Block2 506

DIPLOMA IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
(D.El.Ed.)
Course-506
Understanding Children in Inclusive
Context
Block -2
Personality Development of Children
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OPEN SCHOOLING

A - 24/25, Institutional Area, Sector – 62,NOIDA
Gautam Buddha Nagar, UP – 201309
Website: www.nios.ac.in
Course Concept Map for
Course-506 “Understanding Children in Inclusive Context”
Unit 1- Block-1: Unit 2 Role of

Understandin Child Growth and Heredity and
g the Child Development: Basics Environment
Unit 3- Unit 4- Unit 8- Concept

Developing Unit 7- of CWSN
Developing
Personality and Concept of (Children with
Thinking
its Assessment Inclusive Special Needs)
Skills
Education
506
Block 2:
Understanding Block-3:
Personality Development
Children in Inclusive Education
of Children
Inclusive Context
Unit 5 Unit 6 Unit 9-

Developme Developing Education of
nt of Self Creativity in CWSN
Unit 10-
Children Development of
Adoptive Skills
(DAS), Assistive
Device (AS),
Special Therapies
Block-4:
Girl Child and Child Right
Unit 11 Unit 13-Child

Gender Issues Rights and
in Education Entitlements
Unit 12-
Empowering Girl
Children
Credit Points (8=6+2)
Block Unit Name of Unit Theory Study Hours Practical Study

Content Activity
Block-1: U1 Understanding the 6 3 • Identification of factors
Child Child affecting growth &
Growth and development of your school
Developme
children
nt: Basics
U2 Role of Heredity and 6 3 • Prepare a list of Hereditary
Environment influence on the learners of
your class
• Find out the characteristics
about the impact of
environment on the siblings
from a family in your school
Block 2: U3 Developing 8 4 • Trace the differences in
Personality Personality and its personality characteristics
Developme Assessment among the learners of your
nt of class
Children
U4 Developing Thinking 8 4 • Identification of steps taken to
Skills develop questioning skill in
your learner
U5 Development of Self 10 5 • Identification of classroom
condition of developing self-
concept
U6 Developing 9 7 • Listing the situation created by
Creativity in you as a teacher in your class
Children for fastening creativity
Block-3: U7 Concept of Inclusive 6 3 • Listing the factors affecting
Inclusive Education inclusive education in your
Education school
U8 Concept of CWSN 7 4 • Identification of learning
(Children with requirement of CWSN in your
Special Needs) school
U9 Education of CWSN 9 6 • Preparation of action plan of
home-based education
U10 Development of 9 3 • Seminar on special therapies
Adoptive Skills regarding any impairment
(DAS), Assistive experienced in your school
Device (AS), Special
Therapies (ST)
Block-4: U11 Gender 9 6 • Identification of roles of your
Girl Child Discrimination school on gender issues
and Child
Right U12 Empowering Girl 9 6 • Listing our your role to develop
Children life skills in girls of your school
U13 Child Rights and 9 6 • Listing out violation of child
Entitlements rights in your schools & the
locality
Tutoring 15
120 60 60
Grand Total 120+60+60=240 hrs.
Block -2
Personality Development of Children
Block Units
Unit 3 : Development of Personality and Assessment
Unit 4 : Developing Thinking Skills
Unit 5 : Development of self
Unit 6 : Development Creativity in Children
BLOCK INTRODUCTION
Personality development of children
The as a learner will study Block 2 : Personality development of children. This block consists
four units related to development of personality, thinking skills and creativity in children. Each
unit divided into selections and subsections. Earlier you have studied block 1: Basics of child
growth and development.
Unit-3 : Development of Personality and Assessment
This unit will help you two understand concept of personality and its nature. You can enlist the
various characteristics of personality. You will be able to discuss some important theories of
personality i.e. trait theory of personality, Psychoanalytic theory of personality etc. You will
know about the development of different aspects of personality i.e. self concept, motivation,
attitudes and values. This unit will also empower you to discuss various methods of assessing
personality and role of a the teacher in the personality development of students.
Unit-4 : Developing Thinking Skills
After reading this unit you can describe the need of development of thinking skills in child. You
can understand need and importance for developing thinking skills in child. You will able to
discuss stages of thinking through Piagets Theory. Bruner's Theory and information processing
theory. You can explain types, tools of thinking and development of critical, convergent and
divergent thinking. You will be able to discuss the role of school and teacher in development
thinking skills.
Unit-5 : Development of self
After completing this unit you can understand development of self concept in children and
factors affecting it. You can explain the process of development of values and role of discipline.
You can define attitude and enlist its various components and also discuss the role of teacher in
development of good attitude in children. You will be able to discuss perception and its
development motivation and its development as well as enhancing motivation.
Unit-6 : Development Creativity in Children
This unit will help you to understand the concept and nature of creativity. You can identify the
different types of creativity. in students and factors affecting creativity. You can discuss various
strategies for developing creativity i.e. brain storming, attribute listing, instructional materials,
questioning etc. You will know how to develop learning material of poster creativity as well as
role of ICT. You will be able to assess creativity through various tools.
CONTENTS
Sr. No. Unit Name Page No.
1. Unit 3 : Development of Personality and Assessment 1
2. Unit 4 : Developing Thinking Skills 22
3. Unit 5 : Development of Self 52
4. Unit 6 : Development Creativity in Children 73

Development of Personality and Assessment
UNIT 3 DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

AND ASSESSMENT Notes
STRUCTURE
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Learning Objectives
3.2 Nature and Concept of Personality
3.3 Characteristics of Personality
3.4 Theories of Personality
3.4.1 Trait Theory of Personality
3.4.2 Psychoanalytic Theories of Personality
3.5 Development of Personality
3.5.1 Self-concept
3.5.2 Motivation
3.5.3 Attitudes
3.5.4 Values
3.6 Assessment of Personality
3.7 Role of Teachers in the Development of Personality
3.8 Let Us Sum Up
3.9 Answers to Check Your Progress
3.10 Suggested Readings and References
3.11 Unit-End Exercises
3.0 INTRODUCTION
In the previous unit we have discussed the role of Heredity and Environment. In
this unit we will discuss development of personality and its assessment. We
shall mainly focus on nature and concept of personality, characteristics of
personality, and theories of personality, assessment of personality and role of
teachers in personality development.
3.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this unit, you will be able to,
• state the meaning of personality.
Block 2 : Personality Development of Children 1

• list out the characteristics of personality.
Notes • develop the awareness of assessing personality.

• describe the role of teachers in the development of personality of children.
3.2 NATURE AND CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY

The term “personality” is derived from the Latin word “Persona” which means
the mask worn by the Roman actors? In this sense, personality means the
individual as seen by others. Personality is the totality of everything about a
person his/her physical, emotional, mental, social, ethical and spiritual make-up.
In simple terms, personality consists of the following
1. The way you look.
2. The way you dress.
3. The way you talk.
4. The way you walk.
5. The way you act.
3.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONALITY

1. Personality is what one is: This means that personality traits are developed
in each individual upto a stage in life, after that they get stabilished on the
other hands one cannot borrow any others persons; whatever is visible is
what is inside a person.
2. Personality of each individual is unique: Each individual’s characteristics
are different from other individuals. Even twins are not the same in
personality characteristics.
3. Personality is dynamic and not static: Personality traits, though selective
present in each individual (due to the interplay of heredity and environment),
get brushed up from time to time. Though there cannot be new addition to
personality traits, however each trait can be brushed up as per changing
times
4. Personality functions as a unified whole: each person’s personality
expression is the sum total of what one has- one cannot hide one’s traits in
totality while interacting with others
5. Personality is the product of both heredity and environment: An individual
inherits personality traits by birth, and simultaneously those traits are
nourished through upbringing. Further, the socio-cultural and economic
environment also contributes to development of certain personality traits.
2 Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)

6. Personality is through and through social: The personality traits of an

individual get nourished and brushed up (and some get reduced) due to
social forces and interactions. Notes
7. Personality is continually adjusting itself to environment: Though personality
traits of an individual are generally inherited at birth, those traits get
influenced by environment, and get adjusted to changing environment from
time to time.
8. In rare cases personality influences the environment: Largely, one gets
influenced by the environmental factors/forces, but sometimes dominating
personalities, to an extent, influence the environment surrounding then.
9. Personality is always striving for certain ends: Personality traits are not for
nothing- there is a purpose (or purposes) in very individual’s personality.
According, one fixes the goals of life and tries to achieve those.
10. Personality is self-consciousness. We do not attribute personality to animals:
Human beings have mind to things- so human personality is a thinking
process. Though animals do not have such things, even individuals need to
be made aware of their traits and abilities, and act accordingly.
Check Your Progress- 1
List and describe any two characteristics of personality with suitable examples?
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3.4 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

Some of the important theories of personality are discussed as under
3.4.1 TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY

G.W. Allport, R.B. Cattell and H.J. Eysenck are the chief exponents of the trait
theory of personality. A trait is a dimension of personality which can be measured
and must describe the consistent behaviour of an individual. A trait as a dimension
is conceived quantitatively as a continuous scale of measure-ment from extensive
positive end to the extreme negative end. A trait in order to be a meaningful
measure of human personality, most be a distinctive and ‘enduring’ characteristic
of an individual. According to the trait theorists, if we confine ourselves to a few
basic characteristics which are consistent and distinctive of the human personality,
the problem of describing it should become simpler.Theorists often distinguish

between the traits which are readily observed and those which are ‘deeper’ and
nearer to the core personality. One of the approaches to the trait theory describes
Notes the readily observable traits as ‘surface traits’ and the deeper ones as ‘source
traits’
Twelve Basic Traits
1. Cyclothymia Vs. Schizothyomia
Emotionally expressive, frank, Placid Reserved, close-mouthed, anxious
2. General Mental Capacity Vs. Mental Defect
Intelligent, smart, assertive Unintelligent, dull, submissive
3. Emotionally Stable Vs. Neurotic Emotionally
Free of neurotic symptoms, Variety of neurotic symptoms,
Realistic about life evasive, immature
4. Dominance Vs. Submissiveness
Self-assertive, confident, Submissive, unsure, complacent
Aggressive
5. Surgency Vs. Desurgency
Cheerful, joyous, humorous, Depressed, pessimistic, dull
Witty
6. Positive Character Vs. Dependent Character
Preserving, attentive to people Fickle, neglectful of social chores
7. Adventurous Cyclothymia Vs. Withdrawn Schizothyomia
Likes meeting people, strong Shy, little interest in oppositesex
Interest in opposite sex
8. Sensitive Vs. Mature:Tough, Posed
Emotionally dependent, immature Independent-minded, Self-sufficient
Mature, gregarious, attentionseeking
9. Socialised, Cultured Mind Vs. Boorishness
Polished, poised, composed, Awkward, socially clumsy,crude
introspective, sensitive
10. Trustful, Cyclothymic Vs. Parancis
Trustful, understanding Suspicious, jealous
11. Bohemian, Unconcernedness Vs. Conventional Practically
Uncoventional, eccentric, fitful Conventional, Unemotional
hysterical upsets
12. Sophistication Vs. Simplicity
Logical mind, cool, aloof Sentimental mind, attentive to people
3.4.2 PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

(a) Sigmund’s Theory of Personality
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the founder of psychoanalysis His theory of
psychoanalysis is dynamic and based on the assumption that per-sonality and

personality development are determined by conflicts and events that are largely
unconscious in nature and which can be understood only by its in depth
study.Freud’s anatomy of personality is built around the concept of id, ego and Notes
super ego. Each of these aspects of personality is related to the other two.
Personality is a three-tier system of Id, Ego and Super ego. The Id is totally
unconscious; Ego is partly conscious; and Super Ego is totally conscious. The Id
is the primary aspect of personality. Freud believed that Id is a mass of blind
instincts. It has no logical organization. Indeed contradictory impulses may exist
in it side by side. Id is amoral. It possesses no sense of values It cannot distinguish
between good and evil. It is dominated by the pleasure principle. The Id processes
are unconscious Id is best characterised as the conative, unconscious aspect of
personality.
Libido and Infantile Sexuality
Libido is that part of the Id structure that seeks its gratification from purely sexual
activity. Sexual gratification is like other gratifications and should be considered
a normal need of an individual. Freud considered it as the total striving of an
organism. Freud stressed that libido was always present in the organism, even in
the infant. Every child is born with an organically determined sexual excitability.
Libido can be stimulated through the following zones.
1. Oral Zone: From birth to 2 years. At this stage, the infant gets pleasure
from sucking the lips.
2. Anal Zone: From 2 to 3 years. The child derives much pleasure through
anal expulsion or anal manipulation.
3. Genital Zone or Phallic Stage: From 3 to 5 years, the child derives
gratification by touching his genitals.
4. Latency Stage: From the age of six till about thirteen, there is the latency
stage where there is avoidance of sexuality on account of the pres-sures of
society.
5. Fixation Stage: During this period of adolescence, homosexual and
heterosexual interests develop.
Freud found that most of his patients suffered on account of sex repres-sion i.e.
non-gratification of sex. Sublimation of sexual desires helps in the development
of an integrated personality.
(b) Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
According to Adler, self-assertion rather than sex impulse is the major drive.
Alfred’s theory minimized the role of sex on which Freud so much concentrated.
Adler thinks that every individual strives to develop a unique style of life in
which sexual drive plays a minor role.Adler thinks that inadequacy of childhood
is primarily responsible for the development of feeling of inferiority in the

beginning. This feeling of inferiority arises from a sense of incompleteness or

imperfection in life. It helps to strive for a higher level of development. We have
Notes the example of Demosthenes who sturrered as child but became one of the greatest
orators of the world. Similarly President Roosevelt of America was a weakling
in his youth but by systematic exercise later on became a physically strong man.A
person’s behaviour to overcome his feeling of inferiority to achieve feeling of
superiority is revealed through his style of life. There are different ways in which
a person can strive to be superior. The style of life is the principle by which the
personality of an individual functions. The style of life is shaped by two factors—
inner self and the forces within the environment. Experiences of early life have
great influence on the style of life of an individual. Adler believes that each
individual creates a self-structure out of his heredity endowment and the
impressions he receives from his environment Adler states that while style of life
is mechanical, the creative self is inven-tive and makes something that never
existed before. The creative self gives meaning to life. It is influenced by nurture.
Adler stresses the impact of social interaction. Working for the welfare of others
compensates one’s weakness and inferiority complex. It helps him to express his
superior feelings.
(c) Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Jung considered personality in terms of introversion and extroversion concepts
which have become part of our everyday speech. According to Jung, mental
activity takes four dominant forms: sensation, thinking, intuition and feeling.
Thinking and feeling are polar opposite and both tendencies are always present
in the individual at the same time. If his or her dominant mental activity is thinking,
the individual’s unconscious tends towards feeling. Similarly, sensing and intuition
are opposite. Both are operative in the individual at the same time.
General Characteristics of Extrovert and Introvert
Extrovert Introvert
1. Fluent in speech. 1. Better at writing than at speech.
2. Free from worries. 2. Inclined to worry.
3. Likes to work with others. 3. Likes to work alone.
4. Friendly. 4. Rather reserved.
5. Not easily embarrassed. 5. Easily embarrassed.
6. Interested in athletics. 6. Found of books and magazines.
7. Governed by objective data. 7. More influenced by subjective feeling.
8. Flexible and adaptable 8. Lacking in flexibility.
9. Neglectful of ailments and personal 9. Careful of these.
belongings.

10. Aggressive. 10. Submissive.

11. Unscrupulous. 11. Scrupulous.
Notes
12. Popular with people 12. Not popular with people.
The majorities of individuals demonstrate characteristics of both the introvert

and extrovert and are accordingly classi-fied as ambiverts.
Obviously, where so many conflicting and diverse tendencies are opera-tive, there
is a great danger of one-sided development. One aspect of the personality of the
individual tends to become dominant and totally overshad-ows the other Jung
believes that the total personality consists of three elements of conscious ego,
personal unconscious and collective unconscious.
(i) The Conscious Ego: It is in fact, the sense of “being” which includes
conscious aspects of thinking, feeling and remembering.
(ii) The Personal Unconscious: It includes repressed and suppressed experiences
of the individual which are accessible to the conscious. It also includes the
experiences of the individual which he has in his social environ-ment.
(iii) The Collective Unconscious: It is primitive in nature. It is the reservoir
from which all other systems emerge.
Check Your Progress-2
Name and briefly describe any two theories of personality.

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3.5 DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

In this section we will discuss how different aspects of personality could be
developed.
These aspects include self-concept, motivation, attitudes, and values
3.5.1 SELF – CONCEPT

The development of personality of an individual is to a great extent dependent
upon his view about him/herself. The emergence of a positive self-concept is
likely to lead to a well-developed, harmoniously developed personality. It is,
therefore, important that the children are made to learn from the very beginning

to develop positive self-concept which is socially desirable. The child’s perception

or view of him/herself is called self-concept(see the figure below). The part of
Notes the environment in which he/she lives is known as his/her phenomenal self and
the rest of the environment of which he/she is aware or to which he responds is
called phenomenal environment or perceived environment and not self. Self-
concept is what the individual thinks of his/her actual self:“It is me”.
A new born infant finds the world a confused mass. As he/she grows up, he
begins to differentiate. He/she slowly begins to distinguish between what belongs
to him. He/she reacts to the world which he/she perceives. The perception of
oneself changes with maturity. With the change in perception behaviour also
changes. Praise and blame, rewards and punishments and the personality of the
teacher influence the self-concept of children. Lives of great men provide
motivation for developing positive self-concept and therefore students should
be asked to study their lives. Thus, the teacher should guide them to set realistic
goals which are in accordance with their reach to attain them. Setting unrealistic
goals is likely to develop frustration and despair.
3.5.2 MOTIVATION
The term motivation refers to the “arousal of tendency to act to produce one or
more effects.”Motivation is the process of arousing, sustaining and regulating
activity.
Classroom Motivation: Different Techniques
Students in the classroom learning need constant motivation from the teacher so
that optimum use of their talents may be made for their development of
motivation.Since individual children differ in regard to their specific needs
according to their personality patterns and socio-economic back-ground, the
teachers will have to vary their motivational techniques and employ them
judiciously. In other words, every individual pupil should be led towards goal

that he is aware of and will want to attain. Secondly, goals should be within each
pupils’s reach, and should seem attainable to him. Thirdly, he should be able to
judge whether or not he is attaining his goals and how he is falling short. Fourthly, Notes
a teacher should not rigidly and strictly adhere to one technique of motivation
but he should make use of all techniques judiciously and scientifically.
1. Attractive Physical and Environmental Conditions
First of all the teacher should attend to the physical conditions of the
classroom. There should be no distracting factors in and around the
classroom. Noise, strong light and some undesirable scenes often distract
the attention and do away with the interest. Abnormal temperature is also a
disturbing element. Mo-notony creates boredom.
The rooms should be ventilated and tastefully decorated. There must be
flowery plants in the school compound. Cleanliness should be stressed
ade-quately.
2. Sublimation of Innate Impulses
Most of the behaviour of small children is directed by their innate impulses.
Children are very curious by nature. They like to do many things. Every
new and strange things attract them. An efficient teacher will stimulate the
im-pulse of curiosity. He will always start the lesson be exhibiting some
very new and strange aspect of the same. Similarly, children like to construct
things. The teacher should encourage the children to learn by constructing
and creating things.
3. Stimulus Variation by the Teacher
It has teen generally observed that children are not able to attend to one
thing for a very long period. The effectiveness of the teaching-learning
process depends to a great extent on the stimulus variations used by the
teacher behaviour. Some of the common teacher behaviours in the classroom
which fall under variation are:
(i) Teacher movement
(ii) Teacher gestures
(iii) Changes in speech pattern
(iv) Changes in sensory focus
(v) Changes in postures.
4. Reinforcement: Praise and Blame
These may be classified as:
a) Positive Verbal Reinforcement—Following a pupil’s answer, the
teacher verbally indicates pleasures at the pupil’s response by the
use of words like ‘Good’, ‘Fair’, ‘Excellent’, ‘Correct’, etc.

b) Positive Non-Verbal Reinforcement—That include:
Notes • Nods and smiles.

