Stimulus Variation Skill

Presented by Y. N. Mhaske

Motiwala College of Educational Sciences, Nashik , India.

StimulusStimulus refers to an agent, action or condition that elicits, accelerates or rouses to physiological or psychological action, activity or responses.

VariationVariation means changing these stimuli to explain content lively and remove the boredom from the classroom teaching.

Stimulus VariationThe set of teacher behaviors that tend to secure and sustain pupils attention in the skill of stimulus variation.

Important words Word Meaning

Word Meaning

Stimulating     =       inspiring

Focus            =       centre

Variation         =       deviation

Pattern         =       prototype

Movement      =       changing the position

Verbal           =       oral

Gesture          =       signal

2. Objectives 1. To enhance the students capacity of thinking.2. To enhance the active involvement of the students

in the teaching.3. To enable the students for understanding the concept.4. To enhance liveliness in teaching. 5. To enhance continuous thinking of students for understanding concepts.6. To grab the attention of the students.7. To minimize students mental fatigue and boredom.8. To learn how to use teaching aids.

3. Need / Importance1. Types of learner: Mainly there

are two types of learner 1 Visual 2 Audible

As researcher says men collect knowledge from their sensory organs. Men receive most of the knowledge by audio- visually and it is up to 85%. So while teaching teacher has to keep in mind to use as much sensory organ as s/he can use.

2. Rule of Fluctuating Attention: One more interesting research about the human tendencies that is man can’t pay attention continuously on one stimuli more than 5 minutes. So teacher has to use some tricks to switch students’ attention from one place to another. It removes boredom from the teaching. It sustains student’s attention towards the teaching.

3. Deal with individual Differences: There are different types of students in the class like different IQ’s EQ’s, hobbies , interests and various aspects of personality. So to make student understand your topic easily and actively this skill is very important.

4. To break the monotony of the lesson (boredom caused by lack of variety); Students tend to remain interested, listen, watch or do something only for a limited period of time. Therefore, teachers need to vary their presentation to keep students focused on the lesson.

5. Motivate the students to learn; Variety in itself enhances children’s motivation and interest. A class is more interesting and appealing when students can look forward to discussions, projects, games, demonstrations, role-plays, and other strategies. A monotonous, predictable routine reduces both motivation and retention of ideas.

6. Meet the needs of all the learnersStudents differ greatly in their ability and aptitude to learn. Individual differences are normal and should be expected, celebrated, and explicitly embraced by teachers in an effort to build capacity in learners of multi-abilities.

Interesting FactsMurgio: Of what we know, we have learned,

about:

1 % through TASTE,2 % through TOUCH4 % through SMELL10 % through HEARING83 % through SIGHT

Increase the retention power of the students through the involvement of all the senses. According to Murgio, of what we learn, we retain:

10% of what we READ,20% of what we HEAR,30% of what we SEE,50% of what we HEAR & SEE70% of what we SAY and90% of what we SAY & DO

5. Topic Selection:Well Beginning is half done. If you choose the correct topic for this skill then you can easily prepare lesson plan. Follow the following instruction for selection of the topic. Study the sub skills and accordingly select the topic.

No Subject Topic

1 Languages Poem, Dialogue based lesson, Story based lesson, writing part etc.

2 Science Experiment, Laws, Rules, States of matter, Vaccination, Nutritional Values. Life cycle of plants, human body structure, Classification of plant and animal etc.

3 History World war-1 & 2, Culture of different countries, Indian freedom struggle, French revolution, industrial revolution, age of renaissance etc.

4 Geography Geographical regions, political geography, types of rocks, types of soil, earth & planets, solar eclipse, map reading, practical geography.

5 Economics or commerce

Source of Income, Functioning of Banks, currency, Loan- calculation of loan installment Saving and Investing , Economic Growth, etc.

6 Computer Peripherals of the computer, Use of Word, Use of power point, viruses, Use of Excel etc.

7 Mathematics Graphs, Statistics, Algebraic expressions, Indices and surds , Ratio and proportion, Numbers and the four operations, Percentage etc.

8 Geometry Geometrical Constructions, triangles, quadrilaterals, Pythagoras theorem, congruence, similarity, perimeter, area and volume, circles, and angles and intersecting lines etc.

