fifteen years. It is also obvious that since providing programs has been commercialized, the profit motive does not always produce programs of the necessary teaching quality. In fact, a large proportion of the programs offered on the international market is inadequate and of low quality educationally, as well as in other respects. Teachers who wish to introduce computer-assisted teaching as an aspect of their practice should therefore approach the whole matter of software with extreme caution. ii) Limited funds

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The most general problem concerning computer-assisted teaching is that available funds are inadequate. This is possibly true for teaching as a whole. It is unfortunately very expensive to develop didactically effective computer-assisted programs. It has been calculated that it takes a hundred man-hours to produce a computer program lasting an hour and therefore methods must be developed to make the most effective use of those programs that are available. The following should be considered: a project can be initiated where the teacher undertakes the development of the program with the support of part-time specialists in computer-assisted teaching. Initial success, or even partial success, creates the conditions necessary for personnel of other institutions (universities, teacher training colleges, technikons, etc.) to become involved, thus the quality of the programs, the general experience and the assessment are broadened and deepened to the advantage of both teachers and pupils. There is also a large amount of material available in the socalled popular subjects (mathematics, physics, etc.) that can be bought for a relatively low price. However, very few of these programs are applicable to the African situation and their injudicious use can destroy enthusiasm for computer-assisted teaching and have precisely the opposite effect to what is intended. Homogeneous teaching aims concerning computer-assisted teaching contribute to keeping costs as low as possible and also insure the most effective use of available programs. iii) Positioning the computer The question of where the computer unit is to be located to provide the greatest service and support for teaching is often determined by factors with a historical origin. This is because computer-assisted teaching has undergone a certain development and had its inception in a specific milieu. Other factors that may determine its positioning are the persons or bodies that propagate its use and especially the funds that were made available for its purchase. Because there are centers that pay a great deal of attention to audiovisual teaching aids the computer is often seen as only another one of these aids instead of being appreciated as a basic teaching system with its own identity. Placing the computer in an audiovisual teaching center is restrictive because of its limited

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possibilities in supporting actual teaching. The cost factor in depressive economic circumstances nowadays seems to be the determining factor. The original aim of computer-assisted teaching was to improve the quality of teaching. It appears that prohibitive costs have forced the users of computers to abandon this aim at this stage to concentrate instead on computer literacy. When this is the case the computer is often placed in the school library to insure optimal access and to effectively disseminate available information regarding programs (software). This positioning also restricts the original aim of the computer as a teaching system to contribute to elevate the quality of teaching and learning. If the computer unit is seen as a computer facility or center, as is often the case, it necessarily means that the purpose of the computer is radically changed. In this case the computer center serves as a source of information and not as a teaching support facility. This is often a serious problem in the attempt to popularize the computer as a factor in teaching. It also often happens that the computer is installed in the office of a person who is particularly interested in and enthusiastic about them or in a study area where it is effectively used and available to the rest of the staff wishing to use it for teaching purposes. In this case the computer is isolated in the sense that the people originally responsible for establishing it are apt to see it as their personal property. (iv) Credibility Credibility is always a problem when something new or a new system is to be established and accepted. This is possibly even more so in the case of education generally and teaching specifically. The instrument as well as the innovator who believed that he can make a contribution to teaching and learning is viewed with suspicion. Skepticism remains until its effect is proven and even then it is only partially accepted. Matters assessed in this case are time saved, auto-didactic opportunities, grater individualization, better exercises, etc. The only way opposition is really overcome in the school situation is by the proof given by the users of computerassisted teaching in such areas as the quality of the learning effect,

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remedial programs, relief from marking books, etc. Cooperation and evolution are much more productive than coercion and revolution. In countries like France and the U.S.S.R. experience has shown that in-service training in computer-assisted teaching is an important factor in establishing the credibility of computer-assisted teaching among serving teachers. The same effect is achieved by arranging regular demonstrations to give the skeptics the opportunity to accept the role of the learner in circumstances that do not reflect their own teaching practice. Using computer games to soften skeptical attitudes has proven to be counterproductive: skeptics consider games to be irrelevant to the teaching and learning situation. It is more effective to concentrate on a specific learning problem in terms of which the learning effect can be directly assessed. As soon as the teacher becomes aware that he is directly in control of computer-assisted teaching, his resistance recedes and he becomes receptive to the idea that his own teaching can be enriched by the computer. (v) Computer literacy Although computers are becoming increasingly available, and even if they are to be in school budgets by the end of the decade, the percentage of people who are computer literate is still very small. In fact, this percentage is so small that it cannot be considered to be an advantage. Without an overall strategy to establish general computer literacy at the same level as reading and writing skills, computer-assisted teaching can only remain an ideal. In a country like the Republic of South Africa, taking its educational resources into account, it is an ideal that will be realized only in the future. A precondition for introducing the computer into education, as far as both teachers and pupils are concerned, is that teacher and pupil must at least command a functional level of computer literacy. In itself, this is a tremendous problem for educational planners and curriculum designers. As is the case with programmed teaching, there are clear advantages to computer-assisted teaching. The following are the most important: a) the computer has limitless patience with the pupil;

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b) the computer can generate a limitless number of examples, exercises, problems, etc., in order to exercise insight; c) the computers calculations are immediately available and absolutely correct; d) the computer can effectively simulate situations; e) the computers control of the pupils learning activities is consistent and unprejudiced; f) the opportunities to individualize teaching by means of the computer are limited; g) because the computer does not become tired, does not want to go home or on a holiday, it can be used anytime and anywhere; h) the pupils progress can be monitored very accurately; i) the computer offers the pupil the advantage of expertise that would not normally be available to him. On the other hand, as with all things, there are certain disadvantages: a) pupils often feel isolated in the computer-assisted learning situation; b) the typing skills necessary for using the computer effectively are often a problem, especially as far as adults are concerned; c) a computer is also an apparatus that sometimes fails. This can be especially disturbing if terminals are linked to a central computer facility; d) where the computer is linked to a main frame (e.g., universities) the use of the facility is often so intense that students have to wait for long periods before having access; e) if there are not enough terminals or micro-computers available, the learning activites of pupils can be retarded seriously; f) computer-assisted teaching is expensive: this is true for both hardware and software. 2.3 Team teaching Team teaching originated in the U.S.A. and has to be seen against the general background of teaching problems there. It is an attempt to improve the quality of teaching (and the advocates of

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programmed teaching are enlisted here) and especially to purposefully and more economically use teachers in light of their continual shortage. Thus, it is a system of teaching where two or more teachers accept responsibility for teaching a particular group of pupils. Consequently, team teaching is not an incidental or informal cooperation between or among teachers during certain periods of the school year but is based on teamwork and carefully coordinated planning in which teachers and pupils are systematically involved. In broad strokes, team teaching shows the following characteristics: a) a teaching team consists of three to seven (and even more) teachers who are jointly responsible for teaching between 75 and 225 children in different grades; b) individual teachers are engaged in teaching at different levels depending on their experiences and capabilities; c) as leader of the group, the senior teacher must exercise control and observe the effect of engaging new teachers in this kind of learning situation; d) the planning, teaching and assessment of the team are stressed; e) each member of the team specializes in certain aspects of the contents during each lesson and each is furthermore responsible for helping other members of the team regarding the organization of the specific contents. The specialist is responsible for the actual teaching or presentation of the contents; f) all team teaching programs emphasize the effective use of the aptitudes, abilities and talents of every member of the team; g) team teaching proceeds from the standpoint that a specific teacher is not responsible for teaching a particular group of pupils in the school. The idea that pupils are continually progressing (changing) and that therefore the learning situation is also continually changing is at the heart of the idea of team teaching. For this reason, all teachers teach all of the pupils; h) team teaching programs vary in accordance with class size and the duration of the lessons. Such variations are bases on matters such as the teaching aims, the unique nature and

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context of the contents, teaching technologies that can be used and the level of development (readiness) of the pupils in the learning situation; i) the size of the class and duration of the lesson are organized in terms of the principle of a flexible and adaptable timetable for both the pupils and teachers; j) the aim of this variation of teaching is also to make the most effective use of mechanical and electronic teaching apparatuses (aids). In light of the benefits of team teaching the following are arguments in its favor: i) the system provides for specialization by teachers that in turn enables the school to make more effective use of all teachers abilities at different levels of the school program. Therefore, the individual teacher is not isolated from the general educational planning of the school and this enables him to orient himself to the total scholastic situation of the school from the lowest to the highest classes; ii) this system satisfies the demands of individualization. Improved organization, experimenting with new teaching methods and an adaptable curriculum naturally contribute to this advantage. The rationale is that the individual pupil and all of his needs are the focal point and concern of the team of teachers. As a result of this individual-directed teaching, differentiation comes into its own right regarding both teachers and pupils. Provision is made for all forms and grades of pupils abilities and talents. Much room for relevant forms of individualization is built into the system, especially as far as group work is concerned that in itself provides unlimited opportunities in t4he team situation. All groups that are heterogeneously arranged according to ability and interest, and grouping of gifted and less gifted children in different classes is eliminated by this system; iii) the learning world of the pupils is extended to include the world outside of the classroom, thereby providing the child with a fuller and richer experience. In this way close cooperation between school, home and society is established, especially because the parents accept much greater responsibility for the teaching of their

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children. Similarly, society shows a greater understanding of and value for the work of the school; iv) as far as the pupils are concerned, team teaching has certain important advantages. The personal contact between teacher and pupil remains close because there is a strong possibility that the same team of teachers will teach the same group of pupils right through their primary school careers. At the same time the pupil is not left to the mercy of a weak teacher. Various research findings indicate that this way of systematizing teaching does not in any way confuse or affectively disturb the child; v) as far as the teachers are concerned, team teaching has definite advantages. In the first instance it creates opportunities for promotion and better salaries. In conjunction with this advantage, teachers abilities, interests and teaching preferences are given careful consideration. Because young teachers work intimately with more experienced teachers, their organization of teaching activities as well as lesson preparation and presentation are improved. Jealousy and envy among teachers is largely obviated because they are all forced to cooperate with one another and nobody expects to be subjected to criticism by their peers as a result of bad planning and presentation. All non-professional work in the school is done by non-professional staff so that the teachers can devote all of their time to the professional aspects of their teaching; vi) the close cooperation among teachers, and especially their joint planning of the contents, creates excellent opportunities for integrating different school subjects. Criticism of the system of team teaching is mainly directed at the following weaknesses: a) team teaching demands a thorough and fundamental investigation of the didactic merits (the advantages and disadvantages) of this system. A school that introduces team teaching without purposeful and careful planning will create more problems than it can solve; b) great demands are place on the teacher from all sides. Teaching is often given to large groups that is no mean task. The fact that teachers must cooperate extensively and at a high professional level demands a very adult and unselfish attitude. Discussions within the team are not always orderly

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c)

d) e) f)

g)

or productive. Group leaders not adequately formed didactically are often at a loss to keep the problems of the teaching situation within the focus of the participating team of teachers. In this context the individual teacher has a need to know exactly what his task is in the joint teaching attempt; team teaching is necessarily closely associated with certain principles of ordering the learning contents, e.g., linear and chronological. If there is faulty coordination between ordering the contents and the different forms of presentation (ground-forms such as conversation) during the planning of lessons, the teaching attempt easily becomes ineffective; it is an essential problem that too large a group of pupils is given too much prominence in this system of teaching; organizational matters demand considerable time and energy from the participating teachers; the dynamic nature of team teaching leaves little opportunity for far-reaching habit formation and the proper exercise of insights by the pupils; In the final instance, nobody is really responsible for the progress or failure of individual pupils. Everything occurs in the group and the progress of the group is taken as medium to assess the effect of the teaching. Project teaching

2.4

The word project is derived from the Latin projectum and can mean a purpose, an aim, a design or plan. Therefore, projects indicate making designs or plans. For practice in the classroom this can mean that the teacher together with the class study a particular theme or formulate and outline a project as a particular problem. Thus, project teaching arises from the need to build a bridge between the worlds outside and inside the school in order to try to attain a greater integration between the life world and the school subjects. In this way an attempt is made to eliminate teaching of its purely mechanical and reproductive character in order to give the pupils the opportunity to examine the phenomena of the life world for themselves, but always with the aid and support of the teacher. Project teaching can be considered to be a form of symbiotic teaching in the sense that it so strongly stresses the demand of

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relevance to reality. However, it also provides for a linking up with other principles of teaching. Integration of the learning contents is an important foundation for the idea of project teaching because various areas of school subjects can be effectively integrated and ordered into a meaningful whole by means of the project. As far as learning contents are concerned, the emphasis is mainly on the essences of the learning material (called units) that is the point of departure for realizing each of the aims of project teaching. Project teaching is a conscious attempt to break away from typical classroom teaching and to search for and effectively implement the spontaneous questioning and venturing attitude of the child in the teaching situation. The steps in project teaching in the classroom can briefly be summarized as follows: a) the pupils are introduced to the theme or design; b) the various aspects of the project are isolated, identified and formulated under the leadership of the teacher. The different aspects are then arranged and assessed in terms of importance and potential; c) the class is then divided into groups. The teacher must insure that the grouping is in accordance with a set of criteria to guarantee equality by taking the aptitude, initiative, independence and other abilities of the pupils into consideration; d) each group is given a specific aspect of the project to work on; e) the importance of cooperation within and between groups is emphasizedfor instance by stressing the importance of exchanging knowledge and insight regarding the various aspects of the theme; f) after the previous phase, information is gathered by means of textbooks, the library, magazines or from any other source. The information is carefully systematized, ordered and written up; g) the groups then submit a scheme based on the collected data for the teachers assessment; h) after joint acceptance of the scheme by the teacher and the pupils, the scheme is further worked to form the basis on which the project will take its further course;

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i) each group makes its own written report regarding the aspect of the theme for which they are responsible. The report includes statistics, graphs, sketches, pictures, etc.; j) manual work is included as far as possible; e.g., making relief maps, models and schemes; k) as soon as the project is finalized, an exhibition is arranged to show everything that the pupils have contributed to the project. The groups exhibit their contributions separately. Advantages of project teaching are briefly the following: i) as far as contents are concerned, the principle of integration comes into its own and as far as the child is concerned, the learning experience is meaningful because the contents are true to reality and life outside of the school. The contents therefore have their own integrity. The solution to problems reflects the reality of life and in this sense the learning world of the child is also the life world; ii) project teaching promotes the acceptance of responsibility and it also exercises and the acquisition of critical judgment, accurate observation, reasoning ability, initiative, cooperation in a team or group, respect for the opinion of others, perseverance, openness to criticism, creativity and especially self-criticism. It also promotes self-study that is certainly valuable for every kind of further education/schooling; iii) it provides for the demand for individualization. It creates opportunities for differentiation while socialization within the group is an important by-product; iv) it clearly demonstrates the complexities of the life world and especially the world of work; v) by its nature, project teaching takes account of the discovery aspect of learning and provides a definite motive for the course of learning. Criticism directed against project teaching is briefly summarized as follows: a) the use of the project as a system of teaching is usually hindered by the traditional organization of the classroom. It is also usually in conflict with a fixed school timetable.

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b)

c)

d)

e)

Although a compromise is possible, the traditional school timetable cannot summarily be sacrificed in favor of project teaching. Regularity and orderliness are important demands of the school and of social life. An attempt at compromise between the demands of project teaching and the school can thwart the didactic aims of the former; as far as the selection and ordering of contents are concerned, the extremes of autocratic planning by the teacher or unlimited freedom of the pupils can create serious problems. Objections to this form of teaching are often raised if there is a lack of individualization as a result of the over-prominent role of the teacher. If the teacher is autocratic the child is not given the necessary advantages of experiencing adulthood, then loss of social values is the result; there is a lack of coordination and the learning activities are incidental. The danger of the incidental selection and ordering of learning contents is very real if children are given unlimited freedom. The consequence is that the learning activities can develop an incidental character. In certain subjects, e.g., mathematics and physics, this can have serious consequences; another objection regarding contents is that the curriculum will not be dealt with fully and that certain gaps in the design of learning experiences can occur. As far as the teacher is concerned, the task of identifying and filling in these gaps is difficult. However, it often happens that in an attempt to fill these gaps, the project on which the class is working is extended beyond its boundaries thereby giving it an artificial character that project teaching strives to avoid. The teacher finds it very difficult to order the learning contents in such a way that the various areas of learning or related school subjects are given their rightful place; when choosing a project, overestimating the potentialities of the pupils by the teacher or overestimating their own capabilities by the pupils pose a real problem. The result is often that interest in the project wanes because of failure when carrying the project through; it is doubtful whether all school subjects can be effectively and purposefully presented by means of project teaching. In the primary school basic skills such as learning to read, write and do arithmetic are clearly unsuited to this approach;

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f) there is no assurance that project teaching is as efficient in the secondary school as in the primary school. Undifferentiated learning contents, because of the demands of integration, must eventually lead to differentiated school subjects in the secondary school. This means that the secondary school is not necessarily the most suitable level on which to implement project teaching. The level of readiness of the pupils must also be taken into account. As a child gets older, his critical attitude tends to outweigh his appreciation. This can be a limiting factor in undertaking a project; g) the principle of group-work so prominent in project teaching has its own difficulties and dangers. The most real danger is that the less gifted child loses himself in the group without many or any demands being made of him, or that he makes very little contribution to the project. This implies that the teacher must continually differentiate carefully and control (monitor) the group activity; h) effective and purposeful project teaching makes great demands on the teacher. The possibility is real that the teacher may view the project as only an activity for the pupils. This means that the teacher easily hides behind the activities of his pupils in an attempt to escape from his own teaching responsibilities; i) project teaching requires a great deal of research material as far as both teacher and pupils are concerned. In certain circumstances the necessary and relevant material is difficult or impossible to obtain; j) the attempt to avoid mechanical drill-work and exercise can have the danger of a serious deficiency can arise here. A pupil cannot be exempted from the need to do the necessary exercises and to memorize certain contents simply because he prefers project teaching; k) pupils used to project teaching find it difficult to change to schools where other forms of teaching are prominent; l) it is time-consuming and often expensive; m) teaching by means of projects sometimes favors a broad and superficial treatment of the theme in place of a deeper study of it. 2.5 Conversation teaching

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As we know, conversation is a fundamental didactic ground-form. When conversation is overemphasized and teaching is organized exclusively in terms of conversational activities, one can identify a definite systematization of teaching in the same sense as in the case of programmed teaching or project teaching. For this reason, it is best to start with the negative and ask what conversation teaching is not. The four following aspects are the most important: a) the teaching conversation is different from the enforced revelations of, e.g., psychoanalysis and other forms of therapeutic conversation; b) it differs essentially from everyday forms of conversation such as chatting and talking because the didactic imperative is never present in these common forms of communication; c) it is not a heated debate about contentious topics; d) it is not a concern of specialists. It has no place for rigid rationalization or snobbish teaching formalisms. Without profound communication, willingness to make contact and become involved in the renewal of the relationship between teacher and pupil, conversation teaching as a didactic form is unthinkable. Ordering, orderliness, tolerance, theme directedness, activity, integration, willingness to compromise and sober objectivity are all demands made by conversation as a form of teaching. The level of readiness of the pupils is also an important factor. The participation of a nine-year-old child in a conversation is vastly different from that of a fourteen-year-old. Conversation reveals itself as a didactic ground-form in two general ways, namely as a learning conversation and as a class conversation. 2.5.1 The learning conversation

The learning conversation is described as the communication between the teacher and the pupils where the teacher leads the learning activities of the pupils. The aim is mainly to elicit answers to the questions asked by the teacher and the pupils. The younger the pupils, the more bound (restricted) the conversation will be. The teacher is always at the helm and steers the conversation

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toward realizing the teaching and learning aims. In this sense, the learning conversation is not a light discussion but an intensive conversation directed by the teacher who intends to realize a clear and well-formulated aim. It is never incidental and therefore occurs only when a particular or unique problem arises. There are many opinions about the aims of the learning conversation. Some didacticians are of the opinion that different solutions to problems are posed in the conversation so that each pupil can choose the solution best suited to his abilities and needs and with which he has the most success. This point of view is mostly held by didacticians who have been strongly influenced by the theories of the German psychology of thinking. Others maintain that the knowledge imparted and gained in the learning conversation is actually of less importance than the verbal or language formulation skills. For this reason, in the past the learning conversation was identified with language teaching. Another opinion is that the emphasis must be on the mastery of basic patterns or structures of thinking as well as fundamental concepts because they are seen as the main aims of the learning conversation. Unfortunately, it is not possible to discuss these points of view fully at this stage. However, it is important to note that the learning conversation, as a ground-form of teaching, can be approached from different points of view so that its nature and course can continually acquire a new gestalt with its own aim. Everyone agrees that the question-andanswer has an important role. The conversation is not only brought into play and given direction by the question-and-answer method but it gives its course a particular or desired turn. Consequently the question-and-answer method must meet specific criteria. It must have an immediate, contributing, vitalizing, motivating and discovering character and it must always direct a particular appeal to the child. The teachers accompanying function is of decisive importance in the learning conversation. Thus, it is understandable that the specialized nature of the question-and-answer method makes stringent demands on the teachers preparations and designs. The question-and-answer method is certainly one of the most difficult and fatiguing methods of teaching.

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Didactically, the learning conversation originated in the research of the German psychology of thinking. The contribution to didactic theory made by this research cannot be stressed enough. The most important conclusions of the effects of conversational learning is summarized as follows: i) the learning conversation especially promotes the breakthrough of insight into a problem or its solution; ii) various learning methods are used and a transfer of problem solving methods takes place between the various pupils and the individual. For this reason one can speak of better learning methods (methods of solving problems) that lead to more effective learning achievements; iii) although one cannot make any binding prescriptions, it is nonetheless true that there is a definite improvement in the achievement of the pupils regarding such matters as thinking as opposed to memorizing. This improvement is especially apparent in less gifted pupils compared to more gifted ones; iv) pupils become bolder in their attempts to formulate ideas and to correlate and control data in order to reach certain conclusions; v) the learning conversation is a form of group-work and thus includes the advantages associated with such activities; vi) it can contribute to relieving the teacher from the drudgery of teaching according to a set form; vii) the gifted as well as the less gifted pupil can take part in the learning conversation. The interrelationship between pupils strengthens the contact between them and the class in fact becomes a working community where the gifted pupil provides the necessary leadership. It is important to mention that criticism concerning the question of methods of solving problems and their transfer in the learning situation has been voiced for a long time. It is certainly true that a pupil can be provided with too many methods for solving problems and therefore become confused when confronted with an excessively broad choice. The fact is that the pupil can experience a lack of understanding of ordering principles that will jeopardize his ability to understand the essence of a particular theory. If didactic theory must take the findings of the psychology of thinking regarding solution methods into account, pupils must not be

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exposed to too many methods of problem solving or be drilled in the use of only a specific method. The aim is rather to provide the pupil with as broad a field of thinking as possible so that when he is confronted with a problem he can use a variety of facts, insights, methods of solving problems, etc. In this context one must realize that the danger is very real that in providing the pupil with methods of solving problems, his critical thinking can be impaired. As far as acquiring insight, the following two important aspects are mentioned: a) if the learning conversation serves to direct a child to the learning activity and if an improved directedness is paramount foundation for improving learning achievements, such assumptions stress the value of the learning conversation. However, doubt must be expressed about interpreting the learning conversation as the means of bringing the pupil to the acquisition of insightno matter how valuable it is; b) if providing methods of solution in the learning conversation is to lead to insight, it is didactically much more accountable, through the proper reduction and ordering of the contents, to place the problem and its solution in a particular relationship by which an arsenal of solution-recipes and formulas make the acquisition of insight unnecessary. If the teacher does not carefully and purposefully control and direct the learning conversation, it can easily degenerate into a pointless waste of time without any real didactic value. In any case, the learning conversation is time consuming. Another real danger is that the quality of the insight of the gifted pupil can easily cause the learning conversation to degenerate into a discussion between the teacher and a small group of pupils. 2.5.2 The class conversation

The class conversation is carried out by the pupils among themselves but under the control of the teacher. Where the teacher consciously leads the course of the conversation in the learning conversation, in the class conversation he remains in the

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background. The atmosphere of the class conversation is much the same as a group discussion where a gifted child often acts as leader. The teachers task is to direct the conversation from time to time in order to insure that the pupils are keeping to the point by focusing on the problem. The aim of the class conversation is to provide the opportunity for the pupils, as a group, to arrive at solutions to a problem. As in the case of the learning conversation, the class conversation must meet certain criteria before it can be carried out successfully. The teachers planning and control are of decisive importance. This aspect becomes important in the order of the contents, especially on the blackboard, in the sense that the teacher must build up an orderly framework from the pupils individual contributions. In addition, the effective use of the class conversation insists on healthy mutual trust, a willingness to listen to one another, proper ordering of the organization and effective discipline. The basic value of the class conversation is summarized as follows: a) the pedagogic value, because it contributes to forming the child as a person; b) the social value, because the child learns to take part in a group (also to listen in a group) and to be in continuous contact with the other members of the group; c) the didactic value, which has to do with the opportunity to formulate ideas and to gain knowledge and insight by means of self-activity and self-actualization. As far as the didactic aspects are concerned, the following are favorable for the class conversation: i) as a didactic situation, it creates a favorable climate for learning; ii) it is characterized by a spirit of spontaneity in the interaction between teaching and learning; iii) it is especially conducive to the use of language and to exercising the skills necessary for clear and understandable verbalization; iv) it offers a unique opportunity for a joint attempt to formulate a problem and to assess various solutions to the problem in a specific theme.

