3.

Effective Pedagogy in Science and Mathematics

What is pedagogy: philosophical and psychological foundation? What are roles of pedagogy
in education (Science and Mathematics)? Which pedagogy is effective: classroom and global
contexts? Pedagogy is the art of teaching that an effective teacher utilize for teaching a
specific lesson effectively. In other words, teaching or pedagogy means that teachers assist
students continuously through interaction and activity in the ongoing social events of the
classroom (Dalton, 1998). Pedagogy, the theory of teaching, is the study of teaching methods
and the aims or ends of education (Wang and Huang, 2015). Noted that there is no single best
teaching approach in the world instead pedagogy flexibly change in place, time, situation,
environment in accordance with the type of the lesson teachers to teach. Hence, I argue that
pedagogy is contextualized rather globalized gives sense because pedagogy is early planed
while curriculum and instruction are designed and developed.

Therefore, curriculum developers and experts (including teachers) try to select appropriate
and compatible teaching methods (including assessment) on the stage of curriculum
development and policy formation contextually. The pedagogy urges our students (as well as
ourselves) to recognize that our beliefs come to us from various sources, and that it is good to
question these beliefs (Makaiau & Miller, 2012). But it is also open for classroom teacher can
use flexibly updated and suitable optional pedagogy which he/she feels as best to address the
desired outcome. However, it does not mean that the pedagogy is limited locally/nationally
instead the teacher education program developers should critically analyse and follow steps,
principles, rules and guidelines how to select, adapt, contextualize and use of effective
pedagogy for teaching in global context apart from classroom context.

3.1. Philosophical Foundations for Pedagogy

While the issue of philosophy raise, much attention has been given by philosophers of
education to the ideas and arguments of three important thinkers in the Western tradition:
Plato in ancient Greece, Jean-Jacques Rousseau in eighteenth century Europe, and John
Dewey in twentieth century America. By learning philosophy, a teacher would be able to
view and analyze from the perspective of their students. Pedagogy also involves the complex
relationship between philosophical concepts and practical actions (Wang and Huang, 2015).

Philosopher’s pedagogy is the complex relationship between philosophy, education, theory,

and practice for ground basic questions: “How come your students are so engaged?”, “What
makes the student experience in your classrooms so different?”, “What is it that you do in
your classrooms?”, “What is philosophy for children?”(Makaiau & Miller, 2012). The central
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focus of the pedagogy is to engage students and the teacher in the activity of philosophy born
out of the questions and curiosities that emerge from their engagement with the respective
content of each course (ibid). As human being has private life philosophy, every teacher has
philosophy of education. Philosophy is also concerned with the epistemological dimension of
education, addressing the key questions of what should be taught – and how, and most
importantly, why – in particular educational programs (Wang and Huang, 2015). According
to Makaiau and Miller (2012), “at the heart of philosophy is...dialogue; at the heart of this
discipline is therefore what is essential to education. The craft of philosophy contains itself a
pedagogy—the need for dialogue, the need for questioning and a method of inquiry—which
are essential characteristics of education in general”.

3.2. Psychological Foundations for Pedagogy

The psychology of pedagogy which emerged from the Thorndike-Skinnerian tradition was a
direct teaching style, methods oriented, using positive external reinforcement as the major
tool of change in the teacher learner process (White, 1990). Although psychology and
pedagogy are different fields, they share a common concern in the formation of the human
personality. The relationship between pedagogy and psychology is two-sided, mutually
advantageous, and objectively necessary for the resolution of current teaching and upbringing
problems (Babanskii et al, 1982). Characteristic for psychology's applications to the
development of pedagogy, which are not limited to the application of already known
psychological concepts and dictums, but which advance tasks for the further development
and improvement of pedagogy (ibid).

3.3. Effective Pedagogy: Teaching problems, for Teacher Education and for Teaching
When we say effective pedagogy? What are standards of reference for effectiveness? What
determines to say the pedagogy we use is effective or ineffective? Effective pedagogical
approaches are crucial in the effective delivery of knowledge to learners[1]. For effective
learning to take place, the teacher must not only have good subject knowledge but also
effective pedagogical skills if they are to get the ideas across to the students. Hence, I argue
that effective teacher, effective pedagogy and effective teaching are integrated components.
Effective teachers use an array of teaching strategies because there is no single, universal
approach that suits all situations (Bhowmik, Banerjee, Banerjee, 2013). Effective teaching is
the teaching that successfully achieves the learning objectives by the pupils as identified by
the teacher (ibid).
[1]
https://evelynlearning.com/effective-pedagogical-practices/

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Particularly, the image of effective mathematical pedagogy is of teaching as a coherent
system rather than a set of discrete, interchangeable strategies (Anthony and Walshaw ,
2009). To enhance effecting learning, not only teachers’ effectiveness but all students’
effective learning is important element. The most effective teaching is that which results in
the most effective learning (Bhowmik et al, 2013).

