MED 02: EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND DESIGS, METHODS AND

PUBLICATION
1. What is Educational Research? As educators why do we need to conduct research?

Educational research refers to the systematic collection and analysis of data related to
the field of education. Research may involve various aspects of education including
student learning, teaching methods, teacher training, and classroom dynamics.

Purpose of Educational Research

The Educational research has enormous purposes. Some important purposes are presented as
following.

 To identify truth regarding Enrolment, retention, dropout, quality of Education and so

 forth
 To build new knowledge regarding the methodology, pedagogy or other core subject
areas
 Adding of existing stock of knowledge related to educational field
 To solve a problem related to classroom, institution, administrative level, policy level
 Invention of new teaching methods, curriculum transaction strategies, effective grouping
 technique and so forth
 Realizing the exact problem of educational sector
 Assess the Effect of New methodology of teaching
 Identify and assess the ICT enabled classroom and teaching
 To understand the teachers’ knowledge on latest evaluation techniques
 To identify the hindrances to achieve universalization of education

MED 08: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING BEHAVIOR DEVELOPMENT

1. As a leader, how can you empower the people under your care? Discuss each
comprehensively and state its contribution to the success of education.
What makes an empowered leader?
“A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within
them.” ~ M.D. Arnold

Empowered leaders require new attributes and practices.

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

Being a good leader is about more than just delegating tasks and overseeing employees. To be
truly effective and empowered, a good leader must learn how to take advantage of varied
resources, take the time to empower those staffers that work underneath him and spur his own
professional development as well as the development of others. Consider a few tips to become
more effective.

1. Learn to delegate. The most effective leaders understand that they don't and can't
do everything themselves. It takes more than one person to lead anything; the
person in leadership is simply the one that coordinates the myriad tasks that fall to
the team that works with him. Use the skills and experience of your team to
delegate tasks that when done in consecutively lead to faster and more effective
project results.

2. Educate yourself. You may have a lot of experience and special skills that make
you effective as a manager, but there is always room for improvement. Sign up
for leadership conferences and courses to learn new trends in leadership and better
ways to empower yourself and your staff. Take what you learn with these
educational opportunities and apply them to your organization.

3. Maintain an open door policy. To be truly effective, you need to know how to
listen to your staff and address their needs. Maintaining an open door policy
ensures that employees will come to you with problems they can't resolve and
take advantage of the experience that put you in a managerial position.

2. Discuss Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. How can your knowledge of this theory
contribute in understanding the nature of the learners and in helping them learn
better.
In social learning theory, Albert Bandura (1977) agrees with the behaviorist learning theories
of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. However, he adds two important ideas:

1. Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses.

2. Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.

Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways. This is illustrated during the
famous Bobo doll experiment (Bandura, 1961).
Individuals that are observed are called models. In society, children are surrounded by many
influential models, such as parents within the family, characters on children’s TV, friends within
their peer group and teachers at school. These models provide examples of behavior to observe
and imitate, e.g., masculine and feminine, pro and anti-social, etc.
Children pay attention to some of these people (models) and encode their behavior. At a later
time they may imitate (i.e., copy) the behavior they have observed.
They may do this regardless of whether the behavior is ‘gender appropriate’ or not, but there are
a number of processes that make it more likely that a child will reproduce the behavior that its
society deems appropriate for its gender.
First, the child is more likely to attend to and imitate those people it perceives as similar to itself.
Consequently, it is more likely to imitate behavior modeled by people of the same gender.
Second, the people around the child will respond to the behavior it imitates with either
reinforcement or punishment. If a child imitates a model’s behavior and the consequences are
rewarding, the child is likely to continue performing the behavior.
If a parent sees a little girl consoling her teddy bear and says “what a kind girl you are,” this is
rewarding for the child and makes it more likely that she will repeat the behavior. Her behavior
has been reinforced (i.e., strengthened).
Reinforcement can be external or internal and can be positive or negative. If a child wants
approval from parents or peers, this approval is an external reinforcement, but feeling happy
about being approved of is an internal reinforcement. A child will behave in a way which it
believes will earn approval because it desires approval.
Positive (or negative) reinforcement will have little impact if the reinforcement offered
externally does not match with an individual's needs. Reinforcement can be positive or negative,
but the important factor is that it will usually lead to a change in a person's behavior.
Third, the child will also take into account of what happens to other people when deciding
whether or not to copy someone’s actions. A person learns by observing the consequences of
another person’s (i.e., models) behavior, e.g., a younger sister observing an older sister being
rewarded for a particular behavior is more likely to repeat that behavior herself. This is known
as vicarious reinforcement.
This relates to an attachment to specific models that possess qualities seen as rewarding.
Children will have a number of models with whom they identify. These may be people in their
immediate world, such as parents or older siblings, or could be fantasy characters or people in
the media. The motivation to identify with a particular model is that they have a quality which
the individual would like to possess.
MED 12: CLASSROOM MOTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT
1. Why is classroom management a crucial factor in ensuring the wholesome
development of the learners?