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The greatest danger in the classroom is that class conversation can very easily degenerate into uncontrolled and irrelevant discussion. The success of this system, once again, depends on the ability, preparation and insight of the teacher.

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CHAPTER 11 THE CURRICULUM

1. INTRODUCTION This introduction to didactic pedagogics shows a progression from a theoretical description of the various aspects constituting the didactic activity to an explication of didactic practice. In this description, the emphasis continually shifted among the teacher, the child and learning contents in order to describe the teaching activity in its essences and to elucidate the interactions among the constituents of the didactic situation as it is realized in school practice. As far as the learning contents are concerned, it was repeatedly indicated that in the school they are elevated to formative means that represent the totality of reality surrounding the child. In Chapter 5 it was stated that the elementals and the fundamentals of the learning contents give the child the opportunity, by means of the essences of the contents (elementals), to transcend them (fundamentals) in order to show the quality of his learning. It is in this respect that it is important to indicate that the elementals that are presented in the school must be representations of the religiousmoral, linguistic-literary, historical- and social-political as well as mathematical-physical terrains. The first question that arises is about the selection, from the totality of reality, of the terrains to be represented in the school situation. In the explication of the didactic perspective on learning it was pointed out that there must be harmony between the learning activity and the form of the presentation by the teacher in order to most effectively direct the learning so the child can master the contents. The outcome of this harmonious interaction between learning and the form of teaching is the mastery of the contents by the child. In this respect there is mention of particular criteria that will allow the learning of the contents in the learning situation to be realized and thrive in the most effective ways. An additional question of relevance here is: What is the nature of the relation between the learning contents and the childs learning activity such

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that by learning he is able to attribute sense and meaning to the contents? In the explication of the pedagogical meaning of the school (Chapter 9) it also is indicated that even though the school situation in its essence must be a pedagogic one for the child, the contents that are elevated to learning contents in the school must be true to life reality and pedagogically accountable. This statement also implies particular criteria regarding the unlocked (presented) contents. For example, what constitutes the trueness to life and educative relevance of the teaching contents? The question asked here refers directly to the fact that the contents must meet particular requirements before they can qualify as learning contents in a didactic situation. The question about the selection and ordering the learning contents and what criteria have relevance for this now compels an answer. This implies the question about the curriculum and everything concerned with it. The aim of this chapter is not to describe the foundations and scope of curriculum but to orient the reader to the most important aspects of considerations about it in order to understand the origin of the themes that are broached in the lesson situation and the function of the contents in the didactic situation. In studying the literature that deals with the curriculum it is conspicuous that most authors attribute more or less the same meaning to the concept. In the first place the concept indicates that it was compiled purposefully and scientifically and that it is instrumental in realizing the didactic-pedagogic in the school situation. In accordance with previously stated aims, the particular contents that are taken up and accompanied by the curriculum contain the necessary indications of the essences of the learning contents regarding methods, means and techniques that are broached in the school. The selection of the contents is evaluated in light of the previously stated aims. In most cases the curriculum appears in the form of a document that is compiled by authoritative institutions in the community. The curriculum also refers to a particular time of presentation for a particular group of pupils; in other words, it provides guidelines concerning organizational issues such as type of school, course, direction, subject and grade level. In this respect it is a summary

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for both teacher and child of what must be taught and what must be learned. In this light, it is an ordered and systematized summary of particular contents. The curriculum and its degree of detail taken up in it must allow for the teachers preparation as a teacher, on the one hand, and his professional freedom on the other. Therefore, it must provide sufficient detail while not restraining the teachers creativity. Even though the curriculum contents (subjects and subject contents) must be selected, they represent a way along which the pupil as educand ought to move to adulthood. Consequently, the pedagogic must necessarily be taken into consideration. A summary of what is meant by the concept curriculum can help the reader follow the remainder of this discussion.1 The curriculum is a scientifically compiled document containing selected, ordered and evaluated contents as well as those didactic considerations that are instrumental in realizing the aims of the curriculum in the didactic-pedagogic school situation. In this light, this means that the curricular contents have been selected, ordered and evaluated in light of particular aims and that are to be unlocked in the school as a particular didactic-pedagogic situation. Establishing curriculum contents is known as curriculum design or planning and is described as selecting (and thus ordering) and evaluating these contents in terms of aims. In this meaningful framework, curriculum is the accountable result of curriculum design or planning. The question that can now be asked is what considerations must be considered in planning or designing a curriculum? 2. GENERAL PEDAGOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING A CURRICULUM A human being is continually involved in a surrounding reality. This reality can be either nature or an established culture. In a particular society, as it can be differentiated from other societies in
1

This definition is taken from the work of J. S. Hill: Kriteria vir die seleksie en ordening van kurrikuluminhoud (unpublished D.Ed. dissertation, Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, 1974), pp. 20-21.

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time and space, culture represents a societys particular interpretation of reality and especially what is meaningful to it. Owing to the imperative nature of the normative (a person in his acting and conduct must be obedient to norms) it is expected that he will make his own what is approvable in his culture and adopt the good and useful from other cultures in order to contribute, through his own efforts, to a meaningful expansion of his own culture and to accept responsibility to make it available by unlocking it for them. Because the scope and depth of culture (especially Western-European culture) continues to increase, and in light of the above accountability, in the distant past, society already proceeded to establish schools. In schools qualified adults must make the culture accessible to the child. The curriculum contents that are viewed as appropriate for forming youth are selected, evaluated and ordered in terms of educative aims and are eventually analyzed into learning contents in the classroom situation. For this discussion culture is viewed as the totality of human activities and all of their results and outcomes. For this reason it includes ideas, ideals, beliefs, skills, utensils, customs, habits of thought, language and literature, attitudes and institutions. A society is recognized by its culture because it is a particular compilation that embraces particular emphases; thus, it involves a particular structural connection of the matters included in it. In this sense, curriculum contents are a particular selection of cultural contents and therefore an attempt to classify cultural aspects is meaningful. Various classifications are known of which the division into technology, social organization and ideology certainly is the best known. A valuable division for curriculum planning is a classification according to activities, ideologies, achievements and social institutions. In curriculum planning the division is not so important because it can be viewed from various perspectives and consequently each division can be valuable for curriculum development. Above it was mentioned that a particular structure of aspects is a characteristic of a particular culture. In such a structure certain

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coherencies (configurations) of moments are recognized. In this context, the identity of the culture is determined by the coherencies among, the ordering and degree of integration of these configurations. The curriculum must make the characteristics of the culture discernible as they are taken up in its particular structure (coherencies of configurations). In any curriculum design there must be a distinction between the real selectable culture and the ideal culture. As far as the real culture is concerned, it is the way of life, way of working, way of thinking and technology of ones own time while the ideal culture is directed to what is proper (what is highly respected or highly valued by society). This imposes a particular task on the teacher: He must introduce the child to the contemporary real culture but in his accompaniment of the child he must continually point to the worthy ideal striven for. This means that from what is faithful to reality, as what is imminent to educating and teaching, the teacher shows the ideal as the eventual image of proper adulthood. In teaching there must be a continual search for a harmony between the real and the ideal. However, with the rapid development of science and technology that has led to drastic changes in peoples lives, the gap between the real and the ideal has increased. This gap implies great dangers for a society and therefore teaching and also the curriculum on which it is based must always try to provide an opportunity to realize the harmony between the ideal and the reality. Hence, in the curriculum provision must be made for this real and ideal culture. As far as the ideal culture is concerned, the possibility is implied that it can influence the course of the real culture. The curriculum must also make provision for this. In a persons giving value and meaning to the reality that surrounds him values show a particular order and system. It is especially societal institutions (university, school, church and family) that interpret the culture and carry out the ordering and systematizing of values that have a particular role and carry responsibility. A reasonably firm system of values in which a particular priority is

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knowable is designated as the philosophy of or view of life of a person or society. For the purpose of this discussion, a philosophy of life can be viewed as an indication of the sense, aim and value attributed to life. This is the basis for formulating the teaching aims as they are expressed in the curriculum. Therefore the curriculum expert must himself live up to the philosophy of life of the society in which he works and for whom the curriculum is intended. In this context, the reader must understand that a philosophy of life gives rise to particular teaching aims. It also is important to indicate that these aims play an important role as criteria in selecting, ordering and evaluating curricular contents. This means that the aims that are included in the curriculum can be seen as a further interpretation of the particulars, i.e., the philosophies of life or interpreted basic essences of the ideal image of adulthood. One can also say that the aims taken up in the curriculum systematically lead to realizing in time and in terms of specific contents a particular image of adulthood. However, it is obvious that all cultural contents are not suitable for the curriculum because many of the things one can achieve can be physically, but also spiritually, harmful for a child. For this reason, in selecting and evaluating cultural contents, it is necessary that the aims anchored in the ideal of a philosophy of life involve judgment. The various symbol systems such as language and numbers make the culture available to a person. In a persons involvement with reality he objectifies it and moulds it in terms of symbol systems into forms that are manageable for him. In this way one exceeds or transcends reality by symbolically interpreting it for himself and by appropriating it. This symbolically possessed reality is known as knowledge. The danger is that the reader will equate knowledge with scientific knowledge--however, knowledge includes everything to which a person has attributed meaning and sense. This means that knowledge includes the terrain of the ethical, esthetic, intellect and activities. For example, if one knows what a spade is, how it is used and how to use it, one says he possesses knowledge of a spade. It is

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in this light that the curriculum exists through knowledgeselected, ordered and evaluated according to teaching aims. A persons, and also a childs, original relationship with reality amounts to the fact that he is a knowing presence in the world where knowing is a potentiality that can be realized in various ways. In this respect five forms of knowing, as various ways of realizing it, are distinguishedan intuitive, indicative, questioning, structuring and understanding knowing. The preconditions for realizing these modes of actualization of knowing, among others, are the following modes of being as modes of learning: sensing, perceiving, remembering and thinking (In this connection, see the discussion of the modes of learning in Chapter 7). In designing a curriculum these forms of knowing must be taken into account so that there can be a movement to the highest form of knowing the appropriate contents. This means that the curriculum is nor only compiled in terms of teaching aims but that its design must take into consideration the various forms of actualizing knowledge. It must also be indicated that the quality of knowing is not dependent only on the actualization of the modes of being such as perceiving and thinking but it is closely related to the depth of the correlated gnostic-cognitive (intellectual) and pathic-affective (emotional) lived experiencing as well as to the nature of experiencing as a turning to and being involved with reality. The movement from a gnostic to a cognitive lived experiencing, as accompanied by the pathic-affective, is to a high degree dependent on the quality and scope of language acquisition as the adequate mastery of sound- and written-symbols. Therefore the curriculum must make provision for practice in formulating (orally and in writing) in the greatest possible areas of knowledge. It is in this connection that it was previously stated that all lessons are really language lessons. It must further be indicated that the school is that societal institution within which selected, ordered and evaluated cultural goods are made available in formal ways to the child as knowledge. This knowledge is selected, ordered and evaluated in terms of the aims that arise from a philosophy of life and then are compiled as

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curriculum contents so that they can be presented in the schools didactic-pedagogic situation. Knowledge as curriculum contents must be general, and this primarily means that there is knowledge that must be acquired by all pupils. This implies a minimum amount of time for teaching it that usually is determined by the state authorities. Apart from the fact that all pupils must be confronted with the so-called general knowledge, general knowledge also means that the contents must be of such a nature that it is transferable in the sense of limits-exceeding and further that it must include essential concepts. This means that as far as the curriculum contents are concerned, it includes the scientific disciplines that are made accessible to the child. This emphasis means that an inductive-deductive approach must be stressed in the curriculum in order to show the way for the childs experiencing and lived experiencing to arrive at knowledge. An additional aspect of importance here is that the formative value of the subject is enhanced in this way. Where the scientific disciplines in the school are represented by means of the curriculum, the overwhelming multitude of knowledge and especially the continually rapid increased in it and technology becomes an important problem. This gives rise to a deluge in learning material in an attempt at unachievable completeness in the syllabus, which also is discernible in classroom practice. This is a thoroughly researched problem and a possible solution is seen in the principle of the exemplary, which means that the contents are selected to represent a greater whole. (In this connection, see Chapter 12 where a complete explication of the exemplary is given). The use of the exemplary offers the opportunity for experientially meaningful knowing in contrast to superficial and frustrating memorization and reproduction. Thus the exemplary takes up a particular representation of reality for the child and the insight into the structure of this reality is unlocked for the child through a chosen example, model, historical case, etc. The contemporary human situation undoubtedly indicates the value and necessity of specialized knowledge, particularly for the vocational world. The efficiency that specialization brings about in society cannot be contested as an economic factor. In this context,

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the question posed to the curriculum compiler is how must the demands of general and specialized knowledge be harmonized with each other in an educative program? By the nature of the criteria for compiling the curriculum, both general and specialized knowledge make high demands on the curriculum. These demands cannot be removed or avoided. The answer to this quest possibly is in the fact that the demands arising from the general and specialized knowledge can be harmonized within the general (representative and essential) where provision is made for the greatest possible range of contemporary, but also anticipated, directions of specialization. This means that from the general (that each child must master) there is a working through to specialized knowledge. It will also become evident whether the most suitable forming in this regard is dependent on a didactically-pedagogically accountable mastering of the contents of the main disciplines. In this context the curriculum contents must lead to the acquisition of knowledge that is made available in the various disciplines each according to its own nature. As indicated above, this knowledge includes not only the facts but also the knowledge of how the facts are systematically obtained, in other words, knowledge of the particular sciences methods. This pronouncement is based on the fact that a thorough preparation in the disciplines, which does not exclude its pedagogic significance, can lead to a general formed-ness that can be fruitfully pursued in any direction with specialized contents. The practice of teaching shows that the oldest known manner for ordering knowledge for teaching is a division according to subjects. This division corresponds to the areas of intellectual interest. In light of the fact that the pedagogical in school is increasingly recognized, many objections have been raised against this ordering and a more pedagogical ordering is proposed. The most important objection against ordering knowledge for teaching aims is that it is isolated into closed compartments. On the basis of this objection there have been attempts to correlate, integrate and also eventually unite contents into a firm whole. Irrespective of these attempts, practice still shows that subject matter teaching remains the most general form of teaching and ordering knowledge.

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The problem with subject matter teaching can largely be attributed to the fact that it is no longer discipline teaching but rather is a collection of facts. This misjudgment is discernible in equating the reproduction of facts with the mastery of the subject. In addition, all sorts of problems (such as, e.g., the deluge of learning material) have appeared that more strongly cast suspicion on subject matter teaching. It is the task of curriculum design to be able to teach a subject as a discipline (the facts as well as the methods for disclosing them) in such a way that positive learning effects are guaranteed. This means that the curriculum must present the contents for school teaching in such a way that it offers the possibility for the child to experientially know and master reality. In the discussion so far the reader is shown that certain demands are placed on the curriculum in light of the nature of a persons relationship to reality and to his culture, the importance of the contents of the culture, deriving cultural contents for teaching, the effect of cultural change on the curriculum, how the culture establishes particular societal values and takes them up in the curriculum, how the values that are in the cultural contents are taken up as aims in the curriculum, establishing the connection between knowledge and the curriculum, how general and specialized knowledge must be taken up in the curriculum, how school subjects as representations of the scientific disciplines must be taken up in the curriculum, and finally what light these matters throw on the selection of contents. It is important for the reader to note that this description points especially to socio-pedagogic and a few psycho-pedagogic demands that must be placed on curriculum development that must be attended to. The question that can now be directly asked is: How can the previous pronouncements about a socio- and psychopedagogic perspective on curriculum design provide the criteria for this design? If the pronouncements are examined, there are particular conclusions that can be drawn in order to possibly answer the

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question. The first important conclusion is that the curriculum contents must be a pedagogically accountable selection from the cultural contents of the society. The reason for this is that a society is identified by its culture and thus it is necessary that the contents of the curriculum reflect that identity. Although cultural contents can be classified in a variety of ways the division of the elementals into universal knowledge is particularly important because it can be related to the question of general and specialized knowledge. Further, provision must be made in the curriculum for youths insertion into the contemporary real culture of society. However, here the emphasis must fall more on the ideal culture, i.e., the culture that ought to be. There must also be an allowance in the curriculum for culture of the future; it must not only anticipate possible changes but also direct the changes where this seems to be pedagogically necessary. The philosophy of life of the community is decisively important in formulating the teaching aims. In this respect, the teaching aims, as an interpretation of a philosophy of life, are the primary criterion for selecting, ordering and evaluating curriculum contents. Culture for a person is possible, accessible and manageable through the possibilities of symbolizing reality in the form of knowledge. Here knowledge is dealt with as knowing and acting. In the curriculum it is handled by the selected, ordered and evaluated knowledge that must be taught and learned. Knowledge is not limited to intellectual mastery. The permanence of knowledge is assured by its acquisition that is paired with experiencing and lived experiencing it. Therefore, the curriculum must make provision for an experiencing and lived experiencing knowing and this means that there must be time allowed for this. Language acquisition lays the foundation for the intellectual abilities of a child as a power to break through by which reality is transformed into culture. This means that all teaching must be seen in the light of language acquisition. Therefore, the curriculum must emphasize this matter in all subjects. The knowledge presented in the school, and described as curriculum contents, can be general or specialized in nature. The demand of time forces the curriculum to make provision for specialized knowledge within the general knowledge taken up in the

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curriculum. This means the general also includes the preparation for a wide variety of specialized directions. It will further emerge whether there is a reasonable agreement about whether subjects are taught as disciplines (their particular contents as well as methods of research) and if this is the proper form of knowledge classification for effective teaching. This means that provision must be made in the curriculum for an inductive-deductive approach. The sociopedagogic and psychopedagogic perspectives on the problem of curriculum design offer a broader orientation to the ultimate problem of criteria for the compilation of a curriculum. The curriculum contents, however, must be interpreted in the class situation by the teacher and unlocked for the child. It is for this reason that it is now important to examine more closely the didactic-pedagogic implications of curriculum design. 3. THE PEDAGOGIC-DIDACTIC PERSPECTIVE ON CURRICULUM DESIGN In the following discussion of a didactic-pedagogic perspective on curriculum design it necessarily is so that aspects thoroughly described in previous chapters will once again be mentioned. This is not an indication of a repetition of the different aspects of the descriptions of the didactic-pedagogic but of an attempt to relate particular aspects described to the problem of the curriculum. Thus, the reader must keep in mind the problem of curriculum design and especially the criteria that must be fulfilled in light of his knowledge of the various aspects already described. In the discussion of the didactic perspective on curriculum design the reader must always keep in mind that teaching and learning are not limited to a pedagogic situation. The learning activity, as such, indeed is essential to realizing the pedagogic. However, the fact is that teaching usually is related to the school because it is the most familiar of circumstances among which it is executed. For teaching in any sense to be able to have pedagogic significance, the pedagogic structures and essences must be actualized in the didactic activities that ultimately result in the acquisition of appropriate adulthood in terms of particular contents.

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The connection between the pedagogic and the didactic can be summarized as follows: It is in the actualization of the didactic ground forms by which contents are unlocked and that the pedagogic essences are actualized. Educative teaching that arises here thus refers to the adult intervening (by teaching) with a child in order to promote and ensure the childs becoming a proper adult. The didactic event is viewed as a double unlocking of reality where the teacher unlocks the contents for the child and where the child learns by unlocking himself to the contents. This latter aspect is a particular theme for psychopedagogics and when its findings are judged and interpreted didactically it is clear that a child throws himself open to reality through lived experiencing, experiencing and knowing and makes it his own possession by actualizing the different modes of learning. Since the level of lived experience, experience and knowing reality gradually are elevated through mastering contents, in the selection of contents attention must be given to the readiness of the child for whom the curriculum is intended. It is on the basis of this elevation that his becoming a proper adult is reached. In this sense proper adulthood also means the proper participation in society and therefore in selecting contents attention must be paid to its vocational societal meaning and the meaning of the contents for participating in society. In the discussion between the teacher and the child in the didacticpedagogic situation, contents are essential. It is in terms of particular contents that an adult supports a child to his own proper adulthood. These contents are particular in the sense that they are selected and are placed with authority on the childs path. When a child is surrendered to the totality of cultural contents this confuses and frustrates him and exposes him to its negative aspects. For this reason such an unreflected exposure of the child to the total reality is pedagogically unacceptable. It is expected that in the didacticpedagogic situation the adult give proper meaning to the contents and it is also expected that the pupil take up that meaning attributed by the adult and assimilate it and accept responsibility for the understanding he now has. The quality of the meaning given and received is inseparably intertwined with linguistic and expressive potentialities. In this

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respect, the acquisition and mastery of language should enjoy particular attention over the entire spectrum of the curriculum. Apart from the sense and meaning that the teacher interprets for the child regarding the contents, it also is the case that the teacher gives meaning to the relationship to reality such that he demonstrates it and that he therefore presents an exemplification (a preliminary image) of being-adult. This means that the teacher himself is content in the way he interprets and presents contents in light of his philosophy of life and on the basis of his subject matter expertise and educative knowledge. Because from time immemorial the school textbook has had such a prominent place in the didactic situation, what was said above is now of particular significance for the textbook. Because the teacher presents and represents meaning and because language acquisition and mastery, as the symbolized mastery of reality, are so important in teaching, it is necessary that the teacher subject himself to rigorous criteria in the compilation of the textbook, as the linguistic system and concepts that make reality meaningful. Also, since the school textbook plays such a decisive role in teaching practice, especially as the interpreter of the curriculum, the curriculum must contain adequate guidelines that give unambiguous guidance to prospective textbook authors. This means that the authors must not only compile in the textbook a precise accumulation of facts into a coherency on the basis of his subject matter knowledge but that the pedagogic significance of these contents must also be given their rightful place in the textbook. A child must learn the contents made available in the teaching situation by curriculum design. For this reason it is of particular importance for the curriculum expert to have insight into the psychic life of the child-in-education. In this respect he must be well-acquainted with the findings of psychopedagogics regarding the structures becoming and learning so that at least the contents presented by the curriculum can connect with the level of readiness of the child for whom the curriculum is meant. This implies that he must know how particular pupils learn, what role the psychic moments of lived experiencing, experiencing and knowing play in this context and how language acquisition and mastery lay the foundation for the gnostic-cognitive modes of learning. The fact

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is that meaningful decisions regarding contents can only be made if the teacher has an understanding of the psychic life of the involved pupils. In everyday school practice it is obvious that particular contents can be offered in many different ways (ground-forms, methods, etc.). One of these ways provides the teacher with particular opportunities to realize his creativity in the lesson situation. But it can also be expected of the trained teacher that in this respect he is able to decide with responsibility. It is possible that with the aim of achieving or realizing particular aims specific forms of teaching are not only appropriate but are necessary. In these cases adequate guidelines must be offered the teacher in the subject curriculum (syllabus). It also must be kept in mind that the form in which the teacher is going to cast his lessons is primarily a matter of training. A practical consideration that arises here is that only such contents are presented by the curriculum that are teachable in light of the requisite training of particular teachers for particular pupils. In fathoming the essences of teaching and curriculum design, and also their connection with learning, it is very clear that they definitely are related. Curricular essences are not realized separately but only acquire meaning when they are functionally connected with the essences of teaching and learning. In this context, curriculum design, just as are teaching and learning, is a didactic and also a didactic-pedagogic matter. Consequently, the essences of curriculum design can only have sense and meaning in or with respect to a didactic or didactic-pedagogic event, i.e., in relation to teaching and learning. The initially nave and spontaneous teaching of the parent in the original educative situation have developed into the huge teaching institutions of today. The initially simple curriculum of the parents has also developed into curriculum design as a theoretical practice that has increasingly become an essentially formal activity of managing instances of teaching worldwide. The reason is that persons concerned with teaching gradually accepted the idea that teaching contents must be placed under a magnifying glass. As far as organized and formal teaching is concerned, contents are the most important aspect. It is noted further that the formative value