• Teacher’s friendly movements towards pupils.
• Teacher’s friendly look.
• Teacher writing student’s response on the blackboard
c) Negative Non-Verbal—This comprises gestures—sneering,
frown-ing, expression of annoyance, impatience, etc.
d) Negative Verbal—This includes comments like ‘No’, ‘Wrong’, ‘No
good’, ‘poor’, ‘of course not’, etc.
5. Extrinsic Learning Rewards and Punishment
The process of giving rewards and punishment is known as reinforcement.
Rewards, whether material or symbolic and psy-chological, enhance and
satisfy child’s safety, belonging and esteem needs, and as such are capable
of acting as incentives. Material rewards seem to work better for poor
children and symbolic rewards seem to work better for children from rich
homes.
6. Pleasure and Pain
According to the oldest theory of behaviour, pleasant experience which
give satisfaction are sought after and painful experiences are avoided by an
individual. This theory has direct implication in classroom teaching-warning.
The teacher must provide pleasant and satis-fying experiences to the students
so that they are motivated for further learning.
7. Attainable Goal
There should be a goal to be reached in every lesson. Only then the student
can endeavour to continue their efforts to a particular direction. The goal
must be made clear to students.
8. Experience of Success
Experience of success motivates a child to continue an activity. The teacher
should, therefore, make school work, both curricular and co-curricular,
sufficiently varied so that each pupil has a chance to experience success at
his own level. He must ensure frequent and regular experience of success
or re-inforcement throughout all phases of learning, but particularly during
the earlier and more difficult phases.
9. Competition and Co-operation
Competition is a spur to activity. But competition on individual basis is
likely to be unequal and therefore threatening to some students. Competition

between groups makes it possible to spread the share of success or failure.

Co-operation too provides motivation since it provides social situation to
learners when they find satisfaction of their acceptance and belonging needs. Notes
10. Knowledge of Progress
Pupil’s knowledge of their progress, of how well they are moving towards
their goal is a very effective form of motivation. It also helps them put
greater efforts. Individual progress charts not only inform a child about
how he is doing but also keeps the child involved in learning activity.
11. Novelty
The striving toward self-actualization makes pupils search the new and the
different. Field trips, excursions, dramatics, sports, literary activities, etc.,
safety the pupil’s needs for self-actualization by providing them
opportunities. But their safety needs require that they should know
beforehand when and how the new experiences will be provided.
12. Individual Differences of the Children
Children have different interests and capabilities. All the children cannot
be motivated alike for ail the lessons at all time. It is the duty of the teacher
to discover individual interests and capabilities of children to motivate
them accordingly.
13. Teaching Skills
Teaching skills of the teacher greatly influence motivation. It is not easy to
give an exact number of teaching skills in-volved in motivating students in
the class. Commonly identified skills in the teaching-learning process may
be listed as under:
(i) Skill in introducing the topic.
(ii) Skill in putting questions.
(iii) Skill in dealing with pupil’s answers
(iv) Skill in stimulus variations.
(v) Skill in the use of blackboard or the chalkboard
(vi) Skill in handling teaching aids and other equipments
(vii) Skill in non-verbal cues
(viii) Skill in reinforcement.
(ix) Skill in the use of illustrations and examples.
(x) Skill in the exposition of sub-matter.
(xi) Skill in explanation

(xii) Skill in encouraging group discussion
Notes (xiii) Skill in planned repetition.

(xiv) Skill in thawing out conclusions from students
(xv) Skill in teacher liveliness
(xvi) Skill in the closure of the lesson
(xvii) Skill in using appropriate methods of teaching
14. Teacher’s own Motivation and Interest in Teaching
The teacher must be interested in what he is teaching and in the children
whom he is teaching. If he is not interested in the work himself, he can
never motivate the class. It may be said that a teacher who has been teaching
the same subjects to the same classes for years tends to lose interest. But
this is not the fact. The subject-matter may be the same but the children are
not the same. Even the subject-matter is changing and developing. Moreover,
with experience the teacher will discover new approaches and methods of
teaching even the same subject-matter.
3.5.3 ATTITUDES
One of the chief objectives of education is the development of desirable attitudes
in the students. The students must develop several attitudes in the students such
as –attitude towards studies, self,friends, certain ideals etc. An attitude is
dispositional readiness to certain institutions, persons or objects in a consistent
manner which has been learned and has become one’s typical mode of response.
For eg,one’s views towards food or drink, sports ,maths or democracy are attitudes.
It includes certain aspects of personality such as interests, appreciation and social
conduct. An attitude is learnt or adopted.
3.5.4 VALUES
A value stands for ideals men live for. They are the guiding principles of life
which are conducive to one’s physical, social and mental health. Values may be
defined as (i) What we believe-professed values (ii) What we practice-operational
values, and (iii) What we learn from experience in order to adapt and renew
traditions received from the past-traditional values.
a) List of Values
1. Truth 31. Dignity of Labour
2. Beauty 32. Socialism
3. Goodness 33. Punctuality
4. Co-operation 34. Humanity

5. Courage 35. Social Service

6. Citizenship 36. Regularity
Notes
7. Comparison 37. International understanding
8. Devotion 38. Patriotism
9. Discipline 39. Self-control

10. Duty 40. Patience
11. Tolerance 41. Self confidence
12. Equality 42. Curiosity
13. Dignity of Individual 43. Wisdom
14. Friendship 44. High Thinking
15. Freedom 45. Senseof Responsibility

16. Humbleness 46. Fearlessness
17. Honesty 47. Good will
18. Good Behaviour 48. Loyalty
19. Simple living 49. Kindness
20. Justice 50. Generosity
21. National Consciousness 51. Dedication
22. Peace 52. Good Character

23. Respect for others 53. Moral virtues
24. Non-violence 54. Spirituality
25. Curiosityfor knowledge 55. Politeness
26. Obedience 56. Modesty
27. Self-respect 57. Good Temper
28. Sympathy 58. Insight

29. National Integration 59. Sacrifice
30. Leadership 60. Simpleliving and High
thinking

b) Ways and Means of Inculcating of Values (Role of Education)

Notes Relating to the inculcation of values, it would be sufficient to say that values are
not taught or made to learn but the students themselves attain them. If we again
and again say to the students that they should always speak the truth, telling a lie
is a sin it would not make them to learn speaking the truth and not leave telling
of lies. But if the teacher instead of giving such types of sermons himself follows
the path of truth and the students find a teacher always speaking the truth, it
would definitely have some impact on the children and it is possible that they
might adopt the path of truth. For example Gandhi had seen the drama of Harish
Chander and this drama had an indelible impact on his mind and Gandhi adopted
the path of truth for the whole of his rest of life. Therefore, about values it can be
said that values are not taught, but they are caught. Therefore, it should be the
effort of school or the teachers to inculcate such values among the students which
they want. These should syncronise with the environment of the school and the
conduct of the teacher.
In addition to whatever has been said above value education can be provided to
the students through other different mediums. These means or mediums are as
given below:
1. Morning Assembly
Before starting the teaching work in the schools, it is very necessary to hold
a morning assembly. Its duration should be between 15-20 minutes. No
doubt, there should be a prayer in the assembly, but besides prayers, there
should also be provision for religious discourses, patriotic songs, moral
lectures by the teachers and students off and on according to the times.
Such types of provisions can be made in the morning assembly.
2. Compulsory Subject
By compulsory subject, here it means that moral education should be given
the name of a subject and taught as a compulsory subject like other subjects.
This moral subject should contain the substance of all the religions and not
the knowledge of any one particular religion. It should contain those
principles which are the essence of all the religions equally. There should
be a provision of at least two periods in a week for this subject in the time
table. Redesigning of Curriculum. In order to provide value education, there
is a need of redesigning of curriculum. In some subjects, some changes
should be made of such a type that these subjects can be taught keeping in
view the social moral, cultural and national values. It is possible through
the subjects like History, Geography, Social Studies, Languages, Literature,
Art and Music etc.
3. Extension Lectures
Such scholars should be invited to the insti-tution from time to time which

have an inseparable relation with the moral subjects. These invited scholars
should express their views on the subjects of human interests under extension
lectures. Notes
4. Declamation Contests
Declamation contests should be organized in the schools on the subjects or
headings relating to educational values. The students should be encouraged
to take part in these contests.
5. Skits and Dramas
Value education can be provided quite conveniently through the medium
of skits and dramas in the schools. The subject matter of skits and dramas
should be related to moral, social and cultural values.
6. Celebration of Birthdays
The birthdays of those great men should be celebrated in the schools which
preached higher values all through their lives and presented their ideal form
before the society. For example, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, Guru
Nanak, Guru Gobind Singh, Buddha, Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. S.
RadhaKrishanan should be celebrated in the schools. Celebration of their
birthdays would given inspiration to the students and they would try to
follow the path shown by them.
7. Celebration of International Days
International days should be celebrated in the schools as the World Peace
Day. Human Rights day etc. By doing so there would be the development
of world brotherhood among the students.
8. Use of Mass-Media
Maximum use of mass-media should be made to give value education to
the students. The use of newspapers. journals, doordarshan and radio etc.
can produce awakening among the students towards values.
9. National Service Scheme
The spirit of social service and national service can be inculcated among
the students through the medium of National Service Scheme. By doing
works relating to service, moral, so-cial and cultural development can be
made in the students.
10. Value Oriented Magazines
Whatever magazines are published by the schools, the articles which are
compiled in it should be of such a nature through which the students could
get some education and lead to their character development.
11. Role of the Teacher
The teacher should play an important role in the inculcation of educational

values. All these resources are used by the teacher which have been
mentioned above. We have already discussed the role of the teacher in this
Notes respect. Whatever a child learns after coming into this world he learns by
imitating the others. For students, the teacher is their ideal and they copy
the life styles of their teachers. The teacher should present their ideal before
the students for the inculcation of these values among the latter. The attitude
of the teacher should be liberal. A teacher can provide value oriented
education only when he himself has faith in it. There should be no difference
between what a teacher says and what he actually does.It should always be
the endeavour of the teacher that whenever there is something in the context
of value he should at once elucidate the same and should give emphasis to
value oriented education Teacher is the only personality in the society through
which the social, moral, cultural and spiritual development of students is
possible. Therefore the personal life of the teachers should be above board,
neat and clean and worthy to be imitated so that he is able to leave an
indelible imprint of his personality on his students.
Briefly describe the factors responsible for the development of personality.

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3.6 ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY

Methods of assessment are broadly classified as (i) Objective methods(ii)
subjective methods and (iii) Projective methods.Firstly, methods and techniques
are also categorized as standardized and non-standardized. There are self-reporting
methods in which the person to be assessed, reports about himself. Such methods
include autobiography, interviews, questionnaires, etc. and personal
inventory.Secondly, there are rating techniques in which assessment is done on
the basis of what others say about an individual. Such methods include all types
of rating scales, biographies, case history, etc.Thirdly, we use behavioural
measures in which the actual behaviour of the individual in real life situations is
observed.Fourthly, there are projective techniques which use the reactions of the
person to imaginative situations involving fantasy. Lastly, there are machines
and technical instruments with which we can assess some personality variables.

Methods of Assessing Personality
Notes
Standardised Tests Non-Standardised Tests Projective

Objective Methods or Subjective Methods Techniques
1. Achievement Tests 1. Anecdotal Records 1. BG Test

2. Aptitude Tests 2. Autobiography 2. Blacky Picture Test
3. Intelligence Tests 3. Case of Conference or 3. Children Apperception
Case History or Test (CAT)
Case Study
4. Interest Tests 4. Cumulative Record Card 4. Clay Modelling
5. Personal Inventories 5. Interview 5. Cloud Picture Test
6. Observation 6. Draw-a-Man Test
7. Parent’s Views 7. Graphology
8. Personal Data Blanks 8. Mosaic Test
9. Questionnaire 9. Psychodrama
10. Rating Scale or 10. Rorschach Ink Blot Test
Attitude Scale
11. Schedule 11. Sentence Completion Test
12. Score Card 12. Socia-drama
13. Sociometry 13. Szondi Test
14. Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
15. Toy and Doll Playin Test (Word
Game)
16. Word Association Test (Free
and Controlled)
What are the methods to assess personality? Describe each one of them
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3.7 ROLE OF THE TEACHER IN THE PERSONALITY

DEVELOPMENT OFSTUDENTS
Some of the important guidelines for teachers are as under:

• Attention: Following points deserve mention:
Notes 1. One of the best methods of developing personality is to pay due attention to
children.
2. The quality of attention counts.
3. If children ask a question, the teacher should try to answer it immediately.
They are important and they need to be paid attention. If the teacher brushes
them aside, they get the impression that they are ignored and they lose
confidence.
• Discipline :
1. The teacher should be fair, frank, honest, and loving, but firm and consistent.
2. Rules too gentle are seldom obeyed, too severe seldom executed
3. Discipline should be tailored to children’s needs.
• Example :
1. Children should be impressed by actions which speak much louder than
words.
2. The teacher should be careful about how he lives. He may be the only
textbook some of the children will ever read.
• Fun :
The teacher must have fun with them once in a while. This is also educational in
its own way.
• Inspiration :
The secret of providing inspiration as a teachers is to
- Know what he is doing
- Love what he is doing
- Believe in what he is doing.
• Love :
It is a popular saying: “Love the child and the child will love you. Hate him and
he will hate you.”
• Patience :
For a child to be trained by love takes a lot of patience.

• Praise :
1. Children thrive on praise. It is one of the most important parts of teaching. Notes
2. If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn. If he lives with praise,
he works hard to top capacity.
3. It is important to praise a child for his good behaviour than it is to scold
him for his bad behaviour.
• Understanding :
To understanding children, a teacher must first understand himself. It may be
emphasized that the teacher is not concerned with one or the other aspect of the
development of the personality of a child. He is expected to be all things to all
pupils – a physician concerned about their physical health, a mental hygienist
leading them carefully to sound mental health, a philosopher guiding them
painstakingly in their search for truth, a moralist assisting and encouraging them
to acquire goodness, and artist helping them to find beauty. He must be a minister
ministering to their every need. Such a ministry calls for dedicated service.
Is a teacher responsible for the development of personality in her/his the

students? Discuss briefly.
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3.8 LET US SUM UP

The term “personality” is derived from the Latin word “Persona” which means
the mask worn by the Roman actors. In this sense personality means the individual
as seen by other. Personality is what one is. Personality of each individual is
unique. Personality is dynamic and not static. Personality functions as a unified
whole. Personality is the product of both heredity and environment. There are
many theories of personality which speak about the development of personality
and have important educational implications. A child’s understanding of self, his
attitudes, the motivation he gets and the values he develops help in the
development of his personality. A teacher plays a major role in the development
of a child’s personality. Personality can be measured by objective, subjective and
projective methods.

3.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Notes Check Your Progress-1
i) Personality of each individual is unique
ii) Personality is dynamic and not static.
Trait theory of personality and psychoanalytic theory of personality.
Self-concept, motivation, attitudes and values
(i) Objective methods(ii) subjective methods and (iii) Projective methods.
Yes.The teacher should pay attention to the child, love, understand and praise
the child so that he develops a good personality.
3.10 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES

• Aggarwal J.C., Child development and process of learning, Shipra
publications, New Delhi, 2003.
• Bany A. Mary and Johnson V. Lois, “Classroom Group Behavior”Group
Dynamics In Education. The Macmillan Company, New York. 1964.
• Dandapani.S., “Advanced Educational Psychology”, Anmol Publications
Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. 2000.
• Hurlock E.B., Development Psychology, A Life – Span Approach, 5th Ed.,
Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Co. Ltd., New Delhi,1980.
• John M. Stephens., “The Psychology of Classroom Learning.”, Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, Inc. New York. 1966
• Kavyakishore P.B., Fundamentals of Educational Psychology: Learning and
Instruction, Anmol Publications, New Delhi.2011.
• John Mander M.A., Classroom Teaching, Newnes Educational Publishing
Company, London. 1950.
• Skinner C.E., Educational Psychology, Asia publishing House, New Delhi,
1962.

3.11 UNIT END EXERCISES

1. Define personality. Notes
2. What are the characteristics of personality?
3. What are the different ways to measure personality?
4. Explain one theory of personality.

Developing Thinking Skills
UNIT 4 DEVELOPING THINKING SKILLS

Notes
Structure
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Learning Objectives
4.3. Why development of thinking skill in child?
4.3.1. What are thinking Skills?
4.3.2. Need and Importance for developing thinking skills in child
4.4. Stages, types and tools of facilitating thinking
4.4.1. Stages of thinking
4.4.1.1. Piaget’s Theory
4.4.1.2. Bruner’s Theory
4.4.1.3. Information Processing Theory
4.4.2. Types of thinking
4.4.3. Tools of thinking
4.4.3.1. Questioning
4.4.3.2. Concepts
4.4.3.3. Mind Maps
4.4.3.1. Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT)
4.5. Development of critical, convergent, and divergent thinking
4.5.1. Critical thinking
4.5.1.1. Stages of development of Critical Thinking
4.5.1.2. Characteristics of Critical thinkers
4.5.2. Convergent thinking
4.5.2.1. Convergent thinking in classroom
4.5.3. Divergent thinking
4.5.3.1. Methods that stimulate divergent thinking
4.5.3.2. Stages of creative thinking
4.5.3.3. Characteristics of Creative thinker
4.5.3.4. Barriers to creative thinking
4.5.3.5. Ways to foster creative thinking

4.6. Empowering child to take rational decisions based on thinking

4.6.1. Decision Making
Notes
4.6.2. Factors influencing decision making
4.6.3. Six steps decision making process
4.6.4. How thinking can lead to better decision making in children
4.7. Facilitating questing skill among children in classroom
4.7.1. What are questioning skills?
4.7.2. Development of questioning skills in children
4.7.3. Uses of questioning strategies in the field of education
4.7.4. Advantages of questioning
4.7.5. Guidelines to enhance questioning skills among children in classroom
4.8. Role of school and teacher in developing thinking skill
4.8.1. How teachers can stimulate thinking skills in children
4.8.2. Classroom techniques employed to develop thinking skills in children
4.9. Let us sum up
4.10 Answers to Check your progress
4.11 Suggested Readings & References
4.12 Unit End Exercises
4.1. INTRODUCTION
“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few
engage in it”–Henry Ford
According to Gerett, thinking is a behaviour which is often implicit and hidden
and in which symbols (ideas, images, and concepts) are ordinarily employed.
Based on a set of definitions, thinking can be understood as that process where
external events of past, present or future are represented internally, and it may
also include even a thing or an event which is not directly observed or experienced
by the individual. Another set of definition rolls out thinking in terms of a
behaviour that leads to finding solution to impending problem.
The various components involved in thinking process are signs and symbols,
concepts, motor activities, language, images, experiences, familiarity, and mental
operations. A person’s thinking is influenced by a number of factors namely

nature of intellect, mental set, attitude and values, interest and need, habits and
adjustment, family and school environment, stages of growth and development,
Notes personality factors, mental health, motives, and last but not the least the
individual’s emotions. In this unit the various aspects related to thinking skills
like need and importance of developing thinking skills in children, the different
types of thinking, major differences between critical and creative thinking, steps
involved in rational decision making, and on how to encourage questioning skills
in children has been discussed.
4.2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit, you will be able to
• Narrate the need for developing thinking skills in children
• Differentiate between Convergent thinking and Divergent thinking
• Demonstrate the importance of critical thinking for academic success
• Narrate the stages of rational decision making
• Provide conducive environment to develop questioning skills in children
• Prepare and /or use suitable teaching learning material (TLM) and foster
thinking skills in classes
4.3. WHY DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING SKILL IN

CHILD?
“THINK BETTER TO BE BETTER”
Being educated is not enough to utilize human potential or to meet the needs of
the world of work or to be a good citizen of a country. Children are to be equipped
with a varied range of competencies to face an uncertain and unpredictable future.
In this era people are exposed to diverse problems in diverse contexts at different
times throughout their lives. Nowadays job markets as well as societies are looking
out for people who can comprehend, judge and participate in generating new
knowledge and processes. Developing countries are in need of citizens who can
assimilate information from multiple sources, determining its truth and use it to
make sound judgements. Real challenge for the educators is to develop educational
programmes that will enable all individuals to become effective thinkers as it is
required by all.
4.3.1. WHAT ARE THINKING SKILLS?