Classroom management refers to the wide variety of skills and techniques that teachers
use to keep students organized, orderly, focused, attentive, on task, and academically
productive during a class. When classroom-management strategies are executed
effectively, teachers minimize the behaviors that impede learning for both individual
students and groups of students, while maximizing the behaviors that facilitate or
enhance learning. Generally speaking, effective teachers tend to display strong
classroom-management skills, while the hallmark of the inexperienced or less effective
 teacher is a disorderly classroom filled with students who are not working or paying
attention.

2. One of the prevailing concerns of the teachers nowadays is the discipline of the
learners. What can you recommend to instill discipline in the class without violating
the Child Protection Policy?
Almost every teacher has experienced the frustration of trying to manage an unruly student.
Some have even come to the point of sending the student to the office with instructions saying,
“Kill this one,” or “I never want to see this student again.” In all likelihood, neither will happen.
There are laws against killing students, and unless your life has been threatened, you will
probably see the student quickly returned to your classroom.

It is important for teachers to step back and look at the big picture. Most children are good and
come to school wanting to learn. There are always a few students who will test a teacher just to
see what the limits are. A good discipline system and parental involvement can usually take care
of these problems. A very small number of students are so disruptive that removal from the
classroom is finally the only solution. If these students are allowed to continue to interfere with
the teacher’s ability to communicate with the other students, little learning can take place. Good
classroom discipline is important.

While the four main players in any classroom discipline situation are the student, teacher, parent,
and administrator, the primary responsibility for good discipline lies with the classroom teacher.
Teachers must develop a successful discipline plan and use it consistently.

Good Suggestions For Improving Discipline

1. Be warm, kind, and friendly–but never familiar. Do not tell students your troubles or too much about your
family life. Do not tell off-color jokes. You are a professional.
2. Have rules that are fair and cover all types of subjects. Be sure that any set of rules includes, “Students will
follow instructions given by the teacher, office, or any other employee of the district.” Put your rules in
writing and provide copies for students and parents. Have them signed by both. Keep copies of signed rules
on file.
3. Enforce rules fairly and consistently. Use a checklist like the one found in this booklet or a system of merits
and demerits.
4. Stay in charge. Be alert and observant. Use that “teacher look” whenever possible. Maintain eye contact
with students. Believe it or not, you can even “walk” with your eyes. Never look down when disciplining
a student. Walk. Most students after the third grade do not want you near them. A walk around the room
will solve many potential problems. Remember that you are the only one who has the right to walk around
the room anytime you wish. Besides, a moving target is harder to hit!
5. Meet students one at a time. Stand at the door when students arrive. Greet each by name. Never scold a
student in front of the class. If a student cannot be corrected by looking at him or standing next to him or
through simple instructions, ask the student to step outside or to see you after class. Don’t over-react if the
student says something under his/her breath. Your time will come, and everyone in the room knows it.
6. Keep students busy and involved. Students get bored when they have to do the same thing for too long or
if they are required to do the same things over and over. The greater the variety of activities, the better.
Make learning fun. Involve students with hands-on activities or short group work sessions. Remember,
children learn best by doing. Even a few minutes with nothing to do can lead to student misbehavior.
7. Work at discipline as hard as you work at teaching. Teaching good discipline is just as important as teaching
the subject matter. In addition, poor discipline in your classroom can ruin your day, your job, and even your
career.
8. Have the attitude that violations of your rules will not be tolerated. No student should be allowed to
continually disrupt the education of others. A strong, consistent attitude is more important than what sex
you are, how tall you may be, or how many muscles you have. Discipline is a state of mind.