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of the contents certainly is one of the most important matters for formal teaching. As far as the formative value of contents is concerned there are divergent views. In this connection, see the discussion of the formative value of contents in Chapter 5.) The divergent views of the matter of contents have even had the effect that in school there are divergent systems of teaching (See Chapter 10 for a discussion of how ordering the contents, paired with the forms of teaching, result in a particular system of teaching.) Regarding forming, as such, two main structures can be distinguished, namely, first, forming that emanates from the total life world, and, second, selfforming. Forming that emanates from the total life world can be intentional or non-intentionalit can emanate from nature or the culture or even persons. In contrast, intentional forming is the purposive and goal-directed influencing that emanates from one person to another and that so clearly typifies the didactic situation. The form of this influencing can change, e.g., from intervening and agreeing to teaching. Where the intentional influencing that emanates from an adult to a child to support the child to adulthood, i.e., where it has a positive purpose, then there is mention of formative influencing as educating. Educating, in so far as the adult is involved in it, thus is a particular way of formatively influencing with the aim of betterment. However, intentional influencing with forming as an aim occurs in terms of particular contents that must promote and realize the formative aim, i.e., that have value for forming. The contents that promote educating as an intentional positively directed influencing in this context is thus educative contents that can direct and carry the educating as such. The second aspect of forming mentioned above is self-forming. This means that a person has potentialities at his disposal to change his personal being on the basis of appropriating contents. In this respect, educative contents (contents with educative value) are those contents whose appropriation can result in a change in the

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direction of proper adulthood. The educative value, as a particular type of formative value of the contents, is thus latent and must, by a double unlocking, be able to push through from elemental-contents to the fundamental-contents. This means that the educative value of the contents can only be realized by a double unlocking of them. However, there is mention of the optimal realization of their educative value only if they qualify as elementals; this includes the possibility that in acquiring them there is a push through to the fundamentals. (See Chapter 5 for a discussion of the elementals and the fundamentals.) To state the matter more clearly, contents will have educative value if they are taught as what is essential, representative and simple of a matter (the elemental) and if they are made familiar, acquired and integrated as basic concepts or insights of wide-ranging effects (fundamentals). In this sense it is particularly important to indicate that the educative values of contents must be viewed in light of the latent values they hold for educating in light of educative aims. In this sense, the aims always determine the direction of the forming. As far as the school is concerned, meaningful curriculum design must result in establishing contents with possible value for educating in light of educative aims that are ultimately derived from the accepted views of life and world. An analysis of didactic practice shows that there are three distinguishable fundamental activities in the course of the didactic and thus also in the didactic-pedagogic: curriculum design (bringing about contents), teaching (the unlocking of contents) and learning (making the contents ones own). These three activities are closely related to each other and it can be shown that these relationships, and especially the harmony among them, can guarantee positive learning results. Stated differently, curriculum design, unlocking and learning are a unity without which a positive learning effect cannot be attained. In light of this concise discussion of the various aspects that must be taken into account in designing a curriculum, it is now important to guide the reader to a synthesis and, indeed, to a synthesis in the form of criteria that must hold in compiling and designing a curriculum. Irrespective of the fact that the curriculum makes

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available contents for a particular type of school, the fact is that the syllabus (subject knowledge) that appears in the curriculum must be organized by the teacher into a work scheme for daily use in the classroom. Therefore, when the teacher selects particular contents from a theme that appears in the work scheme (here one thinks of particular examples that are chosen for unlocking a concept), there is mention of selection, ordering and evaluating contents. The criteria for this qualitative analysis are essentially the same as the criteria for curriculum design. For these reasons the teacher must know what the criteria are for effectively and meaningfully incorporating the contents into the curriculum. 4. CRITERIA FOR CURRICULUM DESIGN The criteria for curriculum design can possibly be used as some yardsticks for selecting teaching contents from cultural contents and ordering them in accordance with the appropriate level of presentation. These criteria are aimed at ensuring that the contents brought up in the didactic situation are faithful to life, and connected with this, that they have educative value. The criteria also can be used to evaluate existing curricula. Aside from this, it is also important to indicate that the criteria can be used with regard to stating the teaching aim aimed at with the particular contents. Therefore, this amounts to the fact that the following criteria can be used as criteria in realizing the curriculum in its four fundamental moments of stating the aim,, selecting, ordering and evaluating the contents, by which it seems that fundamental moments have criterial status themselves. 4.1 Categorical illumination

The contents that are taken up in the curriculum must include the possibility of categorical illumination. This means that the contents must be able to contribute to making visible the categorical structure (essences) as a comprehensible coherence of reality. This criterion refers primarily to the categorical structure of the surrounding reality. Reality makes itself known to a person by

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means of its own categories and on the basis of these categories a person can recognize, e.g., the reality of nature, of language, of mathematics, of history, of biology, etc. Each of these realities has its own categorical structure. Therefore, this criterion indicates that the categorical structure of the separate aspects of reality must be taken up in the curriculum. This also means that learning contents taken up in the curriculum are selected in such a way that the essences of this particular slice of reality are clearly presented to the child. Here one thinks of language teaching; at a minimum the curriculum must include the structure of the language (grammar), its development (history of the language) and its achievements (literature). The discussion of categorical forming in Chapter 5 indicates that the teachers role in the teaching situation is to reduce the contents in such a way that only their categories (essences) are exposed to the child. In the discussion of a didactic perspective on the learning activity in Chapter 6 it is indicated that a child can only attribute meaning to reality if its categories are made accessible to him because these categories illuminate the meaning of the contents (reality) as such. It is for this reason that curriculum contents must be evaluated and selected in terms of this criterion of categorical illumination. 4.2 Themes of communication

The contents taken up in the curriculum must be able to form a theme of conversation or communication between teacher and child. In this respect the contents must have meaning for both the teacher, as adult, and the pupil, as child. This means that the curriculum contents must appear in the childs life world and that the teacher must view them in their value for the childs future. This also means that the contents borrowed from the childs life world must incorporate two aspects of giving meaning: first, in the stage of his current situatedness, they must be meaningful and they also must be meaningful for his existence as an adult.

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Thus, in this regard, it is much more meaningful for a [South African] child to make an intensive study of the regional winter rainfall of the Southwest Cape Province than, e.g., that of Chile. Even though the child has direct references to the Cape region, in the sense that it is much more prominent in his life world, it is also the case that as a future adult he must understand the results of the configuration of factors that impinge on the region, as such. It is true that a child must be aware that there also is regional winter rainfall in other parts of the world. But because rainfall in the Cape is not unknown to a child (perhaps he has even visited the Cape), his experience of this region is an important basis for an intensive study of it. At the same time it also is meaningful for the teacher to discuss this region with the child because he must be able to make clear the relationship between regional winter rainfall in the Cape and other regional climates. In this respect, as far as the teacher is concerned, use is made of the childs direct experiences that certainly elevate his insight into climate regions. This also is meaningful for the teacher as an adult because he knows that eventually the child must understand the climate of the Republic of South Africa and that insight into the regional winter rainfall of the Cape promotes this understanding. 4.3 The teachers command of the learning contents

In agreement with the previously described training, as supplemented from time to time by in-service training as this seems to be necessary, the teacher must be able to adequately master the contents. The implication of this criterion is that the contents taken up in the curriculum are not beyond the teachers abilities. Where there is a particular development in the curriculum in the sense that more complex contents are taken up, it is obvious that teachers who must unlock these contents for the child must be trained to be able to master these contents. The teacher must not only be able to master the learning contents taken up in the curriculum but he must also possess, on the basis of his training or in-service training, a broader horizon of knowledge that makes it possible for him to meaningfully interpret for the child these particular contents. Finally, the teacher must be able to help the child place the newly acquired knowledge into the whole of

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his horizon of knowledge in accordance with its priority. This criterion especially is of particular significance considering that knowledge in the various sciences and related technologies are increasing so quickly and must continually be reflected in the curriculum. Apart from the possibilities that in-service training offers a teacher, it is also his responsibility to continually orient and re-orient himself with respect to the developments that occur in his particular subject matter. However, it is appropriate that the authorities responsible for adding contents to the curriculum do not include contents that exceed in scope and depth the above described training of the teacher. 4.4 The teachers command of the didactic

In accordance with the training mentioned above, the teacher must be able to deal with the particular contents taken up in the curriculum in an adequate didactic and subject didactic way. This means that in the lesson situation he must be able to interpret insightfully and creatively the various didactic methods, teaching aids, methods of evaluation, principles of ordering the learning materials, etc. The demand that this criterion places on the teacher, and therefore on curriculum construction, as such, is that his subject matter and his pedagogical training (pedagogical-didactical training) must be in harmony with each other. The fact of the matter is that mastery of subject matter knowledge is not necessarily sufficient to guarantee unlocking the contents of the subject. The question about teacher training ultimately amounts to whether in his training he becomes capable of interpreting the subject matter contents didactically and pedagogically and to unlock them for the child in the most effective ways. 4.5 Positive tendency

In light of the fact that the significance of the school is really pedagogical, the contents that are unlocked in the school must promote accepted values and the normative. This means that

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contents having a negative or deleterious or detrimental tendency must be avoided or resisted in the school. In unlocking the contents when a child is confronted with the new contents for the first time, his amazement must eventually culminate in wonder; this means that the child must give sense and meaning to the reality that is unlocked for him so that he then wonders about these contents. Wondering leads to the didactic criterion of transcending. In transcending the life and world views of the teacher ought to establish a bridge for the child to the world above and beyond persons, to the realm of the transcendent, to God who has created heaven and earth. In this light, it can be asked if the contents taken up in the curriculum have a positive tendency, i.e., lend themselves to promoting accepted values. 4.6 Relevance

Irrespective of the normative nature of the contents that must be taken up in the curriculum, they must also be able to maintain, within the framework of a subject, a meaningful relationship to its origin as a discipline. However, the scope of these subject contents (learning material) must be limited as a didactic-pedagogic matter so that there is room for differentiated encounter with them. The question that can be asked regarding this criterion is: On the one hand, do the contents maintain an adequately meaningful relationship with their disciplinary (scientific) origins and, on the other hand, are they didactically-pedagogically limited in such a way that room is allowed for a differentiated encounter (lived experience, experience) with them? This comes down to the fact that the contents taken up in the curriculum must at least represent the structural coherence of the subject but that, at the same time, must be presented in such a way that the learning child can become involved with them as a total person. This also means that contents that can only be managed in logical ways cannot be didactically-pedagogically appropriate for the lower grades.

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This criterion also is closely connected with the criterion of the teachers command of the learning material and also the teachers command of the didactic because it is in light of his subject matter and didactic knowledge that the teacher can interpret the relevance of the contents with respect to the subject, on the one hand, and with respect to the child, and especially his knowledge of the differentiated ways in which the child can be involved with reality, on the other hand. 4.7 General readiness of the child

The contents must be selected and especially ordered to link up with the readiness or level of becoming of the pupil. That is, the curriculum contents must link up with a childs state of knowledge and skillfulness, his level of cognitive and affective lived experiencing, his state of emancipation and being distanced and his radius of differentiated action regarding the actualization (realization) of the modes of learning. It is in light of this criterion that the curriculum must show a construction from easy to difficult. This also implies that when a teacher selects particular contents (chooses an example, etc.) this always must be done in light of a childs potentialities. Related questions are: Do the contents link up with the pupils level of readiness? Do the contents link up with the childs state of knowledge and skillfulness? Do the contents link up with the childs level of cognitive (intellectual) and affective (emotional) lived experiencing? Do the contents link up with the childs level of self responsibility and objectivity as well as with the range of differentiated activities regarding the realization of the modes of learning? 4.8 Language readiness of the child

Even though the curriculum contents must link up with the childs general readiness, they also must link up with the level of the pupils verbalization of reality (Language mastery). The unlocking of contents, especially in a formal didactic-pedagogic situation, is carried by language. This really amounts to the fact that the teaching continually offers the child new language and the effect of

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teaching, as a learning effect, is that the child can apply his language on increasingly higher levels. However, if the curriculum contents fall outside of the childs linguistic ability, as the ability to verbalize reality, then the teachers presentation is meaningless to him. This criterion is closely related to the general didactic principle of clarity. The question that must be asked here of the curriculum contents is: Do the contents link up with the level of the childs verbalization of reality (language mastery)? 4.9 Harmony of the terrains of reality

The curriculum contents must offer the possibility of a balanced teaching of them across the various terrains of reality or principles of meaning (pragmatic, theoretical, esthetic, ethical and religious). Because a child stands as a totality in the terrains of the surrounding reality, and because one day as an adult he will assume responsibility regarding that reality, the various terrains of reality and their principles of meaning must be taken up in the curriculum contents of the school. Therefore, they must present these principles of meaning in balanced ways in the school situation. Apart from the possibilities of specialization that can be derived from the general contents, the balance or harmony of the curriculum contents must be maintained for each type of school along with a balance or harmony of the principles of meaning. In this respect, the question that can be asked of the curriculum contents is: Do the contents, in teaching them, offer the possibility of a balance across the various terrains of reality or principles of meaning? 4.10 Pedagogic-didactic accountability The curriculum contents must not only be limited to a syllabus as pertinently ordered learning material (subject matter materials or contents) that form their necessary core. They must also include the necessary didactic considerations (methods, principles, approaches, teaching aids, evaluative guidelines, considerations of

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form, etc.). The curriculum contents must also include the pedagogical essences necessary for actualizing the aims (the normative). Where the curriculum contents only emphasize the subject material, the essential unity of the didactic and the pedagogic in the secondorder, formal didactic situation is disturbed. This amounts to the school losing its pedagogical significance. Further, if the necessary didactic considerations are not organized into the curriculum contents, the realization of the contents outside of the school situation cannot be guaranteed. Here subject didactic considerations are of particular importance because the subject didactician must interpret the unique nature of the contents didactically in order for the teacher to most effectively unlock the contents and to guarantee their most effective access for the child. When the normative is not involved in the curriculum contents, there also is no guarantee that the contents can serve as a means for realizing normative and responsible adulthood. The important question in this context is: Irrespective of the syllabus (as concisely ordered learning material), does unlocking the contents also include the necessary didactic considerations as well as the related realizable pedagogic essences necessary for attaining the educative aim? 4.11 Balance and representative nature of the total possessed knowledge In its knowledge aspect, the curriculum contents (subject matter contents) must be a balanced slice from the totality of possessed knowledge. To satisfy this criterion the curriculum contents must be balanced with respect to the time devoted to them. This means that one subject cannot be given more teaching time at the expense of other subjects. The curriculum contents must also represent what is proper from the totality of possessed knowledge; in other word it must represent the norms of the time but at the same time embrace the norms that are anticipated for the future.

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Also, the curriculum contents must be representative of the totality of possessed knowledge. Thus they must be representative of the scientific discipline they represent as well as the variety of subject contents that can be taken up from a discipline. From the nature of the matter, this criterion is closely related to the previous criteria and especially to the criterion of pedagogicdidactic accountability. The question that must be answered positively with respect to this criterion is: Are the contents, in their knowledge aspect, a balanced, proper and representative slice of the totality of possessed knowledge. 4.12 General and specialized possibilities (subject contents) The curriculum contents must be as general as possible but at the same time they must include the possibility of later specialization. This means that the contents broached in secondary school teaching must include the entire terrain of the subject they represent. For example, the curriculum (or syllabus) for geography for the senior secondary school must include geomorphology, climatology, economic and political geography. These generals contents must provide the basis for further specialization, especially on the tertiary level of teaching. The question of relevance here is: Are the contents adequately general and do they include optimal possibility for later specialization? 4.13 Disciplinary coherence In their knowledge aspect, all curriculum contents must be selected and ordered only in a disciplinary context. The reason is that they must represent a meaningful and continuous coherence of knowledge. Also they must include the methods that bring the knowledge to light. This means that the curriculum contents, as they are dividing

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in the different grade levels, systematically build up an image of the subject as such. In this respect it is important to indicate that there are not certain basic concepts or insights that determine the coherence of facts of the subject that might be left out of the curriculum. The curriculum must also include the subject methods that bring the contents to light. Thus, there must be provision made for the pupils in school to apply the contents themselves. This criterion also underlies the possibility that various subjects can be integrated with each other; for example, the mathematical insights into the essences of a circle can be used in calculating gradations of length, breadth and time in geography. In this respect this criterion is closely linked to the criterion of general and specialized possibilities. The question that must be affirmatively answered regarding this criterion is: Is the disciplinary coherence of the factual material maintained in the contents? 4.14 Realization of quality and identity by the learner Curriculum contents must have the possibility of bestowing on the acquirer (child in the school situation) of the contents a quality and identity in light of the highly valued things in the culture of a particular community. Thus, the contents must embrace what the community deems to be valuable. This means that the curriculum contents must be able to guarantee that mastering them will have as a consequence a particular quality of being formed and that the person who can master the contents thereby can acquire a particular identity as a cultural member. The question of importance here is: Do the contents include the possibility of bestowing the acquirer of them a quality and identity in light of the highly valued things in the culture of a particular community? 4.15 Identity and the ideal culture of the community The curriculum contents must not only reflect the identity of the community as contained in its cultural contents (customs, morals, views, etc.) but must also portray the ideal culture.

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In this respect the curriculum must be progressive and creative regarding the culture. In other words, it must take its point of departure from the culture as it is and indicate an ideal culture. Therefore, in this sense the curriculum serves to broaden and expand the culture and not merely preserve it. From the nature of the matter, this criterion is closely related to the previous criteria. The question that can be asked of the curriculum here is: Do the contents portray the ideal culture as the community sees it as well as the communitys identity? 4.16 Aim structures in harmony with a philosophy of life and view of being human In the first instance, curriculum contents must be selected and ordered in light of general aim structures (as point of departure) as life is given to them by particular contents that are in harmony with the communitys philosophy of life and view of being human (as points of reference). This comes down to the fact that the contents taken up by the curriculum can be interpreted in accordance with the communitys philosophy of life and view of being human. In other words, these contents must be in harmony with the philosophy of life and view of being human held by the community. It is precisely in terms of these criteria that the differences (of philosophy of life and view of being human) are so clearly observable in the curricula of different cultures. For example, one thinks of the different approaches regarding the Second War of Independence. The philosophy of life and view of being human here in South Africa (Christian-National) differs fundamentally from the philosophy of life and view of being human of English teachers in England (Material-National). For this reason, the interpretation of the Second War of Independence in South Africa and in England is vastly different. The question that can be asked in this context is: Do the contents include the possibility that general teaching and educative aims can be actualized in terms of these contents provided by the particular philosophy of life of the community? 4.17 Authority of the teachers teaching

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Curriculum contents must be selected and ordered such that the teacher, as a consequence of his required training (i.e., full-time as well as in-service), can teach them with the necessary authority. This criterion is closely related to the criterion of the teachers command of the learning contents. Aside from the authority that the teacher has because he is a proper adult, he also has authority because he thoroughly knows the contents that he teaches. This means that the curriculum must not include contents that lie outside of the teachers required training. However, when it is necessary to include particular contents in the curriculum not taken up in his training, provision must be made for his in-service training so that he can talk about the new contents with authority. The question to be asked here is: Are the contents of such a nature that the teacher, by virtue of his required training, can teach them with the necessary authority? 4.18 Formative possibility Contents must include formative possibilities and, therefore, they must be situation surpassing. This means that the contents must be general, representative, essential and elemental in such a way that, as personal possessions, they are understandings (fundamentals) that unlock [further understandings]. This means that if the child masters the particular contents and their essences, on this basis, in his activities he will show a different relationship to reality. The quality of the change comes down to the fact that the child carries more responsibility with respect to reality. His level of formed-ness is seen in this enlarged and more improved relationship to reality. In this respect, there is mention of situation surpassing possibilities because the child manifests a more deepened and intensified possession of the contents in terms of their elementals (essentials). The important question here is: Do the contents have situation surpassing possibilities? In other word, are they general, representative, and elemental in such a way that as personal

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possessions they are understandings (fundamentals) that unlock [further understandings]? 4.19 Bringing about the elementals Linking up with the previous criterion, the curriculum contents are selected as knowledge from disciplines because their key concepts (elementals) in their relationships and meaningfulness can be visible in the disciplines as categorical structures. The reason is that the elementals make the categorical structure of a discipline visible. In this respect the question that must be asked is: As key concepts, do the contents form a meaningful coherence that accords with the categorical structure of the acknowledged discipline in which they appear? 4.20 General and specialized (societal) possibilities Disciplines differ relatively from each other in terms of facts, coherencies and methods and for this reason the contents meant for a particular pupil must represent those different areas of knowledge (disciplines) that satisfy the demands of society for general (necessary for each person) but also particular (preparation for as many specializations as possible) knowledge. This criterion is closely related to that of general and specialized contents. Here the question is whether the contents taken up in the curriculum satisfy the general and particular demands that a society makes with respect to knowledge that each of its members must have at his disposal. This means that each pupil must be able to master basic concepts and insights that are important for the society. Thus the curriculum must contain core learning material that each child must be able to master. 4.21 Effort The contents that are taken up in the curriculum must be able to be acquired with some degree of exertion or effort. This means that the pupils for whom the contents are meant can acquire them only with particular effort. Simple or simplistic learning materials have

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the effect of frustrating and boring the child with the possibility of all kinds of disciplinary problems. Therefore, the contents must always offer a challenge to the child. In this respect it is asked: Are the contents of such a nature that the pupils for whom they are meant can acquire them with some degree of effort? This chapter is not meant primarily to offer a complete discussion of the curriculum, as such. The idea is that the reader can also orient himself with respect to the demands placed on the curriculum before it can be used for teaching in the school. For this reason, the description is properly directed to the criteria for designing and developing a curriculum. In this discussion it is repeatedly indicated that the contents taken up in the curriculum must represent the reality that surrounds the child. The relationship between the contents that are broached in the lesson situation and the way their essences make the reality that they represent understandable to the child are fully considered in the following chapter on exemplary teaching.

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CHAPTER 12 EXEMPLARY TEACHING

1. INTRODUCTION The exemplary, as a didactic ground-form, was dealt with synoptically in a previous chapter. With respect to didactic theory, an important concern is that the exemplary (as a didactic groundform) presumes a fundamental decision by a teacher about the course (presenting, designing) and type of a lesson. In this sense, the concept exemplary is relevant to planning teaching. It might already be obvious that the activity of exemplifying, as a ground-form, shows an important difference from the other groundforms of conversation, play and assignment. These last three concepts have a verbal or action meaning. For example, with respect to conversation there is the verb talking. Play, as a ground-form, implies that teaching will take its course on the basis of playing. Such a direct verb or activity linkage apparently is absent in the case of the example. Indeed there is no recognized verb such as exampling or any other such related form. This apparent difference represents a very important insight regarding the exemplary. There is little doubt that the concept exemplary is attuned to the contents that arise in teaching. Any exemplar introduced into the teaching situation is a matter of contents. Also, it is immediately obvious that the two important themes of any theory of teaching, namely form and contents, in the case of the exemplary are intertwined if not identical. The reason for this important connection between teaching form and contents is that the teaching activities of a teacher and the learning activities of the pupils are planned from the same ground or soil. Therefore, in evaluating the exemplar, as a didactic ground-form, it is not possible to find a definitive, clear distinction among teaching form, methodological principles, principles of ordering and even the implementation of teaching and learning aids within the context of the lesson structure. Briefly: The application or implementation of the exemplar by a teacher, the selection and ordering of it, to the extent

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that it is a matter of contents, and the focus on the contemplated modes of learning and everything related in the lesson modalities, in fact, is one event. The central and underlying view here involves the selection of purposeful exemplars with an eye to the lesson problem and its solution by pupils acquiring a clearly defined, generally valid perspective. If one takes all of this into account, the entire question of the exemplary, in its teaching as well as content aspects, is a matter of reduction. When a large or comprehensive aspect of reality is reducible and becomes understandable in terms of one or more exemplars there is mention of exemplary teaching. In such a case, a comprehensive theme is reduced to one or more examples that is taken up in them and by which the whole theme can be made clear in the teaching so it can be mastered by a learning person. Thus, the entire matter of exemplary teaching cannot be limited to its verb or activity tendency. In this already mentioned respect, it also does not differ from the verb connections that arise with the other ground-forms. That is, the activity (verb) that is linked with the concept exemplary is that of reducing. Indeed, it is unique to this form of living and life contents in the life world of persons, to the extent that it appears in the educative situation, that a teacher reduces a comprehensive aspect of reality to one or more exemplars so this whole can be presented in terms of a generally valid part of it. In such a case, the whole, according to the principles contained in it (its elementals), becomes understandable in light of one or more well-chosen exemplars. Then, when there is mention of the exemplary as a didactic ground-form in a teaching situation, this means that the whole can be made clear and visible on the basis of one or more of its aspects. All other aspects are variants of what is chosen as an exemplar. On this basis, particular aspects of reality can be presented by exemplars. Examples of this are found in the handling of mammals in biology, solving equations in mathematics, figures of speech and analyzing sentences in grammar, the concept of statesman in history, etc.