9 Environmental Science

Environmental issues like Pollution, flood, earthquake, Disaster management etc. Biosphere, Greenhouse effect, Ozone layer depletion, Use of fertilizers and pesticides, Wildlife protection, Gas leak, Environmental laws and acts etc.

10 Value Education

Spirit of Sportsmanship, Respecting others,  Gender Equality,  Responsibility, Positive attitude, Dignity of labor, Sensitivity etc.

6. Sub skills- 1. Movements:  The teacher's overall physical movement with the purpose of covering the whole class and creating better and more intimate atmosphere in the teacher-student interrelationship

Moving from one place to another with some purpose. (For writing on the black board; to conduct experiment; to explain the

chart or model; to pay attention to the pupil who is responding to some question etc.)

Move freely and relax to avoid fear and to control the students'behavior;

Never write on the board while talking;No explanation while walking around all the time;No looking downstairs or upstairs while teaching; look around the class

to see the situation; look into the students' eyes;Move away from the student asking a question so as to involve the other

students;To observe the whole class, move slowly from the back to the front.  

2. Gestures:  These include movements of head, hand and body parts to arrest attention, to express emotions or to indicate shapes, sizes and movements. All these acts are performed to become more expressive.

The teacher's gestures - the teacher's body movements - which communicate certain meaningful ideas to the students.

Move hands and fingers to describe things, measurements, etc;While talking with the students, show agreements by nodding heads so

as to encourage the students to go on explaining;Show adoration or wonder by raising eyebrows high so as to show

interest in what the students are talking about;Use mimics to show agreements, disagreements, wonder and disbelief,

anger, or incomprehension, etc;Claps hands to attract the students' attention or to show happiness,

wonder etc.  

Change in Speech Pattern:  When the teacher wants show emotions or to put emphasis on a particular point, sudden or radical changes in tone, volume or speed of the verbal presentation are brought out. The change in the speech pattern makes the pupils attentive and creates interest in the lesson.

Speak using different speech patterns to avoid boredom;

Do not be monotonous;Speak attractively and energetically;4. Speak loudly enough for the students at the back

to hear what the teacher is saying, but not too loud so that the students at the front get shocked

4. Change in Interaction Style:  When two or more persons communicate their views with each other, they are said to be interacting.

In the classroom the following three styles of interaction are possible:1. Teacher ↔ class (Teacher talks to class and vice versa)2. Teacher ↔ Pupil (Teacher talks to  pupil and vice versa)3. Pupil ↔ pupil (Pupil talks to pupil)

TWC (TeacherWhole class) TWC (TeacherWhole class) TSG (TeacherSmall group) TSG (TeacherSmall group) PP (PupilPupil) PWC (PupilWhole class) TP (TeacherPupil) Ind. Work (Individual work) 

All types of interaction should go side by side to secure and sustain pupils’ attention.

5.Focusing :  The teacher draws the attention of the pupils to the particular point in the lesson either by using verbal or gestural focusing. In verbal focusing the teacher makes statements like, “look here” “listen to me” “note it carefully”. In gestural focusing pointing towards some object with fingers or underlining the important words on the black board.

6.Pausing :  This means “stop talking” by the teacher for a moment. When the teacher becomes silent during teaching, it at once draws the attention of the pupils with curiosity towards the teacher.  The message given at this point is easily received by the pupils.

Silence/pausing can be used in different ways

To emphasize an important pointTo create suspense & arouse thinkingTo provide time for students to think for something before they

respondTo promote student participation by providing encouragement and

opportunity to comment or question.To draw attention by contrasting speech with silenceTo give students time to make notes before continuing with the lecture

or dictation. To show disapproval for student misbehavior.

7. Oral-Visual Switching:  The teacher gives information to the class verbally about something. This is called oral medium. When the teacher is showing maps, charts and object without saying something. This is called visual medium. If the teacher is giving information to the pupils through any one medium (oral, visual, oral visual) for a long time., it is possible that the students may lose attention to what the teacher is conveying to them. Therefore it is essential for the teacher to change medium rapidly in order to secure and sustain pupils’ attention to what he says. There are three types media :

1. Oral ⇄ oral –visual :- when the teacher while speaking shows objects, charts and models and explains their various parts. It is switching from oral to oral- visual. 2. Oral ⇄ visual :- when the teacher while speaking, shows objects, maps, charts, globe etc. It is switching form oral to visual. 3. Visual ⇄ oral – visual  when the teacher demonstrates the experiment silently and then explains the phenomenon with the help of charts, maps, diagram etc. It is visual-oral switching.