Thinking skills are the mental processes that we apply when we seek to make
sense of experience. It refers to the human capacity to think in conscious ways to
achieve certain purposes. Such processes include remembering, questioning,

forming concepts, planning, reasoning, imagining, solving problems, making

decisions and judgements, translating thoughts into words and so on. A thinking
skill is a practical ability to think in ways that are judged to be more or less Notes
effective or skilled. They are the habits of intelligent behaviour learned through
practice, for example children can become better at giving reasons, or asking
questions the more they practice doing so.
Many researchers have attempted to identify the key skills in human thinking,
and the most famous of these is Bloom’s Taxonomy. Knowledge, comprehension,
and application are basic or lower order thinking skills whileanalysis, synthesis,
and evaluation are higher order thinking skills.
4.3.2. NEED AND IMPORTANCE FOR DEVELOPING

THINKING SKILLS IN CHILD
Thinking skills will enable us to learn from our experience and to utilize our
intellect. Improving the quality of thinking skill is directly linked to better learning
and there by maximize the potential towards betterment of society.
According to Mike Fleetham, “In our evolving world, the ability to think is fast
becoming more desirable than any fixed set of skills or knowledge. We need
problem solvers, decision makers and innovators. And to produce them we need
new ways to teach and learn. We need to prepare our children for their future, not
for our past. As a person becomes more proficient, thinkers move from being
merely recipients of information to become manipulators and judges of
information and ultimately to discoverers and creators of information.
Most of the growth in the human brain occurs in early childhood. By the age of
6, the brain in most children is approximately 90% of its adult’s size. This implies
that interventions will be more effective in the early years, while the brain is still
growing, than at a later stage. Growing interest in ways of developing children’s
thinking and learning skills is the result of finding about how the brain works
and how people learn and that specific interventions can improve children’s
thinking and intelligence. If thinking is how children make sense of learning
then developing their thinking skills will help them get more out of learning and
life. A thinking skills approach suggests that learners must develop awareness of
themselves as thinkers and learners, practice strategies for effective thinking and
develop the habits of intelligent behaviour that are needed for life long learning.
Check your progress 1
1. Name the lower order and higher order thinking skills as per Bloom’s
taxonomy
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Notes .........................................................................................................................
4.4. STAGES, TYPES AND TOOLS OF

FACILITATING THINKING
4.4.1. STAGES OF THINKING
Research findings indicate that the ability to think is correlated to growth and
development of an individual. Infants use more of abstract thinking skills while
a grown up person is able to think in abstract terms as well. Theories of Jean
Piaget, Bruner and Information Processing explain stage wise development of
thinking.
4.4.1.1. PIAGET’S THEORY

Piaget tried to provide a satisfactory explanation of the development of thinking
in individuals through the successive stages of cognitive development. In Piaget’
views Adaptation underlies cognitive development. Adaptation is the process of
building mental representations of the world through direct interaction with it.
Two basic components of adaptation are assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation is the tendency to fit new information into existing mental
frameworks to understand the world in terms of existing concepts, schemas, and
modes of thought. Accommodation is the tendency to alter existing concepts or
mental frameworks in response to new information or new recognizable
dimensions of the external world. Piaget suggests that the tension between these
two components fosters adaptation and cognitive development.
The stages of cognitive development are
• Sensory motor stage: infants gradually learn that there is a relationship
between their actions and the external world. They discover that they can
manipulate objects and produce effects. They know about the world through
motor activities and sensory impressions. Towards the end of sensory motor
stage an infant develops an understanding that objects continue to exist
even when they are hidden from view.
• Preoperational stage: In this stage infants acquire the ability to forms mental
images of objects and events. They start to think in terms of verbal symbols.
Though their thought processes are advanced than the previous stage, they
are limited by ego centrism: they have difficulty understanding that others
may perceive the world differently than they do. They lack seriation- ability
to arrange objects in order along some dimension. They do not have the

knowledge of conservation- knowledge that certain physical attributes of

an object remain unchanged even though the outward appearance of the
object is altered. Notes
• Concrete operations stage: The mastery of conservation marks the
beginning of the stage of concrete operations. Children at this stage think
more like adults than like younger children at earlier stages. They gain
understanding of relational terms and seriation. They come to understand
reversibility-the fact that physical changes can be undone by a reversal of
the original action. They also begin to use concepts in describing and thinking
about the physical world. Children in this stage begin to engage in logical
thinking.
• Formal operations stage: In this stage children can think abstractly. They
become capable of hypothetico-deductive reasoning-involves formulating
a general theory and deducing specific hypotheses from it. They are also
capable to engage in propositional reasoning-reasoning in which individuals
can assess the validity of verbal assertions even when these refer to
possibilities rather than actual events.
4.4.1.2. BRUNER’S THEORY

According to Bruner one’s thought processes evolve as a result of maturation,
training and experiences through a series of sequential stages. The stages are
enactive representation, iconic representation and symbolic representation.
• Enactive representation stage is characterized by the child’s representation
of things and events in terms of motor responses and activities. His thought
processes are represented through non verbal activities.
• Iconic representation stage is characterized by the child’s representation of
things and events in terms of sensory images or mental pictures.
• Symbolic representation stage is characterized by the child’s representation
of things and events in terms of words, symbols and other abstract
phenomena.
4.4.1.3. INFORMATION PROCESS THEORY

• According to this theory, thinking is connected with the information one
receives from the environment through one’ senses and the nature or thought
process depends on how it is utilized by the individual from the time he
perceived it until the time he processes it at various depth levels in solving
his problem or chalking out a strategy or plan. The stages are sensory
processing, retrieval of relevant information from memory and manipulation
of information.

4.4.2. TYPES OF THINKING

Notes This session throws light on different types of thinking.
Convergent thinking is the type of thinking that focuses on coming up with the
single, well-established answer to a problem. It is oriented toward deriving the
single best, or most often correct answer to a question.
Divergent thinking involves breaking a topic down into its various component
parts in order to gain insight about the various aspects of the topic.
Abstract thinking is characterized by the ability to use concepts and to make
and understand generalizations, such as of the properties or pattern shared by a
variety of specific items or events.
Concrete thinking is characterized by a predominance of actual objects and
events and the absence of concepts and generalizations.
Reflective thinkingis a part of the critical thinking process referring specifically
to the processes of analyzing and making judgments about what has happened.
Dewey (1933) suggests that reflective thinking is an active, persistent, and careful
consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge, of the grounds that
support that knowledge, and the further conclusions to which that knowledge
leads.
Inductive thinking process is often referred to as “generalizing” because it
essentially means that one begins with specific details or facts and progresses to
a general principle as a conclusion. It is based on probability, not certainty.
Deductive thinking Deductive thinking claims that it’s logically necessary that
if the premises are all true then so is the conclusion.” If deductive logic is used
accurately and correctly, accurate points or arguments will lead to an accurate
conclusion or result.
Logical thinking is the process in which one uses reasoning consistently to
come to a conclusion. Problems or situations that involve logical thinking call
for structure, for relationships between facts and for chains of reasoning that
make sense.
4.4.3. TOOLS OF THINKING

Thinking tools are those techniques that can help us in using our minds
systematically and effectively. With the use of thinking tools, the intended ideas
will be arranged more systematically, clearly, and easy to be understood.
Questioning, Concepts, Mind maps, Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT), are a
few tools that facilitate thinking

4.4.3.1. QUESTIONING
“A person who asks questions is a person who thinks.”- William Wilen Notes
One of the simplest and easiest ways to develop kids’ thinking skills is by wording
questions in the right way. When teachers and parents learn to ask questions that
stimulate kids’ thought processes, learning can be fun for children of all ages.
Questioning is one approach to motivate others to: get information, test
understanding, develop interest, and evaluate the ability of individuals towards
understanding certain things.
A W-H question is an influential, inspirational and imaginative checklist to
generate:
Data-gathering questions, during the early stages of problem solving when

you are gathering data.
Idea-provoking questions (e.g. whilst brainstorming). Criteria for evaluating

options.
According to Blooms Taxonomy different types of questions require us to use
different kinds or levels of thinking. Knowledge, comprehension, and
application are more concrete thinking skills. Analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation require more abstraction and are known as critical thinking skills.
To test one’s Knowledge skilluse words and phrases such as: how many, when,
where, list, define, tell, describe, identify, etc., which will draw out factual answers
and test child’s recall and recognition skills. To find out Comprehension skill
use words such as: describe, explain, estimate, predict, identify, and differentiate,
etc., to encourage your child to translate, interpret, and extrapolate. To test
Application skills use words such as: demonstrate, apply, illustrate, show, solve,
examine, classify, and experiment, etc., to encourage your child to apply
knowledge to situations that are new and unfamiliar. For Analysing skills use
words and phrases such as: what are the differences, analyze, explain, compare,
separate, classify, arrange, etc., to encourage your child to break information
down into parts. To test Synthesis skills Use words and phrases such as: combine,
rearrange, substitute, create, design, invent, what if, etc., to encourage your child
to combine elements into a pattern that’s new. To check Evaluation skills use
words such as: assess, decide, measure, select, explain, conclude, compare, and
summarize etc., to encourage your child to make judgements according to a set
of criteria.
4.4.3.2. CONCEPTS
Concepts are general ideas that we use to identify and organize our experience. If
words are the vocabulary of language; concepts are the vocabulary of thought.
Aristotle once said that an intelligent person is a ‘master of concepts ‘.

The structure of Concepts involves:
Notes • Sign - word/symbol that names the concept

• Referents - examples of the concept
• Properties - qualities that all examples of the concept share in common.
Concept formation happens through the interactive process of Interpreting and
Generalizing. Interpreting is the process of finding examples of the concept while
Generalizing is the process of focusing on the common properties shared by a
group of things.
4.4.3.3. MIND MAPS

A mind map can be defined as a visual presentation of the ways in which concepts
can be related to one another. It’s the Ultimate Learning Tool! It helps to save
time as it uses only keywords (or concepts), to understand better, to increase
one’s ability to remember by utilizing the seven principles of Super Memory:
Visualization, Association, Making Things Outstanding, Imagination, Colour,
Rhythm, and Holism. Mind maps are useful for note taking (listening), oral
presentation (speaking) as well as writing
The steps involved in mind mapping
• Draw the topic at the centre.
• Add the Sub-Headings.
• For each Sub-Heading, Add the Main Points and Supporting Details.
• Use your Imagination (pictures/images) to make it outstanding and
memorable.
4.4.3.4. COGNITIVE RESEARCH TRUST (CORT)

The essence of the CoRT (Cognitive Research Trust) thinking method is to focus
attention directly on different aspects of thinking and to crystallize these aspects
into definite concepts and tools that can be used deliberately. It is designed to
encourage students to broaden their thinking. CoRT Thinking Tools are C&S:
Consequence and Sequel, AGO: Aims, Goals, Objectives (purpose) OPV: Other
People’s Views APC: Alternatives, Possibilities, Choices, PMI: Plus, Minus,
Interesting (ideas), FIP: First Important Priorities and CAF: Consider All Factors.
In Consider All Factors (CAF) individual lists down all the factors and consider
each factor. In First Important Priorities (FIP) individual has to choose from a
number of different possibilities and alternatives. In Plus, Minus, Interesting
(PMI) individual lists down all the plus points, all the minus points and all the
interesting points. In Alternatives, Possibilities, Choices (APC) individual

generates new alternatives and choices, instead of feeling confined to the obvious
ones. In Other People’s Views (OPV) individual moves out of one’s own
viewpoint to consider the points of view of all others involved in any situation. Notes
In Aims, Goals, Objectives (AGO) individual picks out and defines the objectives
so as one is clear about his own aims and understanding those of others (Purpose).
In Consequence and Sequel (C&S) individual considers the immediate, short
(e.g. 1 - 2 years), medium (e.g. 2 - 5 year) and long term (e.g. over 5 years)
consequences.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS-2
2. Enumerate the stages of cognitive development in Piaget’s theory.

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3. Name the CoRT thinking tools?
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4.5. DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL,

CONVERGENT, AND DIVERGENT THINKING
In this era of technological advancement we are bombarded with different genres
of information. To face global challenges and crises individuals must that have
the capability
• to think independently,
• to relate,
• to evaluate,
• to question,
• to analyse, and
• to think creatively
4.5.1 CRITICAL THINKING

Critical thinking is a process that challenges an individual to use reflective,

reasonable, rational thinking to gather, interpret, and evaluate information in

order to derive a judgment.
Notes
Critical thinking should be the ultimate goal of all education. John Dewey defines
critical thinking as “reflective thought” rather than routine thought; it’s the process
of “active, persistent, and careful consideration” of the credibility and conclusions
of supposed knowledge or information. Teachers should nurture minds to become
adept at this kind of critical interaction with information. In order to display
critical thinking, students need to develop skills in interpreting, analysing,
reasoning, and evaluating. Students who develop critical thinking skills are able
to achieve better marks, become less dependent on teachers and textbooks, create
knowledge and evaluate, challenge and change the structures in society.
Developing a habit of questioning is basic to critical thinking. According to
Edward Glaser there are a few abilities underlie critical thinking. They are ability
to
• Recognise problems
• Find workable means to meet those problems
• Gather and marshal pertinent information
• Recognise unstated assumptions and values
• Comprehend and use language with accuracy, clarity and discrimination
• Interpret data
• Appraise evidence and evaluate statements
• Recognize logical connections between statements
• Draw warranted conclusions and generalizations
• Test the conclusions and generalizations arrived at.
4.5.1.1. STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL

THINKING
The 6 stages involved in the development of critical thinking are as follows:
• Stage One: The Unreflective Thinker (Individual is unaware of significant
problems in thinking)
• Stage Two: The Challenged Thinker (Individual is aware of problems in
thinking)
• Stage Three: The Beginning Thinker (Individual try to improve but without
regular practice)
• Stage Four: The Practicing Thinker (Individual recognize the necessity of
regular practice)

• Stage Five: The Advanced Thinker (Individual advance in accordance with

practice)
Notes
• Stage Six: The Master Thinker (skilled & insightful thinking becomes second
nature)
Development of critical thinking takes place when one:
1) accept the fact that there are serious problems in thinking and
2) begin regular practice.
4.5.1.2. CHARACTERISTICS OF CRITICAL THINKERS

Sir Francis Burton has noticed that the individuals who are regarded as critical
thinkers are
• Inquisitive
• See relationships as well as distinctions among things
• Ask questions
• Reflect
• Consider multiple points of view
• Support their viewpoints and argues on the basis of evidence and reasons
• Capable to judge the credibility of sources and make independent decisions
about information
• Alert to all deception.
4.5.2. CONVERGENT THINKING

Convergent thinking is a term coined by Joy Paul Guilford as the opposite of
divergent thinking. It generally means the ability to give the “correct” answer to
standard questions that do not require significant creativity, for instance in most
tasks in school and on standardized multiple-choice tests for intelligence.
Convergent thinking is the type of thinking that focuses on coming up with the
single, well-established answer to a problem. It is oriented toward deriving the
single best, or most often correct answer to a question. Convergent thinking
emphasizes speed, accuracy, and logic and focuses on recognizing the familiar,
reapplying techniques, and accumulating stored information. It is most effective
in situations where an answer readily exists and simply needs to be either recalled
or worked out through decision making strategies. A critical aspect of convergent
thinking is that it leads to a single best answer, leaving no room for ambiguity. In
this view, answers are either right or wrong. The solution that is derived at the
end of the convergent thinking process is the best possible answer the majority
of the time.
Convergent thinking is also linked to knowledge as it involves manipulating

existing knowledge by means of standard procedures. Knowledge is another
Notes important aspect of creativity. It is a source of ideas, suggests pathways to
solutions, and provides criteria of effectiveness and novelty. Convergent thinking
is used as a tool in creative problem solving. When an individual is using critical
thinking to solve a problem they consciously use standards or probabilities to
make judgments.
4.5.2.1. CONVERGENT THINKING IN CLASSROOM

Convergent thinking can be used practically in many situations. The most obvious
use for convergent thinking is when answering multiple choice questions on a
test. When a student contemplates the possible answers available, they use
convergent thinking to weigh alternatives within a construct. This allows one to
find a single best solution that is measurable. In this instance, convergent thinking
assesses the available answers and compares them against each other in order to
narrow all the options to one best solution.
Convergent thinking is a fundamental tool in a child’s education. Today, most
educational opportunities are tied to one’s performance on standardized tests
that are often multiple choices in nature. Thus, it is necessary to promote
convergent thinking from a young age, as this will lead children to develop the
ability to deduce a single correct solution. The different ways to promote
convergent thinking in young children include: jigsaw puzzles that only go
together one way or simple math questions that only have a single answer. This
will teach children the importance of deducting a single best answer to subjects
requiring convergent thinking such as math or tests requiring multiple choices.
4.5.3. DIVERGENT THINKING

The goal of divergent thinking is to generate many different ideas about a topic
in a short period of time. It involves breaking a topic down into its various
component parts in order to gain insight about the various aspects of the topic.
Divergent thinking typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing manner, such
that the ideas are generated in a random, unorganized fashion. Following divergent
thinking, the ideas and information will be organized using convergent thinking;
i.e., putting the various ideas back together in some organized, structured way.
4.5.3.1. METHODS THAT STIMULATE DIVERGENT

THINKING
• Brainstorming: A technique which involves generating a list of ideas in a
creative, unstructured manner. The goal of brainstorming is to generate as
many ideas as possible in a short period of time. The key tool in brainstorm
ing is “piggybacking,” or using one idea to stimulate other ideas. During

the brainstorming process, ALL ideas are recorded, and no idea is disregarded
or criticized. After a long list of ideas is generated, one can go back and
review the ideas to critique their value or merit. Notes
• Keeping a Journal: Journals are an effective way to record ideas that one
thinks of spontaneously. By carrying a journal, one can create a collection
of thoughts on various subjects that later become a source book of ideas.
People often have insights at unusual times and places. By keeping a journal,
one can capture these ideas and use them later when developing and
organizing materials in the prewriting stage.
• Free writing: When free-writing, a person will focus on one particular
topic and write non-stop about it for a short period of time. The idea is to
write down whatever comes to mind about the topic, without stopping to
proofread or revise the writing. This can help generate a variety of thoughts
about a topic in a short period of time, which can later be restructured or
organized following some pattern of arrangement.
• Mind or Subject Mapping: Mind or subject mapping involves putting
brainstormed ideas in the form of a visual map or picture that that shows
the relationships among these ideas. One starts with a central idea or topic,
then draws branches off the main topic which represent different parts or
aspects of the main topic. This creates a visual image or “map” of the topic
which the writer can use to develop the topic further.
• Six Thinking Hats:The premise of the method is that the human brain
thinks in a number of distinct ways which can be deliberately challenged,
and hence planned for use in a structured way allowing one to develop
tactics for thinking about particular issues. Edward De Bono identifies six
distinct directions in which the brain can be challenged. In each of these
directions the brain will identify and bring into conscious thought certain
aspects of issues being considered. Six distinct directions are assigned a
colour.
White- focuses on Data and information
Red- focuses on feelings, intuition, emotion
Yellow- focuses on Optimism, Benefits
Black- focuses on Caution, Critical judgment
Green- focuses on Creative thinking
Blue –focuses on Process control, thinking about thinking (meta cognition)

4.5.3.2. STAGES OF CREATIVE THINKING

Notes Graham Wallas found that though there were individual differences in the ways
creative people thought, there was a recurring pattern. Creative thinking proceeds
in five stages.
• Stage 1-Preparation: A person who develops a creative solution to an
important problem generally spends long periods of time immersed in the
problem, gathering knowledge relevant to it and working on it.
• Stage 2- Incubation: Creative solutions often emerge after a period of
incubation. Incubation refers to the interval during which the person involved
stops working actively on the problem and turns to other matters.
• Stage 3-Illumination: Creativity does often involve a sudden illumination
or insight. At such times, individuals report that they suddenly see the first
glimmer of a solution they have been seeking for months or even years.
• Stage 4-Evaluation: Considerable refinement must follow illumination.
The idea must be worked out, translated into testable form, and then actually
tested. Only when evidences indicate that it does work is the creative solution
carried out to its final conclusion.
• Stage 5-Revision: Frequently the insight turns out to be unsatisfactory and
the thinker is back at the beginning of the creative process. In other cases,
the insight is generally satisfactory but needs some modification.
4.5.3.3. CHARACTERISTICS OF CREATIVE THINKER

Individuals who think creatively seem to have some personality features in
common. Evidence obtained from objective and subjective tests indicates that
creative people tend to have the following traits:
• They prefer complexity and some degree of imbalance in phenomena
• They are more complex psychodynamically and have greater personal scope
• They are more independent in their judgements
• The are more self assertive and dominant
• They reject suppression as a mechanism for the control of impulse
A personality dimension called origence has been shown to be related to creativity.
People high on this dimension “resists conventional approaches that have been
determined by others and would rather do his or her thing, even if it is unpopular
or seems to be rebellious or nonconforming.
Creative thinkers are found to be
• curious

• seeks problems
• enjoys challenge
Notes
• optimistic
• able to suspend judgment
• comfortable with imagination
• sees problems as opportunities
• sees problems as interesting
• problems are emotionally acceptable
• challenges assumptions
• doesn’t give up easily: perseveres, works hard
4.5.3.4. BARRIERS TO CREATIVE THINKING

The unquestioning consensus inhibits an individual’s natural creative abilities.
Rather than looking for ways to inspire creativity, one should just realize the
truth. Every individual is capable of creative thinking at all times, but have to
strip away the imaginary mental blocks that one has picked up along the way to
wherever they are today. A few barriers to creative thinking are prejudice,
functional fixedness, learned helplessness, tendency to find the “right” answer,
logical thinking, following Rules, being practical, all work, and no play, not
ready to try a different job or responsibility, being a “serious” person, avoiding
ambiguity, belief that being wrong is bad, and a lack of belief in being creative.
The process of wakening one’s creativity is similar to the path reported by those
who seek spiritual enlightenment. Individuals are already creative, but it is that
they have to strip away all of their delusions to see it.
4.5.3.5. WAYS TO FOSTER CREATIVE THINKING?