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After this brief fundamental explication, the merits as well as the practice of exemplary teaching are examined. 2. ORIGINS OF THE EXEMPLARY METHOD The years after World War II are known as a period of knowledge explosion. It is obvious that this proliferation of knowledge has taken its vengeance out mainly on teaching. The central idea that this knowledge explosion has had a fairly negative influence on teaching is that pupils and students within the same number of years of study must master increasingly more details and an increasingly expanding curriculum in order to fulfill the requirements of their preparation. Briefly, the explosion of knowledge has had the detrimental effect on teaching of an excessive flooding of the curriculum and increasing demands regarding the scope and breadth of the learning contents that are presented. The essential danger has arisen that threatens to suffocate and stifle the forming and especially the cognitive becoming of these youths by the masses of contents adopted in the curricula as necessary requirements. The direct cause of and most important reason for implementing an exemplary method is the flooding or overloading of the curriculum. In a variety of ways this important matter is related to the generalscientific views (pedagogical [theoretical] studies) as well as to school-directed training aspects (pedagogic [practical] studies). With respect to these two important ramifications, particular aspects of the merits of an exemplary approach arise for consideration that ultimately and obviously must acquire a place in a particular curriculum theory and in establishing the school curriculum. The following are of particular importance: a) The experience of educating certainly shows without any doubt that there is an intimate, mutual relationship between teaching and learning. This relationship especially arises in the meaning and effect of educating in the sense that educating continually is realized during teaching and that the meaning of teaching is in educating. Earlier, sufficient orienting facts were offered regarding

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this. By the nature of things, this is a topic for pedagogical study that will not be dealt with here. For teaching practice this relationship manifests itself on an entirely simple and empirically verifiable level, namely, that effective teaching and effective learning factually are complementary concepts. The aim of all teacher preparation is that the quality of teaching is carried out on the highest level possible with the aim that a pupil can actualize the learning activity in the most effective way possible. There are, perhaps, few aspects in an educative as well as a school situation that so profoundly influence the becoming of a child. The entire matter of cognitive becoming rests on this and the level of elevation mentioned in psychopedagogics is determined mainly by the quality of teaching. It was indicated that form and content with respect to the exemplary method are identical in many details. However, if for a moment one should attend to the question of contents, then this involves a question of contents for teaching (pedagogic guiding). Outside of the question of contents, teaching and learning are empty concepts. With the aim of evaluating this relationship, it is extremely important for any teacher to think about the scope or amount of contents presented, as well as about the design of a teaching situation, as influences on the learning activity. From this, the second aspect of the reason for an exemplary method follows. b) All teaching and all learning, especially school teaching and a schools actualization of learning, are directed to some form of achievement. This not only implies that a pupil must be able to master a particular area of contents but that there also ought to be a recognizable and noticeable elevation in level of learning. The effective actualization of learning necessarily is related to the amount of contents that are presented in the learning situation. When the amount of contents are of such a nature that pupils no longer can acquire a grasp of them within the usual or traditional period of time, this necessarily influences detrimentally the quality (elevation of level) of the actualization. The detriment especially is that a pupil covers an enormous area of contents and, thus, hardly learns to know them; no deep and really penetrating mastery is

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possible because too many contents are presented. As we know, real achievement is not possible without a thorough or a really penetrating study of a matter. In the period of the explosion of knowledge, this thorough study of particular, basic and representative contents no longer is possible without the exemplary method. For the compilation of a curriculum, a fundamental matter is the claim that the exemplary method is the only way to avoid the overload of contents. Therefore, the exemplary view strongly contributes to the reduction of contents, i.e., the theory of the elemental. c) This matter of the elemental and of elemental-izing also was considered in an earlier chapter. Here, only a few remarks are needed to briefly recapitulate this orientation. The theory of the elemental deals directly with the question of contents. The object is to implement in a teaching situation only such contents that really can contribute to providing a learning person with a fundamental or basic entry into various aspects of reality and science. Therefore, these elementals are functionally unlocking or access-providing and make possible insight into and command of particular aspects of reality. To arrive at elementals, a didactician must be in a position to reduce contents (to their essentials, elementals). This holds for designing a curriculum as well as a lesson. This view is linked up with the theory of exemplary teaching because a thorough and in-depth study only is possible when the elementals become available as contents in a teaching situation and when these elementals can be made visible by means of handling the exemplary. When there is effective learning, in the first place this does not have to do with the scope or area of the contents but with the possibility of acquiring a deep mastery of their principles or elementals. In this way there can be a breaking away from a onesided memorizing and all of the modes of learning can function in an accompanying as well as far-reaching (effective) way. 3. EXEMPLARY LEARNING

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Without going into the psychopedagogic or subject didactic aspects of exemplary learning, there still are some very important didactic findings that must be considered regarding the relationship between exemplary teaching and exemplary learning. The tasks for didactic theory are extensive in this respect and we mention only two: i) A didactician must give an account of and be able to present empirical evidence for the exemplary principle, theoretically and practically, regarding its aims, i.e., precisely evaluate its effect, think about it and put it to the test. The visible effect of learning is not a matter of superficial and hasty acceptance of particular findings. The relationship that the exemplary shows with the theory of elementals is a living example of this. ii) Exemplary teaching is a far-reaching and radical change and deviation from the old notion of encyclopedic knowledge in various school subjects. Therefore, its use has particular consequences for interpreting specific concepts that, today, still are generally prevalent in didactic theory. Merely think of pronouncements such as: scientific, systematic, chronological order, linear ordering, etc. The exemplary method, indeed, is a matter of an elemental or a thematic approach. On this basis, the heuristic approach to teaching and learning is of particular importance. This means that a pupils exploration and self-disclosure of particular meanings are done by designing lesson situations in terms of the exemplary principle. Consequently, it often happens that a lesson problem is presented in the form of a hypothesis or conjecture that, in its turn, has important subject didactic consequences because it is so closely connected with the nature of the contents or the nature of the various school subjects. In many respects the exemplary method requires a subject didactic design that, in fact, is the diametric opposite of the so-called systematic or chronological approach to contents. As far as the effective actualization of learning is concerned, the exemplary oriented theory of teaching speaks of a genetic foundation of teaching as well as learning. Obviously, this concept easily can be incorrectly understood by being explained and

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interpreted as evolutionistic, bio-mechanistic and atomistic. However, this is not what is meant by the exemplary theory. As in the case of the book of Genesis, the concept genesis refers to beginning, origin or first beginning. When teaching and learning are actualized genetically this means (in relation to the heuristic principle mentioned above) that in thematizing the contents and their thorough and penetrating mastery, concentration must be on origins and principles that put a pupil in a position to interpret all related phenomena or realities in terms of these origins or first principles. The fact of the flexibility of insight (transfer or even application) is, therefore, in the exemplary actualization of learning, an entirely particular task. It is evident that the accompanying teaching and lesson design must, to a degree, take this into account. In this respect the exemplary principle also claims to be a radical and new dynamic arrangement of didactic tasks. It is obvious that, on the basis of the above, new light is cast on the exemplary approach and even shows an unfamiliar relationship regarding its point of concentration or focus in a curriculum. For example, it is necessary that the contents be presented on a much more integrated scale with the consequence that the coherencies of meanings and facts in the actualization of effective learning are of much greater significance and this approach also involves the presentation of a (lesson) problem much more than is the case with a systematic-chronological handling of the contents. These coherencies of meanings and facts represent basic matters regarding the elevation of the level of the cognitive. With a thematic approach, such as the exemplary, this cannot be otherwise. Consequently, the field of concentration, and even the principles of organization that arise, must be investigated anew and must be interpreted and implemented by a teacher in accordance with his teaching circumstances. The principle standpoint of the exemplary is oriented to the elemental and thematic on the basis of which an in-depth study (origins, principles) is of fundamental significance for actualizing the learning activity. In this sense, a scattering and splintering of contents and confusion regarding relationships for the learning person are a very decisive and even central problem for a teacher. Although the compilation

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of a school curriculum is not primarily concerned with the scientific character or the teaching of the subject science, the scientific frame of reference and taxonomy of the school subjects cannot merely be left out of consideration. The school contents also claim that they are representative and valid knowledge, although the pedagogic aim ultimately is reality orienting in nature. The tasks for actualizing meaningful learning, as far as the exemplary is concerned, possibly can best by summarized by the concept propaedeutic, i.e., a preparatory or introductory orientation (to a strictly scientific study). In the original meaning of the word, therefore, it must be formative and educative in nature without laying claim to completeness or exclusiveness regarding the knowledge aspect. Thus, exemplary teaching means to become involved with contents in an introductory or orienting way. For a learning person, the task is to actualize learning in terms of the thematic approach, the heuristic tasks and the genetic foundation referred to previously, in order to gain deepened insight into the coherencies of meanings and facts. On this basis it is clear that the didactic modalities in exemplary oriented teaching are concentrated on matters such as self-activity and self-actualization. Logically, it follows that these expectations fostered in the learning person, to a great extent, are the focal point for the guiding (teaching) and the ordering of contents by which there is mention of a lesson design. To what degree this propedeutic approach makes demands of the pupils educative insights regarding, e.g., experiencing and lived experiencing the actualization of the various modes of learning, certainly is a particular task for psychopedagogic research. Also, there are no research results from a psychopedagogic perspective on the significance of the theory of elementals and the task of elemental-izing contents. 4. THE EXEMPLARY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT AND SUMMARY It is understandable that a concept such as exemplary not only is susceptible to various interpretations but there also are many related derivations and forms, even newly created concepts, that must be recognized.

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The root word and original meaning of the concept exemplary is the Latin exemplum. Exemplum literally means to come out, expose or disclose. Therefore, if there is mention of exemplum this refers to something that is radically reduced, i.e., is stripped of all non-essential aspects and is exposed as a principle, origin, or original truth. As such exemplum lays claim to truth and validity and presents itself as an elemental, real and valid access to particular structures of reality. In this sense it has particular significance for the accompanying aspect of the learning activity because it underlies formulating the aim, designing the way learning must occur and ultimately evaluating the level of achievement. When the content is an exemplum, at the same time, it also provides the criteria for planning each of the above aspects (aims, actualization and evaluation) of a lesson. On the basis of its claims of validity and truth, the exemplum must make the general knowable in light of the particular. For example, when an example is used in a lesson situation, this particular example must expose more clearly and synoptically the totality of the insight into the total theme (e.g., mammals). The exemplum announces that its particularity has generally valid relevance. 4.1 Exemplum and exemplar

The fact that there is a definite and observable relation between the general and the particular and that the particular can illuminate valid, general realities, is the basis on which the distinction between exemplum and exemplar rests. The exemplum presents a norm or criterion. The exemplar represents the particularization of the exemplum in a particular example or matter or phenomenon by which the characteristics or identity of the particular phenomenon come very clearly into the foreground and become accessible to insight. Therefore, the exemplar points to an elemental-izing by which a particular example can be identified and even isolated with respect to particular definable characteristics. An exemplar always is one of a variety of possibilities that all show the same characteristics. The exemplum presents the norm regarding the validity or effectiveness of the individual exemplars. Therefore, the

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exemplars, in themselves, are exchangeable or interchangeable without doing violence or harm to the norms that are presented by the exemplum. An exemplar (now as a particular example) has the function of explicating something and making it understandable. In terms of this particularizing and explicating, the contents become knowable as one of a species. Some examples of this are an epical or lyrical poem, a sonnet, a one-act play, an equation with one unknown, a dicotyledon (a plant with two seed leaves), etc. It is obvious that particular examples or exemplars of, e.g., an English sonnet can be interchanged without any damage if the chosen exemplars fulfill the demands and characteristics (the particularizations) that hold for the concept English sonnet. 4.2 Exempel

Originally the concepts exemplar and exempel were used identically. However, over time it became clear that some exemplars so clearly reflect the structures or essences of a particular aspect of reality that they can be called super-exemplars, as it were; i.e., they are exemplars that stand above other related exemplars and thereby are elevated to the position of a model-exemplar or exempel. In this case think of the bean as an exempel of a dicotyledon plant that for years has figured so prominently in the elementary school curriculum. In this sense the exempel really functions on the same level as the exemplum because it serves as a standard (criterion) in terms of which related and new exemplars can be evaluated or judged with the aim of implementing them in teaching. For teaching this means that a pupil, by means of the exempel, must be able to arrive at a pure image and identification of a particular matter or species. 4.3 The paradigm

The concept paradigm literally means to show or indicate. As such, in the course of time it has become an overarching concept under which all sorts of models, types or examples can be placed. In this sense it has the danger of being applied so generally and diffusely that it becomes meaningless.

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Such a general or diffuse concept, understandably, is undesirable for didactic practice because it is vague. When the paradigm must be elucidated and it is not self-evident, as an example, it is better that, as far as possible, it be didactically set aside after notice is taken of it. 4.4 The type or typical case

The concept type or typical case is a much stricter, limited and narrower concept within the framework of exemplary teaching. In the typical case, decisive and denotable characteristics of a particular nature must appear. Therefore, type or typical case usually is a concrete or visible variation of the exemplar by which the form is directly shown. Klafki speaks, e.g., of a desert as a geographical type, a conifer as a biological type, etc. As a type, it shows particular essences that correspond greatly with essences that also can be observed in other cases and that, thus, also make possible the inference of general or typical ideas. According to Van Dyk the typical case or type acquires a place in exemplary teaching because it, with respect to these matters, is not so much involved with making visible particular laws, rules or principles but much more with copying a particular structure. Therefore, an example that can be described as a type approximates an ideal character. 4.5 The pure case

We are well acquainted with court verdicts that are a pure case regarding the matter of premeditated or intentional murder. A verdict has validity despite the fact that everyone is aware that each murder is unique in its motive, circumstances and perpetration. Consequently, with the pure case it occurs that particular norms or realities regarding the structure of an event or object are applicable to that particular case or example. The simpler the details that arise, in the elemental sense of the word, the purer the case will be.

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The study of the pure case within an exemplary context deals with particular details appearing by reducing them to a single case under the assumption that there are other cases that have the same components. Consequently, in this respect the pure case acquires exemplary significance. Its implementation in exemplary teaching is closely related to the analysis of the aim of the subject didactic design. It also is understandable that the pure case easily can become blurred into a paradigm or the explication can sharpen it into a definite type. 4.6 The classical case

When, in exemplary teaching, there is mention of a classical case, usually this means that this particular case has validity as a model. Van Dyk views the classical case as a related concept in exemplary theory by which particular cultural contents and forms are of central significance (formative value) for the world orientation of a child. Therefore, the classical case always is worthy of imitation on the basis that, to a large degree, it has model characteristics. Mastering the model and the possibility of its application, therefore, can lead to carrying out imitative or analogous learning activities. This pronouncement is of particular validity regarding cultural contents, their values and norms. On this basis generalizations are relatively easy because, in truth, the classical case is an inspiring example. 4.7 Pattern and specimen

At this stage it is clear that an exemplar, type or case are able to appear such that their details can be repeated without changing the contents or the form and in this way can create a repetition of the same matter or object. In this case, one thinks of a pattern for wallpaper that, on the basis of its repeatability, can bring about a particular unity or harmony, or a dress pattern that makes it possible to repeatedly make precisely the same dress without deviation. When an exemplar or example can be repeated or continued without limit one essentially has to do with a pattern.

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In contrast, with a specimen a larger whole is presented in all of its particular details by a small part of it. Merely think of the general significance of a specimen of wood or specimens that are available for the sake of selecting a mat or choosing cloth. Thus, there necessarily is a correspondence between what it is the specimen offers and what will appear in the larger whole when the specimen is multiplied many times. In terms of a specimen, the larger whole is presentable for thinking. In addition it also is the case that the qualities or characteristics of a particular matter that lends itself to being a specimen, can be tested. When, therefore, a specimen is drawn or can be made use of, the deductions that can be made from the specimen also must be valid for the larger whole that is presented through the specimen. 4.8 Model

No one will doubt that the specimen and the model copy or imitate a greater whole. However, the model has an exemplary advantage over the specimen in that it can represent a large (comprehensive) aspect of reality in its absolutely simplest form. This also implies that the model contains particular possibilities of reducing, schematizing and representing without impairing its usefulness or validity. When the model is applied in an exemplary context it is possible to reduce it so radically that only the details relevant to the particular lesson design need to be made known and clarified. In this sense it often is of much greater value for teaching than is the real object itself because too many details of the latter can create confusion and possibly block insight. Here it also must be remembered that all models are preliminary designs or partial totalities. The model is never the matter itself. As exemplars they often are abstract simply because they are a representation that tries to present uniquely emphasized particular facts, and therefore they easily can lead to incorrect or distorted emphases if a thorough insight into the structure being modeled does not exist. There is an essential danger of faulty association and over-objectivity that sometimes leaves the child completely behind in the lesson situation.

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4.9

Example

The word example literally means first image. In this light it is understandable that the concept example also often means valid image and can be implemented, as such, on an exemplary level. When a person refers to a particular example this definitely implies that particular principles are appropriately illustrated by a concrete case. Therefore, when there is mention of examples in exemplary teaching, their choice and subsequent explication rest on certain definite and inherent details that are made available in the example and that will make the matter, as such, known to a pupil. This illustration-effect of the example must put a pupil in a position to disclose commonalities or correspondences that are identifiable with matters already available in his foreknowledge. It is especially in this respect that its exemplary use often brings about a particular flexibility and possibility of application in a class situation. The example is continually disposed to get beyond a merely verbal explication in order to present a matter as it really is. As an exemplar, the example always takes the place of the real object in its general details because these generalities can be made clear or present in a pure and comprehensible way in the example. This particular functionality of the example holds for the conceptual as well as the concrete; i.e., it covers the abstract as well as the perceptible. Therefore, in a teaching design it is necessary that a teacher continually be aware that the pupils do not slavishly imitate the examples and, on the basis of limited insight into the coherencies of meanings and facts, be subverted by the slightest variations or deviations. Consequently, a single example is insufficient regarding exemplary teaching and a pupil continually must be led in terms of the presented example to disclose new examples and explicate their validity himself. 5. CONSIDERATIONS FOR AN EXEMPLARY METHOD The conceptual distinctions briefly dealt with in the previous section are representative of the entire possible variation of implementing the exemplary idea. Each of these concepts is relevant in one way or another when there is reasoning from the exemplum, exempel

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and exemplar. Therefore, they are representative of the entire variety of the same matter. One should also be able to mention ones own variations. It seems that each of these variations involves learning contents, the choice of which are at the center of exemplary teaching. In considering essential aspects of the exemplary method, at this stage, there are only two aspects that deserve attention because the third (learning in an exemplary way) was briefly considered above. 5.1 The exemplary as form A few remarks about this aspect also were made above. Implementing the exemplary as form (so it was stated) rests on the fact that this is a matter of the radical reduction of contents. To the extent that it is going to be the form (i.e., the ground-form) of any lesson design, the basic point of departure implies a radical representation of a large aspect of life reality (or large whole of knowledge) by applying an exemplar. The consequence is that, regarding the offering itself, in most cases the exemplar, as groundform, is combined with one of the others (play, conversation or assignment). However, this is not a fast or unchangeable rule. Concepts such as paradigm, typical case, pure case and model can and are also implemented in a teaching situation in such a way that they literally speak for themselves in the illustration. This entire matter would be incomplete, however, if one did not also indicate that the exemplary method is not restricted to any area or any aspect of a methodological principle, principle of ordering contents, methods of teaching, as well as choice and emphasis of didactic modalities. A teacher similarly is free to make these various aspects of a lesson structure functional (i.e., in the same way as with the other ground-forms) according to his best insight into and judgment of his circumstances. For this reason it is unnecessary and also unaccountable to exclude the exemplary method from particular pronouncements about implementing the didactic form because in the initial planning the identity between form and content is clearly identifiable.

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5.2

The exemplary and the contents

Above it was indicated that the central meaning of an exemplary method regarding the learning contents is in limiting the amount of contents such that a superficial and encyclopedic knowledge of them can be replaced be an in-depth study of particular aspects of them. This in-depth study of only exemplars must, in the course of teaching, lead to the fact that the insights and the command can be transferred to other, relevant or comparable areas or problems. Therefore, the matter of the exemplary primarily is a matter of curriculum. Only when a curriculum is limited in extent, i.e., the area of the contents are limited radically, is this aim realizable. In truth, no teacher can realize the teaching ideal coupled with an exemplary approach if he is confronted with an encyclopedically summarized curriculum. For those who are accountable for a curriculum, all contemporary studies show in this regard that curriculum development is a primary and fundamental activity with an eye to the various ways of implementing contents in teaching. For curriculum this terrain is found within four fixed points: 5.2.1 Criteria: In terms of this the choice or judgment of contents with the aim of including them in the curriculum becomes possible. If we take into consideration that the concept criterion literally means gauge or standard and if the necessary gauge or criterion should be missing, when the exemplary idea is to be worked into the curriculum, the establishment of a curriculum that is exemplaryoriented is entirely impossible. Then, any characteristics that the contents might show with regard to the exemplary approach merely are haphazard. The task for didactic theory in this respect is to more closely investigate and especially interpret the mass of data regarding curriculum criteria in light of the exemplary principle. 5.2.2 Selection: The basic principle behind the concept selection is that in any form of selection particular preferences are exercised, i.e., one matter is chosen above another. The same principle also

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holds when selecting teaching contents. In the case of exemplary teaching this is a matter that acquires particular prominence when its theory of curriculum arises. In a literal sense of the word, the selection of the contents makes possible the point of introducing the exemplary approach into the curriculum and, therefore, also into the classroom. Also, this aspect deserves much more attention from teaching authorities and researchers in didactic pedagogics. Any encyclopedic curriculum really is encyclopedic in nature because the curriculum compilers waver in exercising a definitive preference in selecting contents. To eliminate the possibility of failure they choose the principle of totality instead of that of the exemplary. 5.2.3 Ordering: In addition to selection, the arrangement or ordering of contents in the exemplary approach is of particular importance. This matter has been stressed repeatedly in previous chapters. As we know, the possibilities are many. There are no preferences or criteria that place or force one principle of ordering above another. Also, in this regard, as far as exemplary teaching is concerned, there has been little penetrating research done or radical conclusions drawn. In cooperation with psychopedagogics, didactic investigations in this respect can make a particular contribution, e.g., to determining, in comparative ways, possible preferences of ordering for an exemplary oriented curriculum. 5.2.4 Evaluating: In light of the fact that the exemplary approach particularly is attuned to breaking out of the encyclopedic and memorization practice that for centuries was so peculiar to the traditional school, it is obvious that in evaluating the pupils achievement different kinds of criteria must be applied. In this respect, what holds for exemplary teaching also holds for project teachingto mention only one other approach. The fact of the matter is that insight and the flexibility of this insight (the possible transfer of it to other areas) constitutes the warp and woof of any evaluative practice with exemplary teaching. Here it must be stressed yet again that exemplary practice, of whatever nature, is not to be considered or planned apart from the theory of the elemental and the fundamental. It is very importance that a prospective teacher interprets the theory of the elemental and the fundamental within an exemplary context. None of the

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above fixed points for an exemplary curriculum is realizable without this. The criteria, selection, ordering and evaluation of the pupils achievement (for a particular lesson or in general) cannot be constituted other than within the referential framework of the elemental theory. If the exemplar is not also an elemental it cannot lay claim to exemplary status. The exemplar must serve to unlock the contents fundamentally, to illuminate essences and principles, to link theory and reality (thinking and acting) and to provide real access to the basic categorical structures of reality. These are all aspects of the elemental theory that ipso facto must appear in any view of exemplary teaching. 6. PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR AN EXEMPLARY APPROACH With respect to considerations for an exemplary practice, once again, it is stressed that a teacher is completely independent in implementing particular methodological principles, teaching methods, principles of ordering and all facets of the didactic modalities. He exercises his own choices and in exemplary theory there are no prescriptions that force or limit him in any ways in his decisions regarding these lesson structure essences. The exemplary method can be introduced into a practical lesson situation equally effectively in terms of the inductive as well as the deductive principle. The same holds, e.g., for question-and-answer methods compared to narration methods and the concentric principle of ordering compared to the linear. In all of these respects, the lesson design provides precisely the same freedoms, possibilities and functional flexibility as does any other teaching form. When a teacher works in accordance with the exemplary principles, however, he must take the following aspects thoroughly into account for his practice: i) Each chosen exemplar must carefully be judged to determine if the elementals of a matter, problem, view or law can be presented by it according to the real essentials of the matter. If this is not the case, choose another exemplar that does fulfill these

