17 October 2010

The Role of Media in the Teaching and Learning: importance of content!

The use of media in the teaching and learning is very important. The appropriate of content,how it influence choice of media?
Grant (1960:243) says ,"teachers should have good textbooks for they can't be expected to know everything ."Grant expressed that materials to be taught is found in the written document and the Educational practitioner should select appropriate information for the level of the learner and convey it.The teacher being a class practitioner will simplify the learning content to suit the learner's cognitive level.
Module(2002:65)states that,"Learning is personal ,purposive self motivated and requires that teaching material be appropriate to the level of the child's level of development .Textbooks should contain content and activities that are self explanatory and child-centred since subjects seek to find out how man encounters." Subjects are said to be good only when it has activities that give the child the provision to be the director of his/her own learning and can gain new knowledge.
Glen and Sturgess(1979) argue that,"without textbook it is difficult to achieve a systematic and coherent course."Textbooks have relevant content to a group of learners.Worth (1984:8) advocates that,"textbooks are aids to the learning process which also depend on individual's work needs and their relationship in the classroom."This means in the textbook the teacher is given relevant information to a specific level of the learners.Content is logically arranged in order to complexity of which teacher has to teach from simple to complex and the order being in textbooks.
Farrant(1980)asserts that a good teacher therefore is one who has a good understanding of what his/her learners need to learn and also of their capabilities for learning .The heads of schools are mandated to supply good reference books for teachers to select information .William ,et al (1990)say that most of primary pupils operate at the concrete stages so selecting content dealing mainly with real environment is seen as a way of enhencing pupils' understandings.William et al also add that pupils are in their immediate environment and these help in harvesting skill development in reading and writing.
Advantages:Haggit (1975)puts that work must involve the whole class on a common theme and must give individual opportunities to give ideas of their own level.
The advantage in this statement is that when pupils are taught the same content they will discuss with each other giving different views to each other .They will understand the content better from the teacher and from other pupils in groups.The teacher needs to be knowledgeable with content of various subjects or materials.

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