Teachers and significant others in the lives of children can make a difference
through fostering creative thinking. The following are the most common ways in
which one can foster creativity.
• Develop a broad and rich knowledge base
• Foster independence
• Encourage the use of analogies
• Encourage curiosity
• Enhance positive affect

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS-3

Notes
4. What does the blue coloured hat indicate among the 6 thinking hats of
Edward De Bono?
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5. Name the steps involved in creative thinking?
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4.6. EMPOWERING CHILD TO TAKE RATIONAL

DECISIONS BASED ON THINKING
Every living being in this world makes decisions. Decisions are made every
second of his life. What to wear, What to buy, What to eat, What to tell, What not
to take, What not to use, What not to see….answers are the products of decision
making. The effectiveness and efficiency of decisions determine its quality. Each
and every aspect of life needs a person to make decisions. The better the decisions
the smoother and successful the life is going to be.
4.6.1. DECISION MAKING

Decision making is the process of choosing among various courses of action or
alternatives. In other words it is a kind of problem solving in which we are
presented with several alternatives, among which we must choose. A perfect
rational decision maker would consider
the utility or value of the outcomes each alternative might yield
the probability that such results would actually occur
Decision will be made on the basis of expected utility, the product of the value
and the probability of each possible outcome.
4.6.2. FACTORS INFLUENCING DECISION MAKING

The major factors that influence decision making are heuristics, framing, and
escalation of commitment.

Heuristics are mental rules of thumb that permit us to make decisions and
judgments in a rapid and efficient manner. Heuristics are extracted from past
experience and serve as simple guidelines for making reasonably good choices Notes
quickly and efficiently. Three commonly used heuristics are availability heuristic,
representativeness heuristic and anchoring & adjustment heuristic.
Framing is another factor that influences the decision making of individuals.
Framing is the representation of information concerning potential outcomes in
terms of gains or losses. If emphasis of information is on loss then people will
not consider that as an option. Human beings have a natural tendency to embrace
positive information. Hence framing can have a major effect on decision making
Escalation of commitment is the tendency to become increasingly committed to
bad decisions even as losses associated with them increase.
4.6.3. SIX STEPS DECISION MAKING PROCESS

The six step decision making process is a rational decision making process. It is
based upon thinking about, comparing and evaluating various alternatives. The
steps are as follows:
• define the situation and the desired outcome
• research and identify options
• compare and contrast each alternative and its consequences
• make a decision or choose an alternative
• design and implement an action plan
• evaluate results
It is widely used in schools to teach children how to make decisions. Six step
decision making process is less complex compared to other ethical decision
making models. This model is used in organizations so that employees can be
empowered to make decisions appropriate to their rank and responsibility.
4.6.4. HOW THINKING CAN LEAD TO BETTER

DECISION MAKING IN CHILDREN
Possibility to always come up with right and perfect decisions is a mirage. But
these guidelines will increase number of better decisions.
Decisions based on available information and the information that readily
comes to our mind need not be the accurate one. So do not blindly trust
memory and make decisions as one has to careful about the possibility of
availability. Critical and creative thinking will provide the most accurate
information required for making decisions.

Never consider situations at its face value. Always dare to question the
various possibilities and get doubts clarified. Critical thinking will ensure
Notes that the decision you make works in your favour.
Flexibility should be your key word. As decision making involves lot of
effort there is a possibility to be loyal to one’s decisions. If there is a need to
change your decision to get better results one should be ready to do so.
Critical thinking will help a person not to get trapped in their initial decisions
and hence avoid severe consequences.
While making a decision one should always consider all the available
options. One should never be under the assumption that the options known
are the only ones available. Critical thinking and creative thinking will come
handy in such situations.
Better thinker is a better citizen. As children are tomorrow’s citizens empowering
children to make right decisions will make sure that future of the world will be
safe and secure in their hands. As rational decision making will help him face
life, to overcome peer pressure and live life in the most appropriate way.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS IV
6. Narrate the steps of Rational decision making process.

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4.7. FACILITATING QUESTIONING SKILL

AMONG CHILDREN IN CLASSROOM
We all use questions in order to get what we want or need; questions are an
essential part of the communication system that has evolved in humans and they
are certainly helpful in a gregarious species such as ours where we need to
exchange information for our survival.
“Rather than teach children answers, we should show them how to ask questions
... then they would discover the answers for themselves.”
4.7.1 WHAT ARE QUESTIONING SKILLS?

Questioning skills refer to one’s ability to formulate and respond to questions
about situations, objects, concepts, and ideas. Questions may derive from oneself
or from other people. There are low-level questions and high-level questions.
Low level questions require one to recall information that has been registered in

memory. They operate on the individual’s level of knowledge of a subject. Higher

level questions require one to process information rather than simply recall it.
They operate on one’s ability to comprehend, apply, analyze, synthesize, and Notes
evaluate information. High-level questions are of two types: description and
comparison. Description questions require that one observe or describe an object
using illustrations, demonstrations, maps, graphs, or tables. Comparison questions
require that one examine two or more objects or ideas and use statements or
illustrations to identify similarities and differences.
There are convergent questions as well as divergent questions. The former will
have only one correct answer, while Divergent questions can have more than one
appropriate answer.
4.7.2. DEVELOPMENT OF QUESTIONING SKILLS IN

CHILDREN
Questions are an essential part of speaking and listening and as such should be
introduced from the very earliest age. In terms of pre-school and school experience
these skills continue to develop and very young children will respond verbally to
questions such as, ‘What is this?’ when the person playing with them indicates a
ball or crayon or may respond by touching or pointing when asked, ‘Where is the
sand?’ It is debateable when the crossover comes from simply hearing and
recognising the word ‘sand’ and knowing that a question has been asked and that
it requires an answer. The quality of a child’s communication skills will clearly
depend in large part on the quality of their early relationships and the environment
that they grow up in. For the development of critical thinking, the tendency to
question and ask doubts is basic.
4.7.3. USES OF QUESTIONING STRATEGIES IN THE

FIELD OF EDUCATION
Questioning strategies help instructors to- effectively plan class participation
activities, to design homework assignments, and to write exams. It also helps
them to match their goals or objectives for a subject/course with the actual
components of the same. The other functions carried out by questioning strategies
are to motivate and to interest, to reveal prior misconceptions, to evaluate, to
guide thinking, to discipline, manage, or control, to encourage involvement of
passive learners, to diagnose strengths and weaknesses, to understand how
students form concepts, to help students form the habit of reflection, to gain
insight about students’ interests, to increase students’ incentive to inquire, to
help students learn to construct meaning, to help students set realistic expectations,
to summarize information, to relate concepts, to provide student feedback, and
to give listening clues.
For students, questioning strategies help to categorize and anticipate exam

questions, allowing for more effective preparation. They are also useful in group
study-to test each other’s level of subject knowledge and to focus on specific
Notes topics. They improve the student’s ability to clarify, reorganize, and accurately
explain new information. Questioning helps in self-assessment as well as self-
monitoring.
4.7.4. ADVANTAGES OF QUESTIONING

Questions and questioning techniques influence learners’ achievement, attitudes,
and thinking skills. The level of the question tends to obtain a similar level of
answer. Achievement can improve if high levels of questions are accompanied
by wait-time, redirection, and probing techniques. One advantage of questioning
strategies is they are flexible and widely applicable. They may be tailored to fit
the needs of different subjects, various types of information, and different levels
of competence. Questioning strategies may be used by instructors and students
alike. Students may use the strategies with the help of a facilitator or they may
develop the skills on their own.
4.7.5. GUIDELINES TO ENHANCE QUESTIONING

SKILLS AMONG CHILDREN IN CLASSROOM.
• Create an atmosphere of trust and encourage questions.
• Encourage divergent questions.
• Reduce the number of questions that can be answered by only “yes” or
“no.”
• Do not stop the discussion with the right answer.
• Increase wait-time between asking and answering questions to at least five
seconds.
• Provide good halting times.
• Develop sensitive listening techniques.
• Develop silent time.
• Appreciate questions that are appropriate to the developmental level.
• Model good questioning skills.
• Ask them to come up with their own student questions in the lesson, quiz,
or assignments.
• Respond in an encouraging way.
• Have interesting topics of discussion.

4.8. ROLE OF SCHOOL AND TEACHER IN

DEVELOPING THINKING SKILL Notes
Education is the process of human development. Intellectual or mental
development is possible by improving the power of thinking. For improving
thinking process, the teacher should try to understand his students and the devices
for better thinking. Teaching and instructions are planned and organized for
improving the power of thinking. The following are the devices used for improving
the power of thinking.
• Objectives of teaching and instruction
• Curriculum development
• Preparing textbooks and instructional material
• Methods of teaching and techniques of teaching
• Models of teaching
• Evaluation and diagnosis
• Remedial teaching and instruction
4.8.1. HOW TEACHERS CAN STIMULATE THINKING

SKILLS IN CHILDREN
• Use teaching strategies that foster both the development of thinking skills
and the mastery of subject matter under consideration.
• When learners succeed at tasks of any kind, focus their attention on and
label the thinking skills that have enabled them to be successful.
• Encourage students to reflect on what they do that is effective and to give
names to these processes.
• Model strategies by thinking aloud or by asking students why you did
something, when you yourself successfully employ a thinking skill.
• Encourage students to talk to themselves while they think. At early stages,
it may be necessary for them to talk out loud; but eventually they should be
able to talk silently to themselves about what they are doing.
• Help students over learn basic skills, so that they can afford the leisure to
focus on how they are thinking rather than being overwhelmed by the basic
skills included in the task at hand.
• Recognize the conditional nature of many thinking skills. Help students
realize that what is important of using these skills is in knowing when (not
just how) to use them.

• Encourage transfer, emphasize connections within and beyond the topic of

a given lesson. Encourage the integration of knowledge acquired on different
Notes occasions.
• Provide feedback on the degree to which learners have evaluated their
comprehension correctly, not just on the degree to which they have
comprehended correctly.
• Emphasize not only knowledge about strategies, but also why these strategies
are valuable and how to use them.
• Be aware that students may not transfer thinking strategies far from the
original setting, unless they are guided to do so. The “Remember when....
Now let’s rule” will help generalize these skills.
• Supply prompts to aid learners in monitoring the methods and depth at
which they are processing information. These prompts can range from simple
reminders or checklists to detailed scaffolded instruction programs.
• Avoid excessive dependence on external prompting. Although prompts may
be necessary in early stages of the development of thinking skills, the ultimate
goal is self-regulation.
• Focus on affective or personality aspects as well as the cognitive components
of thinking skills.
• Be careful that attention to thinking skills does not detract from learning by
competing for limited learning resources that need to be devoted to academic
tasks
• Encourage students to work together on higher order activities, so that they
can model thinking skills to one another and evaluate the comparative
effectiveness of various thinking strategies.
4.8.2. CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES EMPLOYED TO

DEVELOP THINKING SKILLS OF CHILDREN
Evidence suggests that brain gym type activities are a useful foundation for the
development of thinking skills. Such activities can be used with children from
the early years of schooling inwards. These activities encourage students to think
in a diversity of ways.
Providing student with verbal tools necessary for the analysis of internalized
mental processes is a way to improve thinking. From the early years of primary
school, teachers can do much to encourage students to engage in a variety of talk
based activities, that in then will help to develop their thinking skill.
As students become confident about expressing their opinion, teachers can use
questioning techniques to foster thinking skills.

Thinking hats is a useful concept for a classroom as it will elicit varied responses
about a topic.
Notes
A number of specific teaching techniques have been identified to help stimulate
children’s thinking in different subject areas. For eg; Odd One Out is a teaching
technique to identify pupil’s understanding of key concepts in different subjects.
This strategy can reveal gaps in the knowledge that she has taught and the
knowledge and vocabulary that the children are able to use. This approach
encourages thinking and reasoning.
Concept mapping helps thinking visible and involves writing down. Drawing a
central idea and thinking up new and related ideas.
Educational software can act like a teacher to prompt and direct enquiry through
asking questions, giving clues and suggesting avenues of investigation. It can
also act as a resource while learners discuss and explore ideas, prompting reflection
around a simulation. Computers can help develop children’s thinking skills when
used as part of a larger dialogue about thinking and learning. The challenge for a
teacher is to find ways to use the computer to encourage thinking with and
discussion between children.
When pupils are taught the habit of effective thinking they grow in confidence,
then learning is enriched and they are better prepared to face the challenges of
the future.
4.9. LETS SUM UP

“The whole of Science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday
thinking”. - Albert Einstein
The benefits of developing thinking ability are manifold. By developing one’s
thinking skills one can make achievements; can become successful; can shine in
social life; can attain emotional, social, and economic maturity and so on. By
developing one’s thinking abilities it is possible to transform one’s aggressive
tendencies, bad temper and other negative tendencies creatively and constructively.
It has been found by Dr. Edward de Bono that when school students were taught
to think effectively, their ill-temper and aggressive tendencies reduced
significantly. Clinical Psychologists have also found that when neurotics were
taught to think effectively, they showed a remarkable reduction in their neurosis.
Researchers have proved that thinking is a skill that can be enhanced by training
and practice. Hence it is the responsibility of adults including teachers to nurture
thinking skills in children through all possible means to create a better world
with great thinkers.

4.10. ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Notes 1. Knowledge, comprehension, and application are basic or lower order
thinking skills while analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are higher order
thinking skills.
2. Sensory motor stage, pre-operations stage, concrete operations stage and
formal operations stage.
3. CoRT Thinking Tools are C&S: Consequence and Sequel, AGO: Aims,
Goals, Objectives (purpose) OPV: Other People’s Views APC: Alternatives,
Possibilities, Choices, PMI: Plus, Minus, Interesting (ideas), FIP: First
Important Priorities and CAF: Consider All Factors.
4. Blue coloured hat focuses on Process control, thinking about thinking (Meta
cognition).
5. Preparation, Incubation, Illumination, Evaluation and Revision.
6. Defining the situation and the desired outcome, researching and identifying
alternatives, comparing and contrasting alternatives and its consequences,
choosing the alternative, designing and implementing the action plan and
evaluating results.
4.11 ANSWER TO UNIT END EXERCISE

1. Brain storming technique to find uses of brick.
2. Your question paper should have questions to check lower order thinking
skills like Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, as well as higher order
thinking skills like Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation.
3. Conduct a pre-test on a topic to class A and B and note the level of
achievement of children. In class A, Use the technique of concept mapping/
mind mapping. No technique is employed in class B. After a specific period
of time conduct a post-test on class A and B to note if there is any significant
improvement in the children of both classes.
4.12 SUGGESTED READINGS & REFERENCES

Fleetham Mike; How to create and develop a thinking classroom.
Caviglioli Oliver and Harris Ian; Reaching out to all Thinkers, Network Press.
Caviglioli Oliver, Harris Ian, and Tindall Bill; Thinking Skills and Eye Q, Network
Press.
Morgan T Clifford, King A Richard, Weiz R John, and Schopler John; Introduction
to Psychology 7thedn, (1993 ),Tata McGraw hill Edition.