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criteria or demands. The success of the teaching ultimately depends entirely on the quality of the exemplars that are worked into a lesson design. ii) The simpler the exemplars, the more effectively they function in a teaching situation. iii) As far as possible, use aids for illustrating or concretizing (e.g., by using models); their function cannot be overemphasized in exemplary teaching. Just because exemplary contents are intently selected and are presented as islands, as it were, the presentation must put a pupil in a position to learn to know the remaining required or desired themes himself and on his own responsibility. In this way the islands established in the teaching must be mutually connected by a pupil himself or even be elaborated into a larger continent. If in any way possible, begin with the known. In exemplary teaching the known and the actualization of this foreknowledge is of the greatest importance if the statement of the problem eventually is to be successfully presented. iv) Keep the possibility and the principle of integration continually in mind. The success of the flexibility or transfer of insight and mobility with respect to the differentiated themes in a particular school subject area, and all of the school subjects collectively, represent one of the key tasks of the pupils. v) Remember that the simple (elemental) is not always so simple. Therefore, search thoroughly for complex or abstract principles that speak from the exemplar. Verbalizing, defining and explicating these sometimes abstract or unknown aspects of the exemplar constitute continual snares and potholes for the pupils. Pure concept forming is the first principle when a learning person seeks insight. Not enough attention can be given to firming up and explicating concepts presented in all teaching. With the exemplary approach, however, this matter is of fundamental significance. vi) It was indicated that an exemplar really implies the particularization of a comprehensive, extensive area. It also is demanded of the exemplar that the general must be clear and visible in this particular. This is the matter that was stressed in (i) above. However, proceeding from the particular to the general, or from particularizing to generalizing, are not always obvious matters for the pupils. Special attention must be given to this. If pupils are not in a position to make general use of the individual data of the exemplar they will actually stagnate immediately and a teacher will

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only find this out when he chooses to evaluate the coherencies of meanings and facts. The problems that he then includes in a test will have an entirely unfamiliar character (i.e., be an unknown factor). This matter arises again when the phases of exemplary teaching are discussed briefly. Once again: the amplification of the particulars to the general carries the possibility of flexibility and transfer of insight. Successful exemplary teaching, as far as learning achievement is concerned, is highly related to this matter. vii) An imperative for exemplary teaching is that the pupils continually are actively involved in the teaching in the true sense of the word. A pupil can recognize what gaps can arise only if he thinks about a matter that cant be memorized because it is not organized within the particular context of a linear course of themes. The self-activity of a pupil is and remains an essential matter; indeed, it is a necessary precondition for exemplary teaching. viii) For good exemplary teaching, really authentic experience of the original structures (essences) of what is presented by the contents is of special significance. This authentic, or life reality, or true to reality experience enables a teacher to achieve success by actualizing pupil foreknowledge and placing the problem within a definitive context. ix) Be on guard against too many details. A teachers reduction of the separate exemplars must be done very clearly and judiciously. It is understood that core details (principles) must not be confounded with peripheral details. This confounding blocks the pupils insight because, by nature, they are inclined to concentrate on these peripheral details if they are in the field of known possessed experiences. x) Thoroughly take into account the pupils state of becoming. When contents either are too easy or too difficult, exemplary teaching runs the danger of staggering or miscarrying. A thorough knowledge of the pupils, the possible heterogeneity of the class, choices regarding the lesson tempo, and the variation of exemplars that can be implemented, all to be accommodated into a lesson structure, are of particular importance. xi) In exemplary teaching, attention to scientific methods is of special significance. It is obvious that when later a pupil must apply these methods, in a figurative sense, in order to obtain additional particularities, the ways or methods by which he can possibly succeed are extremely prominent. This matter holds for all

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scientific methods, e.g., the historical, the comparative, the experimental in the natural sciences, the heuristic method, etc. The practicing of and practicing to insight in the course of a lesson are highly related to this matter and ought to constitute a firm and inescapable aspect of evaluating pupils achievement. 7. PHASES OF THE EXEMPLARY APPROACH One can well understand that the course of the exemplary planned lesson is not essentially different from any other lesson. Indeed, there is one important matter that continually is prominent when the exemplary is used in presenting new contents. Consequently, the phases of the exemplary are directly applied to this aspect of the course of a lesson. By exemplary phases is meant that the presentation of new contents, as soon as foreknowledge is actualized and the problem is formulated, include clearly denotable steps or phases. There are three clearly denotable phases and they are explicated as follows: i) During the first phase a teacher shows. This means that he handles the first exemplar himself in a class and purposefully gives attention to the contents as well as methodological aspects that are relevant to understanding their meaning, explanation and clarification. Therefore, during this phase a teacher stands entirely at the center of the teaching situation, i.e., he stands with the contents themselves facing the class with the aim of trying to guarantee the later actualization of learning by the pupils. The quality of this first exemplar or exemplars is of special importance. The control of the pupils attending and understanding is utterly necessary. In this phase all variants of essences and principles are disclosed and the success of the second as well as the third phase depend greatly on a teachers actions. ii) During the second phase additional, related exemplars are presented as problems for the pupils. In this phase, a teacher does not give up his guiding role but continually moves between the contents and the pupils in order to practice control over the direction, insight and mobility of the class. Teacher and pupils work together on an additional exemplar or exemplars during the

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second phase. Here a teacher apprises himself of the degree of success achieved by the explanation in the first phase. Under no circumstances does he proceed to the third phase if during this phase he has not ascertained that the pupils have arrived at a thorough understanding and mobility of the contents as well as the methods. iii) During the third phase the pupils work independently. This is the phase of periodically breaking away during which a pupil, on his own knowledge and insight, is assigned to exercise the insights of the first and second phase on his own responsibility in class or at home, to extend them to difficult or related exemplars, arrive at an integration of the already mastered details, etc. Therefore, the third phase is a matter of independent and autonomous learning by a pupil. Here he must disclose and explain by himself coherencies of meanings and of facts, responsibly apply methods, be able to verbalize his own disclosures and reasoning, etc. In the third phase, literally, he provides evidence that he has learned from this. It would be irresponsible to declare these phases of the exemplary presentation as an unbreakable rule or law. Still, this constitutes a definitive sequence in presenting new contents in the course of a lesson and they must not be set aside as cumbersome or digressive. 8. CLAIMS ABOUT EXEMPLARY TEACHING Taking all of the above into account, one can understand that advocates of the exemplary approach make particular claims about its success. Most of these, directly or indirectly, have been brought up previously. When these briefly are repeated here, it is only for the sake of systematization. i) It minimizes memorizing and an encyclopedic knowing-it-all without insight. ii) It leads to a responsible, thorough scientific attunement by the pupils irrespective of the nature of their instruction or preparation. This claim holds for academic as well as vocationally directed teaching in all of their various facets. iii) It compels the pupils to a deepening of and insight into the pertinent problematic that arises in the life world.

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iv) It represents a definite schooling and forming with respect to directed and systematic thinking. v) With exemplary teaching, a pupil systematically is prepared to transfer his insights to related or even unfamiliar areas. This movement from the particular to the general and a whetting of a venturing attitude in order to arrive at decisive generalizations are very strongly emphasized. vi) There is an indisputable and clearly noticeable rise in the level of cognitive achievement. The movement from the concrete to the abstract occurs very systematically and gradually, and this directly influences the quality of achievement. vii) It promotes independence through insight into methodological problems by which self-study (especially in postelementary education) is improved. viii) As an approach, it includes particular possibilities for individualizing in all of its variations by which individual pupils are given the opportunity to follow their own disposition and tempo in order to master the contents. ix) On the basis of all of these things, it provides the opportunity for much more self-activity or more expansive selfactivity and the purposeful participation of the pupils in the learning situation. 9. PROBLEMS WITH AN EXEMPLARY APPROACH The following are problems or disadvantages with this approach: i) Exemplary teaching requires very thorough and considerable training of a teacher. His preparation and preliminary study are of utmost importance and a defect in their quality necessarily leads to seriously limited successes with this approach. As an accompanier, a teacher is in a very central position with respect to the exemplary. These requirements hold for his control as well as evaluation of a lesson. ii) It is important to note that this approach to teaching can lead to pupil insights and knowledge existing as separate unities; i.e., the principle of integration is done justice to such a limited extent that the success of the teaching is a toss up. The search for the coherencies of meanings and facts can present many problems

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in the higher grades of the primary school and the lower grades of the secondary school. iii) Some proclaim that the exemplary approach is the second wave, or turning point, of the so-called reform pedagogics of this century. The tempo of the wave that has flooded the school has had two detrimental consequences: a) Still missing in many respects are thorough investigations of the principles that are intertwined in this, especially because matters such as the curriculum, the practice of evaluation, and their influence on the various subjects are used instead of integrating them with the teaching in its totality. b) The idea of the exemplary, in the old ordering of learning material, was put by a question mark without really illuminating the solutions and nodal points that are possible regarding what is new. iv) Contemporary youth often are so taken by the mass media and emancipation from authority that they necessarily are delivered to a snobbism by an over-emphasized exemplary directedness. Research in this regard has shown that often they are delivered to the fact that they no longer can distinguish authentic from artificial laws. Therefore, it also is no wonder that the elementary and primary matters no longer inspire them because their interests, from the beginning, really are in the complex. The home situation shows a clear and definite defect in a deepening in intellectual life. Intellectual life there is not so much built up from directed and systematic thinking but they often show themselves as reacting to various practical demands of a technological society. Within this context, the exemplary approach definitely is not without its dangers. In our inclination to apply, the elemental is not always clearly visible and, therefore, not valued as of fundamental significance. With this it is obvious that this orientation is greatly disadvantaged. As far as teaching, itself, is concerned, this easily can lead to didactic superficiality on the basis of particular slogans or clichs that are not always accounted for. With this one loses sight of the fundamental didactic questions and the exemplary approach easily becomes a recipe-like, drill-like teaching method. The whole, also within an exemplary respect, no longer is more than its parts. If one loses sight of this, an imbalance in the practice of

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exemplary teaching can arise that really is not in any way accountable. v) An exemplary approach requires penetrating and continually ongoing work by a teacher. This holds not only for a particular year of study but for a childs entire career of being taught. When there is a move from teacher to teacher and from classroom to classroom, it is understandable and logical that this aspect easily can suffer damage if one person does not have the same enthusiasm for the matter as another. vi) It is difficult to implement the exemplary approach in brief periods for teaching or for lessons. A period of 30 minutes is too short to do real justice to the course of the phases of exemplary teaching. Consequently, this requires an entirely new approach to the teaching timetable.

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CHAPTER 13 DIDACTICS AND ORTHODIDACTICS

1. INTRODUCTION The contemporary state of orthopedagogics and orthodidactics in many respects is a very interesting but also a very neglected matter. In reading the literature it is very clear that these two matters are not brought together theoretically in a way that can withstand ordinary scientific logical analysis, especially epistemological and scientific methodological evaluations. Possibly the greatest problem is that the terrains of pedagogics and orthopedagogics have been viewed as autonomous or separate for the purpose of judging the practices that emerge from each. Consequently, the orthopedagogic is viewed directly, for various reasons, as the latest ramification of pedagogic practice. Therefore, it should surprise no one that orthopedagogic and especially orthodidactic practice are not always carried out within a pedagogic context or even executed at all at the present time. The consequence of this is that clearly noticeable is an unhealthy and unrealistic duality in orthopedagogical descriptions (theoretical foundations, research views, practical designs, etc.). This parallel between pedagogical and orthopedagogical views obviously cannot avoid the terrains of the didactical and orthodidactical. By its nature, a comprehensive and important part of orthopedagogic therapy is really entrusted to the orthodidactic. Nowadays orthodidactic practice shows an enormous diversity of views and contributions from related and even unrelated areas of knowledge and consequently it is not easy to sort out and organized the particulars. Related to this, one must also remember that orthopedagogics has had a very diverse history, especially with respect to its origins. It is logical that most of these origins have emerged from pedagogical views, i.e., in pedagogical studies. On the other hand, there are particularly important and initiating contributions to the field of orthopedagogics from medicine (e.g., from neurology and endocrinology) and from basic sciences such as physiology and anatomy. These contributions cannot be ignored when orthopedagogics is discussed, as such. The same is true of

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psychology, an area of knowledge related to the pedagogic, that for many years has carried out comprehensive and insightful research on learning, perceiving, motor skills, personality, etc. Also there is little doubt that, especially during the past 40 years, pedagogics has paid very close attention to these related, relevant findings from other sciences. In this respect, the problem mainly revolves around one matter: findings of relevant or related sciences cannot merely be transferred, as such, to pedagogical theory. Orthopedagogics is a pedagogical matter. It involves a pedagogical understanding in order to assist the so-called derailed, conspicuous child in need within the limits of educating and subject to the forms of educating, Therefore, all of these very important particulars from the other areas of knowledge require a pedagogical interpretation in light of the coherencies of meaning and matters in the pedagogic situation. The purpose of this chapter is not to describe orthodidactic theory and practice. Such a matter warrants a comprehensive and careful investigation of its own. What is noted here is only meant to orient prospective and in-service teachers to particular aspects of orthodidactics with the aim that they will be alert to rash and reckless behaviors in the ordinary school classroom. Such an orientation is necessary because a fair percentage of restrained children pass through the ordinary day school program and are forced into peer competition even though they are burdened by inborn or acquired deficiencies. In general, these pupils are described as learning difficult and they give rise to a particular uneasiness in their parents. Therefore, they also deserve close attention from their teachers. In addition to this, it cannot be denied that there is no child in school who at one time or another, and for short periods, has not experienced definite learning problems. In no way are these pupils restrained or otherwise damaged. Their problems are often rooted in their educative milieu or in their relationship to their life world. Nevertheless, such disturbed relationships have an important educative influence that usually is manifested in one or another form of underachievement.

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A very important aspect of the orthodidactic terrain of research is usually ignored in its theoretical views. If one takes into consideration the framework and findings of contemporary didactics, without a doubt, today it is the case that a weak or inappropriate planning of or preparation for teaching contributes importantly to what normally is classified as learning problems throughout the school. Many learning problems do not originate with the childs learning activities as such but in the teaching he receives. Therefore, it certainly is justified, along with Sonnekus, to speak of teaching- and learning problems when exploratory work is done in the field of orthodidactics. Because in the past this aspect was ignored, there really is no far-reaching, comprehensive research on this matter and at the present time it is not possible to make any scientifically accountable pronouncements about this. The American research available on this matter is usually focused on an aspect or even a very small part of the matter of teaching problems. Consequently, it is very difficult to clearly determine a synoptic image of the contributions of teaching to the etiology of learning problems. What follows is a brief attempt to look at the matter and the significance of the orthodidactic from a didactic perspective in order to illuminate some of its facets for practice in the ordinary school. 2. UNBALANCED INTERPRETATION OF THE ORTHODIDACTIC It should be reasonable to assert that orthodidactic practice is at least as old as schools themselves. The different variations in which this phenomenon (learning difficulty) has manifested itself through the years has been and still is an intrinsic part of the school and of teachers tasks. Consequently, the teaching-practical aspects and the related therapeutic programs were and still are the most important focal points for orthodidactics. Concepts such as remedial teaching, bridge teaching and special teaching are thoroughly integrated into the existing policy of teaching and its forms of expression. This unbalanced emphasis in the first place certainly has resulted in a channeling of research that also is an intrinsic part of orthodidactics. When research is one-sided and practically directed

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this necessarily is damaging to its theoretical and thus to its training aspect. Perhaps the most important result of this was that didacticians were thoroughly schooled in particular accepted and especially pragmatic therapeutic techniques that, on closer investigation, seem to be nothing more than isolated orthodidactic devices. Irrespective of how valuable and necessary these patterns of acting might be for orthodidactics, it remains true that its insights (into motivations, diagnosing, designing programs and evaluating) have consistently been harmed. The consequence is that the origins (fundamental research and explanations) are inferred from the practical situation rather than stemming from the systematic and sustained investigation of the phenomenon and of the results of teaching-practice. This matter implies and represents a definite imbalance in the descriptions of orthodidactics as such. With this the fact must be taken into account that orthodidactic practice often is functionalized and even initiated by terrains outside of the orthodidactic. These auxiliary or related terrains are of invaluable worth with respect to their findings and especially the programs that are designed by them and for what orthodidactics has attained nowadays. However, the fact still remains that these particulars are not interpreted pedagogically and very often are not integrated into orthodidactic theory. Another aspect that to a very small degree has been attended to is the relationship between and relevance of the other pedagogical disciplines for orthodidactics. In this context, a possible exception is psychopedagogics, although its most recent research nowadays still is not interpreted orthodidactically. Examples are fundamental pedagogics, sociopedagogics, historical pedagogics and didactic pedagogics. It is only very recently, e.g., in an orthopedagogic respect, that there is talk of a socio-orthopedagogics and an historical orthopedagogics by which it is acknowledged that orthopedagogics and the other pedagogical disciplines cannot be closely investigated and described in isolation. In this respect, a great task remains for the various pedagogical disciplines to consult with orthodidactics and vice versa. 3. THE POSSIBILITY OF AN AUTONOMOUS ORTHODIDACTICS

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Another matter that continues to reflect a difference in standpoints and convictions is that of the autonomy of orthopedagogics. Pronouncements in this regard are obviously general and cover the entire terrain that in a narrower or broader sense is known as the orthopedagogic. In light of the few orienting remarks in section 2 above, this entire matter is well understood. Regarding practice, from the beginning there undoubtedly had been an alienation and even a degree of irreconcilability between practical and theoretical approaches that have continued into the present. The most important consequence of this was that, on the one hand, orthopedagogics had tried to establish itself as a separate subject science in the sense that it counted itself as a multi-disciplinary approach with strong tendencies for application by a large group of practitioners. On the other hand, the standpoint also prevailed that orthopedagogics is a separate, autonomous part-discipline of pedagogics that by virtue of the unique nature of its area of study and the diversity of its academic spectrum gives its own pronouncements about matters such as its grounding (categories), criteria, structures of its aim, its course and relationship, form, contents and designto mention only a few. Without going into details, here it must be indicated that the prefix ortho in itself carries no meaning if it is not combined with a basic science or fundamental concept. In all of its combinations ortho refers to a particular sector or facet of a basic science. Compare, e.g., orthopedics in medicine. Orthopedagogics must be judged within this same frame of reference. One should almost be able to say that it refers to an application- and practice-making aspect of the general pedagogical. What holds for orthopedagogics in general is similarly applicable to the orthodidactic in relation to the didactic. At the root of the entire view of this relationship is the fact or phenomenon (reality) of educating as it is manifested in all of the variations of the educative situation. Providing help to a restrained, brain damaged, poor sighted, hard of hearing, deaf, blind or generally troubled child clearly implies educating him. As is the case with all of the part-perspectives or pedagogical disciplines, studying and explaining this matter is no more than one educating

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(not different kinds of educating). As an event, educating is singular, distinctive and unique in the life of each person. But the fact of educating is a universal, generally identifiable part of human experiencing. There is no more than one educating, just as there also is no more than one teaching that can be discerned. When didactic pedagogical writings are about teaching and express its essences, these general pronouncements must hold true for all teaching as it appears in the life world of persons. This teaching always has its origin in the ways of realizing or putting educating into practice. All educating is realized in and through teaching; and all teaching (in which children are involved) gets its first and last meaning from educative activities as such. The same holds for a phenomenon such as learning. A child who is impeded or who has learning difficulties does not have a different way of being in the learning situation than do so-called normal children. All children in an educative situation are involved in the matter (way of being) of learning and its actualization within the context of educating and teaching. An impeded child is still a child. He is a person and lays claim to equal value in educative-, juridical-, social-, religious- and every other context of society. All pedagogical essences hold for him to precisely the same extent as for a child who is not accompanied by his parents to adulthood with extraordinary or exceptional help. Therefore, all children involved in one or another form of orthopedagogic intervention are children in an educative situation who must establish a relationship with an educator and with educative contents and who must be led in terms of particular forms of educating (and teaching) to full fledged adulthood within the limits of their particular problems. Any other view of this matter is a-logical and only can be raised by proclamation ((i.e., categorically). It would be pretty much impossible to try to substantiate the autonomy and distinctiveness of orthopedagogics in terms of unique and distinctive essences. Clearly, the orthopedagogic cannot surpass or overstep the pedagogic and pedagogical. What holds for the relationship between pedagogics and orthopedagogics necessarily must be discussed with respect to the relationship between didactics and orthodidactics. Any

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orthodidactic pronouncement or practice necessarily has its origin in its basic discipline (namely, the didactic pedagogic). In so far as didactic pedagogics makes particular pronouncements about teaching that are valid, they must necessarily have scientific validity for the orthodidactic. That the orthodidactic, just as the subject didactic, will make particular pronouncements about this matter, and that its research will be largely directed to interpreting these generally valid findings within the tasks of the orthodidactic, speaks for itself. Finally, in this respect it can also do nothing other than question subject didactic theory and practice in order to enliven an orthodidactic practice that will not be foreign to these pronouncements of the pedagogical, e.g., in terms of an aim-, functional- and situational-analysis. If this is done it opens itself to criticism from all sides. It would certainly be possible for it to undertake research into applications and prescriptions in large areas. However, it will never be in a position to discuss its practice in its ground or depth and to submit the validity of its therapeutic forms and programs to proper and accountable criteria. Such an orthopedagogics or orthodidacitcs simple would be a sham science. 4. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIDACTIC AND ORTHODIDACTIC THEORY AND PRACTICE It is well known that any didactic theory is basically a search for the structure of teaching as it really is. For a variety of reasons, the resulting descriptions show diversity in many respects and even fundamental differences. It can be that the didactician who wants to undertake an investigation is of the opinion that formal teaching as it appears in the school ought to be the basis for any didactic research. In such a case the didactic activity is radically limited to a second-order, i.e., literally an institution established by persons. The precariousness of such an approach seems clear from the fact that the school can easily be imagined as absent from the life world without the life world as such being damaged. On the other hand such a researcher can stare himself completely blind on a matter such as, e.g., the curriculum and from curriculumtheoretical views debate the whole question of teaching as such. Such a view is one-sided and does not primarily search for the forms of living and experiencing of human existence because it is simply

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absorbed by the contents that appear in the life world. These two examples of possibly false ways of establishing a didactic theory are merely mentioned for orientation. They were discussed more fully in previous chapters. The problem of why this is so revolves around the decision about whether orthodidactic theory and practice can differ essentially from the general didactic. This possibility is discussed to some extent in the previous section. However, different aspects deserve more emphasis without a long-winded or comprehensive discussion. In light of the preceding details it is for the reader to judge whether orthodidactics is an entirely different matter than the didactic. In its search for the phenomenon of teaching in reality, and even more closely in the reality of educating, didactic pedagogics presents particular categories in which the essences of teaching as it really is are verbalized. Also there is mention of particular criteria in terms of which the categories can be evaluated in a practical sense and in which their validity must be raised. When particular categories are not judged to be effective by the criteria, their validity is put into question. From these basic views of teaching didactic pedagogics then especially follows two lines in order to acquire clarity about teaching as such with the aim of interpreting it for the second-order or school situation. These two lines are represented by the matters of didactic form and teaching contents. From the didactic research on these two matters (form and contents) a great deal of details and areas of investigation have appeared among which are the matters of didactic ground forms, methodological principles, the evaluation of particular systems and forms of teaching, curriculum theory, evaluating pupils achievements, etc. However, all of these details must be connected in one way or another for practice and united in a didactic marriage. We find the marriage between form and contents in didactic theory in the lesson structure. The lesson structure represents an interpretation or construction about how the didactic findings from all that has preceded it are

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planned for and brought into motion in a formal teaching situation. If one will formulate this matter strictly, one could also say that the lesson structure implies a formalization of the essence of teaching with the aim of realizing them in organized school practice. From the relatively comprehensive particulars now readily available about the lesson structure and its essences, it seems very clear that the details included in the whole matter of the lesson structure to a large degree forms the nodal point for the integration and further interpretation of the relations between the other pedagogical disciplines and the didactic. In this connection there is reference to the matter of putting into practice the fundamental pedagogical essences (Landman), the psychopedagogic question of teaching and learning (Sonnekus), the fundamental findings about the didactic connection between teaching and learning (Gous) and especially the coupling of didactic and subject didactic views with the correlated pronouncements about the possibilities of separate lesson designs in the different school subject areas (Van Dyk). The particulars of these connections are considered in the publications mentioned in the bibliography. One can well understand the significance of this if the context of modern society is examined. Never before in human history has the school, its educative and training programs, its differentiations and its insertion into the order of society played such an important role as it has in our technological time. As already indicated, the school always builds a bridge between the spontaneous or given (original) life world and organized society. This gives rise to the question of whether the orthodidactic, as an aspect of pedagogic research and practice, is placed in a totally different scientific and therapeutic context than each of the previously mentioned disciplines. Although the categories might clash, at this stage, one can certainly dismiss any arguments with respect to the autonomy and distinctiveness of the orthopedagogic and orthodidactic. Both orthopedagogics and orthodidactic have their origin in the theoretical interpretations and valid descriptions (constructions) of the pedagogical part disciplines. As far as orthodidactics is

