Demonstrations in Teaching

What is a Demonstration?

•A public showing emphasizing the salient merits, utility, efficiency, etc, of an article or a product.
•involves showing by reason or proof, explaining or making clear by use of examples or experiments. Put more simply, demonstration means to clearly show.

•In teaching through demonstration, students are set up to potentially conceptualize class material more effectively as shown in a study which specifically focuses on chemistry demonstrations presented by teachers. Demonstrations often occur when students have a hard time connecting theories to actual practice or when students are unable to understand application of theories.

•Teachers not only demonstrate specific learning concepts within the classroom, they can also participate in demonstration classrooms to help improve their own teaching strategies, which may or may not be demonstrative in nature. Although the literature is limited, studies show that the effects of demonstration classroom teachers includes a change of perspective in relating to students, more reflection in the teachers’ own classroom strategies, and more personal responsibility for student learning.

THREE GUIDING PRINCIPLES MUST OBSERVE IN USING IN USING DEMONSTRATION AS A TEACHING-LEARNING EXPERIENCES

•ESTABLISH RAPPORT – Greet your audience. Make them feel at ease by your warmth and sincerity. Stimulate their interest by making your demonstration and yourself interesting. Sustain their attention.

•AVOID COIK FALLACY (Clear Only If Known) - What is this fallacy? It is the assumption that what is clear to the expert demonstrator is also clearly known to the person for whom the message is intended. To avoid the fallacy, it is best for the expert demonstrator to assume that his audience knows nothing or a little about what he is intending to demonstrate for him to be very thorough , clear and detailed in his demonstration even to a point of facing risk of being repetitive.

•WATCH FOR KEYPOINTS – Dale says “they are the ones at which an error is likely to be made, the places at which many people stumble and where the knacks and tricks of the trades are especially important”. The good demonstrator recognizes possible stumbling blocks to learners and highlights them in some way. What are the usually highlighted are the “don’ts” of a process or a strategy.

PLANNING AND PREPARING FOR DEMONSTRATION (BROWN 1969)

1. What are our objectives?

2. How does your class stand with respect to these objectives.

3. Is their a better way to achieve your ends?

4. Do you have access to all the necessary materials and equipment to make the demonstration?

5. Are you familiar with the sequence and content of proposed demonstration?

 6. Are the time limits realistic?

You have planned and rehearsed your demonstration, your materials and equipment are ready, you have prepared your students, then you can proceed to the demonstration itself.(Dale 1969)

•Set the tone for good communication. Get and keep your audience’s interest.
•Keep your demonstration simple.
•Do not wander from the main ideas.
•Check to see your demonstration is being understood.
•Do not hurry your demonstration.
•Do not drag out the demonstration.
•Summarize as you go along and provide a concluding summary.
•Hand out written materials at the conclusion.

What questions can you ask to evaluate your classroom demonstration? Dale(1969):

• Was your demonstration adequately and skillfully prepared? 
• Did you follow the step-by-step plan? 
• Did you make use of additional materials appropriate to your purposes? 
• Was the demonstration itself correct? 
• Was your explanation simple enough so that most of the students understood it easily? Did you keep checking to see that all your students were concentrating on what you were doing.
• Could every person see and hear? 
• Did you help students do their own generalizing? 
• Did you take enough time to demonstrate the key points? 
• Did you review and the key points? 
• Did your students participate in what you were doing by asking thoughtful questions at the appropriate time? 
• Did your evaluation of student learning indicate that your demonstration achieved his purpose?

The Cone of Experience

Dale’s Cone of Experience is a visual model that is composed of eleven (11) stages starting from concrete experiences at the bottom of the cone then it becomes more and more abstract as it reach the peak of the cone. Also, according to Dale, the arrangement in the cone is not based on its difficulty but rather based on abstraction and on the number of senses involved. The experiences in each stages can be mixed and are interrelated that fosters more meaningful learning.

According to one of the principles in the selection and use of teaching strategies, the more senses that are involved in learning, the more and the better the learning will be but it does not mean that concrete experience is the only effective experience that educators should use in transferring knowledge to the learner. Like what was mentioned above, the experiences in each stages can be mixed and are interrelated thus, a balance must be achieved between concrete and abstract experiences in order to cater the and address all the need of the learner in all the domains of development and in order to help each learner in their holistic development.

Moreover, the generalization about the Cone of Experience that was presented above is not enough. Actually, we should try to go deeper in each of the component of the cone since Educational Technology basically revolves around the Cone of Experience. By going one-by-one, starting from concrete to abstract, we will understand more the different components of the cone that will help us in grasping the real meaning of educational technology.

To expand on each of the components, let us begin with the Direct Purposeful Experiences. These are first hand experiences which serve as the foundation of learning. In this level, more senses are used in order to build up the knowledge. Also, in this level, the learner learned by doing things by him/herself. Learning happens through actual hands-on experiences. This level explains and proves one of the principles in the selection and use of teaching strategies, the more senses that are involved in learning, the more and the better the learning will be. This level also proves that educational technology is not limited to the modern gadgets and software that are commercially available nowadays. This shows that even the simple opportunity that you give to each child could help them learn.