Baron R A; Psychology 3rdedn, (1996), Prentice Hall of India Pvt Ltd

Sharma R A; Fundamentals of Educational Psychology, (2002), Surya publication,
Notes
Meerut
Fleetham Mike; How to create and develop a thinking classroom.
Caviglioli Oliver and Harris Ian; Reaching out to all Thinkers, Network Press.
Caviglioli Oliver, Harris Ian, and Tindall Bill; Thinking Skills and Eye Q, Network
Press.
Morgan T Clifford, King A Richard, Weiz R John, and Schopler John; Introduction
to Psychology 7thedn, (1993 ),Tata McGraw hill Edition.
Baron R A; Psychology 3rdedn, (1996), Prentice Hall of India Pvt Ltd
Sharma R A; Fundamentals of Educational Psychology, (2002), Surya publication,
Meerut
Adey, P. and Shayer, M. (2002) Learning Intelligence Buckingham: Open
University Press
Bloom, B. &Krathwohl, D.R. (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives,
handbook 1: Cognitive Domain.New York: David McKay
Buzan, T. (1974/1993) Use your head, London: BBC Publications. See also
www.iMindMap.com
CaviglioniO. & HarrisI. (2000) Mapwise: accelerated learning through visible
thinking, Network Educational Press.
Claxton G. (2002) Building Learning Power: helping young people become better
learners, TLO, Bristol
Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E. &Ecclestone, K. (2004) Should we be using
learning styles. What research has to say to practice, London: Learning Skills
and Development Agency de Bono, E. (1999) Six Thinking Hats, London:
Penguin;
DfEE (1999) The National Curriculum: Handbook for primary teachers in
England, London: QCA (www.nc.uk.net)
DfES (2004) Primary National Strategy ( www.standards.dfes.gov.uk)
Fisher R. Stories for Thinking (1996), Games for Thinking (1997) Poems for
Thinking (1997)First Stories for Thinking (1999), First Poems for Thinking
(2000) Values for Thinking (2001) Oxford: Nash Pollock;
Fisher R. (2003) Teaching Thinking: Philosophical Enquiry in the Classroom,
London: Continuum

Fisher R. (2005) (2 nded) Teaching Children to Think, Cheltenham: Stanley

Thornes
Notes
Fisher R. (2005) (2 nded) Teaching Children to Learn, Cheltenham: Stanley
Thornes
Goleman D (1995) Emotional IntelligenceNew York: Bantam
Gardner H (1993); Multiple Intelligences: The theory in practice Basic Books
New York;
Higgins, S. Baumfield, V. &Leat, D (2001) Thinking Through Primary
TeachingCambridge: Chris Kington.
Lipman, M. (2003) (2nd Ed.) Thinking in EducationCambridge:
CambridgeUniversity Press
McGuinness, C. (1999) From Thinking Skills to thinking classrooms: a review
and evaluation of approaches for developing pupils’ thinking.London: DfEE,
(Research Report RR115).
Piaget J. (1953) The Origins of Intelligence in ChildrenLondon:
Routledge&Kegan Paul
Smith, A. (2002) The Brain’s Behind It, Stafford: Network Education Press
Wegerif, R. (2002) Literature review in thinking skills, technology and
learningwww.nestafuturelab.org
Fisher R. ‘Thinking Skills’, in Arthur J, Grainger T & Wray D (eds) Learning to
teach in primary school , RoutledgeFalmer
“Uncovering Students’ Thinking about Thinking Using Concept Maps”- a paper
prepared for the AERA Conference, March 2008.
Cultivating a Culture of Thinking in Museums Ron Ritchhart, “Cultivating a
Culture of Thinking in Museums,” Journal of Museum Education 32, no. 2
(Summer 2007): 137-54.
Schools Need to Pay More Attention to “Intelligence in the Wild” David N.
Perkins, Harvard Education Letter (May/June 2000)
David N. Perkins and others, “Intelligence in the Wild: A Dispositional View of
Intellectual Traits,” Educational Psychology Review 12, no. 3 (2000): 269–
93.
Shari Tishman, “Why Teach Habits of Mind?” in Discovering and Exploring
Habits of Mind, ed. Arthur L. Costa and BenaKallick (Alexandria, VA:
ASCD, 2000), 41-52.
Ron Ritchhart and David N. Perkins, “Life in the Mindful Classroom: Nurturing

the Disposition of Mindfulness,” Journal of Social Issues 56, no. 1 (2000),

27–47.
Notes
ShariTishman& Patricia Palmer. “Works of art are a good thing to think about: A
study of the impact of the Artful Thinking program on students’ concepts of
thinking. In Evaluating the Impact of Arts and Cultural Education. Paris:
Centre Pompidou, 89-101.
ShariTishman. “The object of their attention”. Education Leadership, February
2008. 65 (5) pp. 44-46
Susan Barahal. “Thinking about Thinking: Preservice teachers stregthen their
thinking artfully”. Phi Delta Kappan, 90 (4). pp. 298-302
David N. Perkins, SmartSchools: Better Thinking and Learning for Every Child
(New York: The Free Press, 1995).
David N. Perkins, The Intelligent Eye: Learning to Think by Looking at Art
(Santa Monica, CA:The Getty Center for Education in the Arts, 1994).
Ron Ritchhart, Intellectual Character: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to
Get It (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2002).
Shari Tishman, David N. Perkins, Eileen Jay, The Thinking Classroom: Teaching
and learning in a Culture of Thinking (Needham, MA: Allyn& Bacon, 1995).
Tina Grotzer, Laura Howick, ShariTishman and Debra Wise, Art Works for
Schools: A Curriculum for Teaching Thinking In and Through the Arts.
(Lincoln, MA: DeCordovaMuseum and SculpturePark, 2002).
http://www.simerr.educ.utas.edu.au/numeracy/thinking_strategies/
thinking_strategies.htm
http://johnkapeleris.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Six-Thinking-
Hats1.jpg
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com
h t t p : / / w w w. h o u s t o n i s d . o r g / S t u d e n t S u p p o r t S e r v i c e s / H o m e /
Safe&DrugFreeSchools/AntiBully/ReflectiveThinking.pdf
http://www.liberty.edu/media/2030/WritingwithInductiveStrategy.pdf
http://www.audiblox2000.com/logical-thinking.htm
h t t p : / / w w w. l i b e r t y . e d u / m e d i a / 2 0 3 0 / W r i t i n g % 2 0 w i t h % 2 0
Deductive%20Strategy.pdf
http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Mind_Matters/mapp18b.jpg
http://school.familyeducation.com/gifted-education/cognitive-psychology/
38660.html

http://www.criticalthinking.org/
Notes h t t p : / / w w w. t e a c h i n g t h i n k i n g . n e t / t h i n k i n g / w e b % 2 0 r e s o u r c e s /
robert_fisher_thinkingskills.htm
http://school.familyeducation.com/gifted-education/cognitive-psychology/
38660.html
http://www.pbs.org/wholechild/abc/cognitive.html
http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/fostering-young-childrens-thinking-
skills-3193
http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/vockell/edPsybook/Edpsy7/
edpsy7_development.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_thinking
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-convergent-thinking.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-in-everyday-life...
download.microsoft.com/download/A/6/4/.../CriticalThinking.pd
http://tweenparenting.about.com/od/educationissues/a/Convergent-Thin
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Develop-Your-Critical-Thinking-Ski
www.sydney.edu.au/stuserv/documents/learning_centre/critical.pdf
http://www.decision-making-confidence.com/six-step-decision-making...
http://www.psychology4all.com/Thinking.htm
http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/questioning.html
http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/higher-level-questioning-skil
http://www.best-personal-growth-resources.com/divergent-thinking.html
http://faculty.washington.edu/ezent/imdt.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_thinking
http://www.copyblogger.com/mental-blocks-creative-thinking
http://www.virtualsalt.com/crebook1.htm
h t t p : / / w w w. l e a r n e r. o rg / w o r k s h o p s / s o c i a l s t u d i e s / p d f / s e s s i o n 6 /
6.ClassroomQuestioning.pdf
www.slideshare.net/zaid/thinking-tools-231143
http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/problem.html

4.13. UNIT END EXERCISES

1. Use any one of the creative thinking techniques to see the level of creativity Notes
of your class.
2. Prepare question paper on your subject based on Bloom’s taxonomy and
discuss it with your class.
3. Do a pre-test and then use a few strategies to stimulate thinking skills in
classroom. After significant period of time conduct a post-test to see if there
is any significant improvement in the level of achievement of children over
a period of time as a result of their improvement in thinking.
It is not enough for a teacher to just teach. A teacher is also a guide and a role model
who is the right person to imbibe good values and true spirits in children. A teacher
is very capable of bringing about transformation in children to make responsible
citizens of them in the future. Empowerment of children is possible by teachers
who are affectionate, loving and understanding and motivating to bring the best out
of their students.

Development of Self
UNIT 5 DEVELOPMENT OF SELF

Notes
STRUCTURE
5.0. Introduction
5.1. Learning Objectives
5.2. Development of self concept in children
5.2.1. Concepts and how self concepts are formed
5.2.2. Factors affecting the self concept
5.3 . Development of Values in Children
5.3.1. Role of discipline in the development of values
5.4 . Development of attitude in children
5.4.1. Meaning of attitude
5.4.2. Component of attitude
5.4.3. Development of attitude in children
5.4.4 Role of teacher in development of good attitude in children
5.4.5 Five effective teacher attitude
5.5. Importance of perception and its development in children
5.5.1. Development of Perception in the Child
5.5.2. Importance of perception in a Developing Child
5.5.3. Knowledge, Memory and Perception
5.5.4. Importance of playing in development of perception
5.6 Motivation
5.6.1. Characteristics of Motivation in Young Children
5.6.2. Developing motivation
5.6.3. Enhancing Motivation
5.7. Let us sum up
5.8. Answers to check your progress
5.9. Suggested Readings & references
5.10. Unit-End Exercises

Development of Self
5.0 INTRODUCTION
A baby when it is born is born without any experience. That is known to everyone. Notes
As the baby grows every day, she experiences new things. There are two types of
growth-the physical growth and the psychological growth. The physical growth
takes place as days pass by, such as the growth in height; weight, etc depending
on the value of food, nutrients etc provided for the baby. Love, affection, discipline,
etc helps in the psychological or the mental growth. These in turn influence the
development of self concept. As a teacher you would have come across children
with individual differences in their level of self concept. As teachers, you need
to understand this and help the children improve their self concept. There are
many factors that influence the growth of self concept in the child. In the chapter,
we will study, the different factors that influence the development of the self
concept in children.

After completing this unit, you should be able to
• Narrate how self concepts are formed
• Express the conditions that help in the development of self concepts
• Reveal factors affecting the development of self-concept
• Describe value and moral development in children
• Report the role and discipline in development of values
• Recount the development of attitude and role of teacher in development of
good attitude in children
• Explain the importance of perception and its development in children
• Speak about the characteristics of motivation in children- intrinsic
motivation, persistence, choice of challenge and dependency
• Demonstrate the methods to develop and enhance motivation.
5.2 DEVELOPMENT OF SELF CONCEPT IN

CHILDREN
5.2.1 CONCEPTS AND HOW SELF CONCEPTS ARE
FORMED
Concepts are regarded as the images in our mind; they serve to help children to
understand the world into functional units. A concept is the basic unit of all types

Development of Self
of learning. Human beings from infancy to old age learn new concepts and use
old concept in new situations of their daily life. Individuals differ in their level of
Notes concept formation on the basis of their age, intelligence and experience. The
process of concept formation emerges from a big, buzzing, blooming, confusion
in which the child is born. The child is born with certain biological inheritance
and experiences the external world through sense their organs, which are the
gateways of knowledge. With any child some concepts may be fully and accurately
developed, others only partially developed, and still others quite inaccurate.
Because culture influences the development of certain abilities, cultural variations
brings about individual differences. Early age is critical for the development of
concepts for which a stimulating environment is essential. When the parents of
children are illiterates, it is not possible for them to interact with the children in
a way the children can understand because of their illiteracy. Hence, the home
environment, school and neighborhood environment of the child also becomes
very important from the developmental point of view. As children begin to
understand the world around them, gradually they learn about different concepts.
The many types of concepts that children learn are concepts of life, death, bodily
functions, space, weight, numbers, time, sex roles, social awareness, beauty, self,
etc.
The development of concepts depends on the stimulation and the opportunities
that a child gets during early childhood. For example a child who has had the
opportunity to travel to different countries in early life is able to understand that
across the world exist people who have different languages and culture of their
own. A child without this knowledge will have great difficulty in understanding
this concept. Hence, not all children understand and develop all the concepts and
also they vary in their level or degree of understanding different concepts. In
other words, there are individual differences in the age at which different concepts
form for different children as well as the degree with which they understand
concepts. As they grow and attend school, many of these differences begin to
reduce as they are subjected to similar learning situations.
Along with the physical growth, the development of personality also takes place.
The foundation laid in babyhood begins to extend and grow as the child starts to
interact with more people. Parents, siblings and other relatives first constitute
the child’s social world. How they feel about them and how they treat them are
very important factors in shaping the self-concept- which is the core of personality
patterns. As the child grows and meets more peer groups in the neighbourhood
and in school, it begins to influence the development of the personality of the
child. The attitude of these people, the way the child is treated by them then
begins to have an effect on their self-concept. These may be in accordance to the
early foundation from the home background, it can vary or in can be opposing to
the early concepts that developed at home.
The early peer attitude and the attitudes of the important members of the family

Development of Self
are very important because, once the foundations for the self concept are laid; it
is very unlikely to change. That apart, as the peer groups and family members get
into the habit of thinking of young children in a certain way such as helpful, Notes
troublesome, naughty, mischievous, etc, they continue to have the same attitude
and this chain of thinking will hardly change.
Because much of the early learning begin to a large extent, in the home
environment, many conditions within the family become responsible for shaping
the development of self concept during early childhood. The general relationship
of young children with their family is very important. Most important in this
aspect is the parent’s attitude. How parents feel about the child’s appearance,
their abilities, their achievements etc. will have a great influence on how children
feel about themselves.
The method used for child training at home is also very important in shaping the
child’s development of self concept. Strict authoritarian discipline and frequent
punishing creates resentment against all persons in authority. The aspirations
that parents have for their children are also very important and very influential in
the development of the self concept. When the aspirations of the parents are
unrealistically high, children feel doomed to failure. This lays a foundation for
feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. They begin to feel that they are useless
and good for nothing.
The ordinal position of children in a family also effects the development of
personality. That is, whether the child is a first born, second born and so on, also
influences the development of self concept. This position plays a significant role
in specific situations that one is expected to play depending on position of birth.
It is very evident that the child training methods used with different children
varies according to the birth order. Another aspect that influences here is also the
success and failures children have in competitions with their siblings.
In early childhood the children are not aware of factors such as caste, religion,
race etc. However as they grow, this issue comes up somewhere in their lives. It
becomes more prominent as children begin to interact with more and more people
in a society. The interplay within different people depends on the background of
the child and leads to experiences that are favourable or unfavourable. When it is
favourable, it leads to positive self concept. When the peer group may neglect or
reject them, it leads to negative self concept. From here the tendency of the child
will be to look for comfort zones which will be available to the child only in a
society of people belonging to the child’s own community. At this point the
feelings of discriminations may begin to develop. As a teacher you are expected
to guide the child in the right direction using corrective strategies, so that such
discriminating need does not arise in the child.
By the time the children grow into late childhood, they begin to learn about
gender appropriateness. When they develop attitudes that are gender appropriate,

Development of Self
they are liked by others and this gets associated with favourable personality
characteristics. Boys begin to behave appropriately as boys and girls appropriately
Notes as girls. When they do not, it is considered as unfavourable. It is more so in cases
with girls.
Environmental insecurity due to various factors such as death, separation, divorce,
or social mobility affects self concepts of children unfavourably to a large extent.
This is because they feel different from the peer group due to these factors. The
upward or downward mobility of the parents both influence the development of
self concepts in separate ways. Hence, providing a secure environment for a
growing child is very important.
Development of favourable or unfavourableself concept depends on the life
happenings during early childhood. Unfavourableself concept may develop when
children feel that the parents have unrealistic aspirations from them, when the
other peer member begin to socialize and one is still self bound, when social
attitudes towards them are unfavourable, etc. Due to these factors, the attitude of
the child regarding self also becomes unfavourable. Parents think that their
children will outgrow this unfavourable self concept over time. However, the
truth is the more the child grows, broader the unfavourable self concept becomes
and these tend to be more persistent. Whatever causes these unfavourableself
concepts, these develop very easily during childhood. Happiness is very important
for the development of favourableself concept during childhood. As children
spend much of their childhood at home, happiness depends on how the child is
treated by the family members. It is said that the three “A” of happiness are
Acceptance by others, Affection and Achievement. For happiness, some basic
needs of the child have to be satisfied, which in turn will reflect in the formation
of favourableself concept in the child.
5.2.2. FACTORS AFFECTING THE SELF CONCEPT

There are many factors that affect the development of self concept. They are the
following:
1. Physical condition: Good health always facilitates proper and healthy
growth. Poor health or physical defects cuts off children from their
interaction with other peer members. The helplessness and weakness makes
the child feel inferior.
2. Body build: When the children fail to grow to their normal size, they usually
are unable to keep pace with the others of their age. Same with children
who are overweight. The feelings of such differences with others of their
peer group make them feel inferior.
3. Names and nicknames: Nick names start of for fun. However, sometimes
they tend to persist and some children feel ridiculed by this. If the nickname
suggests a physical or personality trait, it leads to feelings of inferiority.

Development of Self
4. School environment: In most instances, teachers try to bring about good

understandings with children. However, teachers who use discipline that
children consider unfair will bring about feelings of disrespect for the teacher Notes
as well as the self.
5. Social acceptance: Being accepted or not by the peer group influences the
personality of the child through its effects on self concept. Children who
are very popular or children who are least popular, both are more effected
by this than the others in between.
6. Success or failures: Children are expected to perform certain tasks for
their age. These tasks are usually carried out by most others of their age.
However, due to some reasons, some children may not be able to perform
these tasks. Success brings about feelings of confidence and self acceptance.
Failure brings about feelings of inadequacy. When success rate is high and
prestigious, greater are its effects on self concept. Continuous failure on the
other hand will have damaging effects on the child’s personality.
7. Gender: In our country, girls soon get a feeling of inferiority by the roles
they are forced to play. This results in decrease in self evaluation. More so
as the society adds up to it. Hence, it is up to the teachers to make the
children to understand that there is no such discrimination and that both,
girls as well as boys are equal in all aspects.
8. Intelligence: If children’s intelligence is deviant from the normal their
personality is bound to be adversely affected by it. It will not be long before
the children realize that they are less than the average and a feeling of
inferiority begins to develop. Because of this they begin to feel shy and
start to keep to themselves. It is also possible that they may become
aggressive.
9. Other factors: Relationship with the family members, ordinal position,
methods used for child training, the ethnic group to which one belongs,
mobility environment etc, all play a significant role in influencing the concept
formation.
A teacher in the class room has to be aware of the role of each of these factors
and see how she can facilitate the development of good self concept in the children.
In order to facilitate good health, she should impress upon the pupil the good
practices such as hand washing, hygiene, combing hair, brushing teeth twice
daily etc which bring about the required changes for health. They should monitor
eating habits and rule out practices of children eating junk food. She should not
allow the use of nick names, bring about good understanding and unity amongst
the students, and bring about social acceptance within the class room and outside.
When children fail in tests, the teacher should take individual interest and find
out the reasons. In most instances, the causes of failure are because of lack of
coordination at home to facilitate learning. When teacher is affectionate,

Development of Self
understanding and loving half her job is done. For the remaining half she needs
to put in some effort. In her efforts, she should balance the gender, with no
Notes discrimination to gender and try to reduce the show of high intelligence of others
in the presence of the average and below average. When all are treated equally,
the chances of the average and the below average picking up are very high. If
they are discriminated and issues are made regarding their failures in the presence
of other students, it may result in development of poor self esteem, which is not
good.
Check Your Progress -1
1. Explain how self concepts are formed.

...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
2. What are the factors that influence self concept and how can the teacher
facilitate improvement in development of self concept in children?
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
5.3 DEVELOPMENT OF VALUES IN CHILDREN

A German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche first used the term ‘Values’ in 1880
to denote moral beliefs and attitudes that were personal and subjective. Each
society is characterized by well defined, articulated values that are passed on to
the members of the society. The values are what people consider important in
life and what is good or worthwhile. They are acquired mostly by personal
experiences in life. Value- systems usually vary from society to society. These
values are made up of “do’s” and “don’ts” or “right” and “wrongs.” There are
many categories of values. They are the following:
Personal values
Social values
Moral values
Spiritual values
Cultural values
Universal values.

Development of Self
Babies when they are born neither moral nor immoral. In other words they have
no moral standards. Gradually as they grow they will learn from their parents,
and later from their teachers and playmates and from the society to go by the Notes
codes of expectations. The foundation for moral development is laid during early
babyhood and gradually it builds from there which guides their behaviours as
they grow older. Nobody expects babies to behave by any standards. But a serious
problem here is that the babies soon discover that they get more attention when
they do things to annoy others.
Moral development in early childhood is on low level. That is because the
intellectual development would not have reached the point where they can
understand to apply abstract principles of rights and wrongs. They gradually
begin to learn it from specific situations that they start to experience as they
grow. When children are told to do something or not to do something their behavior
will not be in accordance to doing right or wrong but more to do with their
requirements at that moment. Children begin to understand the wrongs that they
do by the punishments that they receive when they persistently keep repeating
wrongs. Another way to understand this also a fact that children conform to
social expectations in the hope of gaining rewards for their good act too. Hence
reward and punishment are two factors from where the children begin to
understand moral values.
Sometimes different people have different rules relating to the same behaviour.
For example, a mother may punish when brother hits sister, which indicates this
behavior is wrong. However, the father may laugh at the same incident which
may in turn make the child to believe his act was funny and now the child is
confused and the child gradually starts to bully the sister in the presence of the
father and keep quiet in the presence of the mother.
Between the ages of five and twelve years, the rigid notion of right and wrong
learnt from parents become modified and children start looking into specific
circumstances surrounding a moral violation. Gradually as children grow, there
is a shift. Children are influenced by the standards of the group with which older
children are identified. The children main their gang standards until they cross
puberty and gradually their standards build up to that of the adults after this.
5.3.1 ROLE OF DISCIPLINE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF

VALUES
The role of discipline is to teach children to behave in accordance to the
expectations to their age. Throughout babyhood, babies begin to make correct
specific responses to specific situations at home as well as in the neighbourhood.
When strict discipline is followed, involving emphasis on punishment for
wrongdoing even very young babies can be forced into a pattern of behavior.
Punishment for wrong behavior and rewarding with approval and affection for

Development of Self
appropriate behavior will begin the education of values and moral standards in
babyhood.
Notes
Disciplining is the society’s way of teaching children the moral behavior approved
by the social group. Its goal is to let the children know what is right and what is
disapproved and to motivate them to behave in accordance with these standards.
During early childhood years emphasis should be on punishing only those wrong
doing which have been done willfully, that is done knowing what is expected of
them but they purposefully do it. In order to increase young children’s motivation
to learn to behave in a socially approved manner, rewards serve as reinforcing
the motivations. For this three types of disciplines are used. They are the following
o Authoritarian discipline: goes with the saying “to spare the rod means
spoiling the child.” Here, parents, caretakers, teachers etc. establish rules
and tell the children that they are expected to adhere to it. No attempts are
made to explain why these rules are made and why the children to adhere to
them. If children fail to adhere to them, they are punished.
o Permissive discipline: developed as a revolt against the authoritarian
discipline many adults had been subjected to during their childhood. The
philosophy here is that children would learn from the consequences of their
acts how to behave in socially approved way. Consequently children were
not taught rules, they were not punished for willful breaking of rules, nor
were they rewarded for behaving in a socially approved way.
o Democratic discipline: These primarily emphasize the rights of the child to
know why rules are made and to have an opportunity to express their opinion.
Children understand and abide by them. Here punishment is made to fit the
crime, in the sense that the punishment is related to the misdeed. Similarly,
rewards are given in the form of praise and social recognition.
Scientifically, it has been proved that different types of disciplining have different
effect on children. There have been changes noticed in behavior, on attitudes
and on personality.
Check your progress- 2
1. Explain the different categories of values.