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concerned (as already indicated), it deals with the entire matter of teaching and learning problems in general. Therefore, in essence orthodidactics is dependent on the findings of a scientific nature about the matter of teaching and learning. Hence, the orthodidactic involves itself with nothing isolated. When it does research on the practice of special teaching and the demands it makes, the findings of didactics and subject didactics on ordinary teaching necessarily hold for orthodidactics. In the same way it must take note of, e.g., fundamental pedagogic and psychopedagogic research on teaching practice and learning in order to put the whole matter of restrained educating in perspective. Following this, orthodidactics establishes its line of vision. In orthodidactics and its tasks either teaching or learning or both have gone wrong somewhere. This disconcerting appearance of teaching and learning and the possible ways in which they can be corrected or repaired represent an extension or a closer particularization of pedagogical findings. It is logical that this research with the aim of generalization includes the investigation of separate pupils who experience problems and therapeutic programs with a healing aim. 5. TEACHING AND LEARNING PROBLEMS What is additionally offered here is not complete because the aim is only to orient the teacher with respect to particular origins and forms of appearance of learning problems in the classroom. Therefore, it is not meant as an introduction to orthodidactics and should not be judged as such. Evidence about the contributions of the teacher to learning difficulties (the manifestation of teaching problems) is provisional and strained. There is still a lack of systematic and empirical research on this matter. The fact that must be kept in mind in this respect is that a teachers preparation (content and didactic) is of fundamental significance for the success that any pupil might achieve in the teaching situation. By the nature of the matter, he is the accompanier, initiator and designer of everything that occurs in the classroom. If he is negligent or careless with respect to any one of the two important facets of his task, it can be expected that he will make a very important contribution to the origin of learning

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problems. Thus far, the matter of teaching problems has enjoyed little attention in orthodidactics perhaps because the results or manifestations of it are described as learning problems. The intervention of the orthodidactician, as already indicated, however, covers both terrains, i.e., the role of the teacher and the actualization of learning by a child. The approach that follows is therefore preliminary because it is conspicuously incomplete. Also it is one-sidedly directed at learning problems as such. Possibly within a few years in a systematic way the teaching as well as the learning aspect will be placed in an orthodidactic perspective. To learn, especially for a child, means that the whole of his existence unfolds for him. In the fact that he learns he provides an answer to the questions and demands of his own being situated in reality. Therefore, an increasing mastery arises regarding his association with matters of the life world that can be evaluated in the form of achievements. Thus a child becomes more adult because he learns. Actually there is no aspect of human activity not directly or indirectly influenced by the actualization of learning. Thus, it is important to understand that any deficiency or hindrance impeding a childs learning activities will influence him as a person and as a human being because they curtail his going out to reality and mastering it. At first glance, a learning problem shows itself as a particular, usually partial, inability of a child in a learning situation to achieve in one respect or another as expected. Therefore, learning problems are consistently interpreted as a matter of underachievement. In other words, a learning problem manifests itself as the combined effects of all of those factors that reduce the achievement of a person in the learning situation to a level lower than he is capable of. However, the pedagogue knows that this first way in which a learning problem manifests itself only makes a part of the resulting effect observable. The distress of a child with learning difficulties might speak most strongly in the learning situation because the appeal continually coming from the parent or teacher inevitably places him before his own inabilities. However, the effect of these experiences pedagogically run much wider and spread out of the classroom into the school as a whole, the family, the social milieu,

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religious and moral life, and in this way eventually takes vengeance on all facets of life. In light of the fact that the teacher provides help to the learning person (child), the question of learning problems is of great significance for him in the classroom. Each child enters a learning situation as a single, unique person. Consequently, the learning problems of each are unique and individual. In reality, there is no such thing as the child with learning difficulties. Each time the teacher is involved with a child who experiences learning difficulties in his going out to the world. To help him with his learning difficulty literally means to lend him a helping hand as a person in a crisis situation and to wholly or partly repair his perspective on life. It was mentioned that there really is no one in school who has not experienced a learning problem at one time or another. Each time that a child does not understand a particular piece of content, there is mention of a learning problem. Learning difficulties are one of the most universal phenomena of the didactic situation. However, the question is (in the usual course of matters) whether such a situation will grow into a crisis situation. The answer depends on many factors and on the design, intensity, availability and quality of the help, and the willing and affective life that are only a few that can be mentioned. When the pupil gets the better of one or another of these matters that influence his learning activities, the learning difficulty is cleared up. In this respect, the learning problem is temporary and even incidental. However, when he increasingly falls short in the situation for one reason or another this means that he is not in a position to meet the demands. Consequently, he often will try to avoid assignments or is satisfied with an inadequate achievement. When this happens the child finds himself to a greater or lesser degree in a life crisis. In its turn, this implies that he makes a claim for special help and attention. If the condition lasts for a long period it can correctly be expected that such a child will create problems for his educators over the entire scope of his existence. Each teacher must be in a position to identify this type of situation early and make provision for specialized help. In this connection he

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must realize that the lead-in to learning problems really evolves in particular ways with each child. Often the occurrence of a particular learning problem is merely a symptom of deeper-lying difficulties (e.g., educative problems, relationship with his parents or a physical defect) that obstructs the child as a person. In this respect we must understand well that teaching is a continuous, successive event. Therefore, the matters or facts or phenomena that arise in the didactic situation must be viewed and interpreted in the light of these continuous or successive recurrences. In the ordinary school day program, the achievements of the continuous stream of teaching are continually evaluated as achievement scores, curves or graphs. There are few situations in a childs life in which particular defects or obstructions are placed in the limelight of anothers eyes than just this one. Thus, a childs learning achievement is really the point of culmination in which the totality of his cognitive becoming is made visible. In addition, he is not allowed any choice regarding his participation. As soon as he refuses to achieve, for one reason or another, in this series of situations he becomes conspicuous and immediately receives some form of special attention such as ridicule, belittlement, encouragement or extra help. Therefore, the teacher must understand clearly that a childs resistance, reluctance, despondency or general indifference that is hidden in other life situations is clearly displayed in a classroom. Each form of resistance and inability outside of school eventually shows its aftereffect in the childs relationship and communication with his teachers. When a matter such as pedagogical neglect in the home comes to the surface in the school situation in the form of weak achievement, the teacher must immediately interpret this. If he merely qualifies this as a learning problem, one can well understand that his attempts to help him will amount to patchwork since he treats a symptom and not the origin. This naturally does not disregard the fact that such a child really has to contend with learning difficulties. For example, he could have lagged behind for a long time so that optimal achievement has really become impossible. However, should the teacher not proceed in one way or another to determine the origin of his problem, the help will only be superficial. For the

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sake of being systematic, learning problems in the school are divided into two categories: those whose originating factors lie outside of the child, or those whose originating factors stem from the person and that give rise to difficulties. Formally, one should thus distinguish between exogenous and endogenous origins of learning problems. 5.1 Endogenous factors

Factors of an endogenous nature often offer the teacher in the classroom severe problems. These origins arise from the child himself and are often so mysterious and concealed that it is difficult to delimit or properly examine them. Therefore this type of origin often gives rise to guesswork and errors of judgment in orthodidactics. Also they are often interpreted in the heat or crisis of the moment as personality or character weaknesses and that need not be the case at all. The teacher must also keep in mind that a child with learning problems of an endogenous nature seldom or ever is able to exercise direct control over the actualization of his learning. The therapy that is used in this connection often stretches over a long period of time and in many cases involves a total reorientation or even a radical re-educating. What is offered here as endogenous origins of learning problems covers only their most conspicuous and important aspects. It is important to take note that this extremely complicated matter is what requires specialized help and attention. The task of the teacher is primarily to recognize the problem as such and to make provision or arrangements for this specialized help. 5.1.1 Problems in becoming

In the first place, disturbances in becoming certainly must be interpreted in its physical aspect. It is well understood that this must have a particular effect on the childs actualization of learning. Any organ from the brain to the foot can be a physically impaired part of the body that can create particular problems for an individual child. As far as learning achievement is concerned, here

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one especially thinks of a hyperactive goiter or damage to and/or underdevelopment of some parts of the brain by which perceiving, psychic and physical energies, the motoric, speech, etc. can be impaired. Problems of this nature are extremely complicated and must be handled with the greatest circumspection and in collaboration with medicine. On the other hand, disturbances in becoming manifest themselves also in such matters as becoming or readiness factors, psychic puberty, etc. In a previous chapter it was indicated that the level of becoming or readiness of a child can have far-reaching influences on particular aspects of learning achievements in the curriculum. In this connection what the teacher must note very well is that such a disturbance does not necessarily have to manifest itself immediately or in a short period of time. A child with particular deficiencies can plod along until the day the load becomes too heavy for him and he simply crumbles under the pressure. 5.1.2 Affectivity (emotionality)

It is only logical that affective problems have the closest connection with the deepest and innermost being of a child. His affective state is a matter of security, a venturing attitude, exploration and emancipation and self-confidenceall aspects that can influence the act of actualizing learning. Anxiety, tension, aggression and isolation are all forms of expression of an affectively impeded child that leads to an imbalance (lability) in the learning situation and that brings about learning problems. When the affect is not stabilized, attempts at teaching are relatively fruitless. An important aspect that the teacher must search for in this respect is thorough or acceptable intellectual control by the child. A person has never lived who does not feel anxiety, tension, fear, aggression or isolation from time to time. If these matters are placed under good intellectual control, they are viewed as ordinary life phenomena among persons. However, should one or another of them get the upper hand and lead the child to behaviors over which

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later he partly or totally loses control, this forms a fruitful ground for the spread of learning problems on an incredible scale. It is obvious that a teacher and his actions in and before the class can exercise a very direct influence on these experiential aspects of a child. When the learning situation is a situation of anxiety or resistance, a child simply cannot be guided to effective or optimal achievements. 5.1.3 Motivational disturbances

Motivational disturbances are especially related to the childs affective life because the latter is the bedrock that supports his intentionality. Therefore, disturbed motives can largely refer back to incongruities in the childs intentionality, and this includes the more generally known acts of will. In a learning situation, such a child shows himself as one who is going to bend under low spiritual energy, show a deficiency in his readiness to achieve, a refusal to compete with others and similar forms of manifestation. In addition, they often show an unhealthy, unjustifiable and naively aggressive resistance that manifests itself suddenly and for the slightest reason and the use of colloquial language that often is described by a teacher as uneducated. A pupil with motivational disturbances often manifests himself as an aimless person who flits around and about which the teachers as well as the parents often have no suggestions. Further, it is notable that this phenomenon often shows itself during puberty when the child to a much greater degree is placed under the norms of society. He indeed wants to venture in this but does not know precisely how he must comport himself. Such a life uncertainty, hesitancy, and especially rejection of authority must also be seen in this context as an attempt to flee from and to conceal his deficiencies. It is only understandable and normal that in these years [of puberty] the adults will impose increasingly higher demands on these pupils with respect to their judgmental abilities, life of values and especially their perspective on the future. In the family situation this conflict can stem from a never ending arguing, preaching and disharmonious family climate that is not at all conducive to achieving good learning. Most of these children

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reorient themselves within the course of two or three years or even longer before an adult and accountable participation in the learning situation really come to the surface. At this stage the child begins to achieve again as he did in the elementary school. It also is important to indicate that, especially in the case of boys, many do not experience this reorientation before they are already in the university. Therefore, often, within two or three years, poor and average school pupils develop into able students in their college years. One of the greatest problems for the teacher is the offensive selfproclamations to which some of these pupils progress. To help them in pedagogic ways to endure in the midst of this life crisis is no small task. Poor learning achievement in this case often is merely a symptom that emphasizes that a child in this stage of his life must not be left to his own devices. 5.1.4 Talent and temperament

To delve deeply into these two aspects and their connection to the question of learning problems is a difficult and comprehensive task. The following matters are certainly important for the teacher to know about. A childs talent merely points to the fact that a particular potentiality is noticeable regarding him. That this talent does not mean a fixed given or constant quantity is well known to all. A childs talent really can only be evaluated in light of what he makes of it as a person. It also is generally accepted that he cannot exceed certain boundaries in this respect. That the pupils in a classroom can show mutual feelings of greater or lesser dignity in this regard is also a fact of experience. However, the matter that deserves emphasis is that the continual stream of achievement evaluation gives a definite identity to this talent, e.g., in sciences or languages. A general complaint heard by teachers, especially in the secondary school, involves this talent for a particular matter or not. A factor that sometimes exercises an enormous influence here and that shows a close connection to talent is the childs temperament. In the strongest sense of the word, it also is strongly related to the affective attunement (stability or lability) of the pupil.

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Temperamental change and affective lability, along with the childs talent, are factors that especially contribute to the nature and level of a childs achievement in the class. Therefore, this also must be illuminating with respect to an image of learning problems. The pupils expressions of his talent and the perception of the teacher regarding its forms of expression are two matters that must be deliberately correlated in the adults judgment (of the child). 5.1.5 Organic defects

As already stated, a large percent of learning problems are rooted in an organic or physical basis. This means that a child in a learning situation has particular physical or organic potential at his disposal to which he indeed is not abandoned, but which, as a person, he must make something of, even if a particular deficiency is noted. Physical retardation of one or another nature (conspicuous or inconspicuous) is one of the most fundamental contributions to the origin of learning problems. Therefore, there is mention of a child intensely experiencing his own corporeality and body image, and often a crisis situation arises because of this bodily experiencing. Malformed limbs, weak eyes requiring thick glasses, obesity, deafness and poor motor skills are but a few of the generally familiar physical problems that directly influence a childs learning achievement. Direct consequences that flow from this can be, e.g., the quality of the pupils perceiving, his acquisition of a particular skill and particularly disturb or restrain his mastery of language. Regarding matters such as brain damage, we know that in many respects it so hinders the childs activities that he no longer can participate appropriately in the teaching situation in normal ways. Often these pupils show a defective dexterity in language in all of its forms so that learning to read and spell already partly fail in beginning teaching. These deficiencies reproduce themselves in the childs school career and after a few years he really stagnates entirely in the learning situation. The healthy relationship between word and reading, on the one hand, and language, on the other, is not possible under these circumstances because they consistently show a meta-stable character.

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Serious forms of brain damage, weak sightedness and deafness are determined relatively easily and quickly, often even before a child goes to school. However, what is very important for the teacher is that many forms of minimal brain functioning manifest themselves so subtly and indirectly that specialists in this area can make serious errors in judgment in connection with the ways they are manifested. Everywhere in our day schools there are children with mild epileptic states and other forms of slight brain damage that only come to the surface in the image of the pupils achievement. In this respect one must be vigilant for a child who is easily fatigable, who quickly becomes aggressive, whose attending fluctuates greatly, who has difficulty working through from a concrete to an abstract level and who in the classroom is hyperactive and troublesome. Although disturbances with respect to left-right dominance are not necessarily an indication of a learning problem, in relation to other symptoms, it still can raise the teachers suspicions. Another aspect of a child experiencing his corporeality that often is left out of account is that pupils in puberty usually experience very intensely changes in their own corporeality. Sometimes the parents prepare their children for these changes and sometimes not. A sudden increase in weight, height, bodily hair and changes regarding the condition of the skin and the sexual life can so absorb and disrupt a child that he completely looses his equilibrium concerning an involvement in learning and achieving. Although this is a temporary matter in the life of practically all children, this exercises a tremendous influence on the tempo at which such a child works in the sense that a pupil can so fall back in one or more of the school subjects that he carries the effects of this with him to the final school examination. 5.2 Exogenous factors

In as much as the actualization of learning has been elucidated from a variety of perspectives, it seems that many external factors (factors that are outside of the child himself) can drastically influence his learning achievements. These factors do not have a separate, definite classroom identity because they affect each child differently and are experienced and assimilated in various ways by

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the individual children. A factor that can adversely influence one child in the lesson situation sometimes will pass another by even though their circumstances are approximately the same. Also this phenomenon manifests itself with respect to children from one family. Fine nuances in the affective stability, talent and temperament can give rise to the fact that a particular environmental factor can affect a child such that his achievement is weakened, while his brother or sister gives no evidence that they are aware of such a circumstance. To contend that all children ought to be influenced in the same way by similar environmental conditions is observed to be untrue and unjustified by everyday experience. For the sake of systematization, only the following important and often conspicuous aspects are presented briefly. 5.2.1 Asking too much

Each person literally lives his own life. However, in the case of a child it often happens that in the learning situation he is confronted with tasks that he cannot do because of his talent and/or temperament. These demands from the parents can come from their expectations of him, in accordance with the prestige of the family in the community, to maintain a profile of achievement that he is not in a position to do. On the other hand, a teacher who is very strongly attuned to good examination work and results can ask entirely too much of such a child. Whatever the reasons for asking too much, there is no doubt that this places a pupil in a crisis situation whose scope and intensity increases during the course of time. The fact is the child cannot meet these demands. In his experiences and behaviors on the basis of these demands, the pupil really has one of two choices. He can withdraw and isolate himself in such a way that none of the demanders can reach him. On the other hand he can throw everything into the struggle to try to meet the demands and later carry the sadness of his failure. Attitudes such as aggression, nonchalance, gross indifference and excessive participation in sports and other forms of play are but a few familiar forms of fleeing that are implemented by these pupils. A danger in asking too much is that eventually the pupil will be

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compelled to reject the learning situation in its entirety. Consequently, achievement actually comes to a standstill and as a result the pupil becomes a potential school dropout. 5.2.2 Overindulging and neglecting

All teachers know that the educating a child receives at home is of decisive significance for his achievement in school. The school situation is a matter of authority, norms, input and effort. Therefore, school achievement is also a matter of disciplining and identifying that directly concerns the future of a child. When a childs self-censure and the awaking of his learning intention are damaged because these matters are neglected in his educating at home, one can expect that the resistance that is unique to the school tasks in one way or another can overwhelm him and by which he necessarily becomes an underachiever. Here the teacher is confronted with an extremely difficult task. As an adult he cannot replenish these deficiencies in a short time by reeducating the child. As an institution the school also cannot merely squeeze in and take the place of the family. In this connection, what holds for neglect also is true for overindulgence. An overindulged child often shows himself as someone who makes little effort or has no resolve for self-censure, self-judgment and self-discipline. Obstacles never really challenge him. All that he has truly refined during this entire period of overindulgence are his techniques of evasion. The healthy pedagogic authority on which the school relies and that the teacher often tries to present and augment, then becomes stagnated; and it can be eliminated only by intensive reeducating. Fundamentally, to indulge or neglect a child means to commit an educational crime. Ordinarily the neglected child shows a way and attitude of living that indicate that as a person he is ignored and given the cold shoulder. Nothing is ever expected of him, he never is encouraged, love and discipline are not received, but his participation in the learning situation often has the character of a bored hanger-on. In this time of a fast tempo of life and overprotection of children, this is one of the most important environmental factors that contributes to learning problems. 5.2.3 Identification

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To be able to identify himself with an adult is one of the most fundamental needs in a childs life. He continually searches for someone that he can imitate and who wakens in him the will to do, to talk and in general to act as an adult. This person identified with usually is someone who wields authority, makes choices without hesitating, behaves elegantly and (especially with a very small child) is very handsome or beautiful or very strong. Thus within the sphere of the family there is an indubitable identification noticed of children with their parents and even other relatives. Thus, also in school there is a definite identification between pupils and teachers. This matter of identification is of such significance that it can drastically influence a childs lifestyle. In the family under usual circumstances the father is a strong identification figure because he cares for the status of the home, its economic security, its authority and especially also because to a large extent he can guarantee its future. Should it happen that a child grows up without an adult entering the foreground somewhere in his life history with whom he can identify, his stake in life and participation in his being situated are much poorer and more drab than they ought to be. This fact shows itself extensively especially during and after puberty. Because a child wants to be someone himself he continually looks for an adult he can imitate. Defective identification easily leads to life uncertainty and to hesitation in the learning situation. 5.2.4 Skepticism

Today is a time of skeptical and even revolutionary thinking in practically every respect. Nothing is merely accepted, least of all the school, the teachers and the pronouncements of the parent. It also is a time of overwhelming contents that flow to the child along various external channels of communication without him ever seeking information or being able to internally assimilate it and integrate it into his ways of existing. Our time is also one of contrasts and clashes. These contrasts and clashes are actually observable aspects of the life world. The school does not escape this. Ordinarily, the school shows itself as a conservative and cautious institution that does not allow itself to be

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influenced by quick changes in society without being able to justify them. The most important consequence of this is that usually there is a discernible distance that arises between the school world and the outside world because the school is so strongly directed to tradition, authority and norms. When the norms in society shift, the school usually is the last institution to accept them. These changes are difficult for some children to understand and interpret. Their attitudes about school often have a negative, indifferent or even aggressive character. It cannot be doubted that all of these matters can be an influence on a healthy and positive learning disposition in the life of a child because they can adversely affect his learning intention. Often they find the schools activities laughable and, as they say, childish. This holds for a wide variety of aspect that are unique to the practice of schooling such as teaching aids that appear to be relatively wretched in comparison with the aids that are used in advertising and other forms of influencing. It is logical that this inclination also holds with respect to other forms of diversion and leisure and where the school enters into competition with the community itself. The schools attempts and tempo often obviously are drabber compared to those in the world outside of it. Therefore, one need not be surprised to know that a relatively large percent of children who participate intensely in the diversity and life tempo of the world outside of the school view the latter as a place that is deficient and poor in imagination. Together with the rest of modern humanity, modern youth also cries for bread and games while the school is a place of sweat and exertion. For some pupils, the deficiency of the school with respect to the world outside of it is too great and unacceptable with the result that they reject the learning situation and search for more exciting experiences in the world outside of the school. For a long time sociology has investigated comparable problems such as that of population concentration, mass-production, mass-recreation, interpersonal alienation, etc. A matter that also has a detrimental effect on the school in this terrain has been a central theme for sociology for more than a decade. Therefore additional findings of this pedagogical discipline are referred to.

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5.2.5

The school

Although the school often is a passive party in the midst of the neglect and skepticism that reign in modern society, as an institution it often contributes in many respects to the creation of its own problems. These problems often follow from the announcement of policies by teaching authorities, the worldwide shortage of teachers, and an international hesitation to convene a meeting on teaching. As an institution, the school can do little about these kinds of problems. However, there are also other factors in the context of the schools purpose that raise the question of learning problems and about which the school itself can do something. That school life can exercise an indelible influence on a childs becoming and forming was discussed relatively broadly in a previous chapter. The school is a dynamic institution that sets a pace that cannot be easily modified. This dynamic and tempo usually are that of the average. But the school is not entirely populated by average pupils. A school population is precisely as heterogeneous as society itself. Consequently, the dynamic and tempo will be too fast for some children and to slow for others. For the one group this leads to asking too much and for the other to boredom. How intensively at all a school differentiates (groups) always remains a problem that never can be entirely solved or left out of consideration when there is reflection on the origins of learning problems. The schools basic organization relies on the ability of people to guarantee its good progress. However, teaching policy does not always make provision for this. Some teachers can be entirely successful with large groups and class work, others not. Some have a spontaneous and intuitive attunement for the situation of a child and for the quality of his own accompaniment, others not. The same holds for pupils. Some children can achieve in large groups and classes (i.e., without receiving personal attention), others cant. Some can achieve in the classroom and on the athletic field, others not. That a school framework that can make provision for all of these variations is really wishful thinking certainly cannot be denied. Yet, in the midst of the complexity and the style of

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modern society, one must notice the difficulties that flow from it with respect to the achievement profile of the pupils and at least be ready, as far as possible, to make provision so that, as factors contributing to learning problems, they can be eliminated. 5.3 Forms in which learning problems appear

The occurrence of learning problems cannot be haphazard or be attributed to haphazard factors. As a whole one can possibly summarize their most important forms of appearance as follows. 5.3.1 Refusing to learn

When a child refuses to participate in the learning event without their being a direct or identifiable organic reason, the origin must be sought elsewhere. The teacher must be aware that this rejection can touch the childs learning as a whole or only partly (with respect to a particular school subject). The most important forms of expression of this are isolation and aggression. In this case, a childs isolation is especially shown in the fact that he withdraws from his parents and teachers, sometimes participates intensively in forming an unfavorable group and shirks his obligations; in conversation he shows a very cursory willingness to learn and achieve. Aggression shows itself in the fact that the pupil conspicuously avoids obeying orders, is cantankerous, brutal and disorderly and must be continually punished or reprimanded because he acts self-righteously. 5.3.2 Stagnating in the learning event Also different forms of this are indicated. Thus a teacher can find that the learning achievement of a pupil can suddenly stagnate, e.g., because of a chronic illness, traumatic experience or an unexpected and radical change in the level of the learning activities themselves. This latter aspect can especially surface when a child must begin a new subject about which he cannot acquire an understanding from the start.