To decide which pedagogy is effective, there are standards and principles we follow for
assuring and validations both national and internationally. Gallimore and Tharp (1992)
develop three propositions that learning occurs best when (a) collaboration between students
and teachers is accompanied by discussion; (b) instructional activities are meaningfully
connected to students’ prior experience and knowledge; and (c) instruction is dialogic and
occurs within the learner’s zone of proximal development (ZPD). Furthermore, on the basis
of these three propositions, Tharp and colleagues (2000) formulated five pedagogy
standards:
Standard I: Joint Productive Activity (JPA): Teacher and Students Producing Together
 Facilitate learning through joint productive activity among teacher and
students.
Standard II: Developing Language and Literacy Across the Curriculum (LLD)
 Develop competence in the language and literacy of instruction across
the curriculum.
Standard III: Making Meaning: Connecting School to Students’ Lives
 Connect teaching and curriculum with experiences and skills of students’
home and community.
Standard IV. Teaching Complex Thinking (CT)
 Challenge students toward cognitive complexity.
Standard V. Teaching Through Conversation (IC)
 Engage students through dialogue, especially the Instructional
Conversation.

Particularly according to Anthony & Walshaw (2009), the principles found in mathematics
pedagogy must:
- be grounded in the general premise that all students have the right to access education
and the specific premise that all have the right to access mathematical culture;
- acknowledge that all students, irrespective of age, can develop positive mathematical
identities and become powerful mathematical learners;
- be based on interpersonal respect and sensitivity and be responsive to the multiplicity
of cultural heritages, thinking processes, and realities typically found in our
classrooms;

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 - be focused on optimising a range of desirable academic outcomes that include
conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, strategic competence, and adaptive
reasoning;
- be committed to enhancing a range of social outcomes within the mathematics
classroom that will contribute to the holistic development of students for productive
citizenship.

Appropriate pedagogies which employed by a course teacher in the actual classroom are
being selected and planed early while the curriculum is on development. Likewise,
pedagogical course programs for training should also be incorporated in the teacher education
program to equip the student teacher for his/her future career as a professional teacher.
However, Reports indicate that principles of pedagogy and their relationship to teaching
andlearning theory are generally absent and infrequently modeled within the continuum
ofteacher development, from preservice through inservice (Dalton & Moir, 1992,
1996;NCTAF, 1996, cited in Dalton, 1998).

Although the pedagogical approaches we use are determined regarding to the lesson type, the
most common types of pedagogical approaches are: Constructive Approach, Reflective
Approach, Collaborative Approach, Integrative Approach and Inquiry-Based Approach
(table) [1].
Constructive Reflective Collaborative Integrative Inquiry-Based
Approach Approach Approach Approach Approach
Continuous Integrates the
Student-centered assessment of Involves teamwork classroom with the Student-centered
pedagogical practices outside world
Makes the curriculum
Builds on past Model-approach for Pools in different Excites curiosity in the
more realistic and
knowledge the trainee- teachers abilities of learners learners
relatable
Enhances problem-solving
skills

Outcome-based Teachers and students Four Types:

Encourages application
Instructor= Facilitator may/may not work in 1. Confirmation
of acquired knowledge
Involves timely teams 2. Structure
3. Guided
4. Open

Enables the use of

Kindles interest in
reassessment of different teaching
Learning by doing Mathematics and
learning objectives practices with different
Science, specifically
groups

May be relatively slow-

paced

Table 1: Types of pedagogical Approaches

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Conclusion

Currently, the scope of pedagogy is not delimited in classroom. Instead, today’s pedagogy
applies the concepts and findings of research that show promise for all students’ achievement,
such as communities of learners, language development, guided participation, emergent
literacy, funds of knowledge, cultural compatibility and instructional conversation (Dalton,
1998). Pedagogical ideology is the intersection of both philosophies of education and
psychology. Comprising an extensive range of interests, ideas, and questions, pedagogy
combines the philosophy of education and the psychology of education (Wang and Huang,
2015). One’s teaching philosophy, therefore, directly influences curriculum design and
implementation, the physical structure of the classroom, and how to artfully respond to an
unexpected comment made by a student (Makaiau & Miller, 2012).

Reference

 Anthony, G., & Walshaw, M. (2009). Effective pedagogy in mathematics (Vol. 19). Belley, France:
International Academy of Education.
 Anthony, G., & Walshaw, M. (2009). Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics. Educational Practices
Series-19. UNESCO International Bureau of Education.
 Babanskii, I., Zverev, I., Kraevskii, V., Kudriavtsev, T., Lerner, I., Markova, A., & Talyzina, N. (1982).
Pedagogy And Psychology-A Round-Table Conference. Soviet Education, 24(7), 56-106.
 Bhowmik, M., Banerjee, B., & Banerjee, J. (2013). Role of pedagogy in effective teaching. Basic
Research Journal of Education Research and Review, 2(1), 1-5.
 Dalton, S. S. (1998). Pedagogy matters: Standards for effective teaching practice.
 Gallimore, R., & Tharp, R. G. (1992). Teaching mind in society: Teaching, schooling, and literate
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 Makaiau, A. S., & Miller, C. (2012). The Philosopher's Pedagogy. Educational Perspectives, 44, 8-19.
 Tharp, R. G., Estrada, P., Dalton, S. S., & Yamauchi, L. (2000). Teaching transformed: Achieving
excellence, fairness, inclusion, and harmony. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
 Wang, T. J., & Huang, K. H. (2018). Pedagogy, philosophy, and the question of creativity. Teaching in
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 White, W. F. (1990). Teachers' Perception of a Psychology of Pedagogy. Perceptual and Motor
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