...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................

Development of Self
2. Explain the role of discipline in the development of values.

................................................................................................................... Notes
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
5.4 DEVELOPMENT OF ATTITUDE IN CHILDREN

5.4.1 MEANING OF ATTITUDE
Attitude makes considerable difference in the life of almost everybody and our
success and failure depend on our attitudes towards our work and abilities. Attitude
denotes adjustment of individuals towards some selected person, group or
institution. In forming an attitude toward some aspect of the environment the
individual shows readiness to respond. Thus the attitude results in a state of
preparedness or a state of readiness to respond in a particular manner under
particular circumstances. Freeman defined it as “a dispositional readiness to
respond to certain situations, persons, objects or ideas in a consistent manner,
which has been learnt and has become one’s typical mode of response.” Attitudes
are not observable; they can only be inferred by the overt behaviour.
5.4.2 COMPONENT OF ATTITUDE

Components are reflected in behaviour. Behaviour has three components, that is
the cognitive component or element that consists of knowledge and beliefs. 1.
Our attitude depends on knowledge, which is logical and rational. 2. Second
component of attitude is the feeling element. Attitude always arouses ones feelings
and emotions. Emotions such as liking some people and hating some people are
based on our feelings. Feelings that unite and integrate are termed positive and
those that divide and disintegrate are termed negative. Knowledge and feelings
urge an individual to act. 3. Behaviour or act is the third component of attitude.
This enables others to infer the feelings and understanding of others.
5.4.3 DEVELOPMENT OF ATTITUDE IN CHILDREN

Attitude of children develop at home first and then from school and the peer
group to which they belong. Personal experiences gained during the course of
interaction with the society also helps in the development of attitude. As the
children grow, need satisfaction and information exposure i.e., gaining knowledge
about person or situation, depending upon which, favourable or unfavourable
attitudes are formed. Attitudes formed on the basis of poor knowledge are most
likely to change with the increase in knowledge about the issue. All are associated
with number of groups. Children are also associated with groups such as a family
group, the peer group, religious, ethnic, cultural and class groups. The primary

Development of Self
groups such as the family, friends and the peer group in the school have the
ability to influence the development of attitudes. This happens because the
Notes primary groups expose the members to some source of information, and exerts
greater pressure on its members to conform to the group norms. Because of this
the members are likely to develop common attitudes about things and people.
Once these attitudes are formed they become stable and resist any change.
5.4.4 ROLE OF TEACHER IN DEVELOPMENT OF GOOD

ATTITUDE IN CHILDREN
The effective attitudes and actions employed by teachers ultimately can make a
positive difference on the lives of their students. By examining prior educational
experiences, teachers can discuss what they should or should not do with a class
of students. The five frequently discussed attitudes and actions include: a genuine
caring and kindness of the teacher, a willingness to share the responsibility
involved in a classroom, a sincere sensitivity to the students’ diversity, a motivation
to provide meaningful learning experiences for all students, and an enthusiasm
for stimulating the students’ creativity.
The responsibility for preparing teachers is assumed to begin with teacher
education programs at higher education institutions. However, by the time the
undergraduate students enroll in an introduction to teaching course they have
already experienced and survived many teachers. Since these students have
achieved this wealth of educational opportunities; they can serve as credible
resources in identifying the attitudes and actions that were implemented in prior
classrooms by their effective teachers. Teachers have the opportunity to leave an
indelible impression on their students’ lives. School experiences mold, shape,
and, can influence how children view themselves inside and outside of school.
These school memories have the potential to last a lifetime in students’ minds
and can play a consequential role with present and future decisions. It does not
take long for students to realize that teachers make the difference between a long
and boring school year and an exciting and challenging year. The effective attitudes
and actions employed by teachers ultimately can make a positive difference on
the lives of their students. By examining past educational experiences, preserves
teachers can discuss what they should or should not do with a class of students.
5.4.5 FIVE EFFECTIVE TEACHER ATTITUDE

First Attitude: Demonstrating Caring and Kindness
This is to do with the personality of the teachers. A good teacher is prepared to
share emotions and feelings such as enthusiasm affection, patience, sadness, and
disapproval etc with the students. That apart, she should also be willing to share
the true interests of the students. She should care for the students. Communications
should be clear between the teacher and the students.

Development of Self
Second Attitude: Sharing Responsibility

A teacher should not be rigid. As the teacher provides good scope for responsibility,
Notes
the teacher should also provide opportunity for equal freedom. Teacher should
not go totally by the rules. This flexibility and responsibility shared should bring
about a positive environment for both, the teacher as well as the students to work
in a close relationship.
Third Attitude: Sensitively Accepting Diversity
The teacher should practice empathy and importance of understanding the
students. While dealing with students coming from different community,
background, etc, she should identify sensitivity, acceptance and encouragement
as critical. She should not make the good teacher will refrain from making
judgment and analyzing students and understands them as they are. The teacher
should bring out the best in their students and complement them individually in
the presence of the others in the classroom. A teacher can maintain a record of
her time spent with each child in listening and talking to them which had made
them feel valued and important.
Fourth Attitude: Fostering Individualized Instruction
The teacher should provide every student opportunities that are meaningful to
the students. The teachers should recollect their times while they were students
which had helped them to be successful in their leaning and also the methods
used by their teachers to appreciate such good results and make use of it now.
They should also remember the attitude of their teachers which had made them
not participate and keep away from practicing such attitudes. It is also important
for the teachers to work on the strengths of the students and to ignore their
weakness. The head teachers should encourage the other teachers to encourage
positive self confidence and self esteem.
Fifth Attitude: Encouraging Creativity
This attitude stresses the importance of stimulating the students’ creativity. Teacher
should listen to the ideas and suggestions for lessons and activities. The effective
teachers are open to students’ ways of being imaginative and also utilized many
approaches to learning. The students get appreciated and get personally motivated
when teachers design lessons that considered their interests, skills, and needs.
Elements of learning destruction included placing too much emphasis on grades
or giving the one and only correct answer to questions. Consequently, the students
become overly concerned about finding the correct answers or trying to read
their teachers’ mind to say what she wanted to hear. With little opportunity for
creativity, the students become uninterested in the learning process. Competition
creates a burden that interferes with learning since the students’ only work for
the grades and praise from their teachers. Some of their teachers used extrinsic
motivators or token rewards and these methods reduced the students’ desire to

Development of Self
learn and even lowered their achievement levels. Many teachers felt a more
effective method involved building on the students’ intrinsic motivation by
Notes providing a fun classroom environment.
Studies have described teaching as an intensely psychological process and believe
a teacher’s ability to maintain productive classroom environments, motivate
students, and make decisions depends on her personal qualities and the ability to
create personal relationships with her students. These effective attitudes and
actions employed by teachers ultimately can make a positive difference on the
lives of their students. It is known that attitudes have a profound impact on teacher
practices and behaviors. Attitudes and beliefs are a subset of a group of constructs
that name, define, and describe the structure and content of mental states that are
thought to drive a person’s actions. With effective attitudes, teachers and students
can develop relationships of mutual respect and trust.
5.5 IMPORTANCE OF PERCEPTION AND ITS

DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN
The word perception denotes the process of getting to know the environment by
the use of the senses. The stimuli come from the objects around us in the
environment, but the stimuli are not the objects. The stimuli and the objects are
entirely different. For example when you see a river down there in a valley, what
happens is obviously not the river coming shooting up to your eyes, but merely
that the light reflected from the surface of the river strikes your eyes. The light
shimmers and you that the surface of the river is being ruffled by the breeze. You
hear a low hum growing louder and louder, you that an aeroplane is approaching.
Now an aeroplane is not a hum anymore than a breeze is a shimmer or a river is
a bright spot of light. The objective facts are somehow indicated to the observer
by the stimuli he receives but they are very different from the stimulus.
The way in which we interpret the information gathered and processed by the
senses. It has been explained that an individual senses the presence of stimuli,
but perceives what it is. It is our perception of the world around us, which leads
us to respond in many different ways, making perception a key factor in the way
both children and adults behave.
5.5.1 DEVELOPMENT OF PERCEPTION IN THE CHILD

Without the ability to perceive, it is impossible for the developing child to have
a real sense of who they are and how they fit into the world. An example of a
critical period in terms of development of perception relating to a squint is age
three. It has been identified that when a squint is repaired before the child reaches
the age of three then the bi-ocular vision develops fine. However, if the child is
over three, bi-ocular vision will never develop.

Development of Self
5.5.2 IMPORTANCE OF PERCEPTION IN A

DEVELOPING CHILD
Notes
Perception has been recognized as highly important for a wide range of factors
associated with child development. In addition, the ability to know where we are
in time and space is essential for children to be able to reach out and pick things
up. Further reasons why perception is important for the developing child include
the following:
Socialization
Acquisition of knowledge
Acquisition of language
Emotional response
Memory
Self-preservation
Hand-eye co-ordination
Sense of self-awareness
5.5.3 KNOWLEDGE, MEMORY AND PERCEPTION

Without perceptual development, a child is unable to either acquire new
knowledge or remember what has been learned. This is because perception is
identified as necessary for the child to be able to store knowledge. Therefore,
perceptual development is vital for the developing child to reach key
developmental milestones and go on to succeed within education. Friendships
require the ability to respond to another person, making perception key to
establishing and maintaining relationships.
As highlighted above, perceptual development is absolutely crucial for the
developing child’s hand-eye co-ordination, to be able to socialize and acquire
both knowledge and language. While perception affects how children respond to
different situations and sensations, it is also vital for memory and self-awareness.
5.5.4 IMPORTANCE OF PLAYING IN DEVELOPMENT OF

PERCEPTION
One of the most important issues is young children’s development of perception
is the scope for play. In a cross cultural study of play, studies found that play
enhances children’s learning and development. Parents’ perceptions of importance
of play are derived from and are determined by socio-cultural norms, such as
whether play with children will be stimulated or neglected. Surprisingly, it may
even be actively discouraged and not allowed by parents. Play is fun and for

Development of Self
most young children, something that occurs naturally. Play should coincide with
early childhood education as it is argued to be the most essential for children.
Notes
There is a long history of developmental theory and research concerning play.
Psychoanalytical theorists use play for helping children deal with emotional
problems (e.g. play therapy). Jean Piaget established the link between play and
the growth of intelligence. He believed that play serves as a vehicle for learning.
To Lev Vygotsky, a psychologist, play is one of the most important sources of
development and learning for young children. He believes that during play,
development occurs because play creates a zone of proximal development.
According to Vygotsky’s theory, playing with a more advanced partner such as
an adult, parent or older child can enhance the child’s skills and build more
confidence to take part in higher quality play. For Vygotsky, play is beneficial for
the development of language, memory, reasoning, higher level of thinking, and
social skills.
The importance of play for child development is endless and enormous. We know
that children’s brain development is associated with all domains of child
development and learning. A significant linkage between brain development and
play during early years has been found, suggesting that high quality play quickly
increases neuron connections at a significant rate. Ginsburg and the Committee
on Communications and the Committee on Psychological Aspects of Child and
Family Health, found that children can recreate and explore their world through
play. They argued that “Play helps children develop new competencies that lead
to enhanced confidence and the resiliency they will need to face future challenges.”
They also added that through play, especially through undirected play, in other
words free play, children get opportunities to exercise socialization skills (i.e.
group work, sharing, negotiation, conflict mitigation, and self-advocacy).
According to them, if play is child-driven, other life skills of children will develop
and become essential for their future (i.e. decision-making, to know one’s own
pace, to discover one’s areas of interest).
It was found that there is a link between play and many foundational skills and
complex cognitive activities that are significant for early childhood development
and learning. They also found that these skills construct a strong foundation for
children and help them learn effectively in school and beyond. Therefore, play is
essential for child development and also for academic success.
Given the importance of children’s development through parent’s interaction
and relationship-building with children through play, it is recommended that
countries include play in their ECD policies. In order to formulate an appropriate
policy, cultural-relevant research-based evidences are needed to formulate the
policy and to prepare awareness-raising program for this issue.

Development of Self

Notes
1. What is the importance of perception in a Developing Child?
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
2. Explain how play is important in development of perception.
...................................................................................................................
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...................................................................................................................
5.6 MOTIVATION
Young children learn from everything they do. They are naturally curious; they
want to explore and discover. If their explorations bring pleasure or success,
they will want to learn more. During these early years, children form attitudes
about learning that will last a lifetime. Children who receive the right sort of
support and encouragement during these years will be creative, adventurous
learners throughout their lives. Children who do not receive this sort of support
and interaction are likely to have a much different attitude about learning later in
life. Many factors affect the development of children, both external and internal.
One of the most influential internal factors is the child’s motivation. This
motivation can be in two forms: intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. It is widely
agreed that intrinsic motivation is better for an educational setting.
5.6.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF MOTIVATION IN YOUNG

CHILDREN
Children do many things simply because they want to do them. Selecting a toy or
a shirt to wear is the result of “intrinsic motivation.” The child makes her own
choice and achieves satisfaction from both the act of choosing and from the
opportunity to play with the toy or wear the shirt. Since the activity is generating
the motivation, it is mostly self-sustaining for as long as the child wants to continue
the activity. Children also engage in some activities because adults tell them to,
or in an effort to please another party. These activities are “extrinsically motivated.”
When a child is extrinsically motivated, the reward comes from outside the child-
it has to be provided by someone else, and has to be continually given for the
child to remain motivated enough to continue the activity. It is more difficult for
a child to sustain extrinsically motivated activity because of this reliance upon
some outside force.

Development of Self
Since intrinsically motivated activity is more rewarding in and of itself, children

learn more from this sort of activity, and they retain that learning better.
Notes Intrinsically motivated children are more involved in their own learning and
development. In other words, a child is more likely to learn and retain information
when he is intrinsically motivated - when he believes he is pleasing himself.
Parents can build on this sense of confidence by guiding their child’s play and
activities while still giving the child a range of options. This unstructured play is
an essential element of the child’s motivation, learning, and development.
5.6.2 DEVELOPING MOTIVATION

A number of behavioral characteristics are indicators of high motivation. Here
are some of the important factors and some ways to help a child develop these
characteristics.
Persistence is the ability to stay with a task for a reasonably long period of time.
While very young children cannot concentrate on one activity for an hour, there
are still measurable differences in the length of time that young children will
engage in an activity. A highly motivated child will stay involved for a long
period of time, whereas an unmotivated child will give up very easily when not
instantly successful. Children learn persistence when they are successful at a
challenging task. The art in building persistence is in offering a task that is just
challenging enough, but not overwhelming.
Choice of challenge is another characteristic of motivation. Children who
experience success in meeting one challenge will become motivated, welcoming
another. These motivated learners will choose an activity that is slightly difficult
for them, but provides an appropriate challenge. When they successfully complete
such a task, children gain a high level of satisfaction. Unmotivated children (those
who have not experienced early success) will pick something that is very easy
and ensures an instant success. With such easy success, children feel only a very
low level of satisfaction, because they know that the task offered little challenge.
The challenge for teachers is helping the child find an appropriate challenge
while still allowing the choice to be the child’s.
The amount of dependency on adults is another indicator of motivation. Children
with strong intrinsic motivation do not need an adult constantly watching and
helping with activities. Children who have a lower level of motivation or are
extrinsically motivated need constant attention from adults and cannot function
independently. Since independence is an important aspect of quality learning,
this dependence on adults will greatly limit children’s ability to succeed in school.
Parents can increase the likelihood of their child’s building independent motivation
by providing toys and activities that play to the child’s natural creativity and
curiosity. Often, these are the simplest, most basic playthings: blocks, little plastic
“people,” a toy car or two, and crayons and paper. These things encourage children
to invent their own worlds rather than depending on an adult to entertain them.

Development of Self
The last indicator of motivational level is emotion. Children who are clearly
motivated will have a positive display of emotion. They are satisfied with their
work and show more enjoyment in the activity. Children without appropriate Notes
motivation will appear quiet, sullen and bored. They will not take any apparent
pleasure in their activity and will often complain. As a teacher, you are probably
the best judge of a child’s moods.
5.6.3 ENHANCING MOTIVATION

For teachers teaching young children, the goal should be to appropriately support
the development of motivation so that there is a proper foundation for optimal
educational growth. Teachers should be very cautious about the use of many
extrinsic rewards, as this can severely interfere with the child’s motivational
development. Praise for an accomplishment is appropriate, but be sure that your
child is doing a task because she is interested, not because she thinks it will bring
praise from you.
Difficulties arise when adults or others within the child’s environment enforce
external standards and replace the internal reward system with one that depends
upon outside forces to supply all of the rewards (candy, money, excessive praise).
Children then begin to feel successful only if someone else rewards them for
accomplishments. They lose their intrinsic motivation and may only feel success
when someone else judges them as successful. In such situations, children may
not develop feelings of self-worth, and will judge their own value by someone
else’s standards. Your child should never need to ask, “Did I do well?” She should
know and be confident in her own successes.
There are several strategies teachers can use to help children remain more fully
intrinsically motivated.
Provide an environment (through age appropriate toys, activities, etc.) that allows
children to freely explore and to see the effect of their actions (i.e., toys that have
visible or tangible changes when moved).
Allow children ample time when working to allow for persistence. When children
are deeply involved with an activity, make sure that they can finish without
interruption. Resist the natural urge to “help,” Respond to children’s needs in a
consistent, predictable manner, but allow them to be as independent as possible.
All children need clearly defined limits. Playtime, however, need not be structured
and organized. Provide many opportunities for children and adults to explore
together and interact directly. It is important for both children and adults to be
working together on an activity. This lets you observe, model, and encourage the
child. Provide situations that give children an acceptable challenge. Activities
those are slightly difficult for the child will be more motivating and provide for
stronger feelings of success when accomplished. This may take some trial and
error at first. Give children opportunities to evaluate their own accomplishments.

Development of Self
Rather than stating that you think they have done a good job, ask them what they
think of their work. You’ll never go wrong by asking the question, “What do
Notes YOU think?”
Do not use excessive rewards. They tend to undermine children’s ability to value
themselves. Praise and rewards should be based upon children’s effort and
persistence, rather than on the actual accomplishment.
The world through a child’s eye is an awesome place. Allow children to explore
and discover their world. Around every corner is an experience just waiting to
surprise and excite young growing minds; all they need is a small amount of
direction and a large amount of freedom. It is not necessary to praise and reward
children for their own actions as they attempt to control their environment. The
feelings of accomplishment they gain from results of those actions will be reward
enough. Providing excessive praise and rewards is unnecessary and can actually
be harmful to children’s motivation and desire to learn. Remember, the habits
and attitudes toward learning that are formed in these early years set the mood
for all future learning.
1. What are the characteristics in young children?