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On the other hand, the stagnation can also be progressive in nature as a result of an unexpected change in learning contents, the attainment of ones own ceiling of learning or the unexpected challenge from a physical condition that had not yet been diagnosed to that point in time. 5.3.3 A deceleration of the learning event As a form of learning difficulty this aspect usually enters the foreground through the limitations of intellectual talent or of a deficiency that might exist in the inner (psychic) life of a child in education. Certainly, this is the most important basis for a deceleration regarding the appeal to achieve acceptably. 5.3.4 Selective stagnation in the learning event One usually finds this form of manifestation in sensory impeded children (blind, deaf mutes, deaf, physically disabled, poor sighted, hard of hearing and motor handicapped). This also arises in children with serious language disturbances, the origin of which must be sought in the psychic-linguistic sphere. 5.3.5 Conflicts in becoming and learning This form of appearance of the phenomenon of a learning problem obviously can appear across the childs school career. It usually begins with a deficiency in school readiness, but also can create serious problems in puberty and thereafter by which the ability to influence and give help to the child are restrained. 5.3.6 Disintegration of the activities in the learning event This form of manifestation often enters the foreground when the intellectual level of the teaching is such that a child can no longer easily attain the contents. He intensively experiences his own impotence to solve the problem, serious disturbances in concentrating arise, the schemes of thinking become looser and disordered, the directedness and actualization of

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his intentionality in the learning situation begins to languish with the result that his achievement image regresses all the more. Here it must be very strongly emphasized that the above offers a very brief and incomplete image of the entire question of learning problems. However, the comprehensiveness of this problem in the modern school demands of each teacher that he make a study of this issue so that he can recognize these appearances of learning difficulties. Finally, learning problems are a matter in the teaching of each child that must be considered. When a teacher is incapable of at least recognizing learning problems he is incapable of appearing in front of a class.

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CHAPTER 14 EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT: EXAMINATIONS AND TESTS

Generally speaking, evaluating, assessing and administering examinations and tests are the most common and everyday activities that a teacher has. They are also the most complex and difficult of all of his professional responsibilities. As far as pupils are concerned, evaluation is certainly the most important part of the teaching situation because the quality of their input and their progress in teaching and learning situations give sense and meaning to their existence in the school. 1. WHY DO WE EVALUATE IN EDUCATION? All teachers know that they are continually involved in conscious and sometimes unconscious evaluation. Everyone who has worked with a class or a number of classes for a school term has grouped the pupils into different categories. For example, in every grade, there can be a small group of brilliant achievers, a large group of average ability and a number of individuals who will probably fail. In addition to these categories, there is usually a small group of pupils in every class who are troublesome, a few who never really do their homework, a number of pupils who are regularly absent, certain individuals who continually try to attract the teachers attention, etc. All of these statements that reflect part of the daily teaching situation result from evaluations. Although the evaluations are not formalized, this kind of subjective assessment leads to classifications, groupings and to important strategies of testing in the classroom. This kind of assessment is subjective in the sense that no objectively developed criteria were used to conclude that pupils C, R, S and Y are always a nuisance in the class. In these circumstances it could not be stated that the pupils had been tested, examined, assessed of formally evaluated.

This chapter did not appear in Inleiding tot die Didaktiese Pedagogiek but was added by G.D.Y., slightly edited, from the authors English translation/rewrite published as Chapter 10 in Van der Stoep, F. and Louw, W. J.: Didactics. Pretoria: Academica, 1984. 477

However, when matters such as determining a childs intelligence quotient are involved, or when aptitude, learning achievements and the promotion of pupils to the next grade are considered, subjective assessment is unacceptable. The teacher simply does not sit down with a list of names in his hand to mark those who pass or fail, although he knows very well who is bound to pass and who probably will not. These decisions must be based on objective information that has been collected objectively. Therefore, a variety of tests is introduced to insure that the evaluation is accountable in terms of objective criteria. Tests do not supersede the teachers judgment: they actually supplement it. In this sense, tests are an independent means of assessing the nature and level of the childs achievements. Consumers of education are most interested in the teachers procedures of evaluation. The outcome of these procedures indicates the nature and scope of the progress parents expect of their children. In this context some teachers have learned through bitter experience that if examination and test marks are kept as high as possible parents will be satisfied, irrespective of whether their child has, in fact, reached the level suggested by the mark or percentage. These teachers reason that a few added points cost nothing, that parents will not ask awkward questions and that the childs self-image will not be endangered. In this case the teacher uses a strategy of evaluation that avoids conflict, thereby hoping to establish an equable learning and teaching environment. It is obvious that this strategy cannot be justified pedagogically, didactically or in any other way. Nowadays this kind of subjective evaluation is difficult to use because the marks achieved by pupils in all classes are continually determined by standardized tests that have been stored in secure data banks. Standardized tests are used regularly by schools to verify the quality of the pupils learning achievements. Other consumers of education are also interested in evaluation, especially employers. Schooling always leads to the achievement of a certificate. Certificates are statements of ability or of a level of education (schooling) that has been reached. This is important for the pupil as well as for the employer. For the pupil, the certificate

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declares his competence to proceed with his formal education (e.g., by enrolling in a tertiary educational institution) or to start training outside the formal school system, in which case his certificate serves as a qualification for entrance. On the other hand, his certificate provides him with direct access to employment. The fact that employers place high value on these pronouncements of the educational sector and their comments regarding the capabilities of their employees (e.g., their ability to use language correctly) are important for educational institutions because they serve as a barometer to control the quality of schooling. Government and the powers that be are another sector of society most interested in evaluation practices. The trustworthiness (reliability and validity) of the procedures of evaluation in schools under their control not only determines the status, prestige or functional value of the education that they largely finance; this trustworthiness offers every citizen the reassurance that his education will provide him with the opportunity to lead a worthy vocational life and to enjoy the status associated with his vocation. Authorities, therefore, expect schools to contribute to forming independent, dependable, loyal and economically productive citizens. Trained manpower is the greatest asset any country can have. Therefore, the quality of the training must be carefully and continually monitored and controlled by means of standards especially designed for every form of education. Nothing could ever damage the image of a university more than to suggest that its standards are suspect. Strategies of evaluation are of great importance in society as a whole. Education and the possession of certificates provide access to job opportunities for learners. Work generates income, i.e., economic independence. Generally, the better the qualification, the higher the income, and level of income generally determines the level of status in society. This is especially important in developing

In this context I ( G.D.Y.) have translated reliability as trustworthiness. Clearly the authors do not use reliability only in the technical, psychometric sense of consistency or stability; by this term, they simultaneously imply that one can rely on a test result really meaning what it is being interpreted to mean (i.e., its validity). For me, the nontechnical term trustworthy deals with this ambiguity, while preserving it, because it simultaneously embraces the psychometric concepts of reliability and validity. 479

countries because it provides the mechanism for social mobility and means that one can aspire to higher social status on the grounds of good education and training. The stratification of society by classes, levels or ranks is always criticized but it cannot be ignored or wished away. It seems that it has become a part of every society. The certificates of educational institutions are an important key for unlocking these doors for the consumer of education. This brief overview hopefully explains why trustworthy evaluation procedures and standards in education are of general importance in every country and community. Naturally there is widespread and intense criticism of tests and examinations. Criticism is aimed at all levels and kinds of testing and examining, from measuring the intelligence of a young child to doctoral examinations. Reasons for the criticism are well known: it encourages the overemphasis of examination results, children do not learn to think, they only memorize; it prejudices the teaching of the gifted; it is discriminatory in education and in society as a whole, etc. But nobody has as yet suggested an acceptable strategy to replace tests and examinations. In fact the contribution modern technology has made to insure the trustworthiness of test and examination procedures has increased their prestige. The aim of this chapter is not to provide the prospective teacher with comprehensive training in evaluation procedures. This is in itself a study or training course that is included in most teacher training curricula. The aims of this chapter are: to make student teachers aware of the importance and problems of responsible test and examination procedures; and to explain the basics of evaluation practices as clearly as possible. The selected bibliography at the end of this book contains many excellent works on the subject, including works of South African authors. These works contain the necessary descriptions of testing techniques, statistical procedures and interpretations of a wide variety of test results as well as their statistical meaning.

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To summarize: awarding marks is one of the activities in which the teacher is always involved. The circumstances in which he carries out his teaching contribute importantly to the strategies he will use. He must organize his test and examination procedures to grade pupils effectively according to their achievements. This is a very sensitive and important task. The childs self-image, his image of the future (direction of study, vocation), his relationship to his parents, his prestige in the class all depend on [really assume] the trustworthiness of the teachers evaluation procedures. A large part of this is subjective. The subjective factor in assessment can never be completely eliminated; therefore, every teacher must use evaluation strategies as correctly as possible to guarantee the trustworthiness of his evaluations.
The marks awarded to a pupil, that to a large extent eventually reflect his ability, aptitude, acceptability, usefulness, etc., are usually used in the following ways: as a profile of his progress in school; as a basis for his promotion to the next grade; as encouragement to make greater learning effort; to serve as a guideline for choosing a direction of study and for vocational guidance; to draw a profile of his personality and character; to serve as motivation to study for scholarships, awards, etc.; to serve as criteria to assess his worth when he applies for a job; to provide data for research in a variety of circumstances, but especially for educational purposes. For these reasons test and examination results may not be shrouded in mystery or considered to be an aspect of the teachers responsibility that is not open to public scrutiny. Pupils must know at all times what the teachers procedures are as well as the criteria he will use in his assessment. 2. WHAT AIMS ARE VALID FOR EVALUATION? From what has been said above, the following aims of evaluation are important.

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2.1

Certification of pupils achievements

Although many teachers doubt the desirability of grading pupils on the basis of examinations (A, B+, B, C or 80%, 65%, 50%), it cannot be denied that well constructed examinations (tests) do provide a trustworthy criterion to determine the level of achievement and especially to decide whether the child can be promoted to the next grade. Reasons for measuring achievements were mentioned above. Surely it is inconceivable that a teacher could decide intuitively to fail a pupil! In addition to determining scholastic achievement, there is a whole series of equally valid aims when testing and examining in order to make responsible educational decisions such as the kind of school the child should attend, or to provide a basis for advising the parents. Without the substance of evaluative data the teacher cannot function effectively as an educationist. The following are conditions where assessing and testing must be as objective as possible in order to make responsible and accountable educational decisions. 2.1.1 Grouping pupils

This is a common practice in teaching. Grouping pupils in grades, subjects, remedial classes, etc. are examples. When grouping pupils, the teacher seeks either homogeneity or individual differences in order to provide more effective teaching; for example, in selecting highly gifted pupils. In certain classes, pupils can also be grouped according to learning tempo (quick, average and slow). In practice, pupils are never grouped only according to tests. The teachers observations are at least as important as the test results. Grouping also is never used in an attempt to eliminate individual differences. 2.1.2 The organization of specific learning programs

Trustworthy test results can provide valuable information in organizing learning programs; for example, the development of abilities, specific talents (art) or the solution of learning problems. They also provide an opportunity to construct a curriculum or design teaching material in accordance with pupils needs.

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2.1.3

To determine aptitude

This is a normal practice in school as well as vocational guidance. Tests provide indispensable information for choosing the right subjects, in determining the kind of teaching that must be provided (e.g., vocational education) and in deciding on the most applicable course of study for a specific pupil (e.g., the humanities or the natural sciences). 2.1.4 Changing schools

It is often very difficult for teachers to determine a pupils level of achievement when the child moves to a new area and school. It would be unwise to attempt to establish a childs level while he is trying to adjust himself to a new school and circumstances. The use of standardized scholastic tests is a guide and reasonably trustworthy way to determine the newcomers level of achievement and give him the necessary attention in class. 2.1.5 Research

The importance of well-designed and carefully executed evaluation procedures for educational research is self-evident. Various aspects have already been referred to: giftedness, learning problems, data banks to provide standardized examinations, determining realistic levels of achievement for different age groups, the development of trustworthy predictors of academic or vocational success for all categories of learners, and last but not least, school readiness. These are examples of the positive contribution trustworthy evaluative procedures can make to education. 2.2 Evaluating the effect of teaching

Good testing can be a valuable support for the teacher in assessing the effect of his teaching. Although standardized tests and examinations are available and are increasingly used in education, it is the teacher who actually decides on its contents. Whatever appears on the examination reflects what the teacher considers to be important and how he wants the pupils to deal with it. In the

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explanation of the development of the curriculum in Chapter 11, the importance of aims was stressed. What exactly must be achieved in teaching specific aspects of contents? It follows that the teacher evaluates (selects contents) in terms of aims and objectives identified in the curriculum. If the teacher wants the pupils to know (remember) certain facts or formulas then he must test accordingly. The same applies to aims such as creative thinking, learning methods for solving problems, transferring insights to new situations, etc. This imperative is true even for the smallest teaching unit. If a teacher teaches without first determining exactly what his aim is, he does not know what he is doing. If he then tests without knowing what he is testing, the same applies. This means the teacher expects specific achievements from his pupils that must be reflected in his test, that he has carefully identified these achievements and competencies in his marking scheme and that he knows exactly the criteria for which credit will be given and the weight they will have for each answer. In effect, he is, in part, assessing the influence of his own teaching through the quality of his pupils achievements. When grading papers, it is often disconcerting to a teacher to see the quality of his teaching reflected in the answers his pupils give. 2.3 Encouragement

Tests and examinations can also encourage pupils, especially because they are so intent on succeeding. There are few motivations in life that are as encouraging as success. Good achievements by pupils encourage the teacher to attempt to improve his teaching even more. The same applies to the pupil. For the achiever, the examination should never be a crisis but an opportunity to show his steel. Badly devised tests frustrate this aim. The preparation of a good test requires much time and hard work but it has its own rewards. 2.4 Programmed and computer-assisted teaching

As explained in Chapter 10, immediate evaluation is an integral part of programmed and computer-assisted teaching. Each answer of the pupil is immediately assessed and marked right or wrong. If

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teachers develop these programs for their own teaching, they must include immediate assessment in the program. The details of programmed and computer-assisted teaching were discussed extensively in Chapter 10 and will not be considered any further. 3. THE TEACHER AS EVALUATOR Nowhere in our society are tests and examinations conducted more regularly and more extensively than in our schools. The teacher is the center of this educational activity; in fact, in the most literal sense of the word, he is the hub of the evaluation wheel. Therefore, it goes without saying that the teacher must be a knowledgeable and trustworthy evaluator, examiner and judge of his pupils achievements. The contribution he makes to his pupils future can never be overestimated. For this reason, accidental or casual factors have no place in his evaluative responsibilities. He must know the theoretical basis of evaluation and must be able to apply the related principles in his classroom. This not only applies to the childs learning achievements in a specific subject, it applies equally to the evaluation of him as a person including his aptitudes and potentialities as a human being. Many of the tests the teacher uses are highly specialized. Education authorities appoint teacher specialists to administer specialized tests (e.g., intelligence tests). Generally speaking, schools make use of tests (i.e., all forms of examination and evaluation) as instruments to maintain and promote the quality of teaching. By means of these tests the teacher constructs a profile of every individual childs achievement. The aim is to eventually help each child attain the highest level of achievement by individualizing the teaching and learning situation. This is the most important reason for introducing computer-assisted teaching in schools all over the world. In their striving to increase positive teaching effects in this context, education planners and curriculum compilers are continually looking for ways to stabilize the teachers evaluation. Homogeneous grouping of pupils is one example of what is meant. Programs to prepare school beginners are another. The teacher is examiner by virtue of the fact that he teaches people.

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Most dictionaries agree that the concept examination can be described in the following terms: an examination is verbal or written proof established by means of questions and answers and its aim is: to assess the knowledge, capabilities or advancement of a pupil, student or candidate in a subject or series of subjects in a specific science or area of knowledge; and to examine a persons ability to accept certain responsibilities.

The teacher can approach the problem in different ways in the classroom. We are all aware of them. He can instruct his pupils to write an essay or paragraph on Napoleons foreign policy or on the symbolism of T. S. Eliots poetry. This would qualify as an essay examination. However, the teacher can also make use of objective tests of which there are many variations. These tests are considered to be objective because they are not influenced by the teachers opinions. The questions (items) and answers have been previously standardized. When the essay on Napoleons foreign policy is marked, the assessment is subjective because there is no standardized answer. It hardly ever occurs that two examiners award the same marks to an essay because their own interpretations of the answer will differ. Examples of objective examination items are given later. 4. NORM DIRECTED EVALUATION One of the most important objectives in evaluation is to establish criteria in terms of which the teacher can describe the childs achievement. It is important for a teacher to remember that a mark (score), irrespective of its nature, is relatively useless unless he knows what the basis or background is to which the mark refers. For example, in administering a scholastic test, a mark of 10 can indicate exceptional giftedness for a school beginner but serious retardation for an older or secondary school student. The mark can be interpreted only if one knows the norm to which it can be related. There are mainly two kinds of comparative groups that can be used to give evaluative meaning to a childs achievement on a test. One

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can compare the childs achievement with that of other children of his age, grade level or within his class. The comparability of his achievement is the important consideration. The norms used to interpret the individual childs achievements are generally classified as follows. 4.1 Age norms

These norms compare the individual childs achievements to those of children of the same age. A clear example of this is found in studies of babies. At a certain age a child should weigh so much, be able to sit without help, be able to crawl, etc. However, as children grow older, it becomes more difficult to use age as a norm because its trustworthiness becomes suspect. Differences in learning achievement cannot be described only in terms of comparative ages. 4.2 Class or grade norms

Grade level norms are established by calculating the average score or mark of pupils in the same grade. A test is given to a representative sample of pupils who, although they come from different areas, socio-economic backgrounds, and although their ages might differ, are all at the same grade level. In using this method, comparisons are possible because all of the children [presumably] have enjoyed the same range and level of education. In this way, a norm is established for a specific grade level in school with respect to particular aspects of the curriculum, e.g., fractions in arithmetic. When such a standardized test is given to a pupil, his achievement can be compared and judged with respect to the average achievement of pupils in this specific grade. 4.3 Percentile norms

When using percentile norms, the percentages of pupils are determined with which the individual pupils achievement can be compared: if 75% of the pupils with whom pupil As achievements are compared scored lower marks than he did, this means that pupil A has a percentile rank of 75. Pupil A therefore achieved a higher score than 75% of the pupils who took the test, but he achieved a lower score than 25% of the group.

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The particulars of norm directed procedures of evaluation imply the statistical analysis of test results. As was pointed out, the aim of this chapter is not to go into the details of such statistical analyses. Nobody doubts the value or accuracy of results analyzed in this way; nobody doubts the trustworthiness of the conclusions that can be drawn from these analyses. The question of statistical accountability will, therefore, not be gone into any further. There are, however, a large number of different everyday considerations of a more general didactic nature that should be explained. 5. CRITERION DIRECTED EVALUATION Norm directed evaluation is aimed at devising procedures to compare a pupil with other pupils in different ways. However, many evaluation experts are of the opinion that this is not the best way to assess a pupils achievements. Their aim is to identify a set and fixed standard of evaluation in terms of which the individual pupil should be evaluated. In this case, the individual pupil is not assessed in terms of the achievements of another pupil or group but according to criteria derived from the contents, as such. The level of achievement of all of the other pupils regarding the criterion is irrelevant when the individual is assessed because the criterion does not reflect the achievement of a group of other pupils. The criterion is found in the contents themselves. A criterion directed test will, therefore, indicate the degree to which an individual pupil has grasped a specific theme or problem, for example the ability to correctly spell certain categories of words. It is quite irrelevant that 80% of all pupils of his age and grade level can spell these words correctly; only the individual pupils achievement is important. The test will indicate the childs difficulties or problems, irrespective of the difficulties of the pupils in his age group or any other group. Criterion directed evaluation leans heavily on the importance of aims and objectives and insists that the childs achievement is assessed in terms of the specific teaching aims and objectives and the contents that were chosen for these purposes. Data banks and question banks are primarily associated with this type of evaluation because the questions and answers have been extensively tested and

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verified; the discrimination value has been established empirically and the criteria (answers) are absolutely constant. 6. EXAMINATIONS AND TESTS The importance of the authentic formulation of teaching and learning aims in curriculum development has been stressed in Chapters 7 and 11. The contents that are selected must insure the realization of these aims in a general and specific sense. At the same time, the ordering of these contents must place the learning task within the childs grasp, and it must insure a realistic level of access for the child while revealing the specific nature (elementals, essences) of the contents. Curriculum evaluation cannot occur outside of the framework of these aims. Also, the curriculum is not evaluated only after it has been designed: this evaluation is a continuous, summative procedure that occurs even while the curriculum is being constructed. When a practicing teacher is testing pilot curricula as part of a research team (i.e., when it is made operational in didactic situations), assessing the relationship between aims and contents is the teachers fundamental concern. If the learning aims are not fully covered by the contents, i.e., if they cannot realize the desired learning effect, the pilot curriculum must be reviewed. The same principle holds for all examination and test procedures used by a teacher. He always tests and examines in terms of the teaching and learning aims formulated in the curriculum. He determines his own specific teaching objectives in terms of curriculum aims and incorporates them in his lesson designs (plans). This is an inexorable and inescapable demand for every aspect of his evaluative practice. This principle never loses its validity in education, whatever the circumstances might be. Therefore, it is self-evident that a teacher cannot design a lesson without carefully and explicitly formulating his objectives. Any other procedure will put him in the position of a dog chasing its own tail. The same principle applies to examinations. Examinations are concerned only with the formulated teaching and learning aims. Any other approach is unprofessional, unethical and

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unquestionably dishonest. Therefore, a teacher must not decide what the questions will be for this afternoons test or examination while riding a bus to school in the morning. Learning objectives, test questions and marking or scoring rubrics are a unified trilogy. A number of acts and particulars are of importance in this context when a teacher considers his test procedures. 6.1 Informal testing techniques

These techniques can be of great importance in drawing a profile of a pupils achievements over a long period. Norm- and criteriondirected evaluations formalize the evaluation situation in a specific sense. They lead the teacher to objective measurement procedures that have a certain merit in their own right: they are unprejudiced, relatively free from subjectivity and they should provide trustworthy test results under almost all circumstances. However, we all know that the teaching situation is not objective by nature or character. In practice, there are no standard pupils or schools and this means that a complete perception of an individual pupils achievements cannot really be obtained by making exclusive use of objective tests. Important aspects of a pupils personality and character can be determined only by careful observation by the teacher. The teachers observation of a pupil in a series of situations, often over a long period of time, can be of decisive importance in explaining the pupils profile of achievement that is established by means of objective tests, and to place them in perspective. A good example of this kind of evaluation is found in pre-primary and primary education where standardized test have only limited value (except in the testing for school readiness). Many important decisions regarding children are based on the teachers observations. The key to this kind of evaluation is that it must be systematic. The teacher must decide beforehand what areas of the childs achievements should be observed. These particulars must be written down carefully and regularly. Education offers many opportunities for this kind of evaluation. In addition to the circumstances already referred to, the teacher can make unobtrusive notes on the childs self-confidence, bravado, apparent indifference, venturing attitude, aggression, the quality of his concentration, his ability to think logically, his behavior in a

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group (e.g., his constant efforts to draw attention to himself), his preference for certain learning situations (projects or tasks), overdependence on help from others, the quality of his language and articulateness, exceptional gifts (singing, drawing, dramatization), learning tempo, reading skills, perfectionism, etc. All of these factors have an important influence on a childs stability and his participation in teaching situations. Teachers often overlook the importance of stability. When pupils are conspicuous in one way or another (rowdiness, copying other childrens work, etc.), one is inclined to concentrate on that particular aspect of behavior instead of considering all of the factors that determine the stability of the childs learning input. Where inconspicuous pupils are concerned, teachers seldom or ever go to the trouble of consciously observing the ways their psychic life is manifested in the learning situation. These observations by the teacher are of the most fundamental importance because they provide the background against which formal test results can be assessed and interpreted. It has to be emphasized once again that these observations need to be planned and that a record must be kept of each pupils particulars in order to make a comparison with formal test results possible. 6.2 Class tests and examinations

Generally speaking, teachers seldom make use of standardized tests and examinations. This is partly because they are not always available and partly because teachers formulate their own teaching and learning objectives that they prefer to evaluate by constructing their own tests and evaluations. However, with the emergence of the computer, standardized items are more readily available (via question and data banks) and, therefore, more attention should be paid to the advantages these items offer for evaluation. The advantage of the objectivity of these tests has already been discussed. The fact is, they are more reliable (psychometrically) than tests constructed on an ad hoc basis by the teacher; this is largely because they have been administered to a large number of pupils over a long period and because statistical analyses have established the (psychometric) validity of the item (question). Validity, in this sense, means that it has discriminative value. The

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item discriminates (differentiates) between those pupils who know and those who do not know. During the formulation of the item and the establishment of its validity, attention is given to factors such as the possibility that the correct answer can be guessed, that it can be inferred from the way the question has been asked or that the answer can be discovered from the information provided in the phrasing of the question. Although the general teaching situation does not provide for the extensive use of these controls, the demands for reliability concerning the results of the teacher designed test are equally binding. The items on the teachers test also must be valid and have discriminative value. If a specific question is answered correctly by 90% of the pupils, it has very limited discriminative value. These requirements will be discussed below from time to time. The fact remains that the teacher has an important responsibility to keep (psychometric) validity and reliability in mind as criteria when designing a test. In addition, it is an unavoidable requirement that the teachers teaching and learning objectives must be reflected in the contents of his test for him to be able to properly evaluate the effect of his teaching. When compiling a test or examination, the teacher is, in fact, informing his pupils of what he considers to be important in the syllabus. Therefore, one can understand why pupils are constantly analyzing copies of old examinations in their effort to discover what the teacher is likely to ask. As far as the teacher is concerned, his pupils answers are an important source of information regarding the quality of his teaching as well as the progress of his pupils as a group and as individuals. He can determine from the answers which aspects of the syllabus have not been mastered adequately and which pupils need extra help because their progress is unsatisfactory. One fact has become very clear: good tests do not drop from the sky; they are carefully planned and constructed with great consideration. Nor must a teacher ever assess pupils answers without a scoring rubric; that is, he must know exactly what he expects the answers to be, the number of points to allocate to each question and for what he will penalize the pupil. He must also accurately judge how much time a pupil will need to answer a question. At the time of developing the test, the teacher also

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composes the scoring rubric. It also is important to discuss the questions with the pupils when returning their test papers, especially those answers deserving high marks and those awarded only low marks. General mistakes and factors that influenced pupils achievements (e.g., the amount of time spent on each question or mistakes in interpreting questions) must be discussed. This is a very important aspect of the teachers teaching responsibility and is, in fact, an important aim when organizing tests and examinations. 6.3 Kinds of aims

To teach without an aim is like going on a journey without a destination. In the literature dealing with teaching aims, one encounters many variations. Aims may vary from subject to subject but, generally speaking, there are three main categories, i.e., three kinds or types of aims that are intended to actualize learning by means of teaching. 6.3.1 Cognitive aims

Cognitive aims are closely associated with knowledge. Knowledge, as such, covers a wide spectrum of abilities, e.g., subject detail, subject terminology, subject methods, generalizations and abstractions, etc. These aims are also aimed at understanding contents, the application of knowledge, the analysis of data and the synthesis and evaluation of information. As is well known, these aims always appear in the form of an instruction (verb), for example:

Aim
Knowledge

Instruction (verbs)
Define, prove, differentiate between, explain, identify, name. Change, write in your own words, illustrate, translate, interpret, determine the value, arrange, estimate, generalize, make conclusions, infer.