The next level would be the Contrived Experiences. In this level, representative models and mock-ups of reality are being used in order to provide an experience that as close as reality. This level is very practical and it makes learning experience more accessible to the learner. In this stage, it provides more concrete experiences, even if not as concrete as direct experiences, that allows visualization that fosters better understanding of the concept.

On the other hand, the next level would be the Dramatized experiences. In this level, learners can participate in a reconstructed experiences that could give them better understanding of the event or of a concept. Through dramatized experiences, learners become more familiar with the concept as they emerge themselves to the “as-if” situation.

The next level would be the Demonstrations. It is a visualize explanation of important fact, idea, or process through the use of pictures, drawings, film and other types of media in order to facilitate clear and effective learning. In this level, things are shown based on how they are done.

Another level would be the Study Trips. This level extends the learning experience through excursions and visits on the different places that are not available inside the classroom. Through this level, the learning experience will not be limited to the classroom setting but rather extended in a more complex environment.

The level of study trips is followed by exhibits. It is a somewhat a combination of some of the first levels in the cone. Actually, exhibits are combination of several mock ups and models. Most of the time, exhibits are experiences that is “for your eyes” only but some exhibits includes sensory experiences which could be related to direct purposeful experiences. In this level, meanings ideas ar presented to the learners in a more abstract manner. This experience allows student to see the meaning and relevance of things based on the different pictures and representations presented.

The next levels would be the level of television and motion pictures and sti8ll pictures, recordings, and Radio. I decided to combine these two stages since it is re3lated to one another. Because of the rapid development of the modern technology, a lot of people believe that Educational technology is limited to these stages. They are not aware that these sages are only a small portion of EdTech. For television and motion pictures, it implies values and messages through television and films. On the other hand, still pictures, recordings and radio are visual and auditor4y devices that can be used by a lerner/group of learner that could enhance and extend lerning experience

Lastly, I also chose to combine the last two levels because they are used hand-in-hand. The last two levels would be the Visual symbolic and Verbal symbolic. These two levels are the most complex and abstract among all the components of the Cone of Experience. In the visual symbolic level, charts, maps, graphs, and diagrams are used for abstract representations. On the other hand, the verbal symbolic level does not involve visual representation or clues to their meanings. Mostly, the things involved in this level are words, ideas, pricicples, formula, and the likes.

After going through the different components of the Cone of Experience, it could be said that in facilitating learning, we can use variety of materials and medium in order to maximize the learning experience. One medium is not enough thus if we can take take advantage of the other media. There’s nothing wrong with trying to combine several medium for as long as it could benefit the learners. Also, through the levels provided by the Cone of Experience, it could be said that concrete experiences must be provided first in order to support abstract learning. Lastly, staying on the concrete experiences is not even ideal because through providing abstract experiences to the learner, the more he/she will develop his/her higher order thinking skills which is important for more complex way of thinking and for dealing with more complex life situations. Through understanding each component of the Cone of Experience, it could be said that Educational Technology is not limited to the modern gadgets that we have right now but rather it is a broad concept that includes all the media that we can use to attain balance as we facilitate effective and meaningful learning.

The Roles of Educational Technology

Technology has many roles in learning. In terms of  traditional role, technology is a delivery vehicles for instructional lessons. In this role, he learner learns from the technology and the technology serves as a teacher. In other words, the learner learns the content presented by the technology  in the same way that the learner learns knowledge presented by the teacher.   From the traditional point of view, technology serves as source and presenter of knowledge and it is assumed that knowledge is embedded in  technology.

      From the constructivist point of  view, educational technology serves as learning tools that learners learn with.   It engages learners in" active ,constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative learning. It provides opportunities for technology and learner interaction for meaningful learning.  Technology  serves as  supporter of knowledge construction such as representing learner's ideas, understanding and beliefs,producing organized,multimedia knowledge bases by learners. It serves as information  vehicles for exploring knowledge to support learning by constructing such as accessing needed information,comparing perspectives ,beliefs and world views.It serves as context to support learning -by - doing like representing and simulating meaningful real- world problems,situation and contexts,defining a safe ,controllable problem space for student thinking.  It serves as a social medium to support learning by conversing like for  instance  collaborating with others, discussing, arguing,and building consensus among members of the community. It serves as  intellectual partner to support learning- by- reflecting such as helping learners articulate and represent what they know,reflecting of what they have learned and  how they come to know it,supporting learner's internal  negotiations  and meaning making.
      Whether  used from traditional or constructivist point of view,when used effectively, research indicates that technology increases student's learning, understanding,and achievement but also augments motivation to learn , encourages collaborative learning and supports the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Meaning of Educational Technology

Educational technology  is the effective use of technological  tools in learning. As a concept, it concerns an array of tools, such as media, machines and networking hardware, as well as considering the underlying theoretical perspectives for their effective application.

For clearer explanation, watch this video from YouTube.