...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
2. How to enhance motivation in children?
...................................................................................................................
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5.7 LET US SUM UP

In this unit we have studied, what is concept formation, how the understanding
of the self concept develops from understanding different concepts. We also learnt
the factors that help in the formation of concepts and the factors affecting the
development of self concept. As teachers, it is very essential to understand the
process of the development of self concept in order to facilitate the progress of
proper growth of self concept. In facilitating proper psychological growth of
children, we need to facilitate proper development of values, perception and
motivation. To ensure this we need to understand what each of these are and how

Development of Self
it can be facilitated. Proper use of disciplining by the teacher will bring about the
appropriate development of values in students. Like moral development the
growth of attitude also first starts as the baby begins to learn other things. Attitudes Notes
develop at home in the homely environment first due to interaction with members
of the family and close friends. Later interaction with peer groups and members
of the society influences favourable and unfavourable attitudes through satisfying
the needs of the child and sources of information. Teachers need to be risk takers
by being themselves and by trusting their students. They also need to create
independent individuals so learning is more likely to take place. Effective teachers
genuinely care, like, accept, and value their students. These teachers will
demonstrate kindness, share responsibility, accept diversity, foster individual
instruction, and encourage creativity. With the knowledge of these five attitudes
and actions, they will have the potential to be an effective teacher who will be
remembered fondly by former students. Knowledge, memory and playing are
very essential for the development of the different types of perceptions. Jean
Piaget and Vyogotsky have had a lot to say about the importance of play in the
development of intelligence and perception. Teachers also need to understand
that children can understand better in a classroom if she adopts methods that use
playing for teaching. If a teacher makes up her mind, she can as well understand
how using play, she can teach the different concepts and subjects in a classroom
situation. It is also very important for the teachers to emphasize the parents to
allow some time for children to play regularly, in order for them to learn and for
their perception to improve. It is not only playing that is important in learning,
motivating to learn also is very important. When children want to do something
it is easy to teach. When children are asked to do something by others and they
are not interested in doing it, is difficult to learn as well as to motivate them to
learn. Teachers should be very cautious about the use of many extrinsic rewards,
as this can severely interfere with the child’s motivational development. Praise
for an accomplishment is appropriate, but be sure that the child is doing a task
because she is interested, not because she thinks it will bring praise from the
teacher.

1. Explain the factors affecting the development of self concept in children.
How as a teacher would you guide the child in the class room to develop
proper self concept?
2. What would be the role of teacher in guiding the students to develop good
attitudes?
3. In order to enhance the motivation of the children, what strategies can the
teacher adopt in the class room situation?

Development of Self
5.9 SUGGESTED READING& REFERENCES

Notes http://www.usca.edu/essays/vol132005/gourneau.pdf.
Hurlock (1953) Developmental Psychology, A life span approach. Tata McGraw-
Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi, India.
Dandapani.S ( 2010) A textbook of Advanced educational Psychology. Anmol
Publications PVT.LTD, New Delhi, India.
P.Natraj (1995) Psychology, Srinivasa Publications, Mysore, Karnataka, India.
5.10 UNIT-END EXERCISE

1. Carry out a simple exercise in the classroom. Divide the class into small
homogenous groups and give them some tasks. Use different pretentious
attitudes and observe which group performs best based on your type of
attitude.
2. Teach the students to use their understanding of values to the optimum
level and observe the level of usage.
3. Use different standardized tests to measure the level of attitudes children
have.

Developing Creativity in Children
UNIT 6 DEVELOPING CREATIVITY IN

CHILDREN Notes
Structure
6.0 Introduction
6.1 Learning Objectives
6.2 Concept and Nature of Creativity
6.3 Steps in Creative Thinking
6.3.1 Factors affecting creativity
6.4 Strategies for developing creativity through curricular and extra-curricular
activities
6.4.1 Brain storming
6.4.2 Attribute listing and changing
6.4.3 Instructional materials to foster creativity
6.4.4 Some more ideas
6.4.5 Questioning
6.4.6 Some more activities
6.5 Developing learning materials to foster creativity
6.6 Role ICT in fostering creativity
6. 7 Assessment of creativity
6.8 Let Us Sum Up
6.9 Answer Check Your Progress
6.10 Suggested Readings and References
6.11 Unit End Exercises
6.0 INTRODUCTION
In the previous unit you studied about ‘Self, its meaning and importance .In this
unit you will come to know about creativity, its nature and how it can be developed
in children. It is very much a part of ‘self”. You might have heard and used the
term ‘Creativity’ on many occasions.

Creativity is found in all children but in different forms and degree. Children are
found to express themselves in many different ways: give novel responses, suggest
Notes unusual uses for the equipment etc. Therefore it becomes important to identify
such children and help them develop the same and contribute to the progress of
the society.
The development of any society is dependent on the creativity of its people most
of the inventions and discoveries came into existence because of the creativity of
its people. What facilities are given by a society to develop creativity of its children
depends upon the history and ethos of that society. Creativity of scientist, poets
and others are all well known. You will learn more in this unit about creativity
and how to foster creativity in children.

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• Recognize the characteristics of creative people
• Identify the different types of creativity in students
• Differentiate between more creative person and less creative person
• Identify the factors influencing creativity out of a given set of ideas
• List the activities to develop creativity
• Develop skills in conducting activities to foster the creativity of students
• Develop activities to promote creativity among the students.
6.2 CONCEPT AND NATURE OF CREATIVITY

You may have seen children using funny words, crazy formations and uncommon
ideas for known things or words. Recall the example of a student using ‘pomato’
for a combination of words Potato and Tomato.Also consider the following:
A dramatist from South India, as a small boy held the dog upside down and
asked his father to prostrate before it. When his father became angry and asked
as to why the boy is doing like this the boy said, “ Yesterday you only taught me
that when a dog is reversed it becomes God”. His father had a hearty laugh.
Such creative children tend to be more observant, reserved,fun loving and not
afraid of speaking out something funny or crazy. Most of the children are born
creative but they tend to lose it as they grow up. According to Davis, 90% of the
five year old children are high creative’s and only 2% of the 25 years old people
are high creative’s. Age seems to be influencing creativity negatively. The adult
who had enjoyed the mischief of small children and funny words of youngsters

would expect decent behavior from adolescent children they simply become more
evaluative than enjoying the ideas.
Notes
Creativity is an ability to be innovative, unusual, to be different from others or
equals. It is an ability to give novel responses, new answers and establish new
relationships. The child may combine two or more unrelated words or ideas and
give a new answer. The use of gadgets in novel ways is another way children
express themselves. You may recall the funny answer given by your student in
the class for example, when a teacher asked for the third eye and where it should
be, a student said it should be in the tip of his forefinger. Similarly, when students
were asked to think of a new machine, a girl said she wants a plant making
machine. You may have seen many such instances in your class and
neighbourhood.
Psychologists have found these children to be non-normal, not adhering to the
norms and traditions and sometimes daring to express the unusual ideas, which
have not been thought of by others or equals. Creativity is sometimes thought to
be a problem solving ability characterized by originality. When a truck loaded
with materials had struck under an over bridge and people were struggling to
take it out, it was a young boy who suggested deflating the tyres to some extent.
Creativity has humor as an important part in it. If you cut the joke for the first
time or if you use an idea in an altogether new situation it shows your creativity.
If you copy it from a magazine or internet and say it, it does not show your
creativity. People may laugh and thank you for it. The HyKu poems or limericks
are an excellent example of creativity of a person. Copying from a book or copying
ideas of others is opposite of creativity. Imitation is against creativity. A class is
always creative as many minds are tackling a problem. Someone will be daring
to be different when all others are satisfied to be submissive. When Gauss was
asked to find the sum of 1 to 100, the teacher thought he would take lot of time,
but Gauss the young boy stood up after sometime with the answer. The teacher
was surprised. The answer was like this. Keep out 50 and 100 separately, 1&99
becomes 100, 2&98 becomes 100 like this he found the pairs of numbers which
makes 100 and multiplied no. of such pains with 100 and then added 50& 100 to
obtained product to find sum of 1 to 100.
Types of creativity
In general, creativity is of two types: (a) Verbal creativity, and (b) Non- verbal
creativity. Writing poems, stories, novels,etc come under verbal creativity. Even
cutting jokes and writing HyKupoems are of this type. Painting, sketching
sculpture work , caricature, collage, rangoli can be expressions of creativity.
Creating animal forms out of vegetables, using a gadget in an altogether different
place come under non-verbal category.
Verbal creativity- Expressing ideas, thoughts in spoken languages, in different

languages & in different intonation, singing, composing music, playing

instruments, narrating stories in different form, advertising film, documentary,
Notes can be put in verbal creativity category while expressing ideas, thoughts in 2 & 3
dimensional form like, sculpture, painting, gardening, Bonsai, Neck Chand’s
rock garden, abstract sculpture, statue, drama, dance, monologue, folk dance,
folk lore, architectural activity like Effil Tower, KutubMinar, TajMahal, Lotus
Temple. Various types of designing like fashion and furniture, car, machinery,
computer, mobile etc. can be put in non-verbal category.
Check Your Progress 1
1. Venlak as a combined name of Venkateswara and Lakshmi is an example

of(/ only one of the following) :
a) Verbal creativity, b) Non- verbal creativity ,
c) Theoretical creativity, d) Practical creativity
2. The opposite of creativity is (one of the following):
a) Recalling , b) Recognising,
c) Repetition, d) Imitation
3 Which of these is highly connected to creativity? (One of the following):
a) Submissiveness, b) Talkativeness,
c) Originality, d) Impulsiveness
6.3 STEPS IN CREATIVE THINKING

Creativity is not an inborn ability. All creative products have seen the light of the
day, because people have thought systematically and worked on them. They
might have had sudden flashes, of which they were not sure. There might have
been some steps in their creative thinking. An example of Archimedes would be
of help here. The solving of crossword puzzles are very much similar to these
steps. Most of us have heard aboutArchimedes’s crying out Eureka, Eureka and
running out in the streets of Athenes.
The steps involved in the creative thinking are the following:
(a) Preparation: Creative people utilize his all acquired knowledge to solve a
problem in innovative manner or to create same never before seen or known.
Objects, things, or convert his ideas, thoughts another into concrete, visible
from successfully.This can be achieved only through prior preparation or
through clear cut mental vision.
(b) Concentrated attention: Concentrated mind put in energy in a particular

task or events either to achieve predetermined goal or undetermined goal

i.e. focused mind more from known to unknown zone.
(c) Withdrawal from the problem (Incubation) : Archimedes withdrew from Notes
the problem and wanted to take bath. Even though consciously he wanted
to do another activity unconsciously he was still thinking of the problem
that the King had given.
(d) Flash: Archimedes found the answer to the problem, suddenly, when he
saw the water spilling out from the bath tub. Then he shouted ‘Eureka’ and
ran in the streets of Athens.
(e) Verification: Most of us do not know that the same person came back to
his laboratory, struggled with different cubes and found the Archimedes
principle. He must have toiled in the laboratory for hours or months together
to find the principle.
Great Scientists, Mathematicians, poets have all retained their creative spark
in spite of the uncooperative environment. They must be congratulated for
their ability to fight against the rigid social control mechanisms. Let us
consider a few examples of these creative’s, who stood against all
suppressing mechanisms and showed their creativity.
Edison was dismissed from the school Einstein was lagging behind in
Science and Mathematics; Keats, Shelley, Edgar Rice Burroughs were
committing spelling mistakes; James Watt was called “Lazy Bugger”. But
these people have made our life livable. Thank those people in your heart
silently, who have struggled against the society or system, like Marie Curie,
Henry Cavendish, Rabindranath Tagore and many more.
6.3.1 FACTORS AFFECTING CREATIVITY

Normally all students of education think of‘Heredity’ and ‘Environment’ to
understand the nature of creativity. It is the environment which plays a major
role compared to heredity. Most of the children are born creative, but they
gradually lose their create potential, as they grow up. It is the environment which
comprises of parents, teachers, the text books, the examinations, the school
climate, and which influences creativity negatively rather than positively. This
happen due to conditioning of mind in rigid and sensitive manner.
Four important factors have been identified by psychologists that influence
creativity. They are called 4 P’s
a. Creative product approach.
b. Creative process approach
c. Creative person approach
d. Creative situational approach or press.

Let us examine each of these four factors.
Notes a) The creative products are easily available for evaluation and are physically
seen or heard. To find out which one is more creative requires good
evaluation criteria. Originality of a creative product is to be assessed from
two points of view:one from the point of view of person and another from
the point of view of society or both. These can be evaluated but it has to be
time specific. The radio which had lot of importance at that time does not
have it today. Tape recorder was a very original idea when it was invented,
but today it is not. Originality also is time specific. What is original today
need not be original tomorrow or next year or after a decade, because every
idea thought have certain life span.
b) The creative process is how the people think. The steps of creative thinking
have been mentioned earlier, but time cannot be fixed for a student. “A”
will have flash now,” B” may have flashed tomorrow. The preparation of
each student differs from the other, as he/she might have read epics, novels,
short stories etc.
The ability to think fluently, flexibly, originally differs from one student to
the other. Even fluency can be divided into verbal fluency, associational
fluency etc. Flexibility is another dimension in which students differ a lot.
Research studies in the field of creativity have lead to the differentiation
between convergent thinking and divergent thinking. Simulation has been
used for seeking insight into the way people think creatively.
c) The creative person approach implies how the person is,? who is creative,?
what are the personality characteristics that have helped him/her in being
creative, etc?. The creativity intelligence distinction has been one of the
factors that have been worked on. There is low co- efficient of correlation
between the two, in case of normal people. It is around +0.36, which means
it is low but positive correlation. In case of students whose IQ is above
120, the co-efficient of correlation is zero. The implication is that to be
creative, you require some amount of intelligence, but high intelligence
does not necessarily guarantee high creativity.
The personality tests have revealed that creative men tend to be sensitive to
the situation which is a feminine characteristic. Similarly creative women
tend to take more risks, which is a masculine characteristic? Creative Men
seem to be more feminine and Creative Women seem to be more masculine
in nature.
Other characteristics common to many creative’s are: they are dominant,
self-confident, out spoken, sharp witted, demanding, aggressive, self
centered, persuasive, verbally fluent, relatively free in expressing worries
and complaints.
They are also independent and free from conventional restraints and

inhibitions; steady in their intellectual efforts, psychologically minded, more

flexible etc. All people who have these personality characteristics may not
be creative, but some are good in producing ideas, products as compared to Notes
others.
d) The creative situation approach is another way creative’s have been
influenced. Some common factors which have emerged are remembered
unhappiness in childhood, an extra ordinary respect by the parent for the
child, early sanction to explore the ideas and universe to make decisions,
lack of closeness between parents and the child, emphasis on developing
individual code of conduct, experience of frequently moving from place to
place or culture to culture or country to country,which developed more
independence, some sort of shyness, isolation and solitariness in childhood
and adolescence, absence of pressures to establish prematurely his
professional identity, etc.
The expressions of individuals who are creative differ from person to person,
i.e. it is highly individualistic. The way in which the creative person
expresses is difficult to predict, as his/her creative ability coupled with
temperament, moods and values and more than these “inspiration” takes a
peculiar form of its own. You cannot expect a creative person having
unhappy childhood, developing good personality characteristics, producing
a creative product, is a wonderful situation which cannot be imagined to be
true or to occur.
1. The approaches to study creativity are mnemonically called as ………….

a. 4 P Approach b. 4 B Approach
c. 4 A Approach d. 4 C Approach
2. The steps of creative thinking are ……………..
a. 4 b. 5 c3 d. 2
3. Convergent thinking is best expressed in this example ………………..
a. School b. Essay
c Homework d. Theorem
4. If the parents get transferred every 3 years and the student moves with the
parents, it is beneficial to the student from the point of view of
………………
A. Intelligence B. Reflective thinking C. Creativity D. Logical Thinking

6.4 STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING

Notes CREATIVITY THROUGH CURRICULAR AND
EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
The activities which are tried out in the classrooms in the context of academic
areas can be called ‘scholastic’ activities. Generally, these are done as part of
curricular subjects such as science, mathematics, social science etc. ‘Co-scholastic’
are the ones which are teacher posed, but done outside the curricular activities
such as sports, games, debate, club activities like music, etc.A large number of
activities could be done as parts of curricular and also co- curricular activities.
The brain storming can be scholastic, if the teacher wants to do as part of teaching
a particular subject. An activity can either be scholastic or co-scholastic, depending
on where and how the teacher does the activity.
Activities to develop creativity are many in number. An estimate in 1980 was
that there were more than 700 techniques to develop creativity. These can be
divided into two types: a) Techniques, and b) Instructional materials. Techniques
are more people- specific and differ from person to person. Instructional materials
could be got xeroxed and researchers can read the manual and administer the
materials on groups of students. Let us take two examples for both of them each.
6.4.1 BRAIN STORMING

This technique was developed by Alex Osborn. As a psychologist, he had studied
the way people think. Most of us evaluate our thinking immediately much before
the idea is born. We abort them, thinking about what would others say on this
point, may be your mother, father, brothers, sisters, colleagues or the boss, etc.
Hence, Osborn divided the thinking into two stages : a) Ideation stage and b)
Evaluation stage. In the Ideation stage, he has given four principles.
1. Free whelming is emphasized. Whether the idea is crazy, funny or costly
express it.
2. Criticism is avoided. Self criticism or of others is not permitted.
3. Quality breeds quality. More the number of ideas, the chances of better
ideas are there.Hence, larger number of ideas are welcome.
4. Hitchhiking is allowed. That means you can combine your ideas with that
of others.
American psychologists have used Green light stage for ideation and Red light
stage for evaluation stages. Students or people of various backgrounds, say 6-8
of them are made to sit in a circle and they are made to express ideas freely, and
openly, without fear of anybody or authority. These ideas are immediately recorded
by a stenographer or tape recorded, without the knowledge of the participants.