Understanding

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Analysis

Apply to, calculate, classify, choose, develop, use, transfer to, rearrange. Combine, make deductions, develop, formulate, change, plan, design, make a suggestion, tell, write. Reason, judge, consider, decide, value.

Synthesis

Evaluation

It is once more important to note that cognitive aims imply a question that contains an instruction that is introduced by a specific verb that tells the pupil exactly what he must do when answering the question. Pupils often misread instructions; they decide what they think the question is and simply write down everything they know about the topic. Therefore, teachers must pay attention to examination skills during their teaching. The pupil must learn how to write a test or examination; how to read the questions; how to interpret the question and how to organize his answer. This does not happen by itself and pupils do not simply know these aspects of examinations without receiving careful instruction from the teacher. The fact that a pupil must be able to recognize and differentiate between these aims is just as important as the teachers knowledge of aims. For this reason, the teacher should never write ambiguous questions. If he genuinely doubts the correctness of any two answers, the question must be a bad one, because the results of the pupils answers will be misleading and the teacher will be unable to make valid deductions concerning the quality of his pupils learning or his own teaching. 6.3.2 Affective aims

Affective aims are directed at the quality of the pupils input. Because these aspects of achievement cannot always be observed directly, they pose specific problems for the examiner in effectively ordering and in designing authentic criteria for evaluation. Aims such as optimizing the childs learning intention, attitude, appreciation, principles, etc., are difficult to evaluate. One cannot simply award marks for qualities of existence although they are

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certainly intrinsic aspects of all teaching and learning situations. One often finds that affective learning aims are coupled to specific contents like poetry, music and art where the accountability of a childs appreciation has a great deal to do with the way he has identified with the contents. His answers are often an unfolding of his experiences of the world that he attempts to articulate. His receptivity, the amount of attention he gives to the contents and the ways he makes them his own are, therefore, important aims within the field of teaching. 6.3.3 Psychomotor aims

The concept psychomotor aims means that the teacher will assess the directly observable skills of his pupils. During the primary phase of schooling, psychomotor aims are to learn to write and read correctly. In the secondary school, the teacher seeks proficiency in the pupils handling of a musical instrument or a machine such as a lathe or typewriter used in vocational preparation. Therefore, the items in the test are formulated in terms of observable skills. Words like draw, construct and indicate initiate the tasks and instructions normally contained within these items. 7. STEPS IN CONSTRUCTING A TEST In terms of what has been said above, the following is a framework within which the teacher can order and evaluate a test. i) Make sure what contents are relevant. A subject teacher responsible for different classes may easily become confused and ask for applications of knowledge that have not been dealt with or that have been dealt with in one class but not the other. ii) Write down the aims of the test precisely, i.e., say exactly what the test is intended to evaluate. iii) Plan the type and scope of the test (e.g., essay, multiple choice). iv) Make a provisional draft of the items (questions). v) Plan the length of time needed to answer these items. vi) Reconsider the items. Delete those that are unsatisfactory. Determine whether the question is clears and unambiguous as it stands.

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vii)

Order the items, e.g., from easy to difficult. Make sure that even the weakest pupil can pass if he has really prepared for the test. Make sure that the difficult items are not beyond the ability of the best pupils. viii) Make sure the test instructions are clear. ix) Draw up a marking (scoring) rubric. At this stage the teacher must be able to determine whether the test is too long, too difficult or too easy. Review the test accordingly. The following are valuable guidelines in assessing a test. i) Are the items relevant, i.e., are they in accord with the teaching and learning aims and the aims written down for the test? ii) Do the items reflect that the aims are in harmony with one another, i.e., are the different kinds of aims (cognitive, affective, psychomotor) of the test in harmony with one another? iii) Is the time allocated for the test realistic? iv) Will the items have discriminative value? v) Is the level of difficulty in accord with the teaching that was offered? vi) Is the formulation of all of the items fair? vii) Will the answers provide a trustworthy reflection of the learning effect of the class as a whole? 8. KINDS (TYPES) OF TESTS 8.1 The essay test

This is the oldest and one of the most popular forms of testing, but it is also the most unreliable. Many research projects have been launched to examine this point and it has been shown beyond doubt that it is an unreliable form of examination. It has also been shown that the subjective aspect of the assessment mars its reliability. Percentages awarded for the same language essay ranged from 50 to 98% and from 30 to 100% for the same history essay. Even in the case of a trigonometry test, the scores ranged from 28 to 95% for the same answer. Factors such as neat handwriting and neat presentation were often of decisive importance for the mark awarded to the essay. When, for instance, the essay test was

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modified to include writing short paragraphs on various topics, its reliability increased. For this reason the construction of a good marking rubric is of great importance when using an essay examination. The filling-in test format is an important and useful variation of the essay format and will be discussed more fully later. When drawing up an essay test, the teacher must keep the following in mind. i) What is the aim of the question? The aim can be to determine whether the pupils can apply certain facts or whether they can make an evaluation (e.g., of a poem). Therefore, it is only logical that the teacher will refer to his aim in the question. ii) Formulate the question carefully and coherently. Do not use complex sentences. Formulate the question in simple sentences to insure that every pupil in the class will understand. iii) Give direct instructions by choosing the verbs with care, e.g., compare, name, give an example. Be careful not to begin the essay question with words such as why, who or which. They are not verbs and the danger is that the instruction will be vague (the aim of the question is therefore vague). Avoid instructions such as: Write what you know. What is your opinion., etc. This gives the child the opportunity to write down irrelevant details in the hope that the teacher will award points although the facts he mentions are not included in the grading rubric. iv) Determine the area of knowledge to be covered by the question as accurately as possible. A general question, for example, dealing with the causes of the First World War, can be clearly formulated if the question refers to categories of causes such as political, economic, etc. When answering generally formulated questions, pupils are inclined to follow devious paths to write long-winded introductions and generally to pad their answers with many words. These problems can be avoided by identifying the area to be covered in the answer and by carefully defining the limits in the formulation of the question.

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v)

vi)

Be sure that the question is formulated in such a way that it does not discriminate to the advantage of a particular group, e.g., to the advantage if the weaker group in the class. On the other hand, if 20% of the pupils do not understand the question, then it must be unfair. Be careful of too wide a choice in the essay question. A teacher can arrive at a much better understanding of the pupils command of the contents if they all answer the same questions because the frame of reference is the same for all.

Marking or scoring the essay question is just as thorny as formulating it. The following suggestions can possibly help the young teacher solve this problem. Take considerable trouble in composing a model answer or marking rubric. By doing so important criteria can be developed to assess the answers effectively and to be consistent in allocating marks. It at all possible, do not attempt to identify the writer of the answer. The pupils personality and his behavior in class can influence the teachers allocation of marks. Sometimes the pupil receives the benefit; sometimes not. Mark question 1 for the whole class, then question 2, then question 3, etc. This enables the teacher to evaluate all of the answers to a particular question which is important for maintaining the same standard and therefore for the reliability if the markings. Write comments, but not only negative remarks. Indicate why a pupil has been penalized but give him some encouragement as well. Comments are often of greater didactic importance than the mark allocated to the answer. If possible, ask a colleague to control or verify your assessment. This gives the teacher an excellent opportunity for self-assessment and for the sharing of information, hints, etc. The beginner needs all the help he can get to establish the correct marking standard and to account for the trustworthiness of his markings, especially of essay questions.

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The advantages and disadvantages of essay questions have been referred to but it is nevertheless important to summarize briefly what has been said. The main advantages are the following. It offers the pupil the opportunity to formulate his thinking, to order the contents, to reason, to make syntheses and evaluations, to motivate judgments, etc. It forces pupils to answer in their own words and not quote from the textbook. This contributes to language development. In this sense, it has positive teaching potential. It encourages neatness, care (e.g., spelling) and concentration on the essences of the contents. The most important disadvantages are as follows. The time allocated to tests always creates a problem. Most pupils do not complete the examination. The essay cannot really be objectively marked. 8.2 Objective tests Objective tests were introduced into evaluation procedures to counter the disadvantages of the essay examination and also because they are intrinsic aspects of certain systems such as computer-assisted teaching. Tests considered to be objective qualify as such because the method of marking is determined at the time the item is written. The correct answer to the question is determined before the test is given and, therefore the evaluators task is to determine whether the pupils answers correspond to the correct answers. The claim of objectivity rests exclusively on the way the answer is assessed and marked. The content of the item and the way it reflects the contents of the syllabus can be just as subjective as the essay examination. The teacher can also make a mistake regarding the correctness of an answer to a test item. Therefore, this aspect of objectivity is not always above suspicion. The fact is that the correct answer is determined prior to the test and thus assessment is not a problem during the evaluation of answers after the test.

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Every objective test or examination has a set structure in that all the candidates answer the same questions. This means the questions should be interpreted in the same way by all pupils. As we know, this is one of the greatest problems of the essay question. In most cases, in objective testing, the question (item) is presented in such a way that the candidate recognizes the answer instead of trying to remember it. This is always the case in the presentation of multiplechoice tests. The explanation of the answer, the ordering, formulation, handwriting, etc. have no influence on the assessment. Various kinds of objective tests include the following. 8.2.1 True-false tests Although true-false tests are often used in assessing young children, there can be no doubt that this is the least satisfactory kind of objective test. Its popularity is probably due to the teachers belief that it is a very simple test to construct. Nothing is further from the truth. In the majority of true-false tests, even good ones, pupils can average 50% by merely guessing. Besides it is extraordinarily difficult to identify items that are absolutely true or false. For example: Automation in industry causes unemployment True False Young teachers experience difficulties in maintaining class disciplined True False Both statements are only partially true, i.e., they are true with certain reservations. Automation is not the only factor responsible for unemployment. Teachers should attempt to list a hundred truefalse items and then determine, through their pupils, whether certain items are not biased; whether some items suggest the answer and whether some are partially true as well as partially false. Generally speaking, this kind of test should be avoided completely. 8.2.2 Completion tests

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These tests are designed in such a way that the pupil will have to fill in a blank space with a word, phrase, number, formula or other particulars to complete the item. a) Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape in ____________ b) A soccer ball is _______ and a rugby ball is _________ c) At what age does one qualify for a drivers license? _______ d) What is the current percentage of the General Sales Tax? ________ The first two examples are genuine completion questions. The other two are really short-answer questions. But in both kinds of example the pupil is expected to provide the answers; i.e., there is nothing in the question that enables him to recognize the answeras in the case of other variations of objective test items. Consequently, it is an effective format for testing factual knowledge (names, dates, formulas, etc.). This quality is also its limitation in that it is not suited to assess insight, formulations, ordering, application, etc. When this form of evaluation is used, the following hints can be valuable. i) Use clear, everyday language. ii) Insure that the realization of the aim is reflected by the item. iii) Avoid items that can be correctly answered on the basis of good general knowledge. iv) Do not suggest the length of the answer by the length of the blank space. v) Avoid confusion by not having too many blank spaces. Too many blank spaces can make the question unintelligible and thus unanswerable. vi) Attempt to formulate the question so that the missing information is at the end of the sentence. This insures that the pupil will read the question before he answers it. vii) Formulate the question as directly as possible. Do not forget that factual knowledge is being tested. 8.2.3 Pairing

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In pairing, the pupil is expected to pair a fact in one column with a fact in a second column. Example: a) Waterloo i) Napoleon Bonapart ii) Metternich i) Matthew ii) Paul i) Langenhoven ii) Schreiner iii) Brink iv) Small

b) Epistles

c) The story of an African farm

It is obvious that this format also tests factual knowledge, i.e., names, dates, definitions, etc. Within limits, the greater the number of facts from which one must be chosen, the more trustworthy the questions discriminative value becomes. Teachers often think it is effective to arrange the different subsections of a subject haphazardly in a pairing test. This leads to confusion rather that to making the test more difficult. Try to order (organize) the questions in a structural sequence; for example, it would be wise in history to start with dates, then follow with names, then battles and then peace treaties. This helps the pupil order (organize) his input. Teachers often deliberately confuse pupils by including irrelevant inferences (distracters or incorrect choices). Example: Renaissance a) Charlemagne b) Pope Pius VII c) Michelangelo d) Bellini e) 1453

This is generally a bad strategy, especially for average achievers, and the test results are often untrustworthy. 8.2.4 Multiple-choice questions

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Multiple-choice questions are generally accepted as the most effective objective test format. The item basically consists of two parts: the root [stem in American measurement vocabulary] in which the problem is formulated; and a list of choices (distracters) among which one is the is the correct (key) answer. There are many ways in which the root can be formulated. The most popular form is an uncompleted statement that is completed by means of the answer that is keyed as correct. Many inexperienced teachers prefer to formulate the root as a question. In a multiple-choice question (with the key response and distracters), the pupil indicates the correct answers. Example:

Question: What is the most popular South African wood for making furniture? a) Birch b) Poplar c) Stinkwood (key) d) Pine Uncompleted sentence: A traditional South African wood for making furniture is ________ a) Birch b) Poplar c) Stinkwood (key) d) Pine
Multiple-choice questions can be used for testing any kind of aim in any school subject. Everything depends on the skill of the examiner to assess aims such as facts, vocabulary, cause and effect, insight, understanding, analysis, application, interpretation and appreciation. However, it is not an easy way of evaluating the pupils achievements. In fact, it often takes twice as long to construct an effective multiple-choice examination as it takes to mark an essay examination. The effectiveness of this format depends largely on the choice of effective distracters that will force the pupil to marshal all of his knowledge, insights and learning

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inputs to choose the correct (keyed) answer. It is for this reason that item banks devote so much time to multiple-choice items and especially to the empirical research necessary to determine the discriminative value of the items. The following advice can be considered when constructing a multiple-choice examination. i) The root should be in the form of a carefully considered problem and not merely the introduction to the keyed answer and distracters. Distracters must not be a series of facts that have no relationship to each other; for example, a poorly formulated root would be: Natal is our garden province because a) there are many parks b) the National Park Board is located in Natal c) sugar-cane is cultivated there d) a great many vegetables are grown there e) the landscape is generally green A better way to formulate the same item is, for example: Natal is considered to be our garden province because of a) its rolling landscape b) its strict nature conservation c) its luxuriant and varied vegetation (key) d) its popularity as a holiday resort e) its variety of parks ii) The distracters ((i.e., the incorrect possibilities) must be acceptable alternatives for the key (correct answer) to the question or problem that is formulated in the root. If this strategy is not followed, any intelligent pupil can eliminate distracters as possible answers and arrive at the correct choice by careful reasoning. iii) Do not suggest the correct (keyed) choice by formulating the distracters differently, e.g., by making them shorter or longer. If one of the choices is formulated differently and it is also the keyed choice, then the validity of the item becomes suspect. Teachers sometimes use this strategy to trap pupils

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who guess, i.e., by making one of the distracters conspicuous in the expectation that those pupils who do not know the answer will choose it as the key. iv) Do not make the root of the question excessively long in the belief that it will raise the level of complexity or in the belief that the discriminative value is increased. The following example illustrates this error: In the history of the western world, the university, next to the Church, is one of the oldest organized social institutions. Since the establishment of the precursors of the modern western university during the 12th century, the university has had a long history of development. Notwithstanding the fact that universities were generally aloof of the great streams of thought (e.g., during the Renaissance, the period of Humanism and the period of the Reformation they generally remained outside the stream of renewal) they did undergo change during this period of time. The modern university is the product of a process of gradual change and development as a result of a variety of pressures such as philosophical directions, scientific discoveries, wars, and political and religious perceptions. The important task of the university is a) to train high level manpower (key) b) to provide community service c) to provide pupils with opportunities to study further d) to raise and consolidate the status of teachers. In this example, the problem raised in the root is not explained in the detail given of universities and, therefore, could have been left out completely. The quotation serves only to confuse the pupils and waste their time. v) Insure that items are formulated correctly and always maintain the standards of good language. vi) Vary the placing of the key among the distracters. If the correct answer is always a) or d), pupils will soon discover the pattern. In the same way, avoid a set sequence in placing the

Louw, J. B. Z.: Owerheidsbeleid en administrasie van universiteite in Suid-Afrika, p. (xi) 505

key for different questions, e.g., first a), then c), then b), then a) again, following the rest pf the pattern. vii) Avoid distracters that indicate that the answer is not contained in any one of the possible choices. To follow the example above (iv): if one of the distracters states: e) None of the above, the candidate is fully entitled to reason that research is the most important task of the university while the examiner meant a) to be the key. The same applies to a distracter that considers a) and b) to be correct in the same example, an answer that in fact is correct but that is not clearly an answer to the problem stated in the root. viii) State the problem positively. One is inclined sometimes to ask what a certain matter is not, thereby, in fact, concealing the problem (aim) to a certain extent; for example: A voter cannot be identified by means of his a) drivers license b) credit card c) check book d) passport e) identity document It is obvious that the pupil will experience many difficulties in arriving at e). If the problem had been stated positively, the aim would have been much clearer, e.g.: A voter can only identify himself at the voting booth by producing his a) drivers license b) credit card c) check book d) passport e) identity document (key) ix) Develop items in accordance with your teaching aims. The items must therefore test those matters you have in mind, be it knowledge, insight, application, interpretation, etc. For this reason the examiner must be critical of his own attempts. He must test the validity of his items in in the classroom by determining their discriminative value. Ask the following

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questions. What is the degree of difficulty of the item? Is the item directed at teaching and learning aims? How many pupils gave the correct answer? Which pupils gave the correct answer? Build up an item bank for yourself on cards on which you indicate the discriminative value of each item. After a few years of experience the teacher collects considerable information in this way and develops a great number of valid test items. This achievement in itself imparts a feeling of professionalism. x) Practice writing items. It is a time-consuming process that cannot be left to the day before a multiple-choice test is to be used. xi) Make very sure that the answers you have chosen as correct are in fact correct. Nothing causes greater embarrassment than controversy about the accuracy of an answer when discussing the results of the test with the class. It is generally accepted that very few student teachers were ever confronted with well-constructed and valid multiple-choice test or examinations during their school, university or college careers. Nobody advocates this format is the only one that should be used exclusively. However, it is a format for testing the realization of teaching aims in specific circumstances quickly and effectivelyif the teacher has access to valid items that he has developed himself or that are available by means of an item bank. 8.2.5 The fill-in test or examination

In essence, this strategy is an ingenious variation of the traditional forms of evaluation, especially the essay question. It also combines certain objective examination methods. It is often used effectively in the natural sciences but it is equally useful in testing subjects in the humanities. The basic rationale is that the pupil fills in his answer in the space provided by the examiner. The length of this space is determined by the examiner after he has developed the marking rubric. He allows for an additional quarter or third of the space for the pupil to use for his answer. The aim is to force the pupil to answer the question instead of writing down everything he knows about the topic. The teacher varies the question (items) according to his aims. The greatest advantage of this method is that

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it forces the pupil to consider carefully, to sift and order the facts related to the question before attempting his answer. Short question items generally coincide with what was described regarding the objective tests. When constructing a fill-in test, the following suggestions can be considered. i) The level of difficulty of the questions must not exceed the level of achievement of the pupils. In this kind of test the examiner is inclined to ask questions or parts of questions that do not necessarily indicate what exactly is asked. ii) Teaching and learning aims are especially important because the length of the answer is limited. The examiner must determine what the length of the answer must be. Remember, some pupils have large handwriting; others have smaller. The exact determination of what must be tested is just as important as it is with multiple-choice items. Therefore, pupils should be taught how to write this kind of examination. iii) Include strategies in your teaching that facilitate this kind of examination; fo example, models, sketches, tables, schemes, comparisons, etc. iv) Fill-in questions focus easily on explanations, motivations, causes and effects, etc. Formulate the short questions to the point and apply the criteria for fill-in questions. v) Be very accurate when awarding marks. Because the answer is expected to be short and to the point, the inclination is to award too many or too few marks for the answer. The level of difficulty is especially important. If the question implies ten facts in the answer spaces (e.g., dates) and the pupil can earn only five marks, or on the other hand, twenty marks, the teacher is held to account. vi) Avoid the temptation to mark negatively, i.e., to subtract marks from a small total for mistakes made in a large number of facts. If a pupil earns only five marks for twenty facts and after five mistakes and earns nothing for the question, he becomes dissatisfied and frustrated. vii) Give clear and unambiguous instructions (directions). viii) Do not overestimate the pupils skills in answering questions briefly and to the point. Be careful not to include

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a question that you yourself had difficulty answering in a set number of words. If you do, you overestimate the pupils ability. For this reason class exercise tests are very necessary. In conclusion, the following observations can be helpful. Remember that all examination procedures are a part of your teaching strategy. If examinations and test do not contribute to improving the childs learning achievements and your own teaching, then, educatively speaking, they are being used in vain. For this reason it is always imperative, whatever the circumstances, to discuss the examination and the pupils answers by means of the marking or scoring rubric as soon as possible after the test or examination. This is generally the most fruitful learning situation one can organize because good and poor achievements are dealt with in a singularly receptive atmosphere. It is also the occasion to deal with general class as well as individual pupil shortcomings and mistakes. A pupil is given the opportunity to ask questions about his answers and to receive a clear reply. He is even given the opportunity to raise objections about his marks. The teacher who is reluctant to place himself at the disposal of his pupils for these purposes is generally unsure of his testing procedures as well as the validity of his testing methods. It creates trust on the part of pupils if their test or examination is openly discussed with them and they are given the opportunity to compare their answers to the norm that is given in the marking or scoring rubric.

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