These devices are used interchangeably to secure and sustain pupils’ attention to the lesson.

7. Do’s1. Managing Student Discussion: Structure classroom discussions with purposeful

questions 2. Manage dialogue in large and small group discussions. By doing this the teacher can learn where students are in their understanding and provide timely assistance through

his/her own questions, clarifications and follow up activities based on what he/she has learned 3. Assisted Performance and Scaffolding: Teachers can provide various forms of

assistance such as providing a model, demonstrating a process physically and talking aloud about how experts think on an issue. Teachers can also help by breaking up a task into smaller units.

4. Developing Learning Communities: Learning communities consist of student-to- student interactions and the exchange of ideas in a social context.

 

8. Don’ts- 1. To move like pendulum. 2. To come forward & go backward unnecessary. 3. To seat on the table. 4. To touch head or hear 5. To touch lips with the tongue. 6. To stand on the same place for long time. 7. Avoid board work. 8. Repetition of the same activity. 9. To move shoulders 10. To rotate neck again and again. 11. Touch the eyes 12. To move the eyebrow 13. To play with chalks 14. To tight the pant

9. The Stimulus Variation involves the following Steps:

Step I Stimulus Variation skill to be practiced is explained to the teacher trainees in terms of the purpose and components of the skill with suitable examples.Step II The teacher trainer gives the demonstration of the Stimulus Variation skill in simulated conditions to the teacher trainees.Step III The teacher trainee plans a short lesson plan on the basis of the demonstrated of Stimulus Variation skill for his/her practice.Step IV The teacher trainee teaches the lesson to a small group of pupils. His lesson is supervised by the supervisor and peers.Step V On the basis of the observation of a lesson, the supervisor gives feedback to the teacher trainee. The supervisor reinforces the instances of effective use of the skill and draws attention of the teacher trainee to the points where he could not do well.Step VI In the light of the feed-back given by the supervisor, the teacher trainee re plans the lesson plan in order to use the skill in more effective manner in the second trial.Step VII The revised lesson is taught to the same group of pupils.Step VIIIThe supervisor observes the re-teach lesson and gives re-feed back to the teacher trainee with convincing arguments and reasons.Step IX The ‘teach – re-teach’ cycle may be repeated several times till adequate mastery level is achieved.

S. N

Teacher’s Activity Pupils’ Activity

Components of the Skill

1I shall tell you a story. Try to be attentive What is the story? Verbal Focussing

2For what Jhansi is famous for ? For Rani Laxmi Bai

3Yes, I shall tell you the story of Rani of Jhansi. It is very interesting. Listen carefully.

They become very curious to know. Verbal Focusing

4She was born in Kashi on June, 16, 1835. Listening carefully Pausing

5Do you know ? She was married to Shri Gangadhar Rao, a ruler of Jhansi in 1842.

Listening attentively Non-verbal cues to show size of child, Pausing.

6Shri Gangadhar Rao died in 1853 and she became the queen of Jhansi at the small age of 18 years.

Listening attentively.

…………………………..

Change in speech Pattern,

Pausing

7Though the span of her reign was very short but she proved herself very efficient and just ruler and great administrator (shows the portrait)

Attending with amazement Change speech pattern

Oral-visual switching pausing

8She fought against the Britishers for the independence of  the country in 1858

Showing her Portrait and changing the tone of speech.

Enthusiastically attentive. Oral-visual switching

Change of speech pattern

9(The teacher writes bravest on Black Board)  She was accepted as the bravest soldier of the battle field by the English Generals

Listening with full attention and interest

Pausing

10Listen to me Do you know what was her age at that time ? She was simply 22 years.

Feeling amazed. Pausing Verbal focusing

11She fought the last battle in Gwalior on June, 17, 1858.

She had to cut through the enemy ranks but was overtaken by stream where she died fighting. (The changes his speech pattern facial expression with the moving hands)

Felt sorrowful and sad. Change in speech pattern gestures.

Thank you