In the evaluation stage, many officers and a few of the participants will sit and
consider all the recorded ideas from the point of view of implementation. Many
of the ideas will be novel, which the officers of that department will have never Notes
even thought of.
6.4.2 ATTRIBUTE LISTING AND CHANGING

Creative thinking is a systematic thinking, and ideas have not fallen from heaven.
Hence, attribute listing and changing is done systematically. Each object has its
attributes and attribute means quality or characteristic or characteristic quality.
We may take a calendar and ask the students to list its attributes. Attributes of a
calendar can be ,its design,its colour combination in various form,facts used in
artistic and aesthetic manner to represent number and name of months,theme
based pictures printed on each page i.e. wildlife, nature, festivals, children etc.,
its shape calendar can be designed in circular, square, rectangular or in other
shapes in innovative manner.
If we keep innovation and creativity in mind while designing a calendar than a
number of beautiful, attractive interesting alternatives can be developed to depict
the layoutof pages of a calendar. Try to design a handmade calendar for yourself.
Use your creative potential and imagination to design a calendar in your own
way.
6.4.3 INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS TO FOSTER

CREATIVITY
Many researchers and creativity psychologists have developed a number of
instructional materials. Covington, Crutch field, Torrance, Cropley and many
others have worked in this field. Let us consider them in groups, so that they can
be used together. In India Nirpharake, Deshmukh, SubramaniaPillai, Bhaskara,
Jerial and others have worked to foster the creative thinking abilities of students.
a. Puzzle solving: Edison according to his son Charles was very fond of solving
puzzles. He used to keep himself creatively open to many problems and
ideas. Most of the puzzles have a clue. Identifying the clue and solving it
will help you in solving the puzzle. Otherwise, you keep thinking in old
formal ways and will never be able to solve it. Peter Pauper and others
have written books on puzzles. “Amar Leelavathi” by Bhaskaracharya is a
collection of a number of puzzles in Indian situation. You may recall Isac
Asimov’s page in “Illustrated weekly of India” here.
b. Riddle solving: Alexander, the great, invited Indian Rishie to the contest of
riddle construction and riddle solving. Indian culture from times immemorial
has had riddles in their literature. Grannies used to ask their grand children
to solve the riddles. All the states of India have riddles in their languages.
Riddle solving and riddle construction are similar to two principles of

“Synectic”, a creativity fostering techniques developed abroad. They are

‘making the strange familiar’ and ‘making the familiar strange’. Most of
Notes the riddles have been developed using analogies, may be direct, simple,
symbolic or fantasy.
c. Divergent thinking questions: These questions ask for more than one
responses. Children will give a variety of responses and they are all relevant.
In the examination system of today, we insist on single answer, that too
teacher dictated only.
d. Mystery plots: These are situations, where the children are accosted with a
plot a theft or a murder and the children have to think like a detective.
Children take to it so well that they enjoy solving such mystery plots.
e. Consequences situations: Children are given impossible situations and when
such a thing happens what would be the consequences. Students enjoy variety
of consequences for these just suppose situations some of them work out
long and farfetched consequences that even the adults would be astonished
f. Story writing: These are of creative expression type where children write
novel tittles for the given stories. Complete the lead to finish the story,
complete the half finished story, and write a full story for a given title.
g. Poem writing: This is again of creative expression type, where children
write the unusual titles for the given poem, complete the half finished poem,
and write a full poem for the given title
h. Riddle construction: Children enjoy doing this activity of creativity
expression type, where they complete the half finished riddle, and write a
full riddle for a given title or object or name
6.4.4 SOME MORE IDEAS

Given below are more ideas on developing creative thinking which have been
tried by different authors.
a. Sometimes 3 or 4 letters are given and each student is asked to complete
them by developing a word for each letter, so that a meaningful sentence
emerges.
b. Students are given tittles like equality, democracy, non-violence and they
are asked to develop their paintings or pictures out of them.
c. Each culture has fairy tales which develop imaginations. Sanskrit, Hindi,
English and other languages have many such fairy tales, and even the science
fictions are of much importance here. Jules verne, Aldoes Huxley are some
of the persons who developed science fictions.
d. Idea Trap Mechanism:- All of us know that there is waking stage and sleeping
stage. The in-between stage is fertile for creative thinking. Students are

requested to keep a small book and a pencil, by the side of their bed. When
they are half sleep, they get wonderful ideas, which they can write go to
sleep. They can look into the book after 2 or 3 days and develop those ideas Notes
further.
6.4.5 QUESTIONING
Teachers and researchers have developed a number of types of questions, which
can be used to foster the creativity.
1. Redefining Questions: In this type of question, children are asked to redefine
an object, animal, person or event. These questions develop a new
perspective and children learn to be aware of unusual characteristics and
look beyond the obvious.
a. Why is a fountain pen like a tap.
b. How is a clock different from a calendar.
c. How are face and TV similar.
2. Consequences questions: These questions pose situations or events that
might not have happened or will never happen. Such questions make the
children to imagine and write the consequences, if such an event takes place.
a. Suppose the petrol supply on earth vanishes all of a sudden.
b. If it is against the law to size.
c. Just suppose all people in the world become mad.
3. Hypothetical questions:- In this type of questions students have to go beyond
the available data (their learning) and synthesise them with their personality
characteristics.
a. If you were the manager of a bank?
b. If you become an ant suddenly?
4. Provocative questions: The children may be taught a passage or they may
be asked to go through a passage and proactive question may be put. They
help the children to imagine and go beyond the information provided in the
passage.
a. What would have Gandhiji done had he lived today?
b. Do you think lord Krishna would be the right type of leader today?
5. Questions seeking new relationships: Sometime theses questions look to
be funny or crazy and may lead on to frustration on the part of the students,
but they will enjoy later.
a. Is month a mile?

b. Is day a week?
Notes 6. Divergent questions: These questions require the students to break from
the fixed pattern of one question one answer and develop many relevant
responses. The cost or time need not be an inhibiting factor in such relevant
responses.
a. A town hidden beneath the mud has been found. What might have
been the reasons as to why the town might have gone underground?
b. A tank is full of crocodiles. A pole is standing in the middle of the
tank you have been given a rope and your job is to put a knot to the
pole at the centre.
7. Challenging assumptions questions: These questions help children develop
a functional understanding of the world. The assumptions are being
questioned which have been accepted from a long time. These exercise the
mind and children develop a new perspective.
a. Why questions like why should be respecting our parents?
b. Challenging slogans, brand names labels, etc.?
8. Future problem solving questions:- These questions require the students to
design and redesign which involve good deal of innovation. They make the
students look differently at things and make them think in different ways.
a. A machine to dig the tunnel without disturbing the traffic on the road.
b. An apple picking machine.
c. A better umbrella.
d. A new milk bottle.
When we pose such questions, there will be disorder and the teacher will
have to tolerate it. He has to ask children to write it out. If told by one
student, the others may stop thinking. The process would be as follows:
a. Writing stage.
b. Clustering stage (Responses are written on the board)
c. Recombination stage (children are asked to think and recombine the
ideas – the hitchhiking of Brain Storming.)
6.4.6 SOME MORE ACTIVITIES

Following activities have been takenfrom various sourcesand these can be used
to foster creativity among children. They are the following:
1. Sensitivity Training:

a) What forms do you see in clouds

b) What sounds do you hear in this building?
Notes
c) By touching you have to tell the names of the pulses.
d) When you go on the field visit, list the smells you have come across,
etc.
2. Observation: Making children observe a pen or a handkerchief and list the
observation.
Dr. Seeberg has listed 52 observations of a candle and a burning candle.
3. Classification: Children can be asked to classify numbers from 1 to 100, or
asking students to classify themselves.
4. Alliteration:Children can be asked to list the words with the same letter and
make sentences out of them. Ex:- Central, College, Coffee, Club.
5 Multiple uses: Children may be asked to list the usual and unusual uses of
newspaper, empty refill, etc.
6. Imaginary story telling: Like Ganesha, sphinx, etc. children may be asked
to imagine a man animal bird combination, develop its picture and write a
story as to how it came into existence.
7. Invention: Children can be asked to think of a new dish, and asked to list
the materials required, process of preparation, and approximately tell the
taste, as well as the new name for it.
8. Listing as many uses as possible for a familiar object such as a brick, a tin
can a screw driver, a cluster, a needle, etc.
9. Asking children to list words they associate with each topic heading like
size, color, feeling, etc., as many words as possible.
10. Asking students to think of as many analogies associated with colors in
nature and foods. Ex: Grass is to lettuce as snow is to milk.
11. Asking students to suggest as many synonyms as possible for a given word
and then asking them for antonyms.
12. Asking students to add a few screws and wooden pieces to McKenna’s set
and developing many shapes and forms.
13. Asking students to cut cubes and half cubes from a wooden piece plank
and to make many shapes by joining them.
14. Asking students to work on Tangram or seven piece puzzle to develop as
many shapes as possible by rearranging the pieces.
15. Asking the students to draw lines in many ways to develop new figures for
the given unstructured stimulus like
6. > O } X etc

16. Asking the students to solve the crossword puzzles which appear in
magazines and newspapers.
Notes
17. Asking students to combine words and ideas from far off or remotely
associated fields. Exa: Combining words to arrive at new names from list
of goods and animals
18. Asking students to fix a word and start adding letters A to Z as prefix to
arrive at a new brand name.
19. Asking students to combine parts of the two names to arrive at new names
Exa: i) Potato and Tomato – Pomato
ii) Sandalwood and Turmeric – Santur
iii) Sanjana and Shodana – Sanshow.
20. Asking students design new machines
Exa : i) Cards distributing machine.
ii) Plant putting machine.
21. Asking students to redesign the old gadgets or materials.
Exa: i) Duster
ii) Pen
22. Asking students to find out from the surroundings the labels, brand names,
etc. which have been accepted and followed without questioning them
Ex: i) Public career on the trucks.
ii) Sound horn on the back of the buses etc.
6.5 DEVELOPING LEARNING MATERIALS TO

FOSTER CREATIVITY
When the teacher is interested in fostering creativity, he/she has to have lot of
patience, open mindedness, etc. and has to control his/her irritation, anger,
frustration etc.At times ,he/she may have to act along with the students, as though
he is also puzzled. The children must be given enough freedom to think, sit in
anyway they like, in other words he/she should learn to tolerate disorder in the
classroom. Torrance and Myers have given a few principles for the teachers who
wish foster creativity in children
a. Be respectful of children’s ideas.
b. Be respectful of imaginative and unusual ideas.
c. Show to the pupils that their ideas have value

d. Encourage and evaluate the self initiated learning.

e. Tie in evaluation with causes and consequences.
Notes
These principles are valid even for the development of learning materials by the
teachers or members of non-governmental organizations. The activities they
develop or the instructional materials must have the following characteristics:
a. The activities must lead to a number of possible responses.
b. The activities must be open ended.
c. The activities may have a catch in them, so that it helps the students in
flexible thinking.
d. The activities can be for developing the individual abilities, like fluency,
flexibility, originality, inquisitiveness, persistency, elaboration and sensitivity
to problems, etc.
e. The activities may not be immediately implementable but still, they are of
value to us in the classroom.
f. You can collect a number of puzzles, riddles, mystery plots and divergent
thinking questions and keep them ready to use in the class.
g. The activities must develop imagination and they must not insist on a
stereotyped behavior.
h. The activities may be from the models developed by creativity researchers.
i. The activities may be extension of the lesson in the text and hence become
topical in nature.
j. Imaginary stories must be told in the classroom by teacher to enable the
students to have the potential to become a leader today.
k. Any activity can become creativity fostering activity, provided the teacher
looks at it from a different aspects.
l. Simple activities may be converted into creativity fostering type depending
upon addition of a new dimensions or deletion of a few parts.
m. Collect anecdotes from your culture or stories, which have a tinge of
inspiration or creativity in them.
n. The story books from epics and great literature of the culture can be collected
and stored.
Edward de Bono’s work on lateral thinking is of value here. His hypotheses are
that we do not teach our children to think. It is more so in Indian situation as we
insist on rote learning in order to pass examinations and tests. The classes have
become lesson hearing rooms instead of becoming centers of inquiry.

6.6 ROLE OF ICT IN FOSTERING CREATIVITY

Notes Many ICT tools are available which could be used by a teacher in the context of
developing creativity .Some of the tools immediately available are black board,
poster, charts, audio cassette player, overhead projector, and sometimes computer.
Each of these could be made use of while presenting the activities mentioned
above . For example back board/charts could be used to present a picture on
which a story required to be written by students, on a audio cassette a partial
story could be recorded and played in the class and asking the students to complete
a story. Many figures could be had on the computer screen which is some what
abstract, and students can be asked to interpret them. Many puzzle and riddles
are available on the websites, which can be solved individually, without asking
for anybody’s help.Mystery plots and divergent thinking questions can be posed
by the computers with pictures, so that students can understand the problems
well and answer them creatively Morphogical synthesis can be worked on the
computer, where details of the parameters can be worked out and details can be
combined to arrive at a novel response. These are only a few suggestion and
many more can be worked out by the teachers based up on his creativity in using
the ICT tools.
1. Brain storming was developed by ………………

a. Covington b. Crutech field
c. Osborn d. Cropley
2. Riddle construction or soldering is similar to ………………. Techniques.
a. Synectic b. Brain Storming
c. Attribute listing and changingd. Lateral thinking
3. Puzzles require a …………….. to be found to solve it.
a. Word b. Catch
c. Dead-end d. Screw
4. The first psychologist, who drew the attention of all psychologists towards
creativity in 1950’s, was……………..
a. Cropley b. Torrance
c. Guilford d. Khatena
5. Teachers who wish to develop the creativity of their students must have
to ………..

a. displease the students b. Displease the authorities

c. Tolerate disciplined. d Tolerate disorder
Notes
6. Science fiction develops ………… in students.
a. Logical thinking b. Imagination
c. Deductive thinking d. Inductive thinking
6.7 ASSESSMENT OF CREATIVITY

Guilford and Torrance were the first psychologists to assess creativity. They found
that many abilities put together form creativity. They are
1. Fluency: The ability to think of a large number of responses.
2. Flexibility: The ability to think of different types of responses.
3. Originality: The ability to think in a clever and uncommon manner.
4. Inquisitiveness: The ability to raise a number a questions out of curiosity.
5. Persistency: The ability to continue with the problem, even though you are
failing long.
6. Elaboration: The ability to add details to the given situation or problem at
hand.
Sensitivity to problems is considered as a feminine characteristic, whereas, risk
taking is considered as a masculine characteristic. Therefore ,creative people
have both characteristics is them. All these characteristics put together is called
creativity. Only one characteristic will not form creativity. Scientists, poets,
architects and advertisement people are exhibiting creativity more, compared to
others.
Based on these characteristics assessment of creativity can be done, using tests.
Assessment can also be done using observation and “Things done on your Own”
check list. A trained observer can observe the child giving unusual answers, the
process of developing a gadget, and the like. He/she can single out the more
creative from others.
Testing Techniques: Torrance tests of creative thinking have been developed on
the abilities given earlier. Guilford’s tests are on “Structure of the Intellect”
model. In India Baqer Mehdi and B.K.Passi were the first to develop creativity
tests. PassiTests of Creativity have the following sub-tests.
a. Seeing Problems test: This test has 4 questions and students are asked to
write the defects and problems of a postcard, chappel and the like.
b. Unusual uses test: This test has 2 questions where students are asked to
write usual and unusual uses of a piece of cloth, a bottle.

c. Consequences test: In this test, students are asked to write the consequences
for improbable situation. Ex: (i) Suppose all people become mad (ii) suppose
Notes all females become males, and the like.
d. Inquisitiveness test: In this test, students are asked to write a number of
questions on a metronome and a placard.
e. Persistency test: In this test, students are given a set of cubes, half cubes
and cuboids. They are asked to construct a number of different shapes out
of these given objects.
f. Elaboration test: Students are given incomplete figures and students have
to add details to them.
A number of other tests have been developed by other researchers based on
Torrance, Guilford.
1. If a student thinks of variety of responses. This capacity is called………….

a. Fluency b. Flexibility
c Originality d. Persistency
2. A clever novel and uncommon response is called………………
c. Originality d. Persistency
3. First researchers to develop tests of creativity are ………………..
a. Guilford and Terman b. Torrance &Terman
c. Guilford &Cattel d. Guilford& Torrance
4. If a student gives 7 defects of a chappel and the other student gives 3
defects, this ability is called……………..
c. Originality d Persistency
6.8 LET US SUM UP

Creativity is the ability to give new answers, novel relationships. Its meaning
with examples was discussed .Tests are used to assess creativity, as they can be
administered to a large number of students. The tests are seeing problems test,
unusual uses test, consequences test, test of inquisitiveness, persistency test and
the test on elaboration.
Creative thinking is systematic thinking coupled with inspiration. The example

of Archimedes is an excellent for finding the steps of creativity. They are

preparation, concentrated attention, withdrawal from the problem (incubation),
flash and verification. Notes
The teacher education might suggest that heredity and environment are the factors
affecting creativity. It is the environment which influences creativity more . The
psychologists have listed 4 p’s to remember easily. They are creative product
approach, creative process approach, creative person approach, and creative
presentation or situation approach. Different techniques and activities for fostering
creativity have been discussed. Suggestions have been provided to develop
instructional materials.

Check your Progress 1
1 a
2 b
3 c
1. a
2. b
3. d
4. c
1. c
2. a
3. b
4. c
5. d
6. b.
1 b
2 c
3 d
4 a

ANSWER TO UNIT END QUESTIONS

Notes 1. List the characteristics of creative person
The creative persons likely to have most of the characteristics such as
dominate,self confident, outspoken, sharp witted ,aggressive ,self centered,
persuasive, verbally fluent, relatively free from expressing worries and
complaints, independent, and free from conventional restraints and
inhibitions
2. List three exercises that could used to develop lateral thinking
Your list might have had 1) why questions, 2) Then questions, and 3)
challenging assumptions
3. Mention the principles that are considered under ideation Stage
In Ideation stage, the four principle are .
1) Free whelming is emphasized.
2) Criticism is avoided.
3) Quality breeds quality. .
4) Hitchhiking is allowed.
4. List a set of questions that could be used to foster creativity.
Questions can be developed on the variety that has been suggested in the material
like puzzles, riddles, mystery plots, just suppose questions
6.10 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES

Baker .Samn,S.(1962)Your Key to Creative ThinkingNew York: Harper and
Row Publishers
Bhaskara .S .( 1990 )The effective of instructional Materials on Verbal Creativity
New Delhi:Uppal Publishing House
De Bono. (1970)Lateral Thinking : A Text Book of Creativity.London: Word
Lock Educational Ltd.
Guilford.J.P. (1967 )The Nature of Human Intelligence.New York: McGraw
Hill
Guilford.J.P.(1970) Traits of creativity in Vernon.P.E (Ed)
CreativityEngland:Penguin Modern Psychology Readings
Passi.B.K,PassiTest of Creativity (Verbal and NonVerbal), national Psychological
Corportaion,Agra,1979
Torrance E.P.Guiding Creative Talent, Printice Hall,England,1962

Williams F.E (Ed)Classroom Ideas for Encouraging Thinking and Feeling. DOK.
Publishers, Buffalo, New York ,1970
Notes
6.11 UNIT END EXERCISES

1. List the characteristics of creative persons.
2. List three exercises that could used to develop lateral thinking .
3. Mention the principles that are considered under ideation stage .
4. List a set of questions that could be used to foster creativity.
5. Try the following:
a. Collect a set of riddles which are prevalent in your town/state and use
it as instructional material in the classroom as suggested in the unit.
b. Write down a small story (incomplete story) ,read it to students or
record in an audio tape and play it to students. And instruct students to
complete the story. By this exercise try to see how students think
different and creatively.
c. Ask students to think and write What will happen is on the wheel
chair. Analyse the response .

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DIPLOMA IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OPEN SCHOOLING

Unit 1- Block-1: Unit 2 Role of

Unit 3- Unit 4- Unit 8- Concept

Unit 5 Unit 6 Unit 9-

Unit 11 Unit 13-Child

Block Unit Name of Unit Theory Study Hours Practical Study

Sr. No. Unit Name Page No.

1. Unit 3 : Development of Personality and Assessment 1

2. Unit 4 : Developing Thinking Skills 22

3. Unit 5 : Development of Self 52

4. Unit 6 : Development Creativity in Children 73

UNIT 3 DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

3.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Block 2 : Personality Development of Children 1

• list out the characteristics of personality.

Notes • develop the awareness of assessing personality.

3.2 NATURE AND CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY

3.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONALITY

2 Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)

6. Personality is through and through social: The personality traits of an

Check Your Progress- 1

3.4 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

3.4.1 TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY

Block 2 : Personality Development of Children 3

3.4.2 PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

4 Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)

Block 2 : Personality Development of Children 5

beginning. This feeling of inferiority arises from a sense of incompleteness or

6 Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)

10. Aggressive. 10. Submissive.

The majorities of individuals demonstrate characteristics of both the introvert

Check Your Progress-2

Name and briefly describe any two theories of personality.

3.5 DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

3.5.1 SELF – CONCEPT

Block 2 : Personality Development of Children 7

to develop positive self-concept which is socially desirable. The child’s perception

8 Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)

Block 2 : Personality Development of Children 9

b) Positive Non-Verbal Reinforcement—That include:

Notes • Nods and smiles.

10 Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)

between groups makes it possible to spread the share of success or failure.

Block 2 : Personality Development of Children 11

(xii) Skill in encouraging group discussion

Notes (xiii) Skill in planned repetition.

12 Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)

5. Courage 35. Social Service

8. Devotion 38. Patriotism

9. Discipline 39. Self-control

15. Freedom 45. Senseof Responsibility

21. National Consciousness 51. Dedication

22. Peace 52. Good Character

28. Sympathy 58. Insight

Block 2 : Personality Development of Children 13

b) Ways and Means of Inculcating of Values (Role of Education)

